AFTER DARK (Night Owl 3) by M. Pierce-a review

After Dark

ABOUT THE BOOK: March 24, 2015

At twenty-nine, Matt Sky is trying to return to normal, having faked his death and come back to life. He and Hannah move to a simple house in the suburbs, and strive to grow their relationship into something durable and honest. They become more and more entangled, in the best ways possible.

At twenty-eight, Hannah finally has the life she’s always wanted: she’s pursuing her career as a literary agent at Granite Wing Agency, she is writing her first solo novel, and she is living with her hot, passionate lover. For the first time, Matt and Hannah are able to explore intimacy without inhibitions—without lies, secrets, or jealousy—and the results are explosive.

Still life together is not as easy as it seems. Matt is estranged from his brothers in the wake of his cruel stunt; Seth Sky, embittered by his failed pursuit of Hannah, makes a play for Hannah’s sister; and the topic of Hannah’s novel—her relationship with Matt and the Sky family—is driving a wedge between her and Matt. The lovers are devoted to one another, having come through many ordeals, but is their bond strong enough to last a lifetime?

••••••••••

REVIEW: AFTER DARK is the third and final installment in M. Pierce’s adult, contemporary NIGHT OWL erotic romance trilogy focusing on reclusive and troubled author Matt Sky, and literary agent Hannah Catalano. Their continuing story finds our couple at odds about marriage, children, writing and the future. To complicate matters Matt’s brother Seth is spiraling out of control and his actions begin to affect Hannah’s life with Matt. AFTER DARK should not be read as a stand alone; there is too much backstory and history revealed in the previous two novels.

Told from alternating first person points of view (Hannah and Matt) the storyline commences immediately after the events of LAST LIGHT (book 2) where Hannah had proposed marriage to Matt. Seemingly shocked but happy, Matt announces to the world that the couple are getting married whereupon everything begins to collapse and degrade. Matt’s ‘fake death’ has alienated him from his family and his need for Hannah becomes all encompassing. Matt believes he and Hannah know nothing about one another and in this he goes about proving everything is wrong. Marriage is currently not in his plans

Matt is a troubled soul with issues of abandonment, anger management, manic depressive tendencies, masochistic tendencies…..and, well you get the picture that our hero or ‘anti hero’ is a psychiatric nightmare. He is prone to anger; he is more childlike in maturity and behavior with bouts of depression, jealousy, doubt and fear; he is a man who is unable to control his reactions to the woman with whom he has fallen in love. Everyday problems are amplified when the heart is unable to understand what the mind sees. Matt struggles with the outside world; his need for privacy; and his anger towards his brother Seth.

AFTER DARK is an emotional, heartbreaking and oft times frustrating storyline where the hero’s bipolar intensity is disturbing, frightening and graphic. There is an almost co-dependency between Hannah and Matt-a dysfunctional relationship-one where Hannah refuses to give up on the man with whom she has fallen in love regardless of the number of situations and issues that continue to arise. Matt is a man possessed by his need for control; his actions are intense; his obsession with Hannah an addiction and dramatic.

M. Pierce will captivate your imagination and pull you into a storyline that is discerning, complex and complicated. I have many concerns about the building of a romance hero with so many emotional and psychological issues-but it is a fictional story where almost everyone will get their happily ever after; and in the end, a happily ever after is what ever romance reader is looking for but reality is another matter –all together.

Reading Order and Reviews
Night Owl
Light Light
After Dark

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy