Customer Reviews

After the Night

5 star:		(123)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I read this book for the first time two years ago and have read it three times since then. I read and enjoy everything Linda writes and in my opinion this one is her best effort and Gray is her most romatic hero ever. Faith has been in love with Gray since she was a child. Although he finds Faith attractive, he is tortured by the fact that his beloved father ran off with Faith's mother and neither have been heard from for years. The night Gray realizes his father is gone, he evicts Faith and her family from the shack where they live on his family's land and runs them out of town. Years later Faith returns and Gray is determined to run her off again, but he cannot deny his attraction to her and admires the way she will not back down from him. In a small town where his wealthy family "owns" just about everything and everyone Gray makes sure the local supermarket and gas station will not sell to Faith so she must purchase food and gas at a nearby town. This from a ruthless hero who is at her doorstep 10 minutes after she phones him for help, terrified after finding roadkill in her mailbox. Believe me you'll love this book. Linda also writes the best love scenes. The porch scene.......what can be said that already hasn't been said about it except for the fact that it has to be one of the most erotic love scenes ever written. You'll laugh your way through the public restroom love scene and I also enjoyed Faith's massage from Gray on her custom made kitchen table. This is a very sensual and sexy read as only Linda can write. Handle this one with asbestos gloves. After The Night is my all-time favorite and I wish I could rate it ten stars.

Ever since she was a girl, Faith Devlin had worshiped stunning, sophisticated Gray Rouillard. They could not be more different. Gray's father practically owns the small town of Prescott, and in her young girl's dreams, Gray is a knight in shining armor. That hero's image is shattered in one shattering night that is forever to change the lives of both Gray and Faith. He was all things good, bright and wonderful - until the night he throws Faith and her dirt-poor family out into the streets. Gray's father, a notorious womanizer has finally gone over the edge and left his family, disappearing into the night with his lover - none other than Faith's mother. When Gray discovers this, he takes out his uncontrollable rage upon Faith's and the rest of her family, evicting them from Rouillard land in the middle of the night.

It was a memory that was to form the rest of Faith's life. Now she lives for only one reason, to return to Prescott and finally solved what happened to Gray's father and her mother. No longer the small town girl from a family of white trash, Faith has worked very hard to make something of herself. And the time has finally come for Faith to go home. Faith did not expect Prescott to welcome her back with open arms, and she is not disappointed. Faith is the living image of her mother and in a small town people only remember all too well her mother destroyed the Rouillard marriage. But she is mildly surprised to the lengths people will go to please the now powerful Gray. She is asked to leave a motel, the police harrass her, and the grocery store owner refused to even sell her groceries. However, this Faith is not the little trusting girl that could not defend herself and her family, and nothing and no one, not even the sexy Gray Rouillard, will stop her from finding out what really happened that night their parents vanished.

Only she was not prepared for Gray himself. Nor the fact that, though Gray hates her family and wants her gone from the town, Gray is making it clear her wants Faith, and he will break any rules to achieve his aim.

Howver,there is someone else in town very frightened by Faith's return. When someone starts threatening Faith, Gray finds himself wanting to protect her, pulling him into questioning just what did happened that night.

Vivid,and gripping characters, a powerful setting, and an intriguing mystery. Howard weaves a spell like none other.

WISE Writers and Readers Book of the Month for July 2000

I was sitting in an airport in Miami on an extended layover when I decided I needed something to read. I'm not sure what I expected when I started this book, but this wasn't it. I had never read a Linda Howard book before but that back cover looked interesting, so why not? Well, I have become a very big fan of Ms. Howard and read everything she writes now. From the very first pages, I was hooked. She created a world so very different from any community I have ever seen.(I mean, how many of us come from home towns that are controlled by one family?) I also felt Faith's humiliation, fear and anger at being a "Devlin". The sparks fly and the story builds and I couldn't put the book down. You could see them fighting the fire with sharp tongues but at the same time you can see the tenderness they feel for each other. My only complaint was how fast the book ended. The last chapter was funny and sweet, but it felt rushed. I really wanted some of the things that weren't said, said. With Gray's "playboy" history, I personally would of wanted something more then I-love-you-let's-have-a-baby-get-married rush. Maybe it's just me, but a final chapter where he tells her why he loves her and that its more then just lust and that he won't treat their marriage like his father treated his marriage would have made it seem more "forever".

I'm sure lots of Linda Howard fans will hate me for writing this reveiw, but I just have to get this out. I HATED this book. I can't understand all the women who have written reviews saying how romantic it is. Yes, in places the book is very sexy, but not in an emotionally intense loving way - in an empty, soul-destroying, obsessive way. For me, there was no excuse for the abuse of power the hero displayed, and there was no excuse for the abusive way he treated the heroine. My personal opinion is that love is about trust, respect and truly knowing another person. Uncontrollable lust is great in the short-term, but to be honest, it does not last and it isn't all that romantic either.

If your best friend was married to a man who treated her like this, you would be urging her to find the strength to get away from him. How can it be justifiable to blame someone for the sins of their mother when they were only a child at the time of said sins? How can it be right to pile the blame on the female participant of the affair and pretend that the male must have been a poor bamboozled lamb, especially when he has a history of hedonistic adultery? The hero acted like a spoilt child, full of rage and prejudice against less privilaged people. Maybe it is because I come from England, where we have spent the last three hundred years fighting against the class system, that I find the term 'Trash' so objectionable. To me, anyone who would judge another person solely on the circumstances of their birth is shallow and bigoted.

Now, having said all this, I'm sure there are many people who still believe that this book is fabulous and that's fine - you have every right to enjoy whatever books you want. The purpose of this review is to give warning to any other ladies who feel like me, to prevent them from buying this book and being disappointed. If you loved the caring and the deep emotional connection between hero and heroine in 'MacKenzies Mountain' or 'Shades of Twilight', you will not find what you want in this book. Give it a miss.

I am fast becoming a Linda Howard fan and with very good reason. This is the second novel that I've read by her. After The Night is an excellent book (understatement). Linda Howard gives the reader the chance to experience what the characters are going through. She takes you there so that you feel like you're right in the scene with them. Not many authors can do that. I could not put this book down and read it in less than a day. Gray is so hot, every woman's dream, ( where can we find him?) Buy, borrow, or whatever this book and you will not be disappointed. And when you're finished , try ' Kill and Tell. ' It's good too. Oh and the love scenes in After The Night are to die for. We should all be as lucky as Faith.

"You're trash. You're whole family is trash...." The words that have been imprinted in the mind of Faith Devlin for the past twelve years. Twelve years ago, Gray Rouillard forced her family off of his family land in the middle of the night blaming Faith's mother for the disappearance of his father, Guy Rouillard. After that night, Faith worked hard to make a name and a place for herself in the world, but always with the desire to return home. Her homecoming wasn't to flaunt her success, her business or the fact that she made more of herself than any other Devlin. Prescott was where she belonged, her home despite the chaos she lived through that night. But even more, Faith must solve the mystery of Guy Rouillard's disappearance and understand what caused her mother to run away that night. Moving back to Prescott isn't easy however, and Gray Rouillard tries to block her at every turn. But neither Faith nor Gray can understand the strong attraction that is between them. As the story unfolds you uncover the mystery of Guy Rouillard and appreciate the growing relationship between Gray and Faith,. I first saw this story two years back and passed it off as another "rich guy meets poor woman" story, but after reading it I can honestly say this story is anything but that. Linda Howard was able to make her characters come to life, you identify with the feelings of Faith Devlin and you want to both slap and laugh at Gray at times. This is definitely not the usual romantic suspense novels I usually read, this story had more romance than suspense. However, there were enough steamy moments and character development that I didn't miss the constant tension of a suspense novel. Great job!! I am glad I opened my horizons to this book...it is on my list of favorites

Rich guy Gray Rouillard kicks Faith Devlin and her lower class family out of their home on his family's property when he discovers that his father has disappeared with their mother. Faith returns 12 years later, after crawling out of the gutter and making something of herself and revisits her old hometown in order to uncover the truth about her mother's disappearance and prove that she is no longer white trash. Of course the town was still run by the Rouillard family, and Gray makes it clear to Faith that she is still not welcome.

Faith has always carried a torch for Gray, who is about eight years older. He had a difficult time coming to terms with his own attraction to her the night that she was evicted, she being 14 and all. While he tries to squash her plans and his own growing desire, they eventually find themselves in each other's arms, as someone else seems to be hell bent on getting Faith out of town and away from the truth of what precipitated that fateful night 12 years ago. Of course, he was quite a misogynistic jerk, so I could not relate to her attraction to him, particularly his heartless reaction to her sexual prowess the first time they were together. Faith is too much of a doormat, and had she been stronger, I would have liked the story much more.

I loved this book! It starts out as Gray kicking Faith and her family out of her house in the middle of the night with nothing because her mother had an on going affair with his father. Everyone thought that Guy and Renee ran away together after Guy nor Renee ever came home, but that is not the truth. Faith was only 14 at the time and couldn't do anything about it because Gray's family owned the house....then she grows up and comes back at the age of 26 and wants revenge! Well, she really just wants to live in peace and find out what REALLY happened to Gray's father. She had gotten in touch with her mother over the years and Renee swears that they did not run away together. As soon as Gray sees her he is livid that she came back and does tons of things to get her to leave town. All because of his stuck up no good mother and his waste of a sister. I think that instead of everyone blaming Faith for something her MOTHER did, they need to be blaming Gray's mother and sister for the things that they themselves are actually doing and did. Faith had no control over her mother's actions, but the rest of the characters in this book have control over what they do and through out the whole book they are portayed as good people when they are far from it. Anyway, Gray and Faith end up falling in love while trying to find out about the past and what happened 12 years ago. Lots of mystery and although the villian is easy to predict this book will keep you reading from front to back. Lots of emotional scenes and romance also!!! Great book.

With a drunk for a father and a promiscuous woman for a mother, Faith Devlin seems destined to grow up just like her siblings who took after their parents. At least that's what the rest of the people at Prescott like to believe. What they never know is that underneath is a girl who silently screams, "I'm not like that!" a girl who dreams of getting away, and a girl who fell in love with the local heartthrob - the very son of the powerful businessman Guy Rouillard whom her mother is indiscreetly sleeping with.

Heir to the Rouillard fortune, Gray has it all - wealth, good looks, intelligence. But deep inside, Gray craves the affection of his mother, the ice queen who can't even bear the touch of her own children. And knowing his mother's nature, he has turned a blind eye on his father's infidelity and content himself with the fact that, for all his faults, his father truly loves him and his sister. Thus, when his father runs off with Renee Devlin, Gray's world comes crumbling down forcing him to turn his anger at the Devlin family.

With the sheriff and deputies in tow, the Devlin family find themselves thrown out of the parish. Not long after, Faith's father and older brother abandons them, until Social Service finally finds them a foster home, where Faith starts a new life.

Fast-forward to twelve years and Faith Devlin Hardy is back in town. Beautiful and successful, she is a far cry from the terrified girl whose spirit was crushed when the boy who she has secretly worshipped from afar as a young girl had ground her into the dirt that hot summer night. Hoping for closure so she could move on with her life, she has come prepared to face them all, only to realize the moment he comes knocking at the door that she was prepared for everything but Gray Rouillard himself. As she finally comes face to face with him, Faith realizes that despite the years, her feelings have never changed where Gray is concerned, and that the childhood infatuation has turned into an adult yearning. As for Gray, he was just as unprepared for the come back of Faith, and worse, for the desire so strong that he knows he must get her to leave town before he makes a fool of himself and hurt his family once again. Yet no matter how hard they try, the undeniable connection keeps on pulling them together.

Having just recently discovered Linda Howard, I can't believe I've waited so long to pick-up one of her books. This is the third one of hers that I have read and I am now hooked. Her ability to create real-life stories with vivid characters and compelling plot is simply impressive. In this book, she has created a dark and heartfelt story about two people bonded together by one tragic night and who must uncover the truth about the past for them to find complete happiness. Faith is vividly portrayed as a woman trying to escape the stigma of her youth. Her journey from an impoverished childhood to a successful businesswoman is truly remarkable. And while Gray is your typical alpha-male, it is admirable to see his loyalty to his family and how protective he is. And although he did cause Faith to suffer, this was brought on by his grief at being abandoned by his father. And let's face it, in reality, some people become victims of circumstances. This being the case with Faith is what provides a compelling, heartbreaking and totally engrossing story.

With its real-life characters, perfect Southern setting and scorching love scenes, AFTER THE NIGHT is a gripping story that is sure to keep you glued from start to finish. (I do wish that there were an epilogue though.)

Story Summary: Faith Devlin had been run out of town by Gray Rouillard when he found out that her mother and his father and run away together. Several years later Faith returned to prove that Grays father did not run away with her mother. Gray and Faith immediately clash because he still blames Faiths mother for breaking his family up. There is suspense and sexualy tension in the book and you'll have to read it if you want to find out about what really happened to Grays father. Now to why I didn't like the book.

First, I hated Gray. He was a total jerk (I'm being nice with my language because I think there is a better word to describe him). He was absolutely cruel to Faith. He really made her life miserable. And after they made love the first time and he made the comment that if having sex with Faiths mother had been like that no wonder his father couldn't stay away, I would have knocked him on his butt. Then he calls her the next day like nothing ever happened and gets angry when she doesn't talk to him. It was very hard to finish the book and I kept hoping that Gray would redeam himself. He never really did.

Second, I hated Faith just as much. She had absolutely no back bone and let Gray treat her poorly. Everytime she tried to stand up to him he just beat her down emotionally.

It would have been a good book if the characters had been better.