Customer Reviews

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Tall, Dark & Dangerous, Book 6)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A year earlier, William "Crash" Hawken and Nell Burns were thrown together when his boss and surrogate father, Admiral Jake Robinson, and her boss, Daisy Owen, needed them. Daisy was dying of cancer and Jake's last request was that she marry him. As Crash deals with his grief, Nell goes about making arrangements for the wedding, and does everything she can to entice Crash. jake and Daisy think they'd be good together, but a lifetime of distancing himself from people makes Crash do his damnedest to avoid Nell, although he wants her more than life itself.

When Daisy dies, Crash and Nell, alone in their grief, turn to each other and share a night together, but Crash makes sure that Nell understands there can be nothing more between them. A devastated Nell leaves, and it's only a year later, when Crash is wanted for killing Jake, that she sees him again. She helps him escape and as much as he tries to resist her help, this is not something he can deal with alone.

This is another exciting book in Suzanne Brockmann's Navy SEAL series, and it didn't disappoint. I was saddened by Daisy's death, and happy when everything was revealed at the end. I highly recommend this book.

While I enjoyed the other first five books in this series, (Prince Joe, Forever Blue, Frisco's Kid, Everyday Average Jones, and Harvard's Education) this one in my opinion is the best of the six. Billy 'Crash' is arrested for the murder of his admiral and other agents. He's innocent and hunts down those that framed him. Backing up... Nell, personal assistant to Daisy, the Admiral's significant other appears at Crash's door to tell him that he is needed by the Admiral...Daisy is dying. I'm not giving anything away here. This is how it starts and it gets better. Nell, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that Crash could never have killed his Admiral sets out to help him prove his innocence. I loved it! I know you will too.

I have read almost all of Brockmann's books, and to me this is the very best of her many outstanding books. I strongly regret that I just read the book now, in March, 1999, too late to nominate it for the Romance Writer's of America's Favorite Book of the Year award. I do hope it wins the RWA published author award, the RITA. It surely deserves it!! This author just keeps getting better. The emotional intensity in this book was unbelievable. And the teamwork of the SEALS A-Team really added a whallop to her fantastic, action-packed climax. I really like this continuing series and am trying to find all the previous books I missed before I knew how great Brockmann is. By the way, in response to the remark of the other critiquer, it wasn't until you mentioned it that I realized this was packaged as a Christmas book. I didn't think about that at all. I was just so stunned by the book and Brockmann's genius. :)

The holidays aren't a great time for William "Crash" Hawken. Last Christmas, his cousin Daisy died of a brain tumor after finally tying the knot with Jake, her lover of 20 years. Daisy and Jake (a Navy admiral and former SEAL) were surrogate parents to Crash, who was abandoned by his distant father. Nell, Daisy's personal assistant fell for Crash the first time she saw him, but like any good SEAL who does not want to leave anyone behind, he kept his distance from her until he desperately needed comfort after Daisy's funeral.

A year later, he stands accused of treason in the murder of Jake his mentor. He knows it's a set up. He knows that a high ranking officer is behind it. He just does not know who. Nell's the only one who believes in him. She helps him escape from custody at the courthouse then tells his lawyers she will pay to have the ballistics tests rerun on the gun that killed Jake, knowing that Crash will be exonerated. This manages to put Nell on the bad guys watch list, and just as a hit man is about to strike, Crash puts a halt to it. His plan is to get the name of the top dog out of the gunmen's mouth, by any means necessary. But can her and Nell possibly have a future after she sees this other side to him?

One of Brockmann's better early offerings, she manages to make this more than a revenge fantasy. Despite Nell being a girly girl, she manages to prove to Crash and the reader that she is no shrinking violet.

I loved this one. I always wondered what this "Crash" character was all about (i.e. Billy Hawken). He is very brooding, but then opens up and closes up throughout the book. Nell is a total control freak and can't let anything loose....Insert Crash into this equation, as well as another small love story/prequel to the next book, hot scenes and suspense and wham....yet another great book by Suzanne.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear / Hawken's Heart by Suzanne Brockmann
Silhouette Intimate Moments # 896 - December 1998

From the time Billy aka Crash was ten years old, he looked up to Jake, the man who married his cousin and took him in as a son. Billy followed in Jake's footsteps becoming a Navy SEAL, and now is part of the Gray Group under Jakes command. When Billy unknowingly leads assassins into Jake's home, Billy is framed and on the run for treason and murder. Nell was big part of Billy's life while she helped nurse Billy's cousin, Daisy through her battle with cancer. She was the only one that Billy was ever tempted to making a life with; but he knew he could never be what she needed. Nell knows Billy's innocent and when she tries to get the authorities to look for other options, she finds herself a target too. Somehow, Billy and Nell have to do the impossible, find out who really was behind the assassination of Admiral Jake and stay alive long enough to do it.

Nell really proves to have alot of strength that Billy didn't give her credit for. He's amazed at her blind faith in him and though he doesn't want her to love him, he realizes almost too late that their love gives them everything to live for. Another book I couldn't put down! Action packed, intensely emotional and passionate.

I really like Brockmann and she is the only series author I buy - and I read alot. I have been working my way through her purlished list and especially like her SEALS books. So, when this one came up on Amazon.com as soon-to-be-released, I ordered it. And liked it. My complaint? It is packaged as a Christmas book, but has nothing to do with the season. The action, which takes place over two Christmas holidays a year apart, could have just as easily taken place at Valentine's a year apart or during the Fouth of July a year apart. Except to change the decorations for the big wedding held for secondary charaters to hearts or US flags, the season that the story took place in has nothing to do with the plot, charactor development or much of anything. In fact, it was depressing as a Christmas story. A really great adventure romance, but a bad Christmas story. I believe that Brockmann is releasing her first big format romance this spring (1999), so maybe she was rushed to get out a completed book for this Christmas, but packaging this book this way does a truly good story a diservice.