Customer Reviews

Touching Midnight (MIRA)

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

 

 

Years ago Quin's aunts had taken her and moved to Peru to protect her from her father and his family after the death of their sister. Quin has always felt a connection to the past and often finds herself dreaming of The Temple of the Sun and the priestess who lived there. She believes that it maybe near. When an injured Jay Lomax arrives Quin is drawn to him and is determined to care for him. But Jay has no memory of his life before he came to Peru. As time passes and Jay gets better and he also feels a connection to Quin. Quin leaves to attend Oxford and when she finally comes home to try and protect the recently discovered ancient temple Jay is there waiting for her. They finally consummate their love for each other but now that they are together danger surrounds them as they battle to keep the temple and it's treasures from being taken and it isn't long before Jay's past is uncovered.


I have been a huge Fiona Brand fan for years. The Lombard/SAS series have been among some of my favorite books and I often find myself re-reading them. They were that good. I was anxiously awaiting Touching Midnight and had pre-ordered it as soon as that option became available. But I am sorry to say that I found it to be a disappointment. One of the trade marks of any Fiona Brand book has been the sizzling sensuality of the love scenes, a trade mark that was sadly missing in Touching Midnight. The central love scene probably last about half a page. Also, knowing that Jay Lomax was actually Jake Lombard I was eagerly anticipating the reunion of Gray, Blade and Roma with their lost brother. After all it was Jake's "death" that was the catalyst for their stories. Instead the reunion was about two sentences long. It is with a heavy keyboard that I write this review and sadly say to all Fiona Brand fans that Touching Midnight is probably one Lombard story that you will want to give a miss. If you haven't had a chance to read Fiona Brand I would suggest that you try Cullen's Bride, Heart of Midnight, Blade's Lady or Marrying MaCabe to get a true feel for Fiona Brand.



Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This story revolves around an ancient hidden temple with the main characters mirrored in the past and present facing the same dangers and issues--how to protect and preserve this temple's ideals and secrets from the greed of those who would use it for political power or the wealth of its golden artifacts. This storyline had great potential to be a big adventure romance. It had lost treasures, mystical forces, powers to heal, an intriguing ancient history. Unfortuantely it missed its mark. I love Fiona Brand's books and would gladly have given this a 5-star review had it been in the style of her previous books but it was definitely lacking in a critical key factor. The romance. I was thrilled to realize this was Jake Lomard's story! If you've read her Silhouette Intimate Moments books you'd know that Jake is the missing heir of the famed Lombard hoteliers--his believed "death" the catalyst for several unbelievably outstanding books. So the fact that the author completely skipped over the romance between Jake and Quin with no real development of how or why they even fell in love, and basically with hardly any meaningful dialog between them is shocking. How does the author known for creating smoldering dark alpha heroes skip over Jake's emotions entirely? How does she skip over the emotions of his family members when they finally find him after 10 years and the heartbreak endured over his loss?? That scene was an eagerly anticipated one for me and I was horribly disappointed it had no dialog other than a handshake and one sentence. What?!? Shame on the editors too for releasing a book that should have been merely a draft because it was missing so many key elements. The author had a fantastic idea and great detail regarding the archaelogy but clearly forgot that she was writing a romance that should have stayed focused on the relationship of the main characters. Can you believe that neither Jake nor Quin ever mentioned the word "love". Fiona, if this is a result of a switch to writing for the MIRA line please please please go back to the SIM format and the emotional powerhouse writing you're clearly capable of.

Dear Readers,

This is the first book review I have written for Amazon.com and it will most likely be my last. I read a lot of books. I mean a lot. If there were a zero star selection that would be my vote.

I have all of Ms. Brands Lombard/SAS books and I think they are fabulous - even though you can tell that she copied the male characters from Linda Howard's "The Heartbreaker."

I think even some of the language may have been lifted. I've not seen a writer create a formula based on the style and characterizations of a bestselling author and then plug in a new storyline.

With that aside, you can't really fail when you are following the plotlines of Linda Howard. I have all of the Lombard books - even the Cullen one. It was her first book so it flounders a bit.

I have wondered for years about Jake Lombard. How he must have been bigger than life to have two admiring brothers such as Blake and Grey. In each and every book (exclude Cullen) Jake has a presence. The Lombard brothers' characters were shaped by the violence in their lives. A violence that led them to pursue justice for more than seven-years. A violence that stained their heart with grief and a lust for revenge.

There are some really bad writers out there. Since I buy my books - I love the library but my fines usually come to three times the cost of the book - I am owed the pleasure of a well-written book. Maybe I don't like the book but it better be well-written. Poorly written books go back to the store. Any that I simply dislike are quickly donated or given away. I feel that I am voting with my pocketbook. If you keep buying bad authors, they'll keep writing.

Imagine my surprise when I read TM. It was the worst story that I ever read. I may be still in shock since I have never read an awful book by a writer that I admire and collect. Imagine if Linda Howard wrote a BOMB. It just left me speechless.

Ms. Brand committed three major crimes against us, her loyal fans:

1) She took a character who appeared and played a major formative role in 5, I said 5 books, and had him appear towards the end of the book.

2) She then had the audacity and ignorance of basic storytelling to end the book in one or two pages. Two pages. You can not conclude a 1500 novel in 2 pages. Poor Grey and his sister arrive at the end of the book for a 500 word reunion with Jake.

LET ME SAY IT AGAIN. We read five books about Jake Lombard, some 1500 pages only to have him appear at the 3/4's mark. This is why I returned the book. It was a travesty. If I wanted to be more dramatic, I would say that it was even a betrayal of her FAITHFUL readers. At almost $5 a pop, which represents a $25 investment in the Lombard/SAS storyline, I didn't expect or deserve her contempt.

3) I think "contempt" is the right word. She used TM as a stepping stone to launching her career as a suspense/woman's fiction author. She has every right to go no to the next stage but at least DO IT WELL or put down the pen. I wash my hands of her.

Lastly, her editor is also to blame. Any conscious person that she is related to or knows should have asked - ah Fiona why does Jake appear at the end of the book? Don't you think your loyal readers expect to read more than a two page reunion.

It's been a couple of years but it may not be too late to return it. Get ya shoes on and get out the door.

I'll read this one about Rawlings and that's it. I have a 100 other writers who are very consistent, who respect my intelligence and the integrity of storytelling and fulfilling character expectations.

I just thought of this - how must Grey and Blade feel. They were only able to visit with Jake for 2 pages, too.

DON"T be a sucker. RUN THE OTHER WAY.

Michel

When I picked this book up, I thought it would be an interesting read and a good adventure for a quiet night... but once I got into this novel it seemed to drag on and kept me wanting to stop reading it and not read the rest. The author has a great ancient story when Quin falls asleep at 13 and has a dream. During present day time (part 2 of the book) Quin comes back and hooks up with Jay. Sorry, to say, but this book has weak characters and a weak plot as well. Pick this one up from the library, not the bookstore.

but didn't love this book. Read all of her books (favorite is "Cullen's Bride"). Have been waiting for a book to come out from the author for awhile. Was very disappointed.

As two reviewers said, the detail was missing in this book. The meeting with the family after being "dead" for 10 years was so short and seemed half-hearted. His death is what drove the family all this time. And to have the finding and meeting resolved in 2 pages was a huge letdown.

The relationship between the the heroine and hero could have been built on and elaborated. There was no passion, no heat, no chemistry.

I reread the book because I thought maybe I missed something. Unfortunately, no, there just wasn't anything there to read. Skimmed over her other books and they were great.

This story was a huge disappointment.

I have read all of Ms. Brand's boosk thus far and have enjoyed them immensely, however this "Touching Midnight" was a poor haphazard creation that in no way represents the talent of this author. I felt there was no true feeling, no romance between the characters. their inter action seeemed stilted and false, just a reason to call this a romantic suspense. If you wish to experience the best Ms. Brand has to offer, please seek out her eariler works (Cullen's Bride, Heart of Midnight, Blade's Lady, Marrying McCabe and Gabriel West: Still the One) as part of the Silhouette Intimate Moments line. This book is one of few that made my list of barely worth the effort to turn the pages.

I was totally letdown by the reunion of Jay (Jake Lombard) with his brothers, who had given up years of their lives pursuing his killers, facing numerous dangerous situations in the name of justice. The reunion was like a weak clammy limp-wristed handshake where a exuberant rib-cracking hug was warranted.

I hope that Ms. Brand will up her game with her next book and get back into writing the wonderful stories we faithful know she's capable of.

I love the lombard series and have been following Fiona Brand for quite a while in the series that this spun off of in harlequin...The book started out great with the whole flashback thing going on but it was like there was just too much fleshing out that was left out, also the development of the romantic interest just wasn't there and it surely is not because of the length in format because the harlequin titles were shorter than this book. It was an ok read but not something I will re-read again and again like I do the other books in this series.

Supposedly about an archaelogical find in context with a psychic connection, this is a mishmash of paranormal which switches to silly thriller machinations then back to the psychic narrator. It is a cheat because there is no actual connection to any real ancient civilization, just one made up for story purposes, so who cares? None of this makes any sense, or displays any story-telling ability. It's just all over the place. Why would a respectable publishing line like MIRA ever embarrass themselves issuing such tripe? Maybe this was an early effort by an author who later figured out how to write a novel, but it is a total waste of time.

I understand the reservations others expressed, but I enjoyed the understated growth of the bond between Jake and Quin, the way that she saved him, and then quite simply appropriated him, the way that he was there for her and her aunts, rock-solid and entirely competent, even though he had severe amnesia. Most of all I like the scene in which he asked her to marry him: she looks at him, and says "Shouldn't you be on your knees for this?" "I've been on my knees for years." Oh, my. Liked it a whole lot.

To project her from her father John Mallory and his aristocratic family, Victoria Quinton's Aunts Olivia and Hannah moved with her to a remote part of Peru as an infant following the death of their sister Rebecca. Victoria received a special education from her relatives who have advanced degrees from Oxford but they emphasized her psychic skills for medical healing as much as book learning. While her aunts run a local medical mission, Victoria enjoys archeology especially ancient writings. She dreams of the Temple of the Sun, which she believes is near.

Five years later, an injured Jay Lomax comes to the medical center to heal. He feels he has known "Quin" all his life and more; she feels the same way. She heals him before he departs. Years later, he returns to her and what has always felt as home to protect the ruins of a recently discovered ancient temple city that worshiped the Sun God. At the same time Jay and Quin renew a love that began here a long time ago when the sanctity of the High Priestess and her retinue were destroyed by greed. However, an enemy is coming for them in the present to claim what could prove to be a temple of doom.

TOUCHING MIDNIGHT is an exciting complex adventure romance that runs on two prime plot lines enhanced by additional minor subplots. The story line is filled with action that never slows down past or present and a delightful courageous cast (in both eras) willing to die to do what they believe is the right thing for others. No question this romantic suspense thriller has the brand of a top author who keeps her audience riveted throughout the novel.

Harriet Klausner