Spaz Reviews: Born to Darkness – Suzanne Brockmann

As the New York Times bestselling author of the Troubleshooters series and a “superstar of romantic suspense” (USA Today), Suzanne Brockmann has an acclaimed history of taking readers’ breath away with her novels of hot passion and high adventure. Now she takes her talent for sexy, action-packed storytelling in a thrilling new direction: forward—into a future, both fantastic and frightening, that only the brilliant Brockmann could envision.

Dishonorably discharged, former Navy SEAL Shane Laughlin is down to his last ten bucks when he finally finds work as a test subject at the Obermeyer Institute, a little-known and believed-to-be-fringe scientific research facility. When he enters the OI compound, he is plunged into a strange world where seemingly mild-mannered scientists—including women half his size—can kick his highly skilled ass.

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• List Price: $26.00
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 20, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345521277
• ISBN-13: 978-0345521279
• Buy at Amazonand Book Depository

The first h/h established in Born to Darkness are between Michelle “Mac” MacKenzie, a scientist with the OI compound, and the new recruit NAVY Seal Shane Laughlin. I loved the start of their bad romance, after they meet in the bar and get it on! It is steamy and hot! But in true love-em-and-leave-em fashion, Mac has intimacy issues and beats the street running once she discovers he is a new recruit at her place of employment. OOPS. As much as Mac could be infuriating, there was a part of me that totally could identify with her. Mostly. And Shane… wow. From his muscle-bound Navy SEAL body to his popping his “p”s when he said nope… He was hot. Of course she wants nothing more to do with him, and he is all ABOUT her. It’s fun watching, because he is undeniably persistent and charming no matter how she tries to scare him away.

And that’s not where the hot men ended, which leads me to the unexpected second romance of Born to Darkness. There were Steven Diaz and Elliot who also discovered their feelings for one another, and they were just as hot as well. But my issue with this relationship as how quickly it progressed, at a very unrealistic pace.

The world building was solid, no complaints there. But there are seven points of view in this book. Yep! Seven. I have to admit it did keep me from connecting with some of the characters fully. I would have liked a lot more backstory behind some of the characters that there just wasn’t time for with all the other story lines going on. The other .5 Romance I mentioned previously was just meh for me, and I’m glad that it didn’t get resolved because I would like to get more time with Anna and Joseph before really caring whether they got together or not.

Once I finished the book, I had a great time going to Suzanne’s website to see portrayals of the “full cast” of characters. I enjoyed this book enough to read others by the author, but I just didn’t seem to love it as much as my fellow book bloggers did.

Smitten With Reading  5 Stars

Geeky Blogger  5+