STORY BRIEF:

Allegra is a singer who reminds me of Enya. Her manager Corey is giving her bad advice. When Allegra breaks her contract with Corey, Corey kills her father and beats Allegra causing her blindness and amnesia. Corey is in a psychiatric prison. Corey arranges for someone to stalk, scare and try to kill Allegra.

Doug is a former Navy SEAL, naturally ugly plus scarred and disfigured a-lot-of-sex alpha warrior with beautiful, delicate, talented, compassionate, good-person heroine. I loved the ending in Midnight Man. The ending in this book regarding the bad guy had a similarity but I was less comfortable with it. I don't want to give anything away so I won't say more. I loved the opening scene and events with the armed thieves. I enjoyed the way Doug guided Allegra around obstacles as they walked. I also enjoyed the way Doug taught Allegra military techniques for describing locations, for example Charlie Green 2 o'clock.

DATA:

Story length: 272 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong but nothing kinky. Number of sex scenes: 5. Total number of sex scene pages: 44. Setting: Portland, Oregon. Copyright: 2005. Genre: erotic romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:

For a list of my reviews of other Lisa Marie Rice books, see my 4.5 star review of "Midnight Man" posted 3/17/09.

Now, don't think I'm being tacky: Douglas considers himself ugly and I'll let you, dear reader, decide from the description of his features if he is ugly or not. Personally, I believe beauty is only skin deep and six-pack abs cover a multitude of sins :) Following "Midnight Man" and "Midnight Run," this book builds on Ms. Rice's tough guy lovers and the lucky, lucky gals who bag 'em and tag 'em.

Douglas and Allegra set the sheets on fire, but there is a lot of depth to this relationship too. You just KNEW, when in one of the previous books Doug's voice was described as this beautiful bass that shocked those who heard it, he would wind up with the harpist/vocalist Allegra, who's friends with the first two ladies who got their guys. Douglas and Allegra are, so far, my favorite of these couples. I think because they share this love of music that's quite spiritual and they know what it feels like to be different. She's not always been blind, so she's still learning how to adapt to this challenge. Doug, in his unique SEAL-speak, helps her learn her surroundings. Comes in handy later in the book, but that's all the hint you'll get from me.

Another tough-guy is introduced in this book to guard Allegra when Douglas is elsewhere. Douglas comes into the house and finds this guy looking dazed and he thinks "Oh boy, he's been bored out of his skull bearing ruffian has been charmed by music that he never would have chosen on his own. I hope he gets his own story. "Midnight Massage/Tattoo Parlor" might not sound as lyrical as the previous three stories, so I'll leave it to the capable Ms. Rice to come up with the title as well as the story this man deserves.

I'm sure I join her other fans in saying: you keep writing and we'll keep reading.