Midnight Sins by Lora Leigh

His name is Rafer Callahan. He was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks who fought through life the only way he knew how: with his fists. But Rafer never meant to bring any harm to Cambria Flannigan, the girl—the lover—whose sister he’d been unable to save…

Cami lost her sister in the brutal murders that rocked her hometown so many years ago. Some still believe that Rafe, along with his friends Logan and Crowe, were involved. But how could Rafe—who haunted her girlish dreams, then her adult fantasies—be a killer? That is the question that keeps her up at night.

Now a prosperous ranch owner, Rafe is trying to build a new legacy for himself. It’s finally time to settle the score with Cami—and make her his. But old wounds open up with a series of new murders…and each of the victims has a connection to Rafe, Logan, and Crowe. With suspicion, fear, and loyalty tearing her apart, Cami is once again at risk of losing her heart—or her life.

~~

There was some good and some bad with this particular series opener, but for the most part I really enjoyed it and would definitely purchase the second to see what happens next.

The good: as usual Leigh writes a good alpha male and a not bad female protagonist. Both have had some rough lessons when it comes to love, survival, acceptance, trust - really all of those things you usually need to have a long-lasting happy relationship. Which is why I find their slightly rocky road to pretty believable, as neither wants to admit they're committed and would be deeply unhappy without the other. I liked all three of the cousins, enough that I actively want to see what becomes of them in the next few books, though realizing just how drawn out the mystery of  'who & why' was going to be did make me a little sad. Also for any of those who've read Leigh before you will be happy (sad?) to know that she still keeps the spice level very high.

The bad: for some reason, and I know this is going to sound weird, the sex talk between Rafer and Cami came off weird to me. I don't even know how I can explain it, if it was the rapidity with which they started having sex or how open Cami and Rafer were in explicitly stating what they wanted and how they wanted it, but somehow it just seemed very stilted to me. And this is me just coming on after Holly's The Assassins' Lover so I know it's not that I had a problem with the sex itself, but, but....I don't know! It just didn't work for me. 

Secondly I feel like there were quite a few times when I wanted to shake Rafer or at least slap him upside the head. When closing in on the end of the book he started questioning why she didn't tell him about the threatening phone calls and stuff with Jaymi I almost started yelling. She'd told him multiple times by this point, maybe not saying exactly what was said but that they had been happening before and were now, and he just hadn't considered it important! It's not Cami's fault you were being a dumb-dumb, and his insistence on trying to 'get to the bottom of things' later on was annoying.

There were generally some other inconsistencies throughout the book that for the most part I ignored, and feel to reveal here would be spoiler-y, but if you want a warning I'd head over to Amazon and read the reviews there. As much as I hate to say it, I can't argue with what they're saying so much.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - 1) Midnight Sins 2) Deadly Sins (2/28/2012)