The Life & Times of a Book Addict: Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh

Synopsis:

Point, click, die.
When two hikers disappear, their hometown in Maine blames the blinding storms. But the truth is far more sinister. Unaware of the danger, tabloid photographer Jayne Sullivan follows an anonymous tip to find the most reclusive sculptor in the art world. Instead, she finds sexy handyman Reed Kimball—and a small town full of fatal secrets.
Five years ago, Reed buried his homicide detective career along with his wife. But when a hiker is found dead, the local police chief asks Reed for help. Why was a Celtic coin found under the body? And where is the second hiker? Avoiding the media, Reed doesn’t need a murder, a missing person, or a nosey photographer. Then Jayne is attacked, and her courage is his undoing.
Reed must risk everything to protect her - and find a cunning killer.

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I was in the mood for a a little romance\suspense action and I came across Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh. It had been sitting on my e-book shelf for about a week calling my name, so I decided to try it out.

This story begins with Jayne Sullivan attempting to track down an artist/sculptor who no one has seen by the name of R.S. Morgan for a tabloid paper she occasionally takes pictures for.

She ends up in the town of Huntsville. A small town where everyone knows each other. She plans on exploring the town and striking up conversation with the locals to see if they know anything. While out, she notices something strange. Unsure of what it might be, she snaps a picture to look at later. No big deal. However, it isn't long before Jayne attracts some unwanted attention and her life is put in grave danger.
Especially when the person who sets their sights on Jayne, is not your run of the mill bad buy, but a person who practices magic in the old ways of the Celtic religion (a.k.a: A Druid).
This sleepy little town, is anything but…

“Someone in this perfect little town had a deep dark side. The well-kept houses, the Christmas lights, the wreaths, the picket fences, it all felt like a lie. Under the quaint small-town facade lurked something evil.”
-Melinda Leigh, Midnight Exposure

What I liked:
I liked that the mystery part of the story was not easy to figure out. I have to admit that I thought I had the bad guy figured out by the 5th or 6th chapter, but I was thrown for a loop and it turned out I was wrong.
This story kept me guessing, which I loved.

What I did not:
For some reason, I was just not sold on the romance aspect of the story. It seemed like the author was trying to portray this big connection/instant attraction between Jayne and Reed that I was not feeling. It felt like it was lacking something for me.

Final thoughts:
Midnight Exposure was a good story to get into. My attention was grabbed within the first chapter. The story flowed well. Something was always happening, I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next and who the stalker/murderer was.
To my surprise the story did not completely wrap up at the end. That killed me! Melinda Leigh left me on the edge of my seat, wondering what is going to occur next. Thankfully I do not have to wait very long because the second book, Midnight Sacrifice is supposed to be released on April 16, 2013.

Rating: 3½ out of 5.

Buy:

Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound | Powells