Saving Midnight (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

SYNOPSIS:
This final segment of the Fitz Clare Chronicles trilogy finds the Fitz Clare family members on separate continents trying to put a stop to the power-mad rogue vampires Frank and Li Hua. Those two have managed to get their hands on an artifact which is capable of stealing human souls. Each soul they take makes them stronger and pushes them closer to being too powerful for even the strongest vampire to stop.

OPINION:
My goodness what in the world happened? I have been a firm advocate for both Kissing Midnight (Upyr) (book one) and Breaking Midnight (Berkley Sensation) (book two) but I wasn't prepared for this cartoonish novel with no artwork but loads of sex. I couldn't believe this Perils of Pauline look-alike was written by the same author who wrote the first two books. The main characters of Edmund Fitz Clare and his fiancee Estelle remain in England for almost the entire book while Edmund goes through some bizarre tormented angst which amounts to a hill of beans. When Estelle finally manages to get him to tell her what his problem is we get the equivalent of "get over it" as her best advice and he is miraculously free from torment. All to keep those characters out of the picture while everyone else descends on America in pursuit of Frank and Li Hua who have become the vampire equivalent of Bonnie and Clyde, only they steal souls as well as money. We go tearing around the U. S. from a Charleston, South Carolina plantation to the Chicago World's Fair to the Rocking L Ranch outside Amarillo, Texas with plenty of stops along the way. In all of these travels Ms Holly has us experience everything happening in the United States in 1934. It felt like a history lesson gone very, very bad. All while this merry band took turns driving the 1933 Chrysler DeSoto here, there and everywhere. Oops, vampires have to sleep during the day remember so places had to be found for the group to hole up while the vampires slept. Evidently the humans never needed to.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I said, out loud mind you, You've got to be kidding me! No, sorry, no such luck. And the sex. Just don't even get me started about all the times this story was interrupted at a totally inappropriate time and place in the action for the couples to have action of their own. My standard reaction became total boredom and skipping over those parts. The plot was annoying me enough without adding the sex scenes. Note to self: Do not read books which have too many couples who are all depicted as having many sexual encounters! In point of fact, I do not feel that this book was a well written book. The cadence of the sentence structure felt different. There was too much American history lesson thrown in. The author slipped into 2009 vernacular instead of keeping it in 1934 phrasing. In places you could almost feel the author's mind working to put in an unwieldy explanation to tie up yet another improbable situation. I also think that this book would be unsatisfactory to anyone who doesn't already know the story from the two previous books. The tie-in between this book and the other two was not nearly as well done as from book one to book two.

RECOMMENDATION:
No. Plain and simple, no. Now, if you want to read it to finish out the trilogy, be my guest since that is certainly your right. I thought it was dreadful. I'm seriously disappointed. It took me almost 4 whole days to force myself to read an Emma Holly book and I even skipped over parts. Unheard of!!

Based on the review by myotherself, I was hesitant to continue the Fitz Clare Chronicles, fearing it was as bad as the review said it was. Thankfully my love for the trilogy and my need to finish things I begin, I gamely pressed on to purchase Saving Midnight--and I thoroughly enjoyed it (and it taught me a lesson to remember that everyone comes to a book with different expectations). Granted, I love book one Kissing Midnight (Upyr) the best because I love the pairing of Edmund and Estelle, but Saving Midnight wraps up most of the dangling threads woven in the first two books.

As with all trilogies, the last book could be considered emotionally weaker than the beginning and middle segments of the tale. And this is partly true with Saving Midnight, which keeps it from being a four or five star book. Yes, Edmund does spend most of his on-screen time brooding and emoting, but if you've followed the entire Upyr series, he has reason for his fears and his past to fully release themselves upon his psyche at this time. Yes, the American setting does come across heavy-handedly, but no more so than Holly's descriptions of 1930s Britain & Europe--but the writing is so fluid and upbeat, it handily covers the occasional awkward drop of history into the narrative. As for the sex, it's no more crazily placed than in any other Holly book. And with Holly's special brand of sweet erotica, the sex may be set-up, but the emotions and the characters are real.

However, lest you think my review consists of rebutting the review of myotherself, I must say my biggest disappointment is that the series was only three books long. Holly ends the book on a monumental cliffhanger that hopefully bodes well for more FitzClare novels--though since everyone is pretty much paired up, they will be more along the lines of romantic historical paranormal suspense erotica (try that on the spine!)--which I don't mind as I am fascinated by the interwar period and would love for there to be more historical romances set in this period. In closing, I enjoyed Saving Midnight as a savory and fitting end to a feast, with a bunch of great romance and great sex to spice things up.

You hit it on the head! I like Emma Holly for her smooth plots, exciting detail, and vivid, believable erotic writing. But this book! I had the same reaction--What happened??? The awkward phrasing, awkward plotting, and unrealistic sex scenes were so irritating that I could not finish it.

Ms. Holly is generally such an excellent writer that I am more disappointed than if I hadn't become accustomed to her (previously) incredible writing. I hope she gets back to her usual excellence with her next book!