Review: Blame it on the Night by Shara Lanel

Title: Blame it on the Night
Series: #2
Author: Shara Lanel     Website | Facebook | Twitter
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (November 15, 2011)

Human/werewolf relations were forbidden. Guy’s father had made that clear years ago, but Guy had come very close to disobeying with naïve, teenage Olivia. He’d barely kept his body under control, as he’d held her during her first shocking orgasm. Years later, on edge with anger, grief, and the pull of the moon, Guy knows she’s the last person he needs near him.

Olivia is overcome with humiliation at the mere thought of seeing Guy again, though he’s starred in all of her fantasies over the past several years, but she refuses to leave his doorstep until he answers her questions about her missing sister and the dead body found on his property. Problem is, he’s ordering her to leave while blocking the door, telling her to get lost while pinning her between his hard body and the table, saying he doesn’t know what he’s doing while his every touch takes Olivia closer to heaven.

Sometimes forbidden love is worth the risk, but sometimes it leads to revenge and murder.

Blame it on the Night is a dark, grity, sexy mystery about a shifter and the woman he really should stay away from. It’s sensual, it’s exciting and it’s nonstop. There are a lot of really awesome things about this book that I would suggest someone read it for, but on the flip side, this book did push a few of my buttons. So with that said, keep in mind that not every book is for every person.

Things I liked about the book? It was both exciting and sexy. A lot of erotic romances like this have a little bit of action tossed in around the sex. Not this book! There’s action, from fights to murders to the mystery and all the odd places Guy and Olivia end up at. There’s always something going on, and I loved that. The mystery elements of it were so good. Usually I can figure out who did it a third of the way through the book, but this time I maybe figured it out a page ahead of when the lovely author clued the reader in. It was frustrating and fantastic! This is of course a situation where frustrating your reader is a good thing. Wanting to know who the murderer was and what would happen next kept me really involved.

This is a follow up to a previous book. I read this one without having read it, so I can say that the book stands on it’s own and reading Blame it on the Moon isn’t necessary. That said, I really liked the characters that were brought over from that book. The continuation of Kitty and Haden’s story was touching and sweet. I highly doubt that their book was a ‘sweet’ book, but you see this couple together and continuing their lives together. I really liked them.

Things I wasn’t crazy about? There’s a sexual act performed, remembered or fantasized about in every almost every chapter. For the first half of the book it was, for the most part, titillating and did what it was supposed to. But after the first half of the book, it got a little monotone. This is a case where, for me, less would have been more. If you like a book with a lot of creative, sexual play, this is it. Pick it up now, because you’ll love it. I wound up so invested in the plot I wanted to skip past the bumpy cuddle scenes.

These next bits are things that I realize are personal hot buttons of mine, so take all of this with a spoonful of salt.

There are scenes with a supporting character, I won’t say who or what the circumstances are, that are graphic and violent in nature. They also feature BDSM practices in a non-safe context. This rubbed me wrong two ways. First, the graphic nature of these scenes was done with just as much detail as the ones that are supposed to turn you on. These had the opposite effect and made me a little queasy reading them. I get that this supporting character thinks she’s in love with one of the evil baddies and that she wants him to do these things to her, and alluding to them or catching a glimpse of them is one thing, that much detail made me want to put the book down. I don’t read forced seduction, and this aspect of the book really turned me off. I’ll own up that it’s a personal thing, and it might not bother another reader, but for me, it would have been a deal breaker if I’d bought the book on my own.

The book comes with a BDSM advisory, and rightly so. BDSM should never be practiced in a non-safe environment. But, the characters treated it like only the sick and depraved could like that kind of lifestyle. It’s not for everyone. What I was really disappointed with was the way the BDSM practices were used by the villain. Again, it’s a personal thing, but having the big baddie being a BDSM Dominant and abusing their relationship with the submissive was disappointing.

I gave this book 3 stars. It was an exciting read, with a lot going on. There are subplots and storylines and stuff going on all over the place. But it had a certain squick factor that isn’t for me. If graphic violence and lots of sex don’t bother you, this is a book for you that you’ll enjoy and probably reread because the plot is so great and the mystery is that compelling.