Author: Marie Force
Series: Gansett Island #15
Release Date: May 23, 2016
My Rating: 5 Stars!
Erin has been stuck on pause since she lost her twin brother. She’ll tell you herself that her life has been a hot mess since Toby died. After dropping out of law school, she’s flitted from one pointless job to another, existing rather than truly living. Then she comes to Gansett Island to take over as the new lighthouse keeper and meets Slim, who happens to share her beloved brother’s first name. That small coincidence is enough to convince Erin that she needs to spend more time with the dashing pilot—except for the fact that he’s spending the winter more than a thousand miles from her.
Now Slim’s come home to Gansett for the holidays and to hopefully pick up where he left off with Erin. He’s got twelve days before he’s due back in Florida to finish out the remainder of his winter obligations. A lot can happen in twelve days, but will it be enough to convince Erin that it’s time to start truly living again? Read Slim and Erin’s story and catch up with the rest of the Gansett Island cast in Desire After Dark!
I will be completely honest, this book felt as if it was going to be a repetition of Meant for Love, Jenny's story. But I could not have been more wrong. Per usual, and I won't even pretend to be surprised just extremely delighted, Marie Force as offered up her amazing ability to create a fresh voice even when she's 15 books into this series. Her characters never disappoint, the stories always remain incredibly engaging and applause-worthy. Desire After Dark offered that and so much more.
I can't event begin to fathom how this book included everything it did. A story of two people: one who has had severe debilitating loss in her life, and the other who came along at the right time and just the right amount of sexy, understanding and is the all around perfect-for-her hero. Slim and Erin have an instant connection that morphs into something neither of them were expecting. They had committed themselves to single-hood, for different reasons, but when that fated night they met something changed. In the best of ways, in the forever kind of ways.
In this book you feel every ounce of Erin's heartbreak over the loss of her twin brother. But what soothes that ache is the utter perfection that is Slim, and the love and comfort he offers her which actually pushes her to face the fears she's been hiding from. What will also calm your aching reader heart when you read this book is Erin's relationship with Jenny. I don't think there's been such a connection between friends and family in this series as their is between these two. They have a connection that runs deeper than blood and it was really heart-warming to see them interact and cement their bond as family even though Toby is gone, and has been for 15 years.
In the end this book was simply amazing. I couldn't have loved it more. The hilarious antics of the Gansett crew are there in full force, but far from overshadow the importance and seriousness of Erin and Slim's time together. There are so many visits back to my other favorite couples and I devoured each glimpse into their lives post-HEA. This is truly the series that I wish would never end. I can never get enough of it, even 15 books later and I've got grabby hands for whatever is next.
Happy Reading!
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review
From the desk of MARIE FORCE
On 50 Books and 50 Years: Things I Know for Sure
This week marks a major milestone in my publishing career. Desire After Dark is my 50 th book, and it releases 17 days before my 50 th birthday. To those who would ask, I didn’t plan that. Like many things in this life, it just sort of worked out that way. I wish I could say I’d written a book a year, but in fact most of them have been written in the last five frantic years that have gone by like a flash.
I thought this 50-50 combination platter was a good time to reflect on what I’ve learned writing 50 books and living for a half century. (God, it sounds DREADFUL when I put it that way!) So in no particular order, here’s what I know for sure halfway through my life. Note to my kids: I intend to stick around for the entire second 50, so batten down the hatches.
1. I’m acutely and painfully aware that too many of my high school classmates didn’t live to be 50, so I’m thankful for every day I’ve spent on the right side of the ground. I’m not planning on indulging in a middle-age funk or crisis or anything like that because being 50 certainly beats the alternative.
2. I’ve accepted that my arms are never going to look like Michelle Obama’s guns. I’m learning to live with that and letting them out to see the world more often than I used to, taking comfort in the fact that they are still smaller than my thighs. I’ve also learned that eating salt and vinegar potato chips makes me happy, so I will continue to eat them in my second 50 years. This is nonnegotiable as is my relentless war against all forms of chin hair.
3. My mom had a magnet on her fridge declaring that FIFTY IS PRIME TIME. I believe that. This time next year, my youngest will graduate from high school and next fall he will head off to college, leaving his parents with now two empty bedrooms and hearts full of memories. In my fifties, I’ll be able to do just about anything I want any time I want. If that’s not PRIME TIME, I don’t know what is.
4. That said, being a mother has been the greatest thrill ride of my life. There is, simply, nothing better in my world than my two wonderful kids, who are both better people than I could ever hope to be. No matter what they do or don’t do or achieve, all I care about is that they are healthy and happy and productive. The rest is up to them, and I can’t wait to see what they get done while I sit in my tub and eat bon bons, knowing I was never a perfect mother, but I always tried to be a fun mom and I did my very best for them always.
5. Family is everything. Parents, siblings, cousins, close family, extended family—if you got lucky in the family department like I did, then you know what I mean. They know you better than anyone and don’t let you get away with anything, which is actually a good thing—until they tell people you look like Nick Nolte’s mug shot in the morning with photographic evidence to prove their point. I’m grateful for the brother who has traveled all but one year of this journey with me as well as our posse of cousins who made us feel like we had a huge family when it was only the two of us.
6. I honestly believe the outcome of your entire life can be determined by who you are born to. I was born to two of the best, and they are as much responsible for the life I have today as I am.
7. Friends who stick with you through bad times—and good—are worth holding on to. Everyone is there for the bad times. The ones who show up during the especially good times, who share in your joy selflessly and without reservation, are the people you want on your journey with you. I have been enormously blessed in the friend department.
8. I also got lucky in the husband department. We don’t always see eye to eye (what fun would that be?), but I always know I can count on him and so do our kids. He gives me Valentine’s Day cards that say things like “I’m still not sick of you,” which is the perfect sort of card for the nonromantic romance author. And his family is rather awesome, too.
9. I’m grateful every day for the series of fortunate events that led to my career as an author. If you had told me at 40 that THIS would be 50, I probably would’ve laughed myself senseless at your delusions of grandeur on my behalf. However… Here I am with 50 titles to my name, 5 million books sold, 22 times on the New York Times list, my closest friends and family members working with me, a new house that Mac McCarthy bought for my family and a life that five years after it happened still feels like a dream in progress. For that I thank the readers who’ve taken my books to heart and me along with them. You have made all of this happen, and I never lose sight of that fact. I’ve also learned that never allowing myself to be entirely satisfied with where I am at the moment can lead to new challenges that broaden and expand my sense of the possible.
10. I have learned that I can do just about everything right, be the best possible friend/family member/colleague/author (fill in your own blank) I know how to be, and it won’t be enough for some people. What I know at 50 is that I’ll never make everyone happy. I’ve learned to be okay with that and to know FOR SURE that if I can make myself and those who matter most to me a little happy every day, then I’m doing something right. And that is more than enough for me.
Here’s to the next 50 books and the next 50 years. As Sam Holland would say, bring it on.
Her goals in life are simple—to finish raising two happy, healthy, productive young adults, to keep writing books for as long as she possibly can and to never be on a flight that makes the news.
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