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My Review:Title: Survive the Night
Author: Diana Duncan
Series: 24 Hours - Final Countdown #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: October 3, 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 262
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:
Blurb:Life—and love—hang in the balance.
Bookworm Bailey Chambers is a pacifist who believes there’s good in everyone. Falling for daring SWAT door-kicker Conall O’Rourke wasn’t in her plan. A glimpse of Con’s risky, violent job scares Bailey into breaking up with him…just when he was about to propose to her.
Con never surrenders, and is determined to woo, win, and wed the woman he loves. After all, he smashes barricades for a living. But he can’t win this battle with his usual weapons. Sidelined to await the outcome while Bailey fights to slay her fears is the hardest thing Con’s ever done.
When the couple are trapped in a deserted mall with a crew of ruthless bank robbers—who’ve taken their friends hostage—they must work together to overcome formidable odds.
As the clock ticks toward the final countdown, Bailey and Con each offer the ultimate sacrifice, desperate to ensure the other will survive the night.
But even if they live…will the terrifying battle be the final kill shot that dooms their relationship?
Just 24 hours can change your life.
Book 1 of 4 in the "24 Hours - Final Countdown" Series.
Previously published as Midnight Hero.
4 stars — After rereading book 2 in this series, I *had* to go back and reread the first one. There’s something about the whole premise of being trapped in a mall, trying to foil bad guys that just appeals to me. And I almost wonder if I enjoyed it even more the second time around, but since I didn’t write an initial review, I guess I’ll never know. Either way, this was just entertaining.
Obviously you can tell I enjoyed the action plot — I mean, the evil guys are super evil, there’s a lot of little action/suspense moments riddled throughout, not just the big one at the end. You get to watch Con and Bailey’s relationship grow and shift as they struggle through this crisis together. And I loved the bizarre and ingenious solutions they come up with to different problems — from makeshift weapons, to ways to communicate, to ways to survive. I have no idea how realistic they are, but they felt realistic, you know?
Bailey is a pretty easy to like heroine for me. You can tell she has damage, and it’s frustrating, but you know deep down she’s a good person and she doesn’t want to hurt anyone…she’s just letting her fear overcome her. And wow, when she gets sassy, she gets sassy!
And then there’s Conall…damn, that is a hero for me. I absolutely loved how he wasn’t a SWAT stereotype. He definitely had a hero complex to a degree, but he wasn’t all aggressive and alpha and all that shiznit. He was that perfect balance of alpha and beta. He was confident, sexily proficient at his job, had wonderful control…but he was also very tender hearted, romantic, sweet, passionate. I loved that in him we see a hero who can be both.
And the two of them together were really intriguing. I loved how they tried to help each other become better, how even though they struggled, they had the best intentions. And they were pretty hot together too. I also loved their playful banter, it made me giggle.
About the only thing I was less a fan of was sometimes the writing would get a bit long and drawn out — especially during internal monologues. When Bailey was trying to analyze things, I kinda wanted to skim, and probably did to a degree. The pacing just slowed down from time to time.
So yeah. An odd book to read during a Canadian “heat wave”, but definitely the reading pick me up I was looking for.
It’s fun when a re-read contributes to more re-reading. Glad this series is holding up for you!