Clearer in the Night

NEW ADULT/PARANORMAL:  “Clearer in the Night” takes place in the small town of Meredith Falls.  Cait has lost her place in life after the tragic deaths of her father and sister. Her mother turns to the bottle to deal with her grief while Cait finds her oblivion in men whose last names she never knows. This changes when her dead sister wakes her up in the middle of the woods. As if that weren't enough, soon she is being wooed by two different and very delicious men. Then, there are voices in her head. Not to mention the inner wolf inside of her, and it’s far from metaphorical.

“Clearer in the Night” starts out strong with the original voice of a troubled woman who accepts that she’s messed up and has no clear way to steer out of the cesspool her life has become. The tortured Cait brings a realistic, gritty bite to the book. Wes is the dark charmer while Eli is the light, good boy. They both have so much to offer in their own ways. The writing is engaging, but the first person narrative that initially gave the story its intimacy spends too much time exploring other people’s thoughts and too much telling the characters' own as opposed to showing.

The author provides the readers with obvious hints that things aren’t what they seem and yet mind-reader Cait misses all of them, at first. This is typical for paranormal - not the mind-reading, but characters missing information. It ratchets up the tension.

The book will appeal to paranormal romance readers who want steam with their goose bumps.

Morgan Stamm