REVIEW: Breaking Daylight by M. J. Fredrick

ISBN 978-1-60504-869-7

Genre: Romantic Suspense

(c) 2010, Samhain Publishing

M. J. Fredrick's website

Rating: 3.5 stars

Buy Links (ebook): Samhain Publishing, Barnes and Noble Ebook

"All the ingredients for a good romantic suspense are here! A sexy, tortured hero, a drug lord villain and the beautiful, gutsy heroine."

On a mission to hunt down drug kingpin Santiago Saldana, Alex Shepard instead rescued Saldana's mistress, Isabella Canales. His orders were to keep close to her in case she led him to Saldana, but Alex found it hard to ignore the attraction that flared between them. Yet he fought it, because he believed her to be the same as his mother, a woman who put pleasure over everything that was right and decent.

As for Isabella, she had been Saldana's prisoner for over four years, but Alex didn't believe it. His words and the way he thought of her hurt, but she forced herself not to care, not if it meant getting out alive and being able to retrieve her most precious possession.

Because of what Isabella had been over the past four years, it wasn't easy to like her at first. She whored for Saldana, not because she was willing, but because she was essentially trapped. In a sense, we are seeing a woman who would do anything to survive and to protect her own. As I read, I thought of the women who were probably in the same situation--trapped because they had no other way of making a living, of making it through to the next day except to sell themselves. And it made me uneasy.

However, Isabella also proved herself to be strong, courageous and smart in the face of danger, willing to do anything to get what she wanted most. (Sorry, can't say what, as it would be a spoiler. I think.) She did have her TSTL moments initially, especially when she and Alex were still in the jungle. When a ranger (Alex) tells you to be quiet, he has a reason. When he tells you to stay put, he has a reason. You don't go talking just because you can't stand the silence and you don't go barging into unknown potentially dangerous situations, especially when in the previous village you came to, all the people were shot dead by Saldana's men. I'm glad to see though that she wised up over the course of the story and even learned to hold her own against the bad guys by thinking what Alex would have done.

Alex is a man mired in his past, which was the basis for his rejection of Isabella. I like that he has a good relationship with his adopted father, and that he didn't hesitate to open up his problems to his parent.

M.J. Fredrick's writing is understated, which is both good and bad, in my opinion. Good because she doesn't dumb down the reader. She describes the action and a little bit of the character's emotion and lets the reader fill in the rest with her imagination. On the other hand, this kind of writing creates a distance between the characters and the reader. For example, I would've loved to know more of what Alex was feeling when he finally realized he was in love with Isabella rather than just reading that he grinned and threw his hands up in the air. I get that he's happy, there are the outward signs after all. But what was he feeling inside? Was his happiness a joy that expanded his heart and overflowed? Or was it a gentle, quiet one that brought peace? Also, the action/suspense scenes could do with a little more excitement, especially the last one, since it's the biggie scene with the bad guy there and all.

Note that I'm not a writing expert, but merely a reader who tries to articulate what she felt while reading. That said, there's a solid plot here, with an unexpected villain and real emotions. There were also unexpected moments of humor that I appreciated. I would definitely want to read more of M.J. Fredrick's works.

Buy Links (ebook): Samhain Publishing, Barnes and Noble Ebook

*Note: This review copy is provided by the author.