Midnight by Ellen Conner (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Three years of wandering the postapocalyptic wasteland has stripped Dr. Chris Welsh of hope. A harrowing loss drove him from his home, and he hasn't stopped moving-until he encounters Valle de Bravo, a haven of civilization amid the chaos of the Change. Soldiers take their orders from Rosa Cortez-the iron hand within a velvet glove. The last thing Rosa needs is a feral loner upsetting the town's tentative balance. However, for the good of her people, she lets Chris stay, and as bloodthirsty raiders strike again and again, Chris and Rosa battle hellhounds and dust pirates while also fighting desperate attraction. To save them, love must overcome the pain of the past-and build a future in this brutal Dark Age..."

My Thoughts:

Last year the first book in this apocalyptic trilogy was on my top ten reads for the year (or was that two years ago? I can't remember...).  Anyways, the point I was trying to make is that I went into reading this book with high hopes because I loved Nightfall so much!  This book turned out to be just as fast-paced and intense as I had hoped even if it didn't quite match the love that I felt for Nightfall!

From the very beginning I found that I had a hard time putting this book down.  I was just that hooked into the storyline almost instantaneously!  This book focuses on Chris, a secondary character from the previous book, who is trying to deal with everything that he has been through since the world changed.  I really liked that this second book was focused on his character as things hadn't ended the best for him in the previous story.  I was looking forward to him getting a chance at finding happiness while also learning more about his character.  The authors of this book did a great job of allowing for me to connect not only with Chris but also with Rosa even though they were both closed off individuals who didn't like to share their feelings.  It made it that much better in my opinion when they came together at certain points in the book.  I loved it!  This book focused less on how the world had changed and more on how people were coping with these changes.  I found this worked really well for me as I liked seeing how people were dealing with the aftermath of everything that had happened in book one.  This book highlighted the struggles that the town and people faced on a daily basis just trying to survive.  It made the book that much more intense!  But really, the romance that develops between Rosa and Chris is what really made this book such an enjoyable read.  I loved watching them try to figure out whether they could trust one another.  Overall, I just really liked their characters which meant that I spent the majority of the book hoping they would find their happy ending.

Because I have enjoyed both books in this trilogy, I now have really high expectations for the final book.  I'm also sad because I don't want to see this trilogy end as I love how intense these books are!  Combine that with romance and you have a winning combination in my opinion!  This book was a really great follow-up to Nightfall, and also helped to cement my need for more books just like this.  Well, maybe not exactly like this, but I am definitely going to be on the lookout for similar sounding reads!  I would recommend these books easily but start with the first book as it is a must in my opinion.  A reader could start here with this second book but they would definitely be missing out when it comes to details on the world that the authors have created.  Recommended, recommended, recommended!!

Bottom Line:  A trilogy that I just can't seem to get enough of!  I need more books like this in my life!

Disclosure:  Checked out from my local library.  Thoughts are my own :)

Has anyone read these books yet?  Can you recommend to me other romantic suspense books that might be similar?  I'm open to any and all suggestions!!

And if you are interested my thoughts on Nightfall are here.