Wake to Darkness by Maggie Shayne

		Wake to Darkness (A Brown and De Luca Novel) by Maggie Shayne Edition: Mass Market Paperback Price: $7.19
Good Follow Up Novel, February 2, 2014 Book Description Publication Date: December 1, 2013 Stranded with a murderer…  Rachel de Luca's uncanny sense of perception is the key to her success as a self-help celebrity. Even before she regained her sight, she had a gift for seeing people's most carefully hidden secrets. But the secret she shares with Detective Mason Brown is one she has promised to keep. As for Mason, he sees Rachel more clearly than she'd like to admit.  After a single night of adrenaline-fueled passion, they have agreed to keep their distance—until a string of murders brings them together again. Mason thinks that he can protect everyone he loves, including Rachel, by taking them to a winter hideaway, but danger follows them up the mountain.  As guests disappear from the snowbound resort, the race to find the murderer intensifies. Rachel knows she's a target. Will acknowledging her feelings for Mason destroy her—or save them both and stop a killer? Although I don't think that this book is as good as the first one Sleep With the Lights On (A Brown and De Luca Novel) which seemed more like a horror/suspense novel. This offering seemed more like a romantic/ suspense than anything else. Don't get me wrong, it still gripped me by the throat but it didn't have me at the edge of my chair chewing on my nails while frantically flipping pages to see what was going to happen next. I love how the characters are even more fully developed, but that the romantic aspect is taking its time to play out. I appreciate the delicacy of this since I sometimes think that a great story does not always have to have a lot of blatant sex, as though the author had nothing better to add to the story and was just upping her/his word count. After 20 years of being blind, Rachel is going to have her first sighted Christmas and she is looking forward to it, until yet another murderer starts chasing after the organ recipients from the last book. So now, Rachel and her brood escape secretively up to a ritzy mountain ski resort...but the murder follows them there. Is it going to be a traditional white Christmas or will it be a Christmas drenched in blood for Rachel? This very satisfying read had me gaping in shock once I learned the whodunit aspect. However, as I said, it just did not grab me as much as the first novel did. I miss Rachel's inner `witch' now that she is starting to believe in the "airy-fairy" stuff she writes! Happy Reading!