Night Is Mine by M. L. Buchman

MLBuchman-Night is MineI have very mixed feelings about Night is Mine by M. L. Buchman. There were times that I seriously considered giving up on it. Despite that, I stuck with it and though I was never completely smitten with the plotline or the characters, the more I think about the story as a whole now, the more I like it.

First in a thrilling military romantic suspense series based on the real-life elite helicopter pilots who transport Navy SEALs and Delta Force teams in and out of combat and covert missions. (SOAR are the heroes of Black Hawk Down.)

Buchman’s heroine flys the most dangerous military ops and tries to find the one man who can be a hero in her own life. Ace-pilot Captain Emily Beale goes undercover as bodyguard to the First Lady, with her rugged commander, Major Mark Henderson, who is determined to cover her back. Can she learn to keep her desire at bay before her covert mission implodes?

There was nothing innately wrong with Night Is Mine, but I could barely read a chapter at a time in the beginning. But like I said, I stuck with it, and after about 150 pages the plot started picking up and sort of sucked me into the story. The rest of the plot wasn’t that engrossing, yet it hooked me enough that I did want to see how it ended, if that makes sense.

I learned more about helicopters and flying then I ever thought I would know or even willingly read about. It was important information, especially to Emily and Mark, who were constantly flying. (And I do want to give major kudos to Buchman for doing all of that research.) Yet, the timing of when the information was given was always off. For example in the middle of a battle scene when the enemy was shooting at them, I don’t want to know the intimate details of the helicopter. It detracted from the intensity of the battle.

There was an interesting love rectangle going on in Night Is Mine. Of course, there was the hot chemistry between Emily and Mark. Then there was Peter, also known as the President of the United States, who was Emily’s childhood love, and whom she kind of sort of still loved. Not to mention Peter’s wife, the First Lady, who wanted to sleep with Mark, not that he returned the feelings. On the one hand, the rectangle was different from a triangle and interesting/unique in that sense. On the other hand, it kind of felt like everyone wanted to sleep with everyone else – and that was annoying.

Emily had a tough-as-nails, take-no-shit persona that she used around her team or flying a helicopter. As soon as she was on her own, though, she lost that persona to self-doubt. When it came to Peter, she practically turned into jello; molding herself into whatever she thought he would want to see her as. It was annoying. I wanted her to be tough and kickass and she only was about half the time.

Mark was the very definition of tall, dark and brooding at the beginning of Night Is Mine. Then he turned into tall, dark and full of hormones. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when a man is crazy about a woman and chases her across the globe to see if their spark can turn into a bonfire. I just thought it was stange that a man who was so adament about following the rules, would throw them all out the window after one kiss.

Overall, there was nothing about Night Is Mine that really made me hate it but there wasn’t really anything that made me love it either. I will try to read something else by M. L. Buchman in the future, in the hopes that I don’t have another “meh” response to it.

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!