Picked up this book to get Mac & Henry's backstory. Fiona is a great heroine who has to overcome having something utterly horrific that happened to her. Trace also has personal issues to overcome. It was a perfectly fine romantic story.

But I could have done without the subtle monogamous misogyny that kept cropping up. e.g. How everything in nature comes in pairs (nope), how women are not whole unless they have children, how going childless is a betrayal of your mother. Despite the magical setting, I was getting some Christian fundy vibes from the book, which ruined a lot of my enjoyment of it. The overbearing men of Fiona's family was enough to convince me I don't want to read the rest of the series this book is a part of. ( )

The heroine, a time traveler and once embodying the form of a hawk after she was raped and died giving birth to the baby, is terrified of men and is shy and horribly insecure. Her brothers, in a bid to see her return to her old self and gain some independence send her off to board with the hero in his run down house by the sea. The hero, a product of an abusive father and just returning from Afghanistan is a recluse who wants nothing to do with anything magic related or the skittish mouse thrust upon him. He is surly and sarcastic and threatens to burn down the house if the heroine doesn't cease arranging his things and disturbing his life. After a few weeks to being complete strangers and never actually meeting, they are forced to work with each other to fight the demons coming to the shore. The heroine is rather quickly taken with the hero. I think this is because he makes no attempt gain her attention sexually until well into the book. For a rape victim, she wants nothing to do with men but the hero is different. She wants to make his happy so she cooks for him and cleans up even though, funny enough, that's the last thing he wants her to do. The hero wants nothing to with her because he is attracted to her and that's not something he needs. He's terrified of being like his father and with the heroine acting so much like his abused mother, he struggles to understand and deal with the idea that he may be in love with her. I thought this was a good book with a deeper character map than some of the other books in the series. The heroine finds her backbone but she is still that timid shy woman for the most part and I liked that. Just because a woman is strong and independent doesn't mean she has to be sassy or diva. I loved the hero as he was most relocate to participate in any magic situation thrown his direction but never hesitated to defend himself and those in trusted in his care. I felt the ending was a bit weird and rushed and I didn't like the Poseidon guy or Mac in particular, but I can say that I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. I had feelings and flaws and heartbreak but it had love in the two characters as well. ( )

Waited for sex until the very end and actually kind of built a relationship up first. ;-) I think that Mac will be up next for a story. I do enjoy her world she has created. ( )

Enjoyable paranormal story with exciting action that had its funny moments but I think the otherworldly aspects overshadowed the romance and the main characters resisted relationship too much. Fiona who was once a hawk, moves into apartment above Trace's house.
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Trace Huntsman has a new tenant living upstairs in his ramshackle house, a young woman from the eleventh century, who's brother is a wizard and she's dealing with a lot of memories from 1000 years ago. Fiona is keeping her distance from Trace and she tries to get used to the 21st century, with all it's new customs, but the two are drawn to one another anyway. I found this story of Trace and Fiona slow and plodding and it took forever for me to get through it. I just didn't really get into them and it took so long for either one of them to admit they were into each other. Both have baggage to get over, obliquely described, so I just didn't get into their heads well enough to care. Characters from the earlier books in the series pop in and out of this one often, which left me confused more than once, trying to remember exactly who was who. Overall, I think I'm done with the people of Midnight Bay. ( )