Sleep With the Lights On (Brown and de Luca #1) by Maggie Shayne

[Eva Millien]

Blurb:

(Off Goodreads)

Through the eyes of a killer

Rachel de Luca has found incredible success writing self-help books. But her own blindness and the fact that her troubled brother has gone missing have convinced her that positive thinking is nothing but bull. Her cynicism wavers when a cornea transplant restores her sight. The new eyes seem to give her new life, until they prove too good to be true and she starts seeing terrifying visions of brutal murders crimes she soon learns are all too real.

Detective Mason Brown's own brother recently died, leaving behind a horrific secret. In atonement, Mason donated his brother's organs, though he's kept the fact quiet. Now he wants to help Rachel find her brother, but when he discovers the shocking connection between her visions and his own brother, he suddenly has to do everything in his power to save her from a predator who is somehow still hunting from beyond the grave.

My Review:

The first book in the romantic suspense Brown and de Luca series is an intriguing and mesmerizing read. Rachel de Luca is a successful self help author despite being blind and she can’t believe her good fortune when she’s granted new life with a cornea transplant, but her new eyes prove to be too good to be true when she starts having terrifying visions of brutal murders.  Detective Mason Brown is trying to atone for his recently deceased brothers horrific secret in helping Rachel find her missing brother but then he learns of the shocking connection to his brother and he suddenly has to do everything in his power to her from a predator who is still hunting from the grave.

This steady pace plot keeps the reader in spine tingling suspense throughout the story with each new chilling development in the case of several missing young men. The tension builds throughout as the danger escalates and there is lots of surprising twists that keep the reader on their toes.  The characters are strong, compelling and easily related to, grabbing the reader’s attention from the very beginning. 

The romance slowly builds throughout the story with a little bit of sex that sizzles with passion, but the romance between Mason and Rachel is just beginning and has a long way to go.  The author brings the characters to life with vibrant intensity making it easy for the reader to get caught up in their story.  But the main focus that really draws the reader in is the fascinating but horrifying concept that could be supernatural in origin and really gets the reader wondering what if.

Overall I really enjoyed this riveting story and couldn’t put it down once I started it. There were a couple of small instances that seemed out of sync, but they were easily ignored  and of course I really have to read the next book to find out what happens next and what going on with Rachel and Mason.

4 1/2 STARS 3 FLAMES

Purchase Links:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleep-with-the-lights-on-maggie-sha...

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sleepwiththelightson-12526...

http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Lights-Brown-Luca-Novel/dp/0778315541/r...

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sleep-with-the-lights-on

http://www.bookdepository.com/Sleep-with-Lights-on-Maggie-Shayne/97...

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/sleep-with-the-lights-on/978077...

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/sleep-with-the-lights-on/978146...

http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=gKklkrdXmyAC&dq=%22Maggie+Sha...

Brown and de Luca series:

1.5 

2. 

# 3 Innocent Prey (coming 9-30-14)

About Maggie Shayne:

(Off author’s site)

Maggie Shayne is best known as the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels, nearly 30 novellas, a former soap writer, (The Guiding Light, As the World Turns,) a former advice columnist (Shayne on You,) and RITA Award winner. But what’s less known about her is that she’s been a practicing Witch for almost as long as she’s been a published author.

Known within the Craft of the Wise as LadyHawk the Mythmaker, Maggie studied in the Black Forest Circle Seminary for three years, earning her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree elevations there. A licensed minister of Wicca, Maggie was later made a Craft Elder, and co-founded a new Wiccan tradition called RavenMyst Circle. Her coven, The Coven of the Redtail Hawk, turned out five new high priestesses, several of whom went on to form covens of their own, and making Maggie, according to the Old Ways, A Witch Queen.

While The Portal series is entirely fictional, and necessarily brimming with special effects, any portions of the stories pertaining to the actual practices and teachings of witchcraft are entirely authentic. Due to the oathbound nature of some Wiccan rites several of the spells and other rituals, particularly rituals of Initiation and elevation, have been altered, abbreviated, or are deliberately vague. These rites are revealed only to Initiated Witches who reach the appropriate levels of study in traditional Wiccan Covens.

If learning about real witchcraft is your goal, I’ll soon be releasing a nonfiction book, The Magick of the Witches, on that very topic. (Watch this site.) In the meantime, I strongly recommend books by Silver RavenWolf, Scott Cunningham, Dorothy Morrison, Gail Wood, and others, which will give you all the information you need to to decide if it’s the path for you, and to begin your own solitary practice.

Where to find the author:

http://maggieshayne.com/

http://www.maggiesblissblog.com/

http://www.facebook.com/MaggieShayneAuthor

http://twitter.com/maggieshayne

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064.Maggie_Shayne

https://plus.google.com/113632267245585012530/posts

Books by Maggie Shayne:

http://maggieshayne.com/books/