I gotta say, I was nervous when I started this one. The first half was so very very slow and I was so very very bored. See, I can't tell if (at 50%) the book actually got really good or if taking a break in the middle to read Lover at Last shook me out of my funk. Either way, the second half of this book was incredibly exciting. I couldn't put it down!

Dark of Night is the conclusion of the Deck/Sophia/Dave triangle that has been on going now for a while. It also happened to bring a long needed peace with Tess and Nash. AND! We got a little more Robin and Jules, and Sam and Alyssa too. :) And any time Sam Starrett is involved in the story you know you're gonna find yourself chuckling. He's almost as funny as my boyfriend Izzy.

So for you people who don't like spoilers, the gist of my review is going to be 'YAY, really really good read!'

Now, Spoilers ahead!

Who here read my last review? And my theory and hopes for that triangle mentioned above? Guess what! I was half right! I was also half wrong, haha. Sophia has come to her senses and realized that the man of her dreams is standing right next to her, holding her up and supporting her. She's opened her eyes and discovered that Dave Malkoff is exactly what she's looking for, even if she didn't realize what exactly it was she wanted.

"Shhh," he told her, silencing her with a kiss. "That's for the future, okay? Right now, let's just show our baby how much her daddy loves her mommy."

Dave is a MAN. He's not afraid of his emotions, he's not afraid to love, and he's not afraid to hold tightly for as long as he can and then let go if that's what she needs. His goal is not to make Sophia his, his goal is to make Sophia happy. So even if only half of my wishes came true, I'm so incredibly glad that it was this one and that Dave and Sophia were written in the Troubleshooter Stars.

Which leads to the half I was wrong about... I really thought that Deck was going to wind up with Jo the Shrink. I mean, I saw all the signs in the last book. The kiss, the pink nightie, the vampire trash novels... well now I realize that it was just a well placed red heron. Brockmann snuck up behind us while we were looking over here <---, and she brought Tracy Shapiro in from behind and sucker punched us. I mean sure, the scenes between them before were funny, but I never even questioned if she would be connected to Deck. See but the thing is that I think Brockmann knew all along. She just led us on a winding journey to get to the end. And I loved it! Tracy was absolutely perfect for uptight, prudish Decker!

There's nothing wrong with you." Tracy said again. "Except for the fact that your inner prude has been shouting at you for years, telling you that you're screwed up. You've got to bring the logical part of your brain into the mix. Because how can there be a right or a wrong way to have sex? I mean, psycho-killers aside, there's just NOT. The only question that you need to be worried about is 'Honey, do you like it when I do that?' If the answer's yes, game on."

Who'da thought that underneath all that repression you had a man with a fetish. Tracy and Deck rocked the pages. They burned it up. Tracy and Deck were my favorite part of this book. The passionate arguing, the barely restrained lust... It was HOT. I hung on every single paragraph. Tracy and Deck even made me cry! And not just a drip, or a tear, I mean wiping my face and sobbing. Oh Deck, the secret you've been hiding... the pain that you must have felt to not be able to share the burden you carried. It was just another moment where I honestly felt that Tracy was perfect for you, she was exactly the kind of blunt no-nonsense woman you need.

Tracy would've completely rocked his world with the kind of physical sex that was meant to exhaust-to wear out and wear down. At which point she also would have convinced him beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not just okay but NECESSARY for a man to cry over the painful, horrible death of his best friend in the entire fucking world.

I loved Tracy and Decker. I loved Dave and Sophia. Even though I didn't touch on them, I'm glad that Nash is going to be okay, and he learned to trust and open himself up to Tess. I'm glad I read this book.

And, since I mentioned Sam, Robin, Jules and Nash... and because it made me laugh outloud, I'm gonna go ahead and throw this last quote in there too. In closing, of course.

"I'll be with Tess. She says we're a team, too. It's funny, she used that same word." He nodded. "I guess I'm going to find out if she means it."
"She does," Robin said, and Jules turned to look at him. He was standing there looking like the movie star that he was, with his casually covered muscles and that almost too-beautiful face that still often graced magazine covers. "She loves you, Jim. Unconditionally. I know because..." He smiled at Jules, "I've got someone who loves me like that, too."
Jules looked at Sam, who was shaking his head.
"You know, Rob, you are sometimes just so fucking gay," he said, "Ow!"