There’s no rhyme or reason, and it’s hugely inconvenient (but let’s be honest-that’s probably what makes it work so well). When you know what you want, you know what you want, and the minute Reese and Brennan meet, they just know. I have always been willing to buy instalove (more so than instalust, if you can believe it), and that’s what we have here. I like it a lot.ĪNYWAY, let’s talk romance. And the way information is parceled out… Gosh, I wish I had read this with a buddy who could talk craft with me. It’s not that the forbidden, pining, slow burn isn’t there, it’s that it’s interwoven with the 12 hours of thriller. Before I began, I had an expectation of a forbidden, pining, slow burn, so it took me a minute to adjust to this story, but the more I think about what Bauer did with the structure of this book, the more I like it. The non-linear storyline also drops us into high emotional stakes for Reese right off the bat, while also giving both the story and the romance time to develop as crumbs are dropped in both timelines. (Please see Ingrid’s June Hearts & Crafts post or our last Great Smut Debate post for more on this craft.) YMMV with this style, but what it does for the story is: in the case of the dual POV, it gives us intimate insight into the thoughts, feelings, and dynamic change of both our protagonists in the case of the present tense, it keeps us centered in the moment the action is happening, increasing the intimacy and immediacy of the drama and in the case of the non-linear timeline, it manages the tension and the reader’s emotions so that we have moments of cooldown before we ratchet up the tension again.

In Secret Service, Bauer has opted not only for a dual 1st POV in present tense (WHAT?!) but also it’s temporally nonlinear, beginning the night that the president’s car explodes on a clandestine excursion (!!!) before jumping back to when Brennan (the president) and Reese (his detail lead) met and then back to the scene of the crime, etc. Overall: It’s present-past (roughly) alternating non-linear, so I was thrown for a minute…until I was totally sucked inĪuthor consistency from a technical standpoint is great and all, but it’s also really fun to see an author play.

Without his detail lead (in case that wasn’t obvious). Plot: The president and his Secret Service detail lead are in love. Heat Factor: I might go so far as to say lotsa sex, but it’s not lotsa super explicit sex, but also that first BJ will probably live rent free in my head for a whileĬharacter Chemistry: Love at first sight + so much angst

The Night Of by Tal Bauer