Originally Published: 10-10-2018
Book Summary
Scarlet Nights is the 5th book in the Edilean Series by Jude Deveraux.
This book follows not very long after book 4, Lavender Morning.
If you’ve read book 1, Days of Gold, you’ll now know some background info on the founding families of this little town.
So while this book is about more of the characters that we’ve already read, you’ll find some new characters introduced.
In book 1, Tess only mentions her brother in casual passing to both Joce and Sara, but he’s the main character in this book along with Sara.
Sara met and became engaged to Greg Sanders in book 1. But nobody in Edilean likes him.
Mike, an undercover detective, has ties in Edilean, and is asked to go back to find out things and to get close to Sara. He concocts an elaborate plan to get close to her quickly.
But what he didn’t anticipate was him actually liking her and developing a relationship her.
He even comes up with the idea that they need to marry in order to thwart Greg’s plan.
You see, Greg is actually a notorious criminal, along with his mother Mitzie, and they have been trying to get close to Sara to be able to get something from her.
So at first, Mike tells her only a part of what’s happening. But as he gets to know Sara, he knows that he needs to tell her as much as he can.
When she finds out that she’s been duped in yet another relationship, she goes thru some emotional scenes that have her going from a wilted flower to a blazing hornet.
It’s fun to see the growth that Sara goes thru throughout the story.
But she’s not the only one.
As Mike gets to know Sara, he knows that she’s different from any other women that he knows and that she’s a “good girl.”
So for the first time in any relationship, he’s honest with her and tells her things that he normally wouldn’t. As an undercover cop, this is a big thing.
And he finds that he’s falling for her but doesn’t realize it until closer to the end of the story.
He also comes up with a plan to be able to get Greg/Stefan and his mother. And it’s with the help of the town that he’s able to keep Sara safe and protected.
So along with these characters, we find out that Joce and Luke are happily married and are expecting twins. Joce is on bed rest so she only plays a minimal role in the story. And Tess and Ramsey have gotten married and are on their honeymoon during the majority of the storyline.
Then we meet some of the Frazier family. They are descendants of one of the founding families and are big burly, red-haired men!! And we find out that Mike is actually related to this bunch. And one of them gets his own story when we get to Heartwishes, book 5.
The story ends with a big hoopla that happens at the fair. Both criminals are caught or killed and Sara and Mike declare their love and live happily ever after!
So it’s a fun and exciting story. The author writes in such a way that there’s more background going on then is a part of the storyline. We have to read between the lines and the entertaining dialogue to really understand what’s happening with the characters and the plotline.
There are several scenes that foreshadow for coming books and makes it so that we are excited to find the rest of this series.
Now this is a full-length novel with no cliffhanger. You will find one sexy scene that doesn’t have a whole lot of details in it that you have to watch out for. There are no crude words nor bad language that you need to skip.
During the storyline, they find a stash of hidden paintings that are worth millions of dollars. This is what the bad guys wanted to find.
But the story behind these paintings is what takes us to book 2, Scent of Jasmine. Take a moment to check it out!
