DARKEST NIGHT, the second book in the Wired & Dangerous series, is an emotion-filled, action-packed, want to get in there and help them kick backside read. I could only admire Fiona for her tenacity to try to continue living even though the evil SOBs would not leave her alone. Jock is an interesting guy, all action and not much on small talk, but Fiona was able to deal with him and of course, they fell in love.

Want action, real-life emotion, teamwork with characters that you will love and a romance that makes your heart beat a little faster? Then you need to get DARKEST NIGHT.

~Annetta Sweetko, reviewer for Fresh Fiction

Complete revew may be found at: http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=66470

I absolutely adore romantic suspense! I love to read and feel my heart pounding along with my imagination of what the characters are going through. Feeling a little breathless just waiting for the story to wrap up and know just what happens in the end. And that’s just how I felt reading Darkest Night!

Mind you, it did take me a few minutes for my brain to remember Jock and the other characters and their general relationship from the first book Zero Hour, but once I made the connections, I was all in on Jock and Fiona’s relationship, how the rest of the team worked together with keeping Fiona safe while trying to figure out all the players and stop them at their game.

I loved Jock and all his growly, gruffness. Loved how he spoke when needed—because what he had to say was powerful and meaningful and so important in making Fiona feel safe, and comforted, and loved. And I loved how he took his role as protector so damn seriously. He was a force to be reckoned with, and he was also smart enough to know when to call for reinforcements! He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Fiona on his watch.

Let’s talk about the amazing Fiona while we’re here. I adored her. Her inner strength and fortitude were amazing. There was nothing weak about this woman. Her ability to live and make a life while fighting to survive every day was astounding. And I loved how she allowed herself to fall in love with Jock.

I couldn’t read Darkest Night fast enough—yes, my face may have come in contact more than once with my Kindle screen as I read late through the night! But the sleep loss was worth it, and I can’t wait for Final Day and Erick’s story next!

I NEED a man like Jock in my life!!

Fiona has been on the run for 10 years. After being kidnapped and held as a sexual captive, force-fed drugs for her compliance, she can't help but continue to live her life on edge since she escaped. Ten years of being alone, making no lasting connections, and trusting no one. Lucky for her, she had one true friend that has always had her back, even if she didn't know it. Through this friend, she meets her new protector, Jock, and for the first time in 10 years she's able to breathe easier.

Honestly there wasn't anything NOT to like about this story. The characters were endearing and had depth to them, the plot was fast-paced and intense, and there was even an okay ending. I did feel like I was dropped into the middle of a story and had to play catch up, but that only means that I need to pick up the first book to get the full picture. Darkest Night was definitely suspenseful, but it was also sexy and had a lot of heart.

Darkest Night is the second book in Megan Erickson's Wired & Dangerous series and I believe it would be more enjoyable if you've read the first one. I didn't read the first book and while I eventually caught up with what was happening I did feel as though I was dropped into the middle of a story and felt a bit lost in the beginning. The author does eventually recap but I still felt as though I was missing a few things. Still I understood enough of what happened that I did enjoy the book.

I think that I had expectations for this book that were a bit different as well. Since this revolved around a group of hackers I thought there would be more tech in the book and the MC's would be a bit more geeky than straight up Alpha males. The MC Jock was a former soldier, assassin and now a bodyguard who was also a hacker. Fiona is the person that he is protecting (although not with her knowledge) at first. I struggled a bit with this aspect of the book and was very glad once Fiona discovered Jock was protecting her. Fiona and Jock both had tragic backstories (with Fiona's being the more tragic).

I enjoyed the friendship that developed between the two of them and although I thought the romance progressed a bit too quickly I did enjoy it. There are a lot of secondary characters and if I'm being honest I thought Tarr stole the show and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of his book. I'm not sure I enjoyed this one enough to go back and read the first book but if the next one featured Tarr I'd definitely be on board to read it!

Darkest Night was a bit more of a typical bodyguard book then I expected but overall it was well written and I did enjoy it. There was plenty of action, romance and strong friendships. I would have liked more between Wren and Fiona and wished the background had been presented a bit earlier in the book. I also wished we had more of the "hacker" element vs a typical bodyguard.

As a bodyguard, Jock Bosh has only one job, keep Fiona Madden safe from the bastard responsible for ruining her life. Having spent the past decade on the run, Fiona’s greatest weapon against the men out to destroy her is her survival, but when Jock puts himself in the line of fire, Fiona realizes that there is more at stake than just her life.

Darkest Night is full of strong, compelling characters and Fiona and Jock grab reader’s attention and keep them glued to the book as their story unfolds. The romance between these two is a bit unorthodox because of their issues which adds depth to the characters and ensures that readers want to know how everything works out for them as they cheer them on. There is lots of burning chemistry and emotional turbulence throughout and both of these characters capture reader’s hearts from the very beginning.

The enemies that face the characters in the second book of the Wired & Dangerous series were introduced in the first book, but if readers haven’t read it, that’s okay because they will be eagerly anticipating their demise in no time. Darkest Night is fast paced and smoothly flows through the pages with lots of thrilling suspense, dangerous enemies and excitement as Jock and his crew get closer to taking out those bad guys and discovering just who that mastermind is.

I love the characters of the Wired & Dangerous series as they are part geek and part sexy tough guys that project a vulnerability that can’t be ignored as it makes me feel that they are people I could really get to know. I was completely caught up in Darkest Night from beginning to end and I have to say that I found Amy to be a survivor to be admired and I can’t wait to find out what happens next in this thrilling series.

Fiona and Jock’s story was everything that I wanted and more.

We met and heard about these characters in the past book, I had no idea this was the way Megan Erickson was going to pair them up but I loved it! Jock was such a sweetheart and badass at the same time and the same goes for Fiona, I was pleasantly surprised to find a strong woman, taking care of herself and surviving day by day.

It was so great to read about them individually and then getting together with the whole gang and also meeting new and interesting characters that I hope we get to see some more of soon.

I was so excited for this book since I really like the first in the series.This was a great read, the setup was pretty good and I like the characters most of the time.If you are looking for a fun and refreshing story that it's like none of the books you have read them you should definitely try Darkest Night!!

I liked this book. It isn't something I would read again in the future but this book was a decent one to read . I liked the characters and this book was too predictable.

Darkest Night, book 2 in the Wired & Dangerous series, picks up just after book one, Zero Hour. While I think you'd get a lot more out of this book if you read Zero Hour first, I think most readers would be okay reading this standalone. The pieces of backstory that are important to this book are cleverly and easily weaved within the story, and the flow works really well.

I think I actually enjoyed this book even more than the first. Sure, I had a major crush already going in, on Jock, but I liked Fiona, too.

Erickson does a great job with the suspense of the story, the bodyguard falling for his charge trope, and the adding in of all the side characters that are so important to the series. I think the one thing missing from the story is the actual hacking. We do get times with Jock and his pals are hard at work doing things on their computers, hacking, but I think I missed being actually included in the hacking portion of the story. For a series about hackers, I just want more actual hacking.

Otherwise, I enjoyed this one a lot.

*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*

I went into Darkest Night with some expectations and hopes, but this book just fell flat for me. I think there were a couple issues with the book going in. This is a follow up to book one, Zero Hour, and honestly, if you haven't read the first book recently, this book is hard to follow. There isn't a whole lot of a backstory and refreshing readers on what happened in the last book, which was hard because I read that book almost 8 months ago. Secondly, when you look at this rag-tag team of characters, literally every single one of them stood out more than Jock, so when Megan announced that he would be the focus of the second book, I was disappointed. But I held out hope because I knew there would be glimpses of the rest of the gang.

The book started off much like its predecessor, SLOW. I mean we were literally just watching Jock stalk/interact with Fiona for the first 40% and I was bored. There wasn't much of a build-up or connection between them, they hardly had any meaningful conversations, and it was a case of insta-love. Fiona was kidnapped and raped, and she hasn't had intimate contact since then. That is 10 years of no intimacy but she see Jock and bam, she craves his contact, wants to be intimate, etc. It felt very rushed, like we skipped the meaningful, getting to know each other part, and they just jumped straight into bed. I would have really liked to see some build up and watch the characters grow but there was none of that to be found.

Again, much like its predecessor, the last 25% of the book was nonstop action. From one drama to the next, things just kept hitting the fan. But again, like Zero Hour, the woman makes some heroic display and puts themselves in danger for justice while the man just sits there trying not to go crazy and waiting until it was time to jump to action. If you haven't noticed yet by this review, Darkest Night had a lot of similarities to Zero Hour.

I feel that Megan isn't going there with her characters, I really want to feel a connection to these characters and while I enjoy all the secondary members of the crew, I am not emotionally invested in the book or the series. It wasn't filled with romantic suspense so much as a jumpy plot line filled with insta-love and awkward sex scenes. I might give the next book a go, but if that doesn't improve I will be letting this series go. Which is really a shame because it has so much potential!

the wired & dangerous series continues with darkest night, with hitman/hacker jamison "jock" bosh on duty protecting fiona madden. fiona's past as a victim of human trafficking makes her a target for the men the wired & dangerous crew are trying to take down.

when jock's cover is blown, fiona is at first shocked by the idea that someone would consider her worth protecting, but she's also grateful that once in her life she doesn't have to do all the worrying alone. for the first time in a decade fiona feels safe.

and for the first time in a decade, she also feels something other than fear or panic when she's with a man. jock was half in love with fiona before he got the job of being her bodyguard. he knows her trauma. he's seen the tapes. but he doesn't see her as damaged or broken or as something that needs to be fixed. he sees something precious and beautiful and worth protecting.

and navigating those feelings while fiona's life is in actual danger proves to be a complicated thing. but jock will do anything and everything for her. and in believing that, fiona can finally find some peace.

**darkest night will publish on july 31, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/grand central publishing (forever) in exchange for my honest review.

GAH!!! Darkest Night had all the things I love in a romantic suspense novel and more. I absolutely loved Zero Hour but honestly loved Darkest Night more. I loveeed being back in their world and Jock and Fiona were amazing. I loved their chemistry and banter and fell head over heels for Jock's protectiveness.

Anyone who knows me knows that hacker stories ARE MY JAM. And if they are stoic, broody and growly hackers? OMG YES PLEASE!! I absolutely loved Jock. He was strong, sexy and had a geart of gold. The way he loved Fiona and was so careful and protective of her after what happened to her melted my heart. Fiona, likewise was just as amazing. I seriously could not stop rooting for her. She was brave, sexy and heartfelt. I loved this book so much and can't wait for more books in this series!

I would like to thank Netgalley and Forever Romance for an advanced copy of this book for an honest review. Bravo! 5 stars! ~Ratula

After being kidnapped ten years ago, Fiona still lives in fear every day. Mainly because the kidnappers are still contacting her. They let her go on the condition she keeps her mouth shut. Now she lives on the run. Her friend Wren is still looking out for her. She has convinced her friends to help Fiona. Jamison known as Jock is the one who is sent to live in her apartment building to keep an eye on her. What happens next is Fiona and Jock meet and she finds out her friend sent him. Now they are all going to work together. To find out who took Fiona and how to get them off her trail. Jock respects the fact that Fiona is such a strong woman. When Fiona and Jock start to fall for each other everything gets complicated. I enjoy romantic suspense because so much is going on.
And Megan Erickson is a master at them, this is the third book in this series I hope there are more t0 come.

“I want the sun for you,” he said quietly. “I want that more than anything.”

When it comes to growly, gruff, near-silent heroes, Jamison “Jock” Bosh might be one of the best. I loved him—his partial-sentences, his dirt-ridden soul, his half-cyborg demeanor—and I loved him for Fiona.

Darkest Night, the second book in Megan Erickson’s Wired & Dangerous series, is an action-packed ride, complete with intrigue, suspense and maybe a few tears. There were times when I thought I knew what was coming, and times when I had no clue how it would all work out, and all of it was balanced to perfection by the swoony romance blooming between sweet, damaged Fiona and the aforementioned gruff Jock.

It’s clear that this fast-paced series has way more to come—I probably wouldn’t recommend starting here, though you can, because you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the whole crew and their stories—and I’m excited to go along for the ride!

Her head spun, her clenched stomach unfurled, and those butterflies that had been locked inside flew away. She felt…open. Gutted. Uncaged.

~ 4.5 J STARS ~

3.5 stars

I had read the other book in this series and was curious, so I jumped in without reading the synopsis.

I liked Fiona and Jock. They’re both really good people with really shitty pasts and I enjoyed how the found something in each other. Their chemistry was good and believable. And of course it was fun to have the entire dynamic of the full cast together.

Plot wise it was fairly fast moving. I did feel like I was dropped into the middle of the story again, but there was a refresher eventually. I didn’t realize just how much I enjoyed the bodyguard trope, but this one definitely has me intrigued into finding others.

Overall, it was a quick read with characters I liked. I am interested in the next one.

FYI: There is a lot a lot a lot of sex trafficking talk and {sort of} flashbacks of women being tied up and drugged and hit and raped. There are no actual scenes of this happening, but snippets of memories.

**Huge thanks to Forever for providing the arc free of charge**

3.5

Darkest Night is the second book in the Wired and Dangerous series and picks up a few months after the first book. Our group of hackers have gone their separate ways, for now, with Jamison "Jock" Bosh pulling bodyguard duty on Fiona Madden - unbeknownst to Fiona. The people responsible for kidnapping and assaulting Fiona ten years ago are out hunting her again, and Jock is determined to keep her safe.

It took me a little bit to fit the pieces together from the end of [book:Zero Hour|35099666] connecting it to Darkest Night. When our group took down the bad guy from the first book, it ended up opening a whole new can of worms, and one of those cans was what happened to Fiona all those years ago. It's not too difficult to read this story on its own, but there are some references to the previous book that might be a little confusing if you unfamiliar with how everything started.

I liked the way that Fiona's past - and how she lives everyday trying to move on from those horrific events - was handled. Fiona was victimized, but she'll be the first to tell you she does not play the part of the victim. Yes, there are aspects of her life that were unavoidably altered by what happened, but she's still living each day and she's still trying each day despite the horrors that lie in the past. She's a very strongly written character. But not so much that is masks over the fact that she still struggles. She just doesn't let it consume her.

In this regard I thought that the romance between Jock and Fiona was done with a very soft and steady hand. He understands that she has demons in her past, and doesn't push her farther than she's ready to go. I liked that the alpha-maleness takes a backseat to making sure that Fiona is comfortable, and consenting, to everything that passes between them.

There is a secondary minor plot point involving Jock's past, but for me this was just filler. It was overshadowed - for good reason - by Fiona's storyline. It also make's its appearance way too late in the game in my opinion to really have an impact even though it's definitely supposed to.

Instead, I would rather have like more time with the group: Roarke, Wren, Marisol, Dade, Erick, Jock, and now Fiona. They are forming somewhat of a family and I felt like there were some missed opportunities to deepen the bonds between them. This was especially true regarding the female friendships. It takes to about halfway through the book until the crew is back together again; with the first half spent setting up things for Jock and Fiona. I wanted to feel more of a connection between the group. It's definitely there, but underutilized for this reader. Some of them remain so shrouded in mystery, in a good way, it makes me want to spend more time with these characters.

I think in being more familiar with the characters and the story, I enjoyed this one more than the first book. If that's the precedence then I should love the next book which, based on not too hidden hints towards the end, will feature Erick.

Darkest Night is book two in Megan Erickson's Wired & Dangerous series. While this one wasn't as good as the first IMO, it still follows on a rip-roaring ride filled with emotional hurdles to overcome.

Jock is secretly protecting a woman who is in the crossfire of a previous conflict the hackers uncovered in the first book. A mercenary for hire, he decided to turn to computer hacking, but his old life soon finds his new one. Fiona has been through hell and back and the last thing she needs is her past finding her again. But she's not going to be put into a box, ever again.

I admired the hell out of Fiona. She's the victim of an absolutely horrific experience and understandably, has shied away from men and touch. Jock was a good counterpart for her, protective without stifling her. They worked well together, and there's a whole lot of action and suspense mixed in with swoony romance.

I'm looking forward to the next!

What a wild ride. Jock and Fiona were super cute together and I thought that Jock did a good job of handling Fiona's past. I do wish that there had been a little more to Fiona dealing with the past, but I can set that aside as when you're being hunted that's not exactly the time. I love that we got to see the gang back together, they make an awesome team.

I enjoyed this one even more than book 1! I was highly anticipating Jock's story since we met him in the last book, and I loved watching him fall for his girl.

Jamison "Jock" Bosh is a gray-hat hacker. He's former military, and he was a hitman for a brief time too. He's lived a very interesting life. When his friend Roarke asked him to help with a mission to avenge Roarke's brother's death, he was all in. When that went down the way it did in book 1, and their hacker nemesis threatened an old friend of someone in their crew, Jock volunteered to watch over her and keep her protected. He never imagined how much she would change his life forever.

Fiona Madden has had a bad run. In college, she was captured and abused by human traffickers for 2 weeks. Then, she was released and she's tried to live her life on her own terms ever since. But, every time she moves, and settles, they find her again. They send her photos of herself being abused, and remind her that they can get her at any time. They've basically been emotionally torturing her, even after all the physical and sexual abuse they subjected her to. This time, she's managed to settle in NYC for a year, when Jock shows up to tell her the situation has changed. She's basically just been existing for the last 10 years, and all of a sudden, Jock shakes her world up.

Jock and Fiona had amazing chemistry, but they were both so damaged that it took a while for it to actively kick in. It was quite the slow burn, and I enjoyed watching them get to know each other while simultaneously finding out the truths of themselves. They really held a mirror up to each other and helped each other work on their myriad issues, that they'd each been hiding from. That was not always an easy road, and it almost tore them apart before they could come together.

Both Jock and Fiona had terrible things happen to them, mostly through no fault of their own, and they both had to live with the consequences of those things. It was often heartwrenching to see how they each chose to deal, or NOT deal, with their issues, in many unhealthy ways. And when those things showed back up to haunt them, how they dealt with putting them away once and for all. I really felt for both of these characters, and I loved watching them fall in love.

The suspense subplot was very well done, and the villains were truly vile. I liked watching them put all the puzzle pieces together. This book was quite a bit more self contained than book 1, though we did get to see their entire crew again. But, I have to admit, we saw much less of them this time, and I really missed them all! I hope we'll get a little more of them in book 3! It will be a M/M story featuring Erick, the heroine from book 1's brother. I'm looking forward to it!

<a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2018/07/11/darkest-night-by-megan-erickson/" target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart</a>

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

3.5 hearts

I think hackers will be a really important factor in the world going forward. So this genre is a natural choice, with my nerd side loving technical aspects.  In the previous book, <b>Zero Hour</b>, I felt the characters needed more development and some of the common sense was lacking. But I attributed this to a large project broken up between multiple people, so naturally some things got lost in the coordination.

I liked the idea for this new series, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/207869-wired-dangerous" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><strong>Wired & Dangerous</strong></em></a>, with hackers, full of suspense and with a bit of romance.  The problem I'm having is the hacking part is more told than shown. We get the results in information but no real details.

<strong>Darkest Night</strong> did focus more on two characters rather than a whole group. Particularly, Fiona was a key. She had a rough background and a life of hiding.  Jock comes to watch her from the background since there has been a new threat. The start is all Fiona in her day to day life and natural paranoia.  Once Jock starts interacting with her, things pick up because the threat is happening.

At this point, the whole team joins in and of course, not everything goes according to plan. The setup was pretty good, not too stupid at all. Fiona is so brave and smart. She has learned from her past experiences.  The bad guys are just really BAD.

Again, even though they have money, and talk about disappearing, they don't do it quickly.  They had to know even if they got most of the bad guys, there would still be threats so they should have been better prepared to leave and not had to go back to their regular place.

These books are a fun, exciting read but I wanted more focus on the technical details and those pieces of the battle.  It is nice to have some romance since it heightens the feelings for all involved.  So the big bad is still out there, perhaps he will move out of the background in <strong>Final Day</strong> to be published October 16, 2018.

<h4><b>Forever Summer Reading Q&A with Megan Erickson</b></h4>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Favorite summer activity?</strong>         Cooking out on the grille!</span></li>
<li><strong>Do you read more or less during summer?</strong>      Less, there’s just so much to do!</li>
<li><strong>Favorite ice cream?</strong>     I’m not a huge fan of ice cream, but I would say Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked is one of my favorites.</li>
<li><strong>If you could only take 1 book with you on vacation, which book would it be?</strong>      Kristen Ashley, Sweet Dreams.</li>
<li><strong>Is there a place in your latest release you wish you could visit?</strong>      Tell us about it! Trinidad and Tobago in Zero Hour. I’d love to go there!</li>
</ul>
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