Dark of Night is the second book in the Annie Pederson series and I started it pretty much right after finishing Edge of Dusk. I am loving these characters and their journey. The romance is really good and a second-chance story (which I love).

This book had some surprising and pulse-pounding moments. I was so nervous at one point in the book, because I did not know what was going to happen next.

All in all, Dark of Night was a great read and I recommend it, but make sure to read book one first. I am eager to read the final book in this series, as I cannot wait to see how it ends.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention/review it on my blog. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.*

I did not know going into this book that it was a second installment of a series. I quickly got caught up. However, I wish I would’ve read the first book 1st I do love the story and how she tries to balance her family with this horrible missing hitchhiker, later they find out that she’s been abducted. I would recommend this book to a friend after reading the first

I really like this series. Annie is such a strong character. She has so much going on in her life. I do recommend that this series be read in order. The plot keeps building along with a great deal of suspense from her relationship with her sister, to her second chance romance and an underlying darkness with a murder mystery. This book leaves the reader anxious to grab the next one.
I missed reviewing this book in a timely fashion. I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This is my own personal opinion about this book and the series. It is very good and hard to set aside.

In Colleen Coble style this book has pretty much everything, romance, danger, suspense, heartbreak and small town life at it’s best. Also a happy ending as much as you can have with a third book coming in the series. You won’t be sorry if you get this book but be sure to read this series in order to know what has happened.

Such a twisty book. The relationships between the characters are rich and complicated, like real life. And the suspense/mystery threads are woven tightly. This book demonstrates why Colleen is one of my favorite authors.

I enjoyed this book. But it would have been much better had I read the 1st in the series before this one. Definitely wouldn't recommend this as a standalone. The story itself was good. I loved that it was clean. Just goes to show that thriller, suspense, mystery or even romance can all be clean and still be a good story!

Dark of Night

by Colleen Coble

This mystery/thriller has it all—suspense, action, Christian values, and some clean romance. It is all tied up with themes of family, loyalty, and honesty.

Annie, Law Enforcement Ranger on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is the protagonist. She has spent twenty-four years dealing with feelings of guilt from her inability as a child to keep her little sister Sarah from being kidnapped. Annie is reigniting a relationship with Jon who, unbeknownst to either Annie or Jon, is the father of her daughter Kylie.

A woman shows up, initially in disguise, and claims to be the long lost Sarah. This woman is vindictive and confused. Meanwhile, there are other major plot threads. One involves Michelle Fraser, a formerly abused wife who has been living in a shelter for a year while she works to restore her confidence. Now she is ready to pursue her dangerous interest in mountain lions. There are three current kidnappings for apparently various reasons. Annie, Sheriff Mason, and an FBI agent along with Bree, her dog Samson, and the local search and rescue team combine efforts to find the victims.

There are too many threads to mention them all, but they are interesting and following them as they intersect with other threads keeps the reader quite involved.

I did have two issues with Dark of Night which kept it from being a five star book for me. As the second book in the series, it is heavily dependent on characters and plot found in the first book. There is just too much background that needed to be carried over and that can cause some confusion for the reader. It is a good read but not a good standalone. Also, I usually like characters who are children, but Kylie was not very appealing to me as a character. While she had been carefully taught personal safety, obedience, and respect, I had trouble empathizing with her because she was the center of everyone’s world. She gets a huge dose of reality in this book, and I will be watching to see if it affects her in the next book which I am looking forward to reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Mystery & Thriller, Romance

Notes: 1. #2 in the Annie Pederson Novels. I recommend it, but not as a standalone.
2. Be sure to followup by reading my review of #3 in the series. That book, the last in the series, changes my opinion of the whole series, which I already liked, in an even more positive direction.

Publication: January 10, 2023—Thomas Nelson

Memorable Lines:

His love for her had never wavered in the nine years he’d been gone. It had just gone underground and erupted the moment he saw her face again.

The discovery of a body was always hard for a search dog, and Samson had an especially tender heart.

Since she’d come here and seen how a real family lived, her rage over what she’d missed had grown.

The entire series was fantastic. The trauma that Sarah went through made the story very believable. My heart went out to the entire family.

Colleen Coble writes some of the best romantic suspense in the Christian fiction field. As someone who reads many different authors, I can confidently say she is in my personal top five in the genre. Her newest series, the three-part Annie Pederson series, continues with book 2, Dark of Night. In my opinion, this is one of those series where the books should be read in order of publication because there are ongoing story threads that are left untied after book one, that go to book 2, and now, from book 2 to book 3.

Annie Pederson is juggling many things: her job, her daughter, her relationship with Jon, revelations about her sister, Sarah. She doesn't need everything to collapse at the same time, until that's what happens. A woman disappears, her daughter overhears a conversation revealing that Jon is her biological father, the woman claiming to be her sister - the one Annie thought died - provides proof. Can Annie come out of this without someone's heart being shattered?

This one had so many different threads I can't imagine how Coble kept from getting them tangled. There's the missing hikers story. There's the Annie and Jon story, both past and present. There's the Taylor story. There's the Kylie and Jon story. Makes my head spin, but that's the beauty of the story, too. There's a lot going on, and all of it lands at Annie's feet.

Readers who enjoy suspense with a light dose of romance will enjoy this series. So far, anyway, the romance hasn't been the main point of the stories - only a side note. This is a Christian-themed suspense, so there are references to Scripture, and to God being in the details. I would definitely recommend, especially to Coble fans. Can't wait to read Break of Day!

When I realized I had the second book in a series I obviously had to go back to our library to find the first book. Luckily I found it & was able to continue on with this book. Dark of Night is a compelling book with a few things you see coming from a mile off but many things surprising. The emotional/romantic angle of the book is good but feels very repetitive & like its trying too hard! Even though the plot is riveting, some features of the book & story like how is Jon so readily available at Annie's beck & call all-fricking-ways feels too convenient & unrealistic. For a doctor he sure is not a very professionally busy person. The only character angle I absolutely enjoy are Kylie's. I like Annie as a character, but only time will tell if I love her or not.

Thank you NetGalley, Colleen Coble & Thomas Nelson for the arc!

Colleen Coble doesn’t fail. Her books will always grab you from the beginning and Dark of Night was no exception. Annie and Jon are characters that are relatable and interesting. I’m looking forward to reading book three. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book

So, this book wasn't bad. The mystery was intriguing, the setting was nice, and the cover was really pretty. Honestly though, I had a hard time staying focused on this book, and just couldn't finish it.
It often felt like I was watching the story play out from a distance instead of being swept into the story. Michelle, Annie and Jon were relatable, but I could not stand Taylor and her self-absorbed attitude.
I could totally relate to Kylie and her love for chocolate, though! <3

Trigger warnings and negative content

-This story deals with women who have been bullied and horribly abused, so I wouldn't revommend this for victims of abuse.
-Alcohol: it's mentioned that the resort Annie runs has an on-site microbrewery.
-There's a mention of Jon and Annie binge watching the popular movies series, "The Matrix". Side note: I wouldn't recommend watching it myself due to it's heavy use of profanity, sex, porn and really violent gunfights. You can see the Christian reviews for the series on pluggedin.com, a great media review site from Focus On The Family.

Long story short, this book wasn't my favorite, but someone else may love it.

I received a complimentary e-book from the publisher through Netgalley to review. A positive review was not required of me, and the thoughts above are my own.

Dark of Night is the second book in the Annie Pederson series. It is a Christian, Romantic Suspense novel and I definitely recommend you read this series in order. If you haven't read the first book, Edge of Dusk, you will not understand the personal storyline. In this book, Annie is trying to come to terms with the reappearance of a woman claiming to be her sister who had been kidnapped when Annie was 8 and she was 5. She is also dealing with the relationship between her daughter and her biological father (she doesn't that yet) as well as her job that has her searching the woods for a missing woman and looking for the body of another. She is one busy woman while trying to forge a new relationship with Jon, her first love and biological father of her daughter, Kylie.

I do enjoy Colleen Coble's Christian, Romantic Suspense stories. Throw in the second chance trope and I am all in. As you can see from my brief summary above, there is a lot happening in this book. I am impressed with how well these various storylines are woven together into a well written and suspenseful story. Annie is a great protagonist who is a mother first, then a park ranger, friend and now in a relationship with an old love. She is smart, knows her job well, is a great interviewer, is intuitive and careful not to take chances. Jon is a great partner for her and I loved his relationships with his father and daughter. The care he takes to build a relationship with Kylie, but not give away any information about their true relationship shows what a wonderful man he is. My only issue was why Jon was involved in the investigation of the missing woman. He is an orthopedic surgeon, not a park ranger. This story had me reading and listening when I should have been doing other things because I had to find out what was going to happen. There are various issues in the story such as spousal abuse, mental health issues, kidnapping and secrets that add to the plot but do not overwhelm. I really enjoyed this story and the reveal of who was involved with the missing woman was a twist I was not expecting, but looking back, I could see some clues along the way. I am already anticipating the next book in this series.

I love it when the setting acts as another character and that is the case here. The Upper Peninsula region of Michigan plays a big part in the plot of this book and the plot is pretty good too. I'm happy to say that I liked this book better than the first one, but that's not really saying much. The heroine, Anne, has the patience of a saint. She loves Jon, but her daughter, Kylie, is being a rude, nasty, little eight-year-old brat about the prospect of her mother finding love. Lots of angst and total martyr tropes make it really hard to get involved with these people and their hopelessly unrealistic problems. At least the ending was worth all the angst I had to endure.

Annie suffered the loss of her little sister, Sarah, who was kidnapped when Annie was eight and the loss of her husband and parents two years ago. Jon, her first love, has reentered her life and brought her love and joy, but her daughter, Kylie, hates him for trying to make a place in their lives. Into all this a woman Annie hired as a nanny for Kylie has turned out to be Annie's lost sister, Sarah, and the lies told by Sarah make Annie more than a little uneasy and the happy family reunion Annie always wished for didn't happen.

Annie is also a ranger with a missing hiker. Michelle Fraser is a wildlife researcher whose abduction was captured on one of her wildlife cameras. The prime suspect, her abusive estranged husband, has the money and means to make her disappear, but did he make Michelle disappear?

My thanks to the Publisher, and Author, for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

I loved this second installment of the series which answered some questions I had. The plot has many elements with suspense sprinkled in.
Many thanks to Thomas Nelson Fiction and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Dark of Night by Colleen Coble is the 2nd book in the Annie Pederson series of books. I hadn't read the first book but could gather that her husband and parents had passed away suddenly in an accident two years prior and she had gotten in touch with her childhood sweetheart Jon again, when he visits their small town just then. Her daughter Kylie is not prepared to accept the presence of this new man in her life and it does not help that Annie had recently discovered that the woman she knows of as Taylor is actually her sister Sarah, who was abducted at age five.

Amidst all this personal turmoil, Annie is called in to investigate the disappearance of Michelle Fraser and the investigation takes her and the Sheriff Mason to strange places. How do these situations turn out into, form the rest of the story. Annie and her relationship with Jon was very sweet; the way Jon handles his own personal struggles and the strife with Kaylie have been described beautifully.. Annie, Jon and Taylor/Sarah's characters have been written clearly and with no ambiguity. Their actions, motives and their responses to situations are very true to who they are and how they have defined by the author.

I also liked the various other characters and their dynamics; I love the way they form the framework for the town's personality. But I can't say I very much enjoyed the mystery. It was fine but not very engaging nor intriguing. The suspense element just didn't have that depth to keep the reader hooked to the book. The language was excellent, the narrative was good and the pacing of the story was very brisk; the book would have been excellent if only the mystery could have been more interesting. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the book to some extent and would like to know where, the people we have met, end up going to. I would recommend this book to those people who like to read a romantic suspense which leans very heavily on people's relationships and less on the suspense.

Due to a personal difference in beliefs (WITH THE PUBLISHER) I will not be reviewing this book outside of Netgalley nor do I plan to support Thomas Nelson in the future due to their decisions of late and the lack of fiction with good Biblical values.

This does not mean I do or do not like the book, it just means I will not be reviewing books for this publisher anymore as I do not care to support them when I do not agree with the way they have left their former standards.

After listening to book one, Edge of Dusk, last month, I was so excited and anxious to read this second book in the series. And this is a series that you definitely need to read in order, not skipping any books. Everything builds from book one, through book two, and on to book three. Some individual mysteries are solved in each book, yet there is a continuing suspense thread and romantic thread that moves throughout the entire series.

I have an ebook copy of Dark of Night, but I actually ended up listening to the audio version and can definitely recommend it as an audiobook that I thoroughly enjoyed. My romantic heart liked the continuing second chance at love connection that Annie and Jon were building on. Their path to renewing their relationship had a couple of hiccups along the way, yet I felt that they were stronger together by the end of the book. I also liked the growth in Annie’s daughter, Kylie.

There was plenty of suspense, action, danger, and “hold your breath” moments in this story to thrill suspense lovers. I am anxious to read the final book in the series!

(4.5 stars)

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have never read a book by Colleen Coble that I did not like. This book/series is no exception. I like the character development and story line. I also like that it is a series. Another good one by Coble.

Can you believe the trauma that a child faces when they are present when their sister is abducted. Then Fast forward 25 years and have someone claim to be that sister. But you see no familiarities. What an interesting book Coble has written in this Dark of Night. Hold onto your seats as we revisit Annie Peterson and her first love Jon in a very exciting mystery. Plus we have another child that has been kidnapped and some believe that Jon came back and has done the same thing once again. Hold on to your seats as you read this exciting mystery and find out whether this woman is impersonating the lost sister or is she really her sister? And what happened to the child that has presently been kidnapped? Is Jon responsible? Is that why he returned? As usual, Coble's literary style pulls you in with each chapter...... Thanks to the publisher Thomas Nelson for gifting me with this E copy and I am so glad to be able to leave a positive review although it was not required.