Jill Sorenson - The Edge of Night

To support her small daughter, April Ortiz does what she has to do—which means waiting tables in a skimpy outfit at a popular nightclub in the gang-infested area of Chula Vista. When one of her co-workers is found raped and murdered, April does what she knows she shouldn’t—she defies the neighborhood code by giving the police a hardcore gang member’s name.
Clean-cut cop Noah Young wants a shot at breaking this case more than anything in the world—that is, until he meets the unforgettable April Ortiz. When April gives Noah the tip, a spark ignites. As the fire between them threatens to blaze out of control, the two are dragged down further into the dark mysteries of the graffiti-lined streets, taunted by a crazed killer who could strike again at any time. 

Comment: I first knew about this book at AAR's message boards. I go there quite often just to check people's opinions...sometimes I get interested in a few titles and after some time I end up buying them. This happened with The Edge of Night; I've seen many good opinions in one of the boards that I decided to add it to my list of things to get and after seven months waiting, I picked it as my first read of November.

This is the story of April Ortiz. She works at a club as a waitress and she has a young daughter to take care of. She lives in a rough neighborhood, a place of gangster activity, drugs, crime...not the best place but one she can afford.
Noah Young is a cop and he works at April's neighborhood. He wants to be homicide but until that opportunity arises, he is a patrol officer. He meets April after one of her co-workers is found murdered and from then on, a relationship between them starts. Nothing is easy tough, and from family members to gang stuff, their lives can't be still enough for them to deal with what is happening between them...or are their feelings stronger than the rest?

I have to say, at first I wasn't sold on this one, I don't tend to enjoy books (or movies) about gangster relate activities or about stories set in that environment. I have a personal dislike about drug use, drug selling and gangsters doing whatever they want by terrorizing others. It would be a dream come true if no one did drugs or sold them in the whole world...oh well.
Anyway, I tried to ignore it as much possible considering it was the main setting in the book, but after getting to know the main characters and see how they struggled, I put all that aside to focus on what happening. The story started to be more intense, more detailed about the character's interactions instead of the gangsters.
The mystery happening in the book seems pretty simple nothing big, nothing over the top, just a random back story to give some depth to the plot line and to the whys of some character's actions. But I was quite surprised to see that there is a sort of twist at the end and the true villain is unexpected, after so many clues pointing to other people. I thin the author did this part very well.

But what I thought was done more than well was the romance. I really liked it. It felt so well balanced, it had a purpose, a goal in developing that way. Noah and April's interactions were passionate, realistic and not surrounded by metaphors or useless adjectives just to fill up space. I enjoyed how they met, they felt attracted to each other and after a time, they started being intimate. Their love scenes were hot and romantic, almost too good to be true but without all those metaphors bout what was happening,which I loved. It reminded me of other crime writers and their romantic scenes, it's almost like they don't care about what doesn't matter, the point is to show how the couple is into each other and what's happening between them is sexual but doesn't need fifty pages of description. It was really good. Their first time isn't the most romantic ever, but it was hot and amazing.
I also loved how their relationship evolved to something bigger but in a very simple way. They saw in the other qualities, an attraction and a person to be with them, for them, and not just a sexy person. It was amazing to see them together.

There's also a sort of secondary romance with Noah's younger sister and a gang member. Their scenes together were also very good and their motivations and thoughts realistic. I wanted something more for them, but they were young but who knows, their story ends up with some hope. 

In the end I was very impressed with the story. I managed to put aside my own dislikes and yes, some prejudices about gangs, to enjoy and understand this story. Most of it worked out for me. I liked how it ended but of course, I'd have changed a little thing here and there just to suit my personal tastes. I don't think it's anything bad, just not how I'd do it. Still, I recommend this one and hope people like it as much as I did. Now I'm curious about her other books...I'll investigate.
As for this one, was entertaining, interesting and vibrant. Very good.
Grade: 8/10