A review by blooms_in_books
Midnight Alias: A Killer Instincts Novel by Elle Kennedy

The original review for this title can be found here on The Book Hookup.

*Disclaimer: An eARC of these title was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, that did not influence this review in any way. All thoughts, quotes, and opinions will be of this version and not of the published edition.

♠ Rating for Killer Instinct #2-#6: DNF

I have to admit, my interest was immediately piqued when I saw a NetGalley invite from Signet for this series for two main reasons: I love Elle Kennedy and mercenaries sound like my type of alpha hero. It also helped that the heroines seemed kind of badass in their own right and with the urging from a few other readers and such good reviews, I downloaded them all. Which is why it kills me to say what I'm about to say...

There's something truly great about Elle Kennedy and the focus and attention that she brings to each of her series and the characters and worlds you'll find inside them. I'm such a huge fan of two of her other series, the Outlaws series and her Off-Campus series, but I've really struggled with this one. While all the reviews were glowing and I knew I loved so many of her other books, there was still that nagging little voice in my head that made me pause and really consider if this series was for me before I took the plunge and snagged all the available books. I mean, there was a reason I had stayed away for so long, right? I really wish I had listened to that voice because my gut instincts are usually spot-on.

I want to make it perfectly clear here: my "DNF" rating and inability to finish these books are in no way a reflection of this author and her ability to write a kickass novel, because she can and she does so many times over. This simply boils down to the kinds of stories she's trying to tell in this particular series. I applaud her for going hard for her characters, from tackling the grittier, uglier issues in the world and the monsters that commit those crimes, and for making the heroines just as badass as the guys. The truth is, I wanted to love these books so damn much just because of those reasons, among many more. However, and I'm about to get crazy-personal right now, my childhood and some of the awful things I had to witness and survive through in my own home make some subjects just too damn hard to read. I love books that make me laugh and cry and heartclench and sigh until I swoon, but when a book's plot brings me to a dark place and leaves me there for days after walking away from it, I just have to realize that it's not for me. That it can't be for me. I've tried time and again for months to pick up with book two (and only ever it made it a little over halfway) and even skimmed through the first parts of three and four, and while I loved the romantic chemistry and the jovial mood between friends and comrades, I just couldn't keep the dark mood from creeping in. So, it's for that reason, and only that reason, that I've decided that I need to part ways from the rest of this series. I'm far from done with Elle Kennedy and her other books, but I've already lived through dark days and I don't care for the memories that surface when I read certain things, especially when reading is supposed to be that escape from all of that in the first place.

♥ A very special thanks to Signet and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.

{I'll only be including this review on this book and not the rest of the series. I never hardly ever rate DNF books because I personally believe it's unfair to the book/author/publisher to rate a book I didn't complete. Maybe something at the end would have changed my rating.}