Two and half stars. It started off great and steadily went downhill until reaching its utterly ludicrous ending. Buchman's strength is relating detailed, plausible sounding action sequences involving a helicopter. Unfortunately, every other element of the story left something to be desired. The characterizations were flat, the story preposterous, and the pacing was glacial.Emily, the heroine started out as one kick-ass lady, who over the course of the book became a cartoon superwoman, able to do anything better than anyone else. Many overly long sequences served only to demonstrate how she is the best pilot, fighter, or cook without advancing the plot or revealing anything of interest about her. There was something vaguely insulting about a warrior having to demonstrate that she is still a "real" women who enjoys feeding people and garners multiple flirtatious marriage proposals based upon her cooking skills.Mark, her love interest, has zero personality. He also behaves through out the book in a manner that can only be described as crazy. His interior thoughts alternate between thinking how amazing she is and wondering if she is making amoral decisions. I never had any idea what either of them saw in other other, and pretty much the only interactions the two of them had was in bed. They don't say much of anything to each other, beyond noting that they both find each other physically attractive. There were also several instances where they used physical force against each other that didn't speak well to either of them or their non-existent communication skills.A lot of the set up to the central plot was simply not believable. There is simply no way that it would not be common knowledge that the first woman allowed into combat as a helicopter attack pilot is also the daughter of the Director of the FBI and it is preposterous that her CO, Mark would not know that. It is also impossible that about ten seconds after the press learned that Emily was assigned to be the First Lady's personal chef that they won't have found out that she was also the next door neighbor and childhood friend of the current President.Key points of the plot were also simply not possible. There is no way that the two attempts on the First Lady's life, given their nature, could have been kept a secret. Nothing unfolded in an even vaguely plausible manner and the final reveal was so jaw dropping bizarre, it defies characterization. I liked this book when I started reading it, but by the end I was disappointed. I did finish it because the writing is okay. Ultimately the book fell short of the mark for me.I liked: military setting, the book peaked my interest about helicopters, and the action scenes were very good. I was disappointed by: romance wasn't the focus of the book, suspense plot was over the top and unbelievable, and there was a lot of tell not show. However the biggest problem for me was the lack of dialogue. Something very important would happen, for example her CO kisses her, and they never discuss it. She never asks him to explain himself or bawls him out or anything. Her CO appears out of nowhere and poses as her boyfriend and she never questions him. There is very little meaningful dialogue.
What do You think about The Night Is Mine (2012)?
It was okay but hard to understand when I was reading it. Mark and Emily are perfect together.
—ohsther
4 1/2 stars. Really good but loses 1/2 point for far too much helicopter info.
—leolove
