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A review by cece_rants_raves_reviews
Dark by Kat Kinney
2.0
**I was provided with an ARC for an honest review.**
This book got two angsty alphas as our main characters with sexy shifter chemistry:
Hayden, She is unassuming and apologetic. And that BEFORE she ever got bitten.
“The world blurred past, too sharp, sight and smell and scent so overpowering I itched at the rasp of mockingbirds rustling, could taste the tang of sage and mesquite in the air, found myself getting dizzy every time I blinked.
Rocks scuttled underfoot as I scurried down a gully, the scent of the third wolf causing fury to rise in my blood. Come after me and my sister?
I. Would. End. You.”
I adored her protective relationship with her sister Ellie that definitely gave her character more dimensions beyond the initial rocker chick vibes.
Ethan Caldwell, A born werewolf, he has a better understanding of the supernatural world. But not a goddamn clue about romance
“She stormed out of my life three years ago, and I’d wanted to kick myself every day since.”
Both characters had difficult pasts that we learn more through the dual perspective.
But the trick writing dual perspective is to keep both voices strong and separate. So ... because both of our characters are angsty troubled alphas, they had very similar voices at times that I got lili lost and confused.
Shifter Sexiness
I adore werewolves and urban fantasy.
This book didn't focus on developing the world around our characters, but more on our new wolfie learning how to survive in it. I felt like we missed out on the typical supernatural shenanigans of finding your place in the werewolf pack that is separate from the human world. Instead, the world was set up as was more of a vague werewolf coating over the existing human world.
I did enjoy the danger of becoming feral that the wolves can't just suddenly control, but must continually take actions to prevent it
“Anything the wolf wants, you give it in small doses. Keep it in its cage. The three F's. Fight, fuck and feed.” Or risk going feral and killing everyone you love.”
And as a new werewolf, Hayden really captured the terror and panic of learning that control!
“Overwhelmed by the helplessness. I couldn’t leave. Couldn’t see my sister. Night after night, I battled rage, confusion and blackouts. Forgot who I was only to wake in a post-shift stupor. Trembled as tears pricked the backs of my eyes, wanting to break every dish, shred every pillow, destroy all of Ethan’s furniture down to the last chair. And then curl into a ball and weep, trapped and alone with the part of what had happened I could never say aloud. That in those darkest moments just after twilight, I worried I would never feel like me again.”
Now let me say this. I do not enjoy the usage of email chains/texts/emojis/hashtags in my books.
I understand that it's to relate to our generation... But honestly, some quality sassy remarks are way more relatable than the hashtag will ever be to me.
Also while reading, this book isn't linear. There be some flashbacks that sometimes felt random when not indicated.
Why does our MC have so many goddamn nicknames?
- WillKillForThinMints
- Anastasia
- Batman
- Daisy
I mean like one would be cute. But these nicknames were casually thrown out there, that I had no clue who was being referenced or the story behind them.
My critiques are about how I wanted MORE from the book. I found the characters interesting, the mystery exciting, the pace thrilling. But I had a hard time connecting.
We don't see the first werewolf attack.
We hear about it afterward.
We don't see the two characters meet each other.
We hear about how they use to be close
The beginning felt disorganized and chaotic. We are thrown into this world that is new to Hayden and she never really ventures outside one supernatural coffee shop so it implies we gonna see more later
But we are just as clueless as her. Constantly trying to figure out the characters, the world, just everything. Hayden couldn’t explain shit to us so a lot didn’t make sense, and I felt I needed to put wayyy 2 much effort into figuring out what the fuck is happening
Overall, the heroine really had quite a funny personality that provided funny commentary and chemistry with the love interest. Where this book sorta struggles to me and reason it doesn’t quite compare to the other great paranormal mysteries like Nevada Baylor is the lack of character relations and dynamics ...beyond the fun sexual romance. The sisterhood between Hayden and Ellie is cute but surface deep. The rest of the characters are interesting with some fun pop-up scenes… but we don’t have any of the great group dynamics of everyone together laughing struggling bonding. The plot revolved around the heroine's learning her new werewolf nature and trying to figure out the mystery of why and who is tracking her.
If you're bored and just wanna laugh at some ridiculous hot shifter shenanigans then I'd recommend trying it out but know that is very much focused on hot sex, sassy comments, dangerous mystery and.... yah no thats about it
This book got two angsty alphas as our main characters with sexy shifter chemistry:
Hayden, She is unassuming and apologetic. And that BEFORE she ever got bitten.
“The world blurred past, too sharp, sight and smell and scent so overpowering I itched at the rasp of mockingbirds rustling, could taste the tang of sage and mesquite in the air, found myself getting dizzy every time I blinked.
Rocks scuttled underfoot as I scurried down a gully, the scent of the third wolf causing fury to rise in my blood. Come after me and my sister?
I. Would. End. You.”
I adored her protective relationship with her sister Ellie that definitely gave her character more dimensions beyond the initial rocker chick vibes.
Ethan Caldwell, A born werewolf, he has a better understanding of the supernatural world. But not a goddamn clue about romance
“She stormed out of my life three years ago, and I’d wanted to kick myself every day since.”
Both characters had difficult pasts that we learn more through the dual perspective.
But the trick writing dual perspective is to keep both voices strong and separate. So ... because both of our characters are angsty troubled alphas, they had very similar voices at times that I got lili lost and confused.
Shifter Sexiness
I adore werewolves and urban fantasy.
This book didn't focus on developing the world around our characters, but more on our new wolfie learning how to survive in it. I felt like we missed out on the typical supernatural shenanigans of finding your place in the werewolf pack that is separate from the human world. Instead, the world was set up as was more of a vague werewolf coating over the existing human world.
I did enjoy the danger of becoming feral that the wolves can't just suddenly control, but must continually take actions to prevent it
“Anything the wolf wants, you give it in small doses. Keep it in its cage. The three F's. Fight, fuck and feed.” Or risk going feral and killing everyone you love.”
And as a new werewolf, Hayden really captured the terror and panic of learning that control!
“Overwhelmed by the helplessness. I couldn’t leave. Couldn’t see my sister. Night after night, I battled rage, confusion and blackouts. Forgot who I was only to wake in a post-shift stupor. Trembled as tears pricked the backs of my eyes, wanting to break every dish, shred every pillow, destroy all of Ethan’s furniture down to the last chair. And then curl into a ball and weep, trapped and alone with the part of what had happened I could never say aloud. That in those darkest moments just after twilight, I worried I would never feel like me again.”
Now let me say this. I do not enjoy the usage of email chains/texts/emojis/hashtags in my books.
I understand that it's to relate to our generation... But honestly, some quality sassy remarks are way more relatable than the hashtag will ever be to me.
Also while reading, this book isn't linear. There be some flashbacks that sometimes felt random when not indicated.
Why does our MC have so many goddamn nicknames?
- WillKillForThinMints
- Anastasia
- Batman
- Daisy
I mean like one would be cute. But these nicknames were casually thrown out there, that I had no clue who was being referenced or the story behind them.
My critiques are about how I wanted MORE from the book. I found the characters interesting, the mystery exciting, the pace thrilling. But I had a hard time connecting.
We don't see the first werewolf attack.
We hear about it afterward.
We don't see the two characters meet each other.
We hear about how they use to be close
The beginning felt disorganized and chaotic. We are thrown into this world that is new to Hayden and she never really ventures outside one supernatural coffee shop so it implies we gonna see more later
But we are just as clueless as her. Constantly trying to figure out the characters, the world, just everything. Hayden couldn’t explain shit to us so a lot didn’t make sense, and I felt I needed to put wayyy 2 much effort into figuring out what the fuck is happening
Overall, the heroine really had quite a funny personality that provided funny commentary and chemistry with the love interest. Where this book sorta struggles to me and reason it doesn’t quite compare to the other great paranormal mysteries like Nevada Baylor is the lack of character relations and dynamics ...beyond the fun sexual romance. The sisterhood between Hayden and Ellie is cute but surface deep. The rest of the characters are interesting with some fun pop-up scenes… but we don’t have any of the great group dynamics of everyone together laughing struggling bonding. The plot revolved around the heroine's learning her new werewolf nature and trying to figure out the mystery of why and who is tracking her.
If you're bored and just wanna laugh at some ridiculous hot shifter shenanigans then I'd recommend trying it out but know that is very much focused on hot sex, sassy comments, dangerous mystery and.... yah no thats about it