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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I liked this book far more than I thought I would. I got it for free from amazon kindle. The writing was just adequate but the plot was good and the characters were great:well drawn, realistic and likable. It engaged my emotions and left me ready to know more. Bring on the next one!
Rating: 3.75/5
I want to thank my best friend Ashwaq for recommending me to read this book; I enjoyed it a lot sweetheart! *blow kisses*
It reminded me a lot of the Final Destination movie, well the first one anyway since it's my favorite and the best actually. The rest of them were a poorly-done imitation and lacked in originality... and yes it's 85% because of Devon Sawa.
I liked the intrigue: it's new, a little bit of scary and philosophical; the mystery surrounding Inara's father and Ethan's powers kept me on edge so I guess I'll be reading the next book!
I want to thank my best friend Ashwaq for recommending me to read this book; I enjoyed it a lot sweetheart! *blow kisses*
It reminded me a lot of the Final Destination movie, well the first one anyway since it's my favorite and the best actually. The rest of them were a poorly-done imitation and lacked in originality... and yes it's 85% because of Devon Sawa.
I liked the intrigue: it's new, a little bit of scary and philosophical; the mystery surrounding Inara's father and Ethan's powers kept me on edge so I guess I'll be reading the next book!
Well this was a real page turner and interesting read. I must know what happens next with Nara and Ethan. I loved the book and characters.
Other than some weird formatting issues (ie: 31 highlighters under a word then a few lines underlined) I really enjoyed this book. Now to start on book 2!
EDIT 12/12/12
Never mind about those weird formatting issues. After doing some research, and seeing them in 3 other books, I found out that it is a setting you can turn on and off on the Kindle. So read on readers, read on. I am chomping at the bit for Ethan's story Jan 2013 and book #3 March 2013!! Hands down one of my new fav series!
EDIT 12/12/12
Never mind about those weird formatting issues. After doing some research, and seeing them in 3 other books, I found out that it is a setting you can turn on and off on the Kindle. So read on readers, read on. I am chomping at the bit for Ethan's story Jan 2013 and book #3 March 2013!! Hands down one of my new fav series!
Check out more reviews at Books to the Sky.
(I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)
First of all, we love it when we totally see eye to eye on a book, and we totally did with this book!
The paranormal elements in this book were definitely unique. Nara dreams her entire day the night before it happens. This means she doesn't need to study or practice her moves for soccer (she's the goalie) because she's seen it all the night before.
In comes Ethan. Loner boy, mysterious and artistic, Ethan comes to be in Nara's life and they soon realize they have a deep connection with one another. Eventually Nara loses her dreams, and the story starts to get twisted as to the how and why of it all. But in the midst of her losing her dreams, she realizes she actually has to study and practice her soccer moves, which is new for her.
Ethan and Nara's blossoming romance was fantastic and it was easy to feel the angst they were feeling when they felt the odds were stacked against them. We do love a good romance in a story and we weren't let down.
There's an interesting family aspect in this book that concerns Nara's father. He isn't in the picture when the story starts but he does try to make a come back during the midst of the story. There are some cliffhangers that we're hoping will be answered in the next book (which we cannot WAIT to read!).
This book definitely had a creepy factor to it, with the fact that the paranormal elements at play are pretty much invisible. We don't want to give too much away without giving away the book in that respect, because we want you to read it!
(I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)
First of all, we love it when we totally see eye to eye on a book, and we totally did with this book!
The paranormal elements in this book were definitely unique. Nara dreams her entire day the night before it happens. This means she doesn't need to study or practice her moves for soccer (she's the goalie) because she's seen it all the night before.
In comes Ethan. Loner boy, mysterious and artistic, Ethan comes to be in Nara's life and they soon realize they have a deep connection with one another. Eventually Nara loses her dreams, and the story starts to get twisted as to the how and why of it all. But in the midst of her losing her dreams, she realizes she actually has to study and practice her soccer moves, which is new for her.
Ethan and Nara's blossoming romance was fantastic and it was easy to feel the angst they were feeling when they felt the odds were stacked against them. We do love a good romance in a story and we weren't let down.
There's an interesting family aspect in this book that concerns Nara's father. He isn't in the picture when the story starts but he does try to make a come back during the midst of the story. There are some cliffhangers that we're hoping will be answered in the next book (which we cannot WAIT to read!).
This book definitely had a creepy factor to it, with the fact that the paranormal elements at play are pretty much invisible. We don't want to give too much away without giving away the book in that respect, because we want you to read it!
I was impressed by the professional quality of this self-published title. I tend to get a little nervous and second guess myself when I accept to read and review a self-published e-book, but this one was a pleasant surprise.
Brightest Kind of Darkness kind of reminds me a little of a toned down Final Destination with better characters and a much better romance building sub-plot. It also has a wonderful mixture of story-telling, character building, and humor.
"He didn't seem to want to interact with the people around him, yet he'd taken the time to talk to me, not just at school, but here too. The realization made me feel both sad and a bit special. Well, so long as he didn't think of me like a pet."
The pacing in the story was perfect. I enjoyed moving from the dream world to the real world and back and forth through the visions, and the author never made me feel lost during these transitions. I was also happy that the author didn't use the same cop-out a lot of writers use when a misunderstanding occurs and one of the main characters immediately does a complete 360 and no longer believes in the characteristics of the second character that made them fall for them in the first place. In the passage below, even though Nara is hurt and upset by something that has happened, she can immediately tell that Ethan didn't do anything on purpose to hurt her. she still feels the pain, but she is smart enough to realize it wasn't intentional and doesn't immediately flip-flop on her position regarding Ethan and now think he is a bad guy.
"Ethan's face didn't reflect triumph. It held intrigued interest; a desire for my understanding. My initial anger settled, even though I still felt a part of me was missing."
I was very intrigued by a lot of topics introduced in the story, the crows/ravens, the feathers, Nara's father, the radio, Nara's grandmother, Ethan's nightmares and connection with Nara... unfortunately, I felt like not enough of these things were explained enough to my satisfaction by the end of the book. I realize that as it is the first book in the series, some mystery has to remain, but I was left feeling like way too much was left open and I honestly felt a little lost.
My exact reaction upon finishing reading Brightest Kind of Darkness was this:
"Really? That's where you are going to go ahead and end it? /grumble grumble"
But overall Brightest Kind of Darkness was a very enjoyable read, and I definitely will be reading book 2, Lucid, as soon as I can get my hands on it. I really hope more is explained soon...
Brightest Kind of Darkness kind of reminds me a little of a toned down Final Destination with better characters and a much better romance building sub-plot. It also has a wonderful mixture of story-telling, character building, and humor.
"He didn't seem to want to interact with the people around him, yet he'd taken the time to talk to me, not just at school, but here too. The realization made me feel both sad and a bit special. Well, so long as he didn't think of me like a pet."
The pacing in the story was perfect. I enjoyed moving from the dream world to the real world and back and forth through the visions, and the author never made me feel lost during these transitions. I was also happy that the author didn't use the same cop-out a lot of writers use when a misunderstanding occurs and one of the main characters immediately does a complete 360 and no longer believes in the characteristics of the second character that made them fall for them in the first place. In the passage below, even though Nara is hurt and upset by something that has happened, she can immediately tell that Ethan didn't do anything on purpose to hurt her. she still feels the pain, but she is smart enough to realize it wasn't intentional and doesn't immediately flip-flop on her position regarding Ethan and now think he is a bad guy.
"Ethan's face didn't reflect triumph. It held intrigued interest; a desire for my understanding. My initial anger settled, even though I still felt a part of me was missing."
I was very intrigued by a lot of topics introduced in the story, the crows/ravens, the feathers, Nara's father, the radio, Nara's grandmother, Ethan's nightmares and connection with Nara... unfortunately, I felt like not enough of these things were explained enough to my satisfaction by the end of the book. I realize that as it is the first book in the series, some mystery has to remain, but I was left feeling like way too much was left open and I honestly felt a little lost.
My exact reaction upon finishing reading Brightest Kind of Darkness was this:
"Really? That's where you are going to go ahead and end it? /grumble grumble"
But overall Brightest Kind of Darkness was a very enjoyable read, and I definitely will be reading book 2, Lucid, as soon as I can get my hands on it. I really hope more is explained soon...
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I liked the characters, particularly Ethan and I liked the premise. While some of the dialogue was a little clunky, it wasn't jarring enough to pull me out of the story. The story was paced very well with enough twists to keep me pleasantly surprised. I believe I've figured out the biggest twist in the trilogy, but judging from this book, I wouldn't be shocked if I was wrong. I've start the prequel about Ethan and except to be done with it soon. It's been just as engaging as this story and I'm excited to move onto the second book. I rarely read a series in rapid succession like this, but I am very interested to see what happens next despite the fact that the book didn't really end on a cliff hanger. There was a reasonable amount of closure, which is nice.
Really more of a 3.5. It doesn't offer anything new, but I wasn't annoyed at like other paranormal YA books I've read.
This book brings up a lot of good 'what if/would you' questions that are good for discussions. What if you knew a good friend was going to get hurt because you can dream the future? Would you interfere even though it could mean something worse happens? Every night Nara dreams of her tomorrow and when she dreams of a bomb going off at her school, she interferes. But the kids who were supposed to get hurt in the explosion start getting hurt in different ways. There's a reason 'Don't tempt fate' is a popular saying. In some ways, Fate reminded me of Death from the Final Destination series, trying to set the world back into balance and the main characters refusing to bend to its will.
On the romance side, enter Ethan. I love this guy. He's athletic, artistic, and an animal lover. He also has a connection with Nara that becomes more and more complicated as the book went on and it seems like more will be revealed in the sequel. Nara is a strong female character who doesn't sink down to the level of the more catty girls when they go after her or exclude her. She's protective of her mother and her friends, she's stubborn, impulsive, and I love it. I can't wait to read more about her and Ethan.
On the romance side, enter Ethan. I love this guy. He's athletic, artistic, and an animal lover. He also has a connection with Nara that becomes more and more complicated as the book went on and it seems like more will be revealed in the sequel. Nara is a strong female character who doesn't sink down to the level of the more catty girls when they go after her or exclude her. She's protective of her mother and her friends, she's stubborn, impulsive, and I love it. I can't wait to read more about her and Ethan.
Good read
Finished this book pretty quickly, because I was pretty engaged with the story. It wasn’t a completely typical paranormal teen romance, although it will definitely interest people who like that. It did follow a number of the tropes, but it was written well enough that it didn’t feel like travelled ground.
There was no love triangle (thank the stars) and the female characters were not all stereotypes (although I don’t know if they’d fully pass the Bechdel,and I REALLY don’t think they pass the Duvernay-Bechdel).
The book enters the action fairly quickly and the romance is entered slowly and has enough realism to temper the fantasy. It’s not full on insta-romance in other words. It’s enough to recommend it.
Finished this book pretty quickly, because I was pretty engaged with the story. It wasn’t a completely typical paranormal teen romance, although it will definitely interest people who like that. It did follow a number of the tropes, but it was written well enough that it didn’t feel like travelled ground.
There was no love triangle (thank the stars) and the female characters were not all stereotypes (although I don’t know if they’d fully pass the Bechdel,and I REALLY don’t think they pass the Duvernay-Bechdel).
The book enters the action fairly quickly and the romance is entered slowly and has enough realism to temper the fantasy. It’s not full on insta-romance in other words. It’s enough to recommend it.