Reviews

Shades of Darkness by Nicky James

karentje's review against another edition

5.0

Amazing romance with Nicky James’s trademark angst, captivating writing style, and nuanced character development. Not to mention an intensely satisfying HEA. The MC’s struggles with their mental health and their resilience in the face of horrible, nearly constant bullying and harassment are both heartbreaking and inspiring. It’s impossible not to feel some of the anxiety that Rory and Adrian fight daily to overcome, and I felt so invested in their well-being and happiness. Rory lives in darkness, both literally and figuratively, as he has lost hope of ever overcoming his crippling fear of sunlight. Adrian is an unexpected bright spot in his dark world, and Rory, in turn, becomes a source of hope and support for Adrian, which is a heartwarming thing to see develop. Rory and Adrian are seemingly opposites in many ways, and at first, Adrian is at a loss to understand Rory’s interest in him or to see beyond Rory’s somewhat intimidating looks. I loved that early tension between them because of these misconceptions, and of course, the simmering attraction and emotional connection that followed. Krewe is a wonderful secondary character, a great friend for both Rory and later Adrian as well. I loved how protective he is of his friends.

Narration: Adam Gold’s performance of Shades of Darkness is simply masterful. He effortlessly ensnares the listener with his outstanding narration and really knows how to bring the tension, despair, and angst the MC’ s feel as well as the tenderness, cautious joy, and sweet butterflies that lighten up Rory’s and Adrian’s world. The voices he does for all the characters are spot on, especially those for Rory, Adrian, and Krewe. He brings these guys to live and makes them seem incredibly real. Impressive.

wild_orchid's review against another edition

5.0

Love it!

I love the authors approach on such rough but interesting phobias. It’s both insightful as well as heart warming. The romance is blended so well that I couldn’t put the book down.

kaity_b's review against another edition

4.0

Reread and first listen

Loved Adam Golds narration, and everything that I said before still applies, I forgot how much I love this series!

4-4.5 stars

I just know all of Nicky James' books are going to break me in some way or another, and this is no different.

Adrian and Rory, what a couple, they have gone through so much in their lives with the bullying and the phobias and the family issues. I am so glad that they found each other and had the support they needed to help each other out.

I will say the part

Spoiler

where Adrian was making his speech and Rory got the phone call to stop it from happening was heart breaking. I was both having secondary embarrassment from what Adrian was about to go through and heartbreak for how Rory must have been feeling during that time.

I can't wait to read about Ireland, he was in the first book for a hot second and I can't wait to read his story!

azelius's review against another edition

3.0

3.5
Interesting story.
Calvin, Daniel and Marcus (yes him too) can choke

shelbanuadh's review against another edition

1.0

First, I'll will confirm that you can definitely read this book without having read the first one. There is only one part mentioning Finnley from the first book. The only recurring character is the psychiatrist, who I assume with be in every book from this series.

Moving on (and it might be kinda spoilery, so read on at your own discretion)... This book started out as a 3-star for me. The blurb didn't really speak to me, but I figured I give it a go. This pretty quickly moved into 2-star territory for me. I wasn't crazy fond of Rory, but he really lost all points in his favour with how he pushed the relationship with Adrian so much. I just found that it was a contradiction for him to be so anti-bully and terrified of Adrian being bullied and yet he took it as a challenge when Adrian didn't want to get involved due to being his counselor. Just because you know that the attraction is mutual doesn't mean you don't have to respect the boundaries the other part has. And I don't know about the ramifications Adrian could fact by having gotten involved with a patient, but in my line of work, I could be kicked out of my association. So, yeah... I didn't find it charming that Rory a) stalked the streets trying to find Adrian b) kept pushing for a relationship c) asked around to find out where Adrian lived and showed up at his place d) sent his bff to go to his bf's presentation to delivery an indirect kiss in front of classmates and faculty since he is only one foot in the closet. Yeah... not a fan.

Not that I was a huge fan of Adrian either. I don't get the whole roommates issue. Why not do something about it, either directly or indirectly. If it was an issue for 3 years, I would think that he would have tried to do something about it before this point. Why not try to get into different housing or move to the dorm

(as Marcus was able to)

. And I would have liked to see Adrian more rattled by the whole thing if it was going on for 3 years... but he seemed to be coping a little too well for what was being described. And what provoked the escalation? And the relationship with the parents seemed reminiscent of Avery's mother in the first book.... pretending to be supportive while their actions said otherwise.

I did like Samson. 5-stars for Samson.

By the time Rory was setting up his stream, I was done. I skimmed the remainder of the book.... even the sex scene. And in the end, the power of love propelled Rory's recovery. I don't know if I will continue with the series, but if I do, it will probably be because Krew is in the 4th book.

disloyalorderof's review against another edition

1.0

I stopped reading this about 1/3 through because I am totally squicked by the idea of a therapist getting together with his patient.