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roshanreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Child death
aiplusyou's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Stalking, Murder, and Bullying
jackieyvette's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.5
It wasn't good. It wasn't bad. I guess it just was. For being a mystery crime style novel, it didn't really feel very mysterious.
The storyline is on the sad side, but I feel like the characters never made a connection to the reader, so you of course feel bad for the characters, but not enough to really mean anything.
Crying score: Wasn't compeling enough to cry.
The storyline is on the sad side, but I feel like the characters never made a connection to the reader, so you of course feel bad for the characters, but not enough to really mean anything.
Crying score: Wasn't compeling enough to cry.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts
elisabeth_li's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Death, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, and Cursing
leanniefae's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This was an incredible book. I got a physical arc from yallfest and buddy read it with my coworker. We both read it in about 2 days. I legit stayed up until 5am to finish this book because I HAD to know how it ended. And oh that ending! What a wild ride! I suggest you don't even read the blurb; go in as blind as you can because it's going to grab you from page 1.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Death, Child death, Violence, Grief, Racism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Physical abuse
dbguide2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Going Dark is certainly more than what it appears to be on the surface. At first it speaks of a simple relationship between two people who seem to lead simple lives â and dating each other in what also seems to be a simple act. What you get from their relationship looks easy and happy, or so it seems. And I really enjoyed that â seeing how it changes from looking like an easy relationship to something much more.
Iâll be honest, I was not that interested in Amelia from the beginning. I didnât like how she was written or how she acted. But then as the story progressed more and more things started to come out about her and she became more likeable. But only a bit because I still found her actions and the path she took not the best one for her, Did I understand why? Yes. Did I like any of it? Not so much. Of course Iâm not going to sit here and say âhereâs what Iâd do differentlyâ because I havenât lived her life, I havenât gone through what sheâs gone through. Doesnât mean I have to like it, though.
I think thatâs why I rated it 4 and not 5 stars â because I wasnât a fan of her actions and the reasons behind them. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. I donât know if my rating would change if either her actions were different or if I could understand them more.
The characters were interesting to get to know and I liked everything we learnt about them. I am most certainly not interested in influencers â even if they push the narrative that theyâre down-to-earth and donât put on a farce for the camera. For me when you start to gain a large following youâre inevitably going to make the decision to pull back a bit â show less of your life, keep some activities private because they mean a lot to you. You might even take a few classes or courses surrounding anything social media marketing. So all of Ameliaâs pushing to show thatâs super down-to-earth and doesnât really care about her following â I didnât buy it at all, any of her personality. Maybe de la Cruz purposefully wrote her that way, maybe it was just my personal feelings.
Josh was an interesting case as I originally did like him. That also changed as the book carried on. I actually thought I as I liked him less I would like Amelia more â but that didnât happen, which was interesting to me. I canât say much without spoiling the book but I liked seeing how he dealt with Amelia going missing and everything that came from that.
We get some flashbacks of another girl who went missing two years ago who never received the attention that Amelia Ashley received. Of course a good reason (for that) is because Amelia is very famous and has other famous connections. I found it interesting the connection the one character (Harper Delgado â whom I really liked and wanted to know more of) made between the two. Both pretty girls, both this and that, but the previous girl had nothing done for her the way Amelia had. It really shows the truth about any missing case, really. That some missing people arenât deemed as important as others for various reasons â popularity, money, mental state, even race as a reason as to why they are missing â even though the âreasonâ is lack of evidence.
I definitely want to revisit the book now having read everything so I can see if there are any puzzle pieces to be found before the big reveal. Probably will wait to see if itâll get an audiobook and reread it that way. I have read a mixed media book as an audiobook before (These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall) so I know that Iâll like another one.
I love mixed media in a book and while I liked what we got I also would have been very happy with even more. Amelia Ashley is an influencer and I felt like there shouldâve have been more focus on her posts and her journey as an influencer. Especially as we got more into the story, I wouldâve loved to have seen more time dedicated to that.
Iâll be honest, I was not that interested in Amelia from the beginning. I didnât like how she was written or how she acted. But then as the story progressed more and more things started to come out about her and she became more likeable. But only a bit because I still found her actions and the path she took not the best one for her, Did I understand why? Yes. Did I like any of it? Not so much. Of course Iâm not going to sit here and say âhereâs what Iâd do differentlyâ because I havenât lived her life, I havenât gone through what sheâs gone through. Doesnât mean I have to like it, though.
I think thatâs why I rated it 4 and not 5 stars â because I wasnât a fan of her actions and the reasons behind them. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book. I donât know if my rating would change if either her actions were different or if I could understand them more.
The characters were interesting to get to know and I liked everything we learnt about them. I am most certainly not interested in influencers â even if they push the narrative that theyâre down-to-earth and donât put on a farce for the camera. For me when you start to gain a large following youâre inevitably going to make the decision to pull back a bit â show less of your life, keep some activities private because they mean a lot to you. You might even take a few classes or courses surrounding anything social media marketing. So all of Ameliaâs pushing to show thatâs super down-to-earth and doesnât really care about her following â I didnât buy it at all, any of her personality. Maybe de la Cruz purposefully wrote her that way, maybe it was just my personal feelings.
Josh was an interesting case as I originally did like him. That also changed as the book carried on. I actually thought I as I liked him less I would like Amelia more â but that didnât happen, which was interesting to me. I canât say much without spoiling the book but I liked seeing how he dealt with Amelia going missing and everything that came from that.
We get some flashbacks of another girl who went missing two years ago who never received the attention that Amelia Ashley received. Of course a good reason (for that) is because Amelia is very famous and has other famous connections. I found it interesting the connection the one character (Harper Delgado â whom I really liked and wanted to know more of) made between the two. Both pretty girls, both this and that, but the previous girl had nothing done for her the way Amelia had. It really shows the truth about any missing case, really. That some missing people arenât deemed as important as others for various reasons â popularity, money, mental state, even race as a reason as to why they are missing â even though the âreasonâ is lack of evidence.
I definitely want to revisit the book now having read everything so I can see if there are any puzzle pieces to be found before the big reveal. Probably will wait to see if itâll get an audiobook and reread it that way. I have read a mixed media book as an audiobook before (These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall) so I know that Iâll like another one.
I love mixed media in a book and while I liked what we got I also would have been very happy with even more. Amelia Ashley is an influencer and I felt like there shouldâve have been more focus on her posts and her journey as an influencer. Especially as we got more into the story, I wouldâve loved to have seen more time dedicated to that.
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence and Death
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