Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Black Sunshine

Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Black Sunshine by Karina Halle

9 reviews

creativekristi's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Well written but I just couldn’t get behind the FMC & MMC’s relationship. I didn’t like how they “met” and it felt like a bit of Stockholm syndrome and I just couldn’t cheer for them after that.
The lore and backstory were well thought-out but I would have liked the FMC to learn more about her witch side on purpose rather than by trial and error.

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booklovinmamas's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’m a little late to the game on reading the Dark Eyes Duet by Karina Halle, but thanks to the Romanceopoly Challenge hosted by Under the Covers Book Blog, I could read it for the Fang Alley challenge. Read a paranormal romance where one of the characters is a vampire. Black Sunshine by Karina Halle fulfills that challenge with the FMC being a vampire and not realizing she’s one until her twenty-first birthday.

Storyline/My Thoughts: Lenore Warwick is living as a twenty-one-year-old college student partying with her friends until a stranger kidnaps her one night. That stranger is a centuries-old vampire named, Absolon “Solon” Stavig, with something to tell Lenore that will change her world. She’s not human and is actually a vampire, but a unique one who will go through the change and need his help. Lenore has been lied to her whole life, and Absolon “Solon” Stavig will tell her everything that her family kept from her. She’ll either have to decide to trust him or try to escape him.

Paranormal Romance has always been my favorite subgenre in the Romance genre. It’s the subgenre that got me into reading as a teenager and will always have a special place in my heart. Karina Halle fed my love of this subgenre and brought my love of vampires back into full force. I loved this storyline she created where the FMC has yet to learn of this world of vampires, vampire slayers, and witches. She has no idea what is happening to her, and it takes the mysterious, broody, sexy vampire to help her. Not everyone will like Solon in this story because he comes off as horrible to Lenore. Heck, He did kidnap her and had plans for her to be sold to the highest bidder, but after he assists her in her change into a vampire. Here’s the thing, when she is going through the change, he has his second in command (friend), Wolf, assist, and he watches from the sidelines. I found this strange at first until I learned more about Solon’s backstory and why he didn’t help Lenore through one aspect of her change into her new life as a vampire.

This first book in the Dark Eyes Duet brought my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dracula, and all-over dark vampire shows/movies I grew up watching. I can’t wait to read the second book in the duet soon to continue with Lenore and Solon’s storyline. I’m also interested in Wolf’s book after being introduced to him.

This book is told solely from the FMC’s point of view. You don’t get Solon’s POV, which I think I would have enjoyed more being in his head to understand him better, but I get that it kept the mystery of his character. It was a hit-and-miss with him at times on how I felt about him, but again he is an antihero and will come off as a villain with Lenore. He had specific plans with her and then did a 360 when he got to know Lenore.

Poor Lenore, who had to find out the truth from a stranger, broke my heart. The poor girl went twenty-one years without knowing the truth about her parents and life. Now, she is thrown into this paranormal world and learning her way as a vampire. Thankfully, she has Solon and his friends to assist, but after some drama happens. She does end up losing one person she cared for due to being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

I loved how this book was set in modern contemporary San Francisco, somewhere I had never been and always loved to visit. Karina Halle makes me want to visit San Francisco since her descriptions of the setting and places intrigued me.

I give the first book in the duet four stars and can’t wait to read the next book in the duet and catch up on other PNR books that Karina Halle has written.

Standalone or Part of Series: It’s part of the Dark Eyes Duet.

Steam/Spice: 🌶 🌶.5

Genre(s)/Trope(s)/Element(s): Paranormal Romance. Enemies to Lovers. Slow Burn Romance. AntiHero. Vampire Romance.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. I recommend this to Paranormal Romance readers who love Vampires in their stories—the dark, broody, sexy vampires and not the sparkly kind.

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samandthebookstack's review

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Black Sunshine is book one in a duology, although it can be read as a standalone which is fantatic if you're looking for a fast read that will serve to cleanse your palate after binging a longer series.

This was my first experience with Karina Halle's work and I really enjoyed it. I adored Lenore and Absolon was such an interesting character (I'm a sucker for dark, moody, and mysterious dudes when I read this genre...what can I say).

Please check trigger warnings before reading this.

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reginaexmachina's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

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the writing was making me cringe and i felt like they gave a big plot twist away in the prologue tbh. also it has queer side characters but the main is just so aggressively straight, and i'm too gay for that right now. baby girl i don't need you to tell me you're straight more than once before the 100 page mark, but thanks for feeling the need to no homo me to death! x

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eimearq's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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charley_skye's review

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dark reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

So this is basically a 5 star read but i rate my 5star reads 4 stars so I can rate my comfort/favourite books 5. Confusing ik. Anyways… this was amazing. It was my first time reading paranormal romance that wasn’t fanfiction and i loved it so so much I can’t wait to get the sequel as well. The smut was good but I’m still searching for more dark stuff nah ig you’d say kinky ( in books that dont include half naked men on the covers) idk typing that out makes me cringe a whole lot. Oh yeah so there was blood drinking obviously I find that hot but some don’t so just don’t read a vampire book if you don’t want the blood drinking, people who complain about something they’ve read which is clearly going to have that thing in/ even stated by people get on my nerves . Also definitely could’ve read this in a day but I fell asleep while reading. It had me hooked as it was such an easy and fun read.

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dominika13's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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folkofthebook's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes

3.5

Not one of my favorite NA fantasy reads. There isn’t anything bad per se, but I would like to see bigger risks, more action, and more explanation (world building). May continue this series.

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