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A review by a_j_torres0
Dawn till Dusk by Becky Moynihan, Tyffany Hackett
4.0
I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Dawn Till Dusk is a New Adult Urban Fantasy Romance novel, book 1 in the series.
Also, I thought I should let you know that Urban Fantasy is a pretty hard genre for me to get into. Now that that’s said, let’s get to this review.
Book Cover: 4* - Now, I’m not a big fan of photo stock book covers for a few reasons, but after learning that one of the authors did it herself, I thought it actually came out really nice. The characters on the cover for the most part look like how they are described in the book. Plus it’s purple, I love purple lol.
Summary/Tagline: 3* - It’s good. It got me curious enough to want to know what the story entails, but knowing that this is a romance story too, I assumed that both Reagan and Tarik would most definitely end up together, how? Probably something bad would bring the two together, knowing the authors lol. I will also make sure not to reveal any spoilers in this review.
Characters: 3* - We follow two characters in this story. Reagan, a female shifter that can turn into a winged white lion, and Tarik, a male fae who is heavily brooding, angry, and knows magic(trigger warning for suicide attempts and thoughts). Either character is written by each of the authors respectfully(I’ll get into this more in the story section). Out of the two characters, I connected to Reagan a hell of a lot faster than I did Tarik. Reagan is spunky, strong, caring, and has quite the patience to put up with Tarik for the beginning part of the book. Tarik … was unfortunately a pretty predictable character. I think I connected with him by the end, but I wasn’t sure, and I did predict his tragic backstory when he brought it up cryptically in a way in either chapter 1 or 2. When his past does reveal itself, showing why he’s so angry and wanting death so badly, I actually blurted out, “Yeah I called it.” Speaking of tragic pasts, Reagan’s backstory, or I guess her life situation with her step family, I’m sure this was a coincidence, but her abusive relationship with Reagan’s stepfather Mordecai(the antagonist of the book) is pretty similar to a character written by one of the authors from another book series, and no it wasn’t the one that wrote Reagan’s chapters. Like I said, I’m sure it was a coincidence. Now speaking of Reagan’s stepfamily. Mordecai and Alec, oooooh trigger warning for abuse(physical and emotional), torture, and assault(physical and sexual). Mordecai is the worst, even though he’s a bit of a little b**** and Alec is just a nasty creep. There are a few supporting characters throughout this book, some I like, a few I rolled my eyes in annoyance, and others I feel like weren’t around enough to warrant much opinions on just yet.
World Building: 2* - This section is normally why I have trouble with this genre. Once I start asking questions, and I mean a lot of questions, if they don’t get answered by the end, I unfortunately get upset/disappointed, as I often see the potential/opportunity to just dive into a world where our modern world is combined with the fantastical, but it doesn’t really get utilized.
So first off, I’m so used to urban fantasy stories where faes, elves, vampires, and/or other pretty fantasy races are the ones on top and/or run an entire city and the other races such as werewolves, shifters, and/or other creatures that involve turning into some sort of beast/monster, are beneath them as guards, slaves, etc. Humans are either stuck in the middle of them or are in the same area as werewolves and shifters. This book has decided to swap those roles which I liked, making shifters on top and faes are pretty much treated as third class citizens with terrible living conditions.
Secondly, I very much enjoyed the brief history I got about Nathra city and the fae shifter war. There’s even a brief explanation stating that the humans, during the civil war, were “allowed” to leave Nathra city to go to other places. So that was some neat info …
Now here is where I struggled with the book. I have NO idea where Nathra city is. Is it in the US? Canada? UK? Somewhere where the English language is dominant? I don’t know. There’s not even a mention of whatever country's government that’s around, as the world knows faes and shifters exist, but it seems like Nathra city is just closed off from the world? I was struggling to figure this out as I don’t think any government would be okay with a mass of people leaving one city and going to another. I also have no idea of the year this story is taking place. I know it’s urban fantasy, but it also sounds like there are some futuristic elements in this city? I’m still trying to figure this out and understand that part as well.
Now when it comes to technology in this book, it gets a mention or two in the first half of the book but we never hear of it again lol. Cellphones, I’m pretty sure Reagan has one as she uses it to listen to music when she sleeps, but like I said, a few mentions and done. There is a computer that gets used to figure something out about what her stepfather plans to do to some faes, only a few mentions, and that’s it. There was even a pretty nifty tablet that got used, and again, no more use after that. I just find it funny that a staple with urban fantasy stories is the lack of technology being used or even seen, I do find this odd … a lot. I understand why faes wouldn’t have technology, they aren’t allowed to work so they don’t even have much money to buy necessities … in fact they aren’t even allowed to buy food as many stores have closed themselves off to faes. So there really isn’t much they can do in Nathra city. They also can’t just leave as they aren’t allowed and are killed if they try to flee. So Nathra city is both a home to shifters that live in a more urban setting while faes are imprisoned and live in the outskirts of ruined buildings being covered in nature.
Speaking of faes and shifters, I … honestly don’t really know much about them other than a few things that are considered a fae THING and a shifter THING. This irked me a bit as growing up I kept hearing, “Oh it’s just a Spanish thing” or a whatever insert race here thing as more of an assumption of what my or any other race does as a whole. It wasn't really a pleasant read to just see a quality from someone as just being, well the whole species does it … Really? The ENTIRE race does this THING? For example, Shifters: They can turn into animals, they wear less clothing to be able to easily turn with no restrictions, they have tattoos on their bodies, they have piercings, they have dyed colored hair, they don’t mind being naked or showing so much skin, they don’t like nature, and they prefer meat over vegetables. Faes: They have feathered wings(are kept hidden because of a law placed upon them) and pointed ears, they can do magic(but can’t do them because of a law placed on them. Plus, the magic system is very basic. The Fae's use some magic and get tired from it. So it looks like magic takes from their energy. There is an object that seems to amplify their magic capabilities, but it's story related, and therefore spoilery.), they love nature, they are vegetarians/vegans(I’m not sure, I just know that they are apparently not supposed to eat meat because reasons), they are more conservative with clothing as they are uncomfortable with nakedness and too much skin showing, they worship Gaia? But they use the term hell? … That’s it. I’m not saying I need an in depth explanation about religion, government, or whatever, but a sentence here or there or a paragraph going a little more into THIS world would have been enough to sedate my curiosity. I wouldn’t have much of a problem with such little information, but most of these THINGS meant for each race never came with an explanation as to why, and for every character shown, they pretty much share all these features for their respective species. There isn’t a fae that doesn’t mind skin or wears less clothing, so far. There is also no shifter that isn’t a fan of tattoos and also doesn’t mind wearing more clothes, so far. It just didn’t feel like there was any individuality per character. Nevaeh is Reagan’s best friend, but the only difference in their appearance is their skin and eye color, hair dye color, types of tattoos, and their choice of shoes. Other than that, they wear the same types of clothing, down to the fishnet stockings. As for fae characters, every one of them has expressed discomfort when Reagan walks around naked after being in her lion form for a while. Not to mention, EVERYONE is beautiful. Fae's can barely afford food, but the guys are ripped as f*** and the women are dropped dead gorgeous … I'm going to just chuck this up as a Romance genre thing.
Speaking of Reagan’s lion form, I DO NOT understand why a FEMALE shifter turns into a MALE lion. Her form is described with a mane. As soon as that popped in, I was wondering if other shifters can turn into the opposite gender of the animal. Problem is, there aren’t many animals out there that have a clear male and female distinction to my knowledge, but then a lion shifter shows up near the end of the book, and instead of using the term it, as there is no way Reagan would know what gender the shifter is, she instead uses the pronoun HE. So, I am seriously asking, why is Reagan the only female shifter so far that can turn into a male lion and no others? It can’t be because she can turn into a mythical like creature with wings as she isn’t the only one. There are dragons, a giant wolf that can breathe fire, and a giant spider. So mysticism isn’t the answer here.
I also became really uncomfortable when there were two instances in this book that a fae, who’s supposed to not eat meat … because reasons, are force fed bacon, like it, and are now omnivores like it was no big deal. I know it was meant to be “funny,” but I was just uncomfortable with those scenes as I thought there was some significance to faes not wanting to eat animals, but it looks like there was never really a reason except for tradition? My husband also thinks I might be over thinking those scenes, but I’m not so sure anymore … Ok this section went on longer than I thought, so I will just end it here.
Story: 3* - You know what, I’m actually pretty surprised how separate the romance is from the story's plot. There is no, “Oh I know things are happening around us and we could die, but we need to talk about our feelings NOW!” That gets really annoying, really fast in romance stories, but this story remains focused which was nice. When it comes to the action scenes, that’s where the character's focus on to survive fights and challenges they didn't expect. Yes there are a few moments where one of the main characters saves the other, but it only happens a few times throughout the book, and when it comes to down time, that is when we focus on more character/story driven moments. I can also tell the difference between one author’s writing style over the other author, but I thought their style meshed pretty well together. It wasn’t super obvious nor distracting. Now, there is one trope that I didn’t really see played out in the manner that it is meant for and that is the enemies/hate to lovers trope. The hatred felt pretty one sighted as only Tarik didn’t like shifters while Reagan wanted to help faes. I only see hatred more coming from shifters to faes than the other way around, or even equal amounts, but I didn’t see that trope utilized much, if at all. Not to mention Tarik gets over his hatred of shifters pretty fast because of Reagan, so I REALLY didn't get this hatred/enemies to lovers trope in this book. The reason this story gets three stars and not more is mainly because the story was good, it just didn’t wow me. There was a twist near the end that involved Reagan which I can’t wait for these two authors to explore in future books, but that’s it. Everything else was pretty predictable.
Over All: 3.5* - This took me a while to figure out, but in my honest opinion, this story was a good one, unfortunately, I liked one main character way more than the other and because there was so little world information in this story, it distracted me quite a bit. I had too many questions left unanswered by the end and I found many parts of this story predictable, but entertaining. I do look forward to reading more of this story, and I will recommend this story for those who want a fun, simple fantasy story with a nice, slow burn romance. I will probably make this 4 stars because half stars are not a thing apparently lol, but the story was interesting enough to round up to 4 stars instead of just an average 3 stars.
Dawn Till Dusk is a New Adult Urban Fantasy Romance novel, book 1 in the series.
Also, I thought I should let you know that Urban Fantasy is a pretty hard genre for me to get into. Now that that’s said, let’s get to this review.
Book Cover: 4* - Now, I’m not a big fan of photo stock book covers for a few reasons, but after learning that one of the authors did it herself, I thought it actually came out really nice. The characters on the cover for the most part look like how they are described in the book. Plus it’s purple, I love purple lol.
Summary/Tagline: 3* - It’s good. It got me curious enough to want to know what the story entails, but knowing that this is a romance story too, I assumed that both Reagan and Tarik would most definitely end up together, how? Probably something bad would bring the two together, knowing the authors lol. I will also make sure not to reveal any spoilers in this review.
Characters: 3* - We follow two characters in this story. Reagan, a female shifter that can turn into a winged white lion, and Tarik, a male fae who is heavily brooding, angry, and knows magic(trigger warning for suicide attempts and thoughts). Either character is written by each of the authors respectfully(I’ll get into this more in the story section). Out of the two characters, I connected to Reagan a hell of a lot faster than I did Tarik. Reagan is spunky, strong, caring, and has quite the patience to put up with Tarik for the beginning part of the book. Tarik … was unfortunately a pretty predictable character. I think I connected with him by the end, but I wasn’t sure, and I did predict his tragic backstory when he brought it up cryptically in a way in either chapter 1 or 2. When his past does reveal itself, showing why he’s so angry and wanting death so badly, I actually blurted out, “Yeah I called it.” Speaking of tragic pasts, Reagan’s backstory, or I guess her life situation with her step family, I’m sure this was a coincidence, but her abusive relationship with Reagan’s stepfather Mordecai(the antagonist of the book) is pretty similar to a character written by one of the authors from another book series, and no it wasn’t the one that wrote Reagan’s chapters. Like I said, I’m sure it was a coincidence. Now speaking of Reagan’s stepfamily. Mordecai and Alec, oooooh trigger warning for abuse(physical and emotional), torture, and assault(physical and sexual). Mordecai is the worst, even though he’s a bit of a little b**** and Alec is just a nasty creep. There are a few supporting characters throughout this book, some I like, a few I rolled my eyes in annoyance, and others I feel like weren’t around enough to warrant much opinions on just yet.
World Building: 2* - This section is normally why I have trouble with this genre. Once I start asking questions, and I mean a lot of questions, if they don’t get answered by the end, I unfortunately get upset/disappointed, as I often see the potential/opportunity to just dive into a world where our modern world is combined with the fantastical, but it doesn’t really get utilized.
So first off, I’m so used to urban fantasy stories where faes, elves, vampires, and/or other pretty fantasy races are the ones on top and/or run an entire city and the other races such as werewolves, shifters, and/or other creatures that involve turning into some sort of beast/monster, are beneath them as guards, slaves, etc. Humans are either stuck in the middle of them or are in the same area as werewolves and shifters. This book has decided to swap those roles which I liked, making shifters on top and faes are pretty much treated as third class citizens with terrible living conditions.
Secondly, I very much enjoyed the brief history I got about Nathra city and the fae shifter war. There’s even a brief explanation stating that the humans, during the civil war, were “allowed” to leave Nathra city to go to other places. So that was some neat info …
Now here is where I struggled with the book. I have NO idea where Nathra city is. Is it in the US? Canada? UK? Somewhere where the English language is dominant? I don’t know. There’s not even a mention of whatever country's government that’s around, as the world knows faes and shifters exist, but it seems like Nathra city is just closed off from the world? I was struggling to figure this out as I don’t think any government would be okay with a mass of people leaving one city and going to another. I also have no idea of the year this story is taking place. I know it’s urban fantasy, but it also sounds like there are some futuristic elements in this city? I’m still trying to figure this out and understand that part as well.
Now when it comes to technology in this book, it gets a mention or two in the first half of the book but we never hear of it again lol. Cellphones, I’m pretty sure Reagan has one as she uses it to listen to music when she sleeps, but like I said, a few mentions and done. There is a computer that gets used to figure something out about what her stepfather plans to do to some faes, only a few mentions, and that’s it. There was even a pretty nifty tablet that got used, and again, no more use after that. I just find it funny that a staple with urban fantasy stories is the lack of technology being used or even seen, I do find this odd … a lot. I understand why faes wouldn’t have technology, they aren’t allowed to work so they don’t even have much money to buy necessities … in fact they aren’t even allowed to buy food as many stores have closed themselves off to faes. So there really isn’t much they can do in Nathra city. They also can’t just leave as they aren’t allowed and are killed if they try to flee. So Nathra city is both a home to shifters that live in a more urban setting while faes are imprisoned and live in the outskirts of ruined buildings being covered in nature.
Speaking of faes and shifters, I … honestly don’t really know much about them other than a few things that are considered a fae THING and a shifter THING. This irked me a bit as growing up I kept hearing, “Oh it’s just a Spanish thing” or a whatever insert race here thing as more of an assumption of what my or any other race does as a whole. It wasn't really a pleasant read to just see a quality from someone as just being, well the whole species does it … Really? The ENTIRE race does this THING? For example, Shifters: They can turn into animals, they wear less clothing to be able to easily turn with no restrictions, they have tattoos on their bodies, they have piercings, they have dyed colored hair, they don’t mind being naked or showing so much skin, they don’t like nature, and they prefer meat over vegetables. Faes: They have feathered wings(are kept hidden because of a law placed upon them) and pointed ears, they can do magic(but can’t do them because of a law placed on them. Plus, the magic system is very basic. The Fae's use some magic and get tired from it. So it looks like magic takes from their energy. There is an object that seems to amplify their magic capabilities, but it's story related, and therefore spoilery.), they love nature, they are vegetarians/vegans(I’m not sure, I just know that they are apparently not supposed to eat meat because reasons), they are more conservative with clothing as they are uncomfortable with nakedness and too much skin showing, they worship Gaia? But they use the term hell? … That’s it. I’m not saying I need an in depth explanation about religion, government, or whatever, but a sentence here or there or a paragraph going a little more into THIS world would have been enough to sedate my curiosity. I wouldn’t have much of a problem with such little information, but most of these THINGS meant for each race never came with an explanation as to why, and for every character shown, they pretty much share all these features for their respective species. There isn’t a fae that doesn’t mind skin or wears less clothing, so far. There is also no shifter that isn’t a fan of tattoos and also doesn’t mind wearing more clothes, so far. It just didn’t feel like there was any individuality per character. Nevaeh is Reagan’s best friend, but the only difference in their appearance is their skin and eye color, hair dye color, types of tattoos, and their choice of shoes. Other than that, they wear the same types of clothing, down to the fishnet stockings. As for fae characters, every one of them has expressed discomfort when Reagan walks around naked after being in her lion form for a while. Not to mention, EVERYONE is beautiful. Fae's can barely afford food, but the guys are ripped as f*** and the women are dropped dead gorgeous … I'm going to just chuck this up as a Romance genre thing.
Speaking of Reagan’s lion form, I DO NOT understand why a FEMALE shifter turns into a MALE lion. Her form is described with a mane. As soon as that popped in, I was wondering if other shifters can turn into the opposite gender of the animal. Problem is, there aren’t many animals out there that have a clear male and female distinction to my knowledge, but then a lion shifter shows up near the end of the book, and instead of using the term it, as there is no way Reagan would know what gender the shifter is, she instead uses the pronoun HE. So, I am seriously asking, why is Reagan the only female shifter so far that can turn into a male lion and no others? It can’t be because she can turn into a mythical like creature with wings as she isn’t the only one. There are dragons, a giant wolf that can breathe fire, and a giant spider. So mysticism isn’t the answer here.
I also became really uncomfortable when there were two instances in this book that a fae, who’s supposed to not eat meat … because reasons, are force fed bacon, like it, and are now omnivores like it was no big deal. I know it was meant to be “funny,” but I was just uncomfortable with those scenes as I thought there was some significance to faes not wanting to eat animals, but it looks like there was never really a reason except for tradition? My husband also thinks I might be over thinking those scenes, but I’m not so sure anymore … Ok this section went on longer than I thought, so I will just end it here.
Story: 3* - You know what, I’m actually pretty surprised how separate the romance is from the story's plot. There is no, “Oh I know things are happening around us and we could die, but we need to talk about our feelings NOW!” That gets really annoying, really fast in romance stories, but this story remains focused which was nice. When it comes to the action scenes, that’s where the character's focus on to survive fights and challenges they didn't expect. Yes there are a few moments where one of the main characters saves the other, but it only happens a few times throughout the book, and when it comes to down time, that is when we focus on more character/story driven moments. I can also tell the difference between one author’s writing style over the other author, but I thought their style meshed pretty well together. It wasn’t super obvious nor distracting. Now, there is one trope that I didn’t really see played out in the manner that it is meant for and that is the enemies/hate to lovers trope. The hatred felt pretty one sighted as only Tarik didn’t like shifters while Reagan wanted to help faes. I only see hatred more coming from shifters to faes than the other way around, or even equal amounts, but I didn’t see that trope utilized much, if at all. Not to mention Tarik gets over his hatred of shifters pretty fast because of Reagan, so I REALLY didn't get this hatred/enemies to lovers trope in this book. The reason this story gets three stars and not more is mainly because the story was good, it just didn’t wow me. There was a twist near the end that involved Reagan which I can’t wait for these two authors to explore in future books, but that’s it. Everything else was pretty predictable.
Over All: 3.5* - This took me a while to figure out, but in my honest opinion, this story was a good one, unfortunately, I liked one main character way more than the other and because there was so little world information in this story, it distracted me quite a bit. I had too many questions left unanswered by the end and I found many parts of this story predictable, but entertaining. I do look forward to reading more of this story, and I will recommend this story for those who want a fun, simple fantasy story with a nice, slow burn romance. I will probably make this 4 stars because half stars are not a thing apparently lol, but the story was interesting enough to round up to 4 stars instead of just an average 3 stars.