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A review by brittaniethekid
Whispers in the Dark by Lily Mayne, Nikole Knight
4.0
While I enjoyed both Nor and Cody, plus the peek into the Black Oasis world, this wasn't quite as interesting as Mayne's other books, mostly because of the lack of a post-apocalypse setting. Once Cody starts crossing over with Nor into Nor's world, the book becomes more interesting. All of the scenes in Cody's apartment are really depressing, mostly because his home life is absolute shit. He's taking care of a father who claims Cody isn't his son (due to Cody's Ginger colouring), has a live-in older brother who treats Cody like trash and then tries to assault him, and a mother working multiple jobs who has no time for anyone but work. This is a little much for the story, I feel, and pushed it into what (I hope) is an unrealistic situation. This might be a situation people who are used to abuse would find themselves in but I found it hard to believe or relate so it was a bit too much for me. However, Nor is very sweet and Cody basically uses Nor, and an online game, to escape his own dark reality.
If this had been my first foray into the "monster love" romance genre I probably wouldn't have continued. Cody and Nor don't have the best chemistry and it seems silly that Nor basically fell in love with this lanky, dirty Ginger 20-something at first sight, especially when humans are viewed as lesser than, as food, in Nor'd world. However, the writing kept me interested and I did enjoy the world building. I will definitely read the sequel that I assume will be from the POVs of Nor's friend, Lau, and the nightmare vision human we saw briefly in the book.
While I had my own issues with the book, the wildly mixed reviews for this are interesting. I assume a lot of Mayne's Monstrous fans immediately read this thinking it would be similar, but the only thing it has in common with that series is that it has sexual monsters in an alternate reality. While Nor is pretty similar to the Monstrous monsters, Cody is going to come off as a lot more naive and child-like than any of the men in that series since he has not gone through the end of the world and the deaths of most of mankind. To expect just another entry into that series is doing the authors, and yourself as a reader, a disservice. Despite those low reviews or DNFs, I'd still say give it a chance yourself, not constantly comparing it to unrelated books by either author.
If this had been my first foray into the "monster love" romance genre I probably wouldn't have continued. Cody and Nor don't have the best chemistry and it seems silly that Nor basically fell in love with this lanky, dirty Ginger 20-something at first sight, especially when humans are viewed as lesser than, as food, in Nor'd world. However, the writing kept me interested and I did enjoy the world building. I will definitely read the sequel that I assume will be from the POVs of Nor's friend, Lau, and the nightmare vision human we saw briefly in the book.
While I had my own issues with the book, the wildly mixed reviews for this are interesting. I assume a lot of Mayne's Monstrous fans immediately read this thinking it would be similar, but the only thing it has in common with that series is that it has sexual monsters in an alternate reality. While Nor is pretty similar to the Monstrous monsters, Cody is going to come off as a lot more naive and child-like than any of the men in that series since he has not gone through the end of the world and the deaths of most of mankind. To expect just another entry into that series is doing the authors, and yourself as a reader, a disservice. Despite those low reviews or DNFs, I'd still say give it a chance yourself, not constantly comparing it to unrelated books by either author.