A review by thorn_n_thistle_reads
Darkest Heart by Rebecca L. Garcia

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

If you love books with vampires, darker themes, morally grey characters, political intrigue, enemies-lovers, found family and much more. Then this series is for you. The good news?! You can binge-read the first three with the final book being out this year. 


Spoilers ahead ❗️

This one ends right where we ended Midnight Crown, with Olivia being Kidnapped. 

As we slowly learn who kidnapped Olvia secrets are revealed. These scenes were intriguing if not a little dark. We see Olvia's character grow a lot during them, seeing how far she will go for those she loves. I enjoyed (though enjoyed may not be the right word) seeing more of this world as we ventured into the city of nightmares, it showed just how ruthless the soul vampires are and that they shouldn't be taken lightly. 

As well as Olivia's POV, we get povs from both Sebastian and Niall. It was sweet to see Sebastian being vulnerable and raw with his emotions. I love his scenes with Erriana and Zach. Seeing them work together is super fun (despite the circumstances) the banter was light and you could see how much they cared for each other. They knew when to push and when to back-off. 

With Niall, we got to see more of the castles politics, what makes him tick and more of his motives with Olivia. We also had a lovely surprise within the mortal, Elizabeth who brought out Niall's softer side, occasionally 😜. I was interested in getting to know more about him during these scenes and found myself looking forward to them more, as the book progressed. I don't know what's next for these two. I have never wanted a couple to get together more than these two. I will die on this hill!

I felt like we got to know these characters alot more in this book. What they will do to save the people they love, how they will fight to get back to them or what they will do to get their way. It was certainly a character growth book for some of them and I can't wait to see what happens next.