A review by mllejoyeuxnoel
And I Darken by Kiersten White

5.0

I hope this odd sentence makes sense to fellow readers: The EXACT right amount of things happened in this book. The balance of it all was perfect. The arcs of each of the three main characters were seamlessly allowed to develop and flourish alongside all of the action and political plot. I want to be Lada when I grow up. She is a calculating badass who takes no prisoners but manages neither to be manipulative nor truly detestable. The writing was wonderful; I'm not sure if this book is classified as YA, but I did not feel as if I were reading a book meant for teens in the slightest. While I expected some SFF in this book after perusing the description and seeing that this story revolves around the fabled Dracul family, there was none, which I actually found to be a great choice. The story of this family is so spectacularly rich without fantastic embellishment. I had my local bookstore order the second installment for me before I even started reading this one, and I'm very glad I did!

Recommended if you like: boss bitch female leads, queer lead characters, political intrigue, romantic subplots.