A review by triciab04
Semblance by Logan Patricks

4.0

So I have a guilty pleasure of mine that I am going to share with you all....no judgments here, right?? I kind of love the show Gossip Girl. Trust me, I know that it's probably not right, I am a 29 year old mother, and all around pretty nice kind of gal, but I love it, so there it is. I've heard countless times from my guy that it's "Unfathomable that you can like anyone in that show. They are all terrible, spoiled, pretentious aholes...", at one point he also made an offhand comment, after being subjected to watching quite a few episodes because I was, about how Dan Humphrey was the only one in the bunch that was "halfway decent", to which I responded by laughing a lot.....for ***SPOILER ALERT*** Dan Humphrey is secretly, the Gossip Girl. He was not impressed. OK, I swear this all has bearing on my feelings about this book. Semblance was like Gossip Girl, ON STEROIDS, not legal in the US because they make you fucking crazy steroids. In fact, if Gossip Girl and The Godfather had a baby, thy name would be Semblance. So naturally, I dug it.

This book was over the top in every way, but somehow all together, it worked for me. About halfway through I was thinking it was alright, by the end, my mind was blown by the sheer craziness of it all. There was a secret society with the most powerful and financially elite at the very center of it. They called themselves, The Midnight Society. Come on, who isn't intrigued by a secret society?? Of course there were some skeletons in the closet with this bunch, and my friends, they burst out of that closet with a vengeance, after doing the Macarena ;)

Of course this story would not be complete without, Aria Valencia, lonely, hauntingly beautiful, financially challenged classical music student, and pianist extraordinaire who laughs in the face of timeless adages like "If you think it's too good to be true, it probably is.", and then gets stabbed in the back for not using that space filler inside of her beautiful noggin. Yes, there were times when you will probably want to kick her in the shin and run away, she knows better than what she's doing, but proceeds anyhow, but she does so with reckless abandon and a mouth like a trucker, so if you're like me, she'll grow on you! She's got spunk and she doles it out wherever she goes, I love it.

Let's also not forget about our hunky leading man, Shadow, the brooding King of the Midnight Society. A man with a haunted past and vengeance to dish out. He is on a mission of revenge and won't rest until he's achieved his goal. Well, minus some pretty steamy romps with a certain leading lady. Unbeknownst to him, there is a storm a brewin' in his kingdom, and heads are going to roll. Fellow Midnight Society royalty, and Shadow's friend, Lincoln was also a favorite character of mine. He was a little arrogant, and a lot charming. Abraham, the fatherly figure and Calisto, the princess,aka Shadow's sister, were both other characters that made some pretty large impressions on me. Everyone in this book had a very interesting story beneath their shiny exteriors.

There was mystery, intrigue, pretty much every deadly sin, and ridiculous amounts of bloodshed.....I mean seriously how many people can die in broad daylight before a cop arrives in this city?? I mean military like assaults go down in these neighborhoods completely unnoticed and/or unreported by ANYONE?! Lol like I said, there was some pretty over the top things in this book, but it really did work for me all thrown in together. Almost forgot to mention the pretty epic cliffhanger at the end too. There were some major revelations and all around shit hitting the fan at the end, and you are left hanging pretty hard. Well Mr. Patricks, your evil genius plan worked, I will definitely be reading the next book. I just have to know what happens next!! Well done, by the way, this was a stellar novel, especially for a debut novel. Can't wait to see what you come up with next!