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A review by baileyisbooked
Lights Out by Navessa Allen
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
The good things:
-Narrators did a great job but I ended up needing to listen to it on 1.5x or 1.75x speed.
-FRED!!!!
-Brad situation: I loved the way that Bradended up dying. I thought it being accidental was truer to the characters and it seriously brought the tension up. Smut in the first 50%, pre reveal of identity , was good.
-Humor: pretty funny sometimes! Better in the first 50% of the book.
The bad things:
-The pacing was so patchy - we spend the first 50/60% just hearing the same thing over & over & then there was a dramatic flip. I liked the plot well enough & was glad for something happening in the story, but the pacing was just so off.
-Smut (back half): Just kind of happening. I felt like after Aly found out who her stalker was, the chemistry just kind of flickered out. On page they were obsessed with each other but it just felt flat to me.
-Stakes were explained but not felt. I just wasn’t worried for either of them for like 95% of the situations they were in.
-The Cringe: it is a requirement for “dark romances” to be a little bit cringe, I think, but Aly’s “I’m not like other girls” takes (multiple times) & constant “my ovaries exploded again”/“down boy” (said to her ovaries) humor made me wince. A little too modern/online for me.
The characters ultimately end up being right for each other by virtue of being sexually compatible….. and that’s kind of it. Josh has an interesting backstory & is pretty funny (in the first half). Aly is mostly likable if you skip over all of her pick me parts. You must also ignore the way they both can’t hold a conversation without thinking about, initiating, or talking about sex, including when they’re sharing trauma/their histories and when they’re in incredibly tense situations.
Final note: while stalking is an essential tenet of this story, it is not really addressed or felt in any realistic or substantial way. If that will bother you, I’d skip this one.
-Narrators did a great job but I ended up needing to listen to it on 1.5x or 1.75x speed.
-FRED!!!!
-Brad situation: I loved the way that Brad
-Humor: pretty funny sometimes! Better in the first 50% of the book.
The bad things:
-The pacing was so patchy - we spend the first 50/60% just hearing the same thing over & over & then there was a dramatic flip. I liked the plot well enough & was glad for something happening in the story, but the pacing was just so off.
-Smut (back half): Just kind of happening. I felt like after Aly found out who her stalker was, the chemistry just kind of flickered out. On page they were obsessed with each other but it just felt flat to me.
-Stakes were explained but not felt. I just wasn’t worried for either of them for like 95% of the situations they were in.
-The Cringe: it is a requirement for “dark romances” to be a little bit cringe, I think, but Aly’s “I’m not like other girls” takes (multiple times) & constant “my ovaries exploded again”/“down boy” (said to her ovaries) humor made me wince. A little too modern/online for me.
The characters ultimately end up being right for each other by virtue of being sexually compatible….. and that’s kind of it. Josh has an interesting backstory & is pretty funny (in the first half). Aly is mostly likable if you skip over all of her pick me parts. You must also ignore the way they both can’t hold a conversation without thinking about, initiating, or talking about sex, including when they’re sharing trauma/their histories and when they’re in incredibly tense situations.
Final note: while stalking is an essential tenet of this story, it is not really addressed or felt in any realistic or substantial way. If that will bother you, I’d skip this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Medical content, Stalking, Murder
Moderate: Violence, Car accident, Death of parent
Minor: Rape, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism