Hearts of Darkness (Deadglass #1) by Kira Brady
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Paranormal Romance
You can purchase Hearts of Darkness on ebook or paperback from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. More reviews available on Goodreads. You can read my review of the prequel Hearts of Fire.
Review:
Overview: After reading the prequel novella (and loving it), I was so excited and impatient to read this book that I requested a copy from the author. But it was clear very early on in Hearts of Darkness that this was a completely different story than the first. This book is set in present time, while the prequel had a western feel. The world building feels very extensive, but it took me quite a few chapters to be convinced that present day Seattle is over-run by mystical shapeshifters and beings…but the rest of the world is unaware of this. I think my main gripe with the novel is that I didn’t like the POV characters. Since the next book is written from a different POV, I might still read it.
Characters: I would’ve liked this story much more had the main characters not been Kayla and Hart. I liked Corbette, Grace, Lydia, and especially Norgard and I wish one of them told the story. It could have been a five-star book. First off the chemistry between the characters is so awkward. I never felt like they truly cared for one another. Hart didn’t love her – her lusted her. He spent much of his time thinking about how to screw her over and the rest of the time thinking about screwing her. He kept talking about the beast inside him wanting to bend her over and stick it in. After pages and pages of this, I was like: “Just do it already!” By the time the sex scene happened, I was so fed up with Hart and Kayla that I skipped it. And, he growled a lot…a whole lot. Oh, and Kayla felt like the dumbest human alive. She walked into trap after trap and was so incredibly naive. She had absolutely no backbone and was all about preaching forgiveness and not taking things personally. I don’t understand how Hart could do that “thing” to her and she shrugs it off!
Plot: The plot felt predictable about half the time and the other half I was confused as to why the characters did the things they did. So I guess it wasn’t nearly as predictable as I originally thought. By the end of the book, I stopped trying to guess what would happen and just enjoyed the story. The world building was well done and the mythology was teasingly revealed throughout the story. Even by the end, I understood much of the world, but I wanted to know so much more.
Ending: There were some really cheesy moments in the end. The kind of stuff you’d expect in a movie with more special effects than acting skills. These things were not realistic and obviously only there for dramatic flair. I wish things would have ended differently with Corbette…his ending was bittersweet.
Book Description:
Nurse Kayla Friday has dedicated her life to science and reason. But for her, Seattle is a place of eerie loss and fragmented, frightening memories. And now the only clue to her sister’s murder reveals a secret battle between two ancient mythologies…and puts Kayla in the sights of lethally sexy werewolf mercenary Hart. He’ll do whatever it takes to obtain the key to the Gate of the Land of the Dead and free what’s left of his soul. But seducing the determined Kayla is putting them at the mercy of powerful desires neither can control. And as the clock ticks down to hellish catastrophe, the untested bond between Kayla and Hart may lead to the ultimate sacrifice.
This is a great story for those who love paranormal romances and don’t mind a bit of cheese.
Grade: C
I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author:
(Picture and information borrowed from Goodreads.)
Author of the Deadglass Trilogy (Kensington Zebra). Hearts of Darkness was selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of Summer 2012!
A native Seattleitte, Kira spent her childhood hiking the rainy forests of the Pacific Northwest and drying out by the fire with a good book and a mug of something hot. She graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her real life Prince Charming and promptly dragged him back to sunless Seattle. She fell in love with historic, haunted cities in graduate school. Now she writes about the twisted cities of her imagination, where wraiths and shape-shifters stalk the night and love redeems even the darkest heart. When not writing, she can be found drinking inordinately large mugs of Assam tea, knitting wool socks, and raising a wee heroine-in-training.
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