Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton Series: Gods and Monsters #1
Published by Simon and Schuster on January 3rd 2012
Genres: Action & Adventure, Fantasy & Magic, Legends, Myths, Fables, Love & Romance, Paranormal, Social Issues, Young Adult
Pages: 273
Read it as: Paperback
Source: Purchased
My rating:
Check it out in Goodreads
Synopsis
A dark and lush paranormal romance set in a richly reimagined New Orleans—now in paperback!Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her. Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.
If you haven’t guessed by the rating, or my Goodreads updates: I loved Darkness Becomes Her. It was one of those didn’t-expect-I’d-end-up-liking books. See, I was at the book store, and picked books for my dad and my sister, then, I realized, I really wanted one too! But which?
Book hunt!
I spotted this one and picked it up. Cover? Huh… Mysterious. Blurb? Doesn’t seem boring.
“Dad, I want this one!”
And that’s how it happened.
Of course, little Pamela didn’t know at that time what a hidden gem this book was until after she’d read about ten pages.
Since I enjoyed this book so much, I’ll start with the only thing that bothered me: The lack of info.
First, I liked the blurb. I really do. But it’d have been better if it had… I don’t know… been more clear on the setting of this book. Sure, New Orleans. It turns out this place suffered from the hurricanes and turned into New 2. Fine, I can deal. But then, when my mind was convinced we were in 2014 or at least some time around that, it turns out Ari was born at 2009. o.o, which means we’re talking about this book being set at least eighteen years later. Talk about surprises…
Once I got over that, the book kinda made it up to me. Nice little book *pets cover*
Now, the good stuff!
One thing that made my day when reading this lovely, was that it made sense. You might ask, how for the love of the flying pigs can a book about freaks, New Orleans lore and mythology make sense?
Because I’m not talking about those things now. Lol. I’m referring to the fact that here we have a normal person in YA literature, one of those few, might I add. And by normal person I mean, a person who thinks.
Ari, our protagonist is first digging stuff about her mother, and finds a note in which her dead mothers tells her to RUN. RUN. RUN. I paused reading for a moment at this point, afraid of what would happen. Because, I was envisioning these outcomes:
- Ari thinks her mom is nuts and ignores the warning, although feeling a little guilty.
- Ari believes she can take on the world and decides she can handle whatever her mom is warning her against.
- Ari feels scared of this and does the sensible thing, which is to take it seriously and ponder about what to do.
In most books lately, the protagonist, put in this situation would’ve done 1 or 2. 1, maybe to convince us she is smart and savvy, or 2, in order to shove the MC’s bravery down our throats. So, I was pleasantly surprised that Ari did 3. She was terrified of her mom’s fate and decided to get to safety first, and figure the rest later.
Her plan didn’t work, but still, it’s this reaction the one that is important. I’m grateful for that.
There is romance.
Yes! There is some kissing! But the book is not a romance. In fact, it was nice this way.
There is one plot twist at the end, which I suppose many probably can guess, but I didn’t! (Can’t get over that!) The hints are sprinkled all over. Crap, it’s all but spelled in invisible ink! I don’t how I didn’t puzzle it together sooner. But, I’m glad I didn’t.
That’s the fun of plot twists 😉
So, whether it is because of this likeable and strong female lead, or because of the friendship and fitting in themes, the suspense, the setting, or the plot twist, I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially lovers of the strange, and of greek mythology.
See you around!
Leave a Reply