A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
"On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.
In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine."- summary from Amazon
I've been really excited for Davies' book since my first BEA in 2010 when she told me a little bit about it. I was really happy to get a signed ARC at this year's BEA because of a very sweet woman (scroll down about halfway right before the Lisa Yee pic). Anyway, on to the review.
A Beautiful Dark is a really interesting debut. It's very mysterious and compelling, which made the book fly by. Skye is a good character and I liked seeing her have a big interest in skiing; she didn't just become a flat character once the love triangle aspect started like some characters can. In the beginning, I did think that the book was a bit Personal Demons-ish but as I got further into the story, it became so much more. The mythology that Davies created was very cool and I can't wait to find out more about Skye's past and role in all this.
But be warned, there's a huge cliffhanger at the end. I was seriously peeved (ok, maybe not that much) when I got to the last page and wondered how Davies could do that to her readers. But I'm definitely excited and eager to read the next book, but it sucks I have to wait a year (or at least til next year's BEA)!
FTC: Received ARC from BEA (signed!). Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.
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Thanks for the warning. I hate cliffhangers.
ReplyDeleteAnn
I really want to read this book although after hearing about the big cliffhanger I might wait a while and then it won't be as long until the next one. I always find when I get to the 2nd book in a series theres tons I can't remember from the first!
ReplyDeleteWhile the above mentioned seem like the typical recipe for YA, Davies¿ novel steps beyond that. I never felt annoyed with being in Skye¿s head through paragraphs of personal prose. The dialogue was real, not contrived or forced or awkward. Harper Collins does a wonderful job recruiting authors for their YA paranormal quota and I think they may have struck gold on this one.
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