A Beautiful Dark
Author: Jocelyn Davies
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: September 27, 2011
Pages: 390
Series: A Beautiful Dark, book one
Source: E-galley requested from Netgalley
About the Book: 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.
My Thoughts: Going in to this book I hadn’t heard too much about it. I’d read the summary on netgally and seen the cover but that was about it. The premises was intriguing to me and it was coming from Harper Teen, one of my favorite publishers. I found A Beautiful Dark interesting and I enjoyed it but I wasn’t invested. I didn’t know it was an “angel book” and that may have influenced me a bit. I’ve just read so many of them recently!
A Beautiful Dark starts with a short excerpt before chapter one. This really got me interested. I had a lot of questions about what was happening. These were good questions… the kind that made me want to read more! As the story progressed I was particularly interested in the way it explored fate versus free will. I liked the way it made me think about it and apply it to the story. I also really liked the juxtaposition of order and chaos, light and dark. You can even see it in the different texts used for the cover! These things and Skye’s friendships (well developed and super awesome friends!) are really what kept me reading.
It’s not that I didn’t like the book. I wanted to finish it. I was curious about what would happen. I just didn’t really feel invested in the outcome. There is a crazy cliffhanger ending (the good kind of crazy) but I just couldn’t really bring myself to be outraged like I usually am. I honestly don’t know that I’ll pick book two up. Jocelyn Davies is a delightful person and a talented writer. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t really click with this one! Oh well, you won’t love them all 😉
Differing opinions from bloggers I admire:
The Story Siren
Anna Reads
Makeshift Bookmark
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