BOOK GIVEAWAY & Toni's Review of Hearts of Darkness by Kira Brady - 3.5 Stars
In the first of a
dazzling new romantic trilogy, one woman’s courageous search plunges her into a
millennia-old supernatural war—and an irresistible passion…
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Ms. Brady did a very fine
job on her first novel. There were a few
bumps; some small, some big, but all-in-all, a very entertaining read.
Kayla is light and Hart is
dark. She is a healer and he is a
killer. Put these two together and
something special is made.
Kayla has returned to
Seattle to expose her sister’s murderer.
From the very start, things aren't what they seem. Seattle is not the city she expected; shadows
are everywhere, buildings are crumbling, electricity is sparse and even more questions
arise the moment her eyes are set upon her sister’s dead body. Unknown to her, her life is going to be
thrown into a world she never heard about and to her surprise, a world that she
was forever to be a part of.
Hart is bound and
determined to get free from his blood bond.
Only two more jobs and he will be a free man. His plans of running in the wilds are
derailed the moment he sets his rifle scope on Kayla’s face. She sparks something in him that makes his
wolf sit up and take notice. He is too
close to fail now and he will not let one woman ruin his plans.
Warring factions, prophetic
futures and raising passions have forced these two to work together. Can they trust each other? Can they save the world? Can they find solace in each other’s
arms? With time ticking away, neither
have time to think on their choices or the consequences. All they can do is hope for the best.
Hearts of Darkness is a hard novel for me to rate.
The plot is fascinating, the characters have been developed nicely, the
setting is chilling and the book as a whole is rather well written. I really liked the idea behind the book, but
what I didn’t like was inconsistencies in the story telling.
I have to admit first off
that I’m a stickler for continuity and reasoning. There were several areas in the book that
something would be clearly stated and then a page or so down the road it would
be contradicted and then explained away even further in the book. If the order of the story telling would have
been laid out better, I believe a better product would have been achieved.
To not give any spoilers I’ll
just use one example: The villain states
that the dragons can’t have children; why I won’t divulge. But his mistress was pregnant. He also states that while he is very old,
well over a century, he has a brother that is two hundred years old. So wait…they CAN have children? Much later in the book the reasoning was
explained, but if the subject came up, prior to the explanation, I was sent
back into confusion. What it turned out
to be was that they can’t have children within their species. Yes, I know a minor spoiler, but this type of
problem popped up more than once. Make a
rather important statement, contradict it and then explain the real reason much
later. It was very frustrating. When this type of problem came up, it yanked
me away from the novel and made me engage my brain to think it out, when it
should have been lost in the storytelling.
I do have to say, I am
rather interested in the base story. I
have not read many steam punk or apocalyptic type novels,
but I enjoyed how these two ideas were merged.
When I think of the genres, steam punk is set in the past and
apocalyptic in the future, but Ms. Brady gave it a very contemporary
feeling. She also did a great job with
her imagery and the premise of the trilogy is superb.
For her debut novel, I give
her two thumbs up and I foresee with time, patience and hard work, her storytelling
will only get better. I have very high
hopes for this author and I will keep an eye out for her future works.
Thanks for reading! - Toni
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