The Gate (Dark Path, #1)

by Kt Grant

[Melanie]

3.5 stars.

Erika starts off as a weak character, but grows throughout the story. She tends to have panic attacks when out in large crowds, but is strong enough to face her fears.

Chris, who is her retiring father's right hand man, starts of the story looking like the best guy in the world, but starts to show his true colors pretty quickly when Erika quits following him around with puppy dog eyes.

Max, who is her father's and family business's biggest competitor, starts off the book as the lesser of the two men. He talks about wanting to take over the company. When he first sees Erika, I'm thinking he was going to use her to help him achieve this goal. This is not the case.

Chris and Max have a past history. Max had dated Chris's older sister, who is also completely unstable. The question becomes, was she that way before or just after Max and her split up. Chris is pretty sure it she is unstable because of the sexual deviant lifestyle that Max introduces her to.

There is also Catherine, who is Max's business partner in The Gate, a BDSM club in Brooklyn. She is a great secondary character who I hope will get her own story told at some point. She has quite a history and I think her story is one that deserves to be told. I also hope she gets a happily ever after is some way.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. If you like Tiffany Reisz, you will notice many similarities, but no priest (damn). I could really see the influence that Tiffany had on this book. I could also see the small part that the Sleepy Beauty Trilogy had on the book as well. The pony play is very similar, but these are all willing individuals, unlike the Anne Rice books.

I give it 3.5 stars instead of 4 only because of the ending. To me it was not only a cliffhanger, but the ending really felt unfinished. I have way too many unanswered questions that I felt should've been answered in this book and not pushed to the next book. I'm not a fan of cliffhangers in any sense. They drive me crazy, but this seems more to me than that, like I said unfinished. I can't go into really anymore without spoilers for the ending.

All that being said, I did enjoy the book and can't wait for the next one. I hope see where all the characters go. I have some ideas in my head, where I think they are going. With some, I hope I'm right and with others, I hope I'm wrong.

**Book was provided to me by the author. This review is my opinion and was not requested or provoked in anyway by the author.