Darling Dark

by Natalie Bennett

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I chose to read Darling Dark because I found the blurb and the cover fascinating. I went into this book with high expectations but instead what I got was disappointment. Well-written stories that portray dynamic characters and have a good plot are the kind that gets my reading juices flowing; unfortunately, this book failed me in that regard.The characters did not appeal to me. They were flat resulting in me not having a connection with them. The story would have been captivating if we had the characters’ back-stories. I felt like I was reading about strangers. The author gave a disclaimer about the male protagonist at the start of the book, so of course, his actions came as no surprise to me. However, I was expecting that behind all that cruelty would lie a tortured soul that was capable of redemption. Reyes was definitely not that person. His cruelty knew no bounds. All who encountered him feared him and not in a good way, so it was no surprise that the heroine would want nothing to do with him.When the story began the female protagonist, Duvessa, is captured and is forced to bond with Reyes. He forces himself on her and reminds her every chance he that she belongs to him. There was lots of sex, but the story was not in the least sexy. Frankly, there is nothing sexy about a man forcing himself on a woman and trying to bend her to his will. To make things worse, Duvessa is struggling to reconcile her feelings of hate and love towards Reyes. For most of the story, I felt like I was missing something. There were conflicts, but I had no idea what caused them. In addition, the story was in need of an editor. There were many spelling and grammatical mistakes, which proved to be very distracting. This also played a role in diminishing my enjoyment of the story. Another thing I found disturbing about this story was discovering Reyes’ reason for holding Duvessa captive. It did nothing more than to reinforce the extent of his cruelty. Then there was the cliffhanger. Seriously! I wish I had gotten a heads up, then I would have been better prepared for the abrupt ending.Verdict: This had the potential to be a good story, but the under developed characters and the lack of editing destroyed that prospect. Please note that this is not a romance. It is fantasy mixed with erotica, so if this is not your thing then this story is not for you.