Main Character: Skye
Love Interest: Asher, Devin (highlight to see)
Series: Unknown trilogy, Book 1
Author: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads
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.
A Beautiful Dark is the first book in a captivating trilogy by debut author Jocelyn Davies.
This is the first book in a new series by debut author Jocelyn Davies and I’ve got to say Davies did a great job of getting my emotions up. I spent a great deal of time while reading this book annoyed at all of the characters in this book. Most of my annoyance stemmed from how stubborn and well, annoying Skye was. I spent a lot of time annoyed at either Skye or Asher, hell even Devin.
And I’m supposed to love them both.
This book revolves around Skye and her finding out that the stories her parents used to tell her when she was younger aren’t just any stories, but her story. Things are starting to change around her and she’s struggling to try to keep up with everything. When her friends throw her a surprise birthday party, she meets two new boys who will throw a serious wrench in the way her life used to be and change everything she thought to be true about her parents.
The way that this love triangle was written left a lot to be desired. The reason I say that was because I didn’t understand how Skye could have been torn in her decision between the two boys. I mean, with Asher things seemed more natural and couple-y but with Devin, I didn’t see any kind of crush worthy thing about what they had. It screamed friends only on Skye’s part so I was confused on the whole love triangle thing. I wasn’t a fan of the whole back and forth between Asher and Devin too. It did absolutely nothing for me except annoy me.
I’m not a fan of the whole make-the-girl-jealous thing and so when the whole Asher-Ellie thing was going on, I wasn’t a happy camper even if it ended up washing out to nothing, it still got on my nerves. While we’re on the subject of things that got on my nerves, the way that Skye handled Ian in the beginning annoyed me, they were friends so she should have just told him straight up that she didn’t see him like that. It would have saved Ian a whole lot of grief and I would have respected Skye more. I just felt like by the time she told Ian, it was a too little too late kind of thing. She should have told him long before someone else came into the picture because they were friends.
Goodness, this review is turning out to be a I’m not a fan of this and that but man, there were a lot of things that I didn’t care for in this book. I’m getting really sick of this keeping secrets business that’s been going on in a lot of the YA books I’ve been reading. Quit with the secrets and just be honest right from the jump. Spend the rest of the book trying to figure out how to fix everything but quit the secret keeping. It’s mostly a paranormal thing, I’ve noticed.
Why is it that in these kinds of books where it’s good against evil, the evil guy is always the guy that comes off as so much better than the good guy? The good guy (Heaven) is always described as stiff and reserved whereas the bad guy (Hell) is always so much cooler than the good guy? Kind of annoying. What’s even more annoying is when the good guy (Heaven) turns out to be a not so good guy even though Devin wasn’t a bad guy, he wasn’t really good either. Why can’t the guy from Heaven be more fun? Or more mysterious? Why can’t the good guy be the one all the girls love?
One of the reasons that Skye annoyed me was when she finally has a chance to get all of the answers she wants, she runs away after she gets just the very tip of the iceberg? I don’t understand why Skye didn’t demand to hear it all when Devin and Asher met her on the roof with the intent to tell her everything she needed to know, or wanted to know anyway. I would have demanded they tell me everything they knew and wouldn’t have budged one step until I knew everything but they give Skye one piece of the puzzle and she’s too faint to hear the rest? She wants to go home? COME ON, you’re killing me here.
While we’re on this subject, why do the protaganists in these books always want to solve everything by themselves? What’s wrong with asking your best friends/parents for help? Why do they always feel the need to protect the damn world? Get over yourself and get the help you so obviously need. Needing and asking for help does not make you weak and no matter what you think, you’re not helping anyone by keeping these secrets, how can you protect everyone when you can’t be everywhere? Wouldn’t it be wiser to alert everyone close to you so that they can protect themselves should you not be around to protect them? Geez.
Over the course of the book, I grew soft on Asher. I needed to know what his deal with, I wanted to know more about him and what happened to him to bring him to this point in time. I thought he was good for Skye and when the crap hits the fan, I loved the way that he handled everything. Devin, on the other hand has a lot of making up to do before I’ll even consider liking him again.
Overall, this book wasn’t a bad book but everything that went on in this book rubbed me the wrong way and try as I might to like it, there was just too much that frustrated the hell out of me that it was hard for me to enjoy it. I did enjoy getting to know Asher and Skye wasn’t a totally unlikable character, she was just young. It’ll be interesting to read the rest of this series but I’m not really sure if I’d give it another go. Maybe, if I was curious enough but right now, I’m not and that sucks because I really wanted to like this book.
..and that’s your scoop!
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
