Darker Days bu Jus Accardo
Before I go on, please let me say how SUPER excited I was to win one of the early ARCs. I LOVE Jus's writing, and have been excited about this title since I first heard about it when I signed up for the cover reveal.
Darker Days is one of those books that pretty much has it all. Originality. Amazing pacing. GREAT characters. An awesome storyline. Excellent weaving of threads like an expert knotter (what?).
It is also what I suspect to be another GREAT first book in an exciting new series.
Ms Accardo, if you spot this review: You rock my socks! Because not only is this book FULL of twists and turns and family secrets, history and mythology (of the religious kind), kick-butt scenes and a whole host of paranormal creatures who are so flambouyantly and vibrantly displayed I could ‘see’ it without even having to close my eyes or squint, as well as one freakin’ fabulous crowd of a full-bodied cast ... it is also jam-packed full of LOL moments and has a HOT GUY who is quite literally ... sin.
Jessie, as MS, is HILARIOUS, to the point I would like to award her with: ‘BEST HOT DUDE REACTION EVER!!!!!!!!!’ award.
Don’t believe me? Here’ take a tiny peek:
“Holy house of hogs getting blasted by the blue birdie brigade ...”
And those little corkers don’t end there. They are dotted throughout and at the daftest at times—often when you need the laugh most.
Not to mention the dude the above statement refers to. Lucas is quite possibly awesome. I found him cute, and charming, and loved the portrayal of his fight against his sin. I thought it was so subtly welded in with the rest of the text, that there wasn’t a single eye roll or neck jarring moment to be had.
My only gripe for these two, which I would be amiss not to mention, is that the ‘feelings’ between them seemed to come a little too quick. I’d have liked a lot more ‘moments’ between them first. Because the willingness to each do what they planned to do for the other at the end seemed to be driven what felt like a very power motivation—yet they’d only known each other a handful of days. So something a little more substantial than her attraction to his hotness in the beginning would have strengthened this—but this is pretty much my only complaint.
Aside from these two, however, we have the supporting cast. Jessie’s friends—great stuff; Jessie’s family—loved mum and dad and all the issues and complications and backstory that came as a result of having been spawned and raised by those two; the funny cop with a crush; the best friend of her mum’s with a lifelong affection; the school friend with flaws; even the dodgy evil baddies, with their attitudes and connection with the sin that had claimed them (where relevant).
And before I go, let me just take a moment to reflect on this new world Ms Accardo has created. Because, to begin, I thought the pacing was a little slower than I expected, but then I fast understood the reading rate was all me. You see, I DO have a tendency to read slower where there is world building to be absorbed, because I hate nothing more than not understanding the scenes the author has created, and so I stepped back, checked myself, and came to the conclusion that the pacing is brilliant.
Oh, and that ending? Yeah, reassures the reader that there is definitely more to come from these characters—and doubly reassures that the next book is going to be a whole ‘nother ride.
I can’t wait.
Once again: kudos, Jus Accardo.
