Author: Leanna Renee Hieber
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Source: Bought (also received from Netgalley)
Summary: The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Pride and Prejudice, with a dash of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
New York City, 1882. Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart's latest obsession is a painting of the handsome British Lord Denbury. Something in his striking blue eyes calls to her. As his incredibly life-like gaze seems to follow her, Natalie gets the uneasy feeling that details of the painting keep changing...
Jonathan Denbury's soul is trapped in the gilded painting by dark magic while his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the city slums. He must lure Natalie into the painting, for only together can they reverse the curse and free his damaged soul.
Review: Darker Still is a fantastic historical fiction that has hints of just about everything it in.
Natalie, though sometimes lacking, was a character that I immediately liked. It's really hard not to like her. She's sweet, has some serious guts and on top of that she's mute. She was definitely one of the reasons I liked this book so much.
Lord Denbury, my oh my. What a character! Denbury is pretty much a perfect guy. He's charming, gentlemanly and a doctor. He's pretty much adorable. And good-looking. Natalie's and his love was a tad insta. I didn't mind this too much because there was some possible background on why these two felt that way. Darker Still definitely doesn't have bad insta-love. Let's just say he stole my heart.
The only thing that rubbed me a little wrong was the characters. I love them! But they just aren't the kind of characters that you'll carry in your mind for a long time. It disappointed me.
The storyline of Darker Still captured me. I loved all the different magic that was incorporated with some different mythology. The story is told in Natalie's diary entries that were well done. Usually I'm not a fan of diaries but this was amazing.
One of the reasons it was so amazing was the writing. Oh my goodness it was gorgeous. There wasn't a moment where I felt like I was in the real world. It was insanely vivid. The writing, like the plot, was pure magic.
Darker Still has all the aspects of a great historical with fantasy elements. To me, it certainly lived up to what I was expecting. It has sweet characters, an adorable love story with quite a bit of magic mixed in.
Darker Still is a book I'd definitely recommend!
Rating: 4.5 stars
5 comments:
I am So looking forward to starting this book, just because of Lord Denbury! He sounds like a really awesome character, and I can't wait to read about him. :) Great review, Katie!
Review twins again! :P
Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of the romance in this book, and the characters, like you said, don't really stick with you. But I loved the book otherwise! Thanks for the review, Katie. :)
Magic and mythology sound like an amazing combination. Plus that dress on the cover is stunning!
Great, great review! I just received this for review, so I cannot wait to give it a go. It looks extremely good! I'm even more curious now.
I've seen this series around and wondered about it -- love that there's a great guy in it, along with excellent writing. Think I'll have to pick it up! Thanks!
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