Sunday, September 25, 2011

Book Review: A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies


A Beautiful Dark is the debut novel of Jocelyn Davies. She’s an editor of young adult fiction and decided to take the plunge into the genre herself. We all know the old saying: don’t judge a book by its cover, but the cover of this novel is truly eye-catching. It’s an enigma. Who is this girl? The background is dark and stormy; the title is evocative of an intriguing mystery. It begs for one to crack the spine and explore.
Skye, the protagonist, age seventeen is living a normal life—sort of. She’s the unrequited crush of a young man that works at the coffee shack, she’s trying to negotiate school and friends and come to terms with the loss of her parents, killed in an accident. Having Mom’s best friend as her guardian is great, but it can’t remove the pain that is always brewing beneath the surface.
Missing parents are a common device in YA fiction to allow for situations that would be a lot more difficult if not impossible if adults were present—at least if you want a credible story or the writer is utilizing irresponsible parents as a plot device. That’s not the case here. The missing parents are an integral part of the mystery. They’re part of a delicious little twist that is essentially only hinted at. I’m hoping to see it explored more thoroughly as the story continues in the next installment.
Jocelyn Davies does a nice job of worldbuilding.  It was easy to fall into that world and visualize that cold, ski-town in Colorado, the crunchy ice and the hot, steaming coffee that await the teens who meet up at the intimate shack. When two hot boys who are diametrically opposed to each other, appear in Skye’s life, things begin heat up—and it has nothing to do with that coffee!
Skye finds herself jockeying between these two strange boys.  Who are they and what do they want? They’re on a mission. Each is familiar with the other and it is clear they despise each other. Skye struggles to understand how she factors into their apparent feud. The author is to be commended for giving Devin and Asher very unique and distinctive personalities. They both had their strengths and flaws and it isn’t clear who the bad guy is or who to root for. Their emotions had depth. The attraction and repulsion they had in their connection to Skye was nicely nuanced.
The ending is a total shock and a huge cliffhanger. This is no stand-alone novel. One must read the next book in the series to get to the bottom of things and I look forward to digging in and finding out!
A Beautiful Dark releases September 27, 2011 by Harper Teen

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review , Following u. www.khairusworld.blogspot.com

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  2. Your review was great. Made me really want to read this book! I am looking forward to the release! Thanks!

    readingontherunwithlacey.blogspot.com

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  3. Oh Gosh! I do not like Cliffhangers at all... or I should have the next book on hand :) But this sounds good too :)

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  4. I can't wait to read this one...and what YA does not leave you twiddling thumbs waiting for the next one...I love it!!!

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  5. Thanks for dropping in, girls! It's a great book.

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  6. It sounds like a nice book ! I really like the cover, thanks for the review !

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  7. I swear to you all this is one of the best books ive read in a long time it mixes love and angels together to create a beautiful story from the moment i opened it i was drawn in and by the last page i was begging for book two.bottom line READ It if u dont like it u can come to my house and chop my foot off thats how confident i am that u will love this book.all jokes aside seriously its a great read.

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I enjoy reading what you have to say. Seriously!