The Sweetest Dark (The Sweetest Dark #1)

The Sweetest Dark

Shana Abe 

Release date:

April 9, 2013

Publisher:

Random House Publishing 

Pages:

352

Source:

Netgalley *

Reading level:

Young Adult

Description:

Lora Jones has always known that she's different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora's been keeping a heart full of secrets: She hears songs that no ones else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she's far more than what she seems.

England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England's southern coast. Iverson's eerie, Gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.

Jesse is the school's groundskeeper-a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she's only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves. -Amazon

Teaser Sentence(s): 

'"We are such stuff as dreams are made on," he said softly to the water. "Both infinite and finite, human and not. I'm of comet and clay and the sparks of sun across the ocean waves."' **

My Thoughts:

I liked this book a lot, but it felt like it took forever to figure out what was going on. In a way that bothered me, but it also kept me reading and unable to set the book down. 

I loved the idea behind this book. It was absolutely different from anything else I have read. I love dragons and stars, and this was such a different take on them both. I liked all 3 main characters: Lora, Jesse and Armand. I seem to want to favor Armand a little more than Jesse. So maybe the next book will have more of Armand and Lora instead of Jesse and Lora. 

This is definitely a darker young adult book. The ending is almost heartbreaking, and the romance aspect doesn't end happily. It did leave me really wanting to know what happens next though. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes their YA reads darker and more emotional.

*I received a free copy of this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for my opinion. 

**This passage was quoted from an uncorrected proof. The final copy may differ.