Paperback, 549 Pages
New Adult-Paranormal Romance
Review Copy
For Violet Lee, a chance encounter on a darkened street draws her into a world beyond her wildest imaginings, a timeless place of vast elegance and immeasurable wealth – of beautiful mansions and lavish parties – where a decadent group of friends live for pleasure alone. A place from which there is no escape...no matter how hard Violet tries. Yet all the riches in the world can’t mask the darkness that lies beneath the gilded surface, embodied in the charismatic but dangerous Kaspar Varn. Violet and Kaspar surrender to a passion that transcends their separate worlds – but it’s a passion that comes at a price.
Please read that last sentence up there again...a passion that comes at a price, a passion that transcends their worlds. More like transcends a huge message to girls about what type of guy qualifies as Captain of the douchbags.
This wasn't terrible, this wasn't great, it just wound up being a book that was not for me. I was expecting romance, real romance and excited about the first marketed fresh new adult book for vampire fans. What I got though was just another depressing look into what authors and publishers think is sexy romance. Kaspar, who in the beginning kidnaps Violet against her will, is held up as the handsome, alluring and dangerous vampire who tragically with his forbidden aura of epic hotness and nightly sex romps with random "tramps" sweeps Violet off her feet. Oh yes this book knows its way right into my heart, a hot guy who sleeps with tons of girls and then wants to infect the gullible trapped in a bedroom girl with his germ ridden pee-pee..{insert snarky anger}..... throw in some horse poo, the typical brainless female, the downplaying of sexually abusive relationships, the promotion of a woman's value to sexually satiate a man while enduring physical, mental and emotional abuse, you get this book in a nutshell. Was there some family drama, vampire politics and shady stuff going on, sure there was, did the book become dull and boring and tedious to get through? No the book itself moved along nicely and the length while holy long, didn't take long to read. Could any of it cancel out the disturbing sex or twisted domestic relationships....NOPE, not for this reader.
When I first started this book I had no clue the author was so young, sadly hitting the book at page 3000 340 I figured out the author was either a very young writer (I was thinking 17-19) or a middle aged woman who attended one to many Twilight parties. Learning that she wrote this at 15 and has her book being totted as the "SEXIEST ROMANCE ALL YEEEAAAR" made me throw up in my mouth a little bit. Not because Gibbs lacks skills at writing, I see her potential, its the fact that I was so uncomfortable reading this freaked up love story from a child. It gave me the creeps, a 15/17 year old has no business telling me what sex is like and even if they have a few experiences under the belt, guess what I don't want to hear about it.
A crazy hot man who shows love by domination and controlling and threats of violence, this is suppose to be romance? I don't care if the dude is a vampire, and this is fiction, Kaspar's a loser and what he is makes him an ugly turd. You know what he is, in real life Kaspar is Buck Thurman. He repeatedly used force on Violet, while she played the helpless girl falling in love with her captor proving to me once again that many of these books we hail as romance just use a vagina for a man to dominate. Even in the end, up to the very last sentence Violet claims she has no choice.......I hate to be the barer of bad news but there is NOTHING SEXY ABOUT RAPE, being dominated or controlled and girls are worth so much more than what we take from these asinine books.
So here's the deal, I know people are going to like this, while the subject matter turned me off...I can see how it could appeal to paranormal fans.
Rating
The Dark Heroine is recommended for 18&up. Contains: Graphic, brutal violence, blood lust, language and disturbing sexual content.
2/5-Not for Me.
Thanks to William Morrow and TLC Book Tours for Review Copy
It's a shame you didn't like. It was my fave read of 2012.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I really wanted to like it....but I couldn't get past Kaspar...:(
DeleteAhh Tina!!!! See, I have a very weird relationship with this book. At first, I liked it - but I also rushed through the book. Then, after I closed it and truly thought about it I got mad and more and more thought about what I didn't like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on so many points that I'm still stunned I liked it at first ...
I was so shocked after the scene where Kasper came to Violet by night... I was going back and forth hoping she would have a nightmare, but no...it was just Kasper.. ugh!
And yes, how a 15 year old can write about sex like this feels weird for me too!
I liked the first 100 pages....I did...I tried....and then I was like um WTF is this. And I understand that many people will like it, thats great it just wasn't for me. :(
DeleteI considered reading this book until I did some research into it. I like the idea of it and I like the new cover. I love vampires, all that. But if it is going to be such an adult book, I don't want someone THAT AGE telling me the story. So I think we are on the same page in terms of that. I do have to admit that I was tempted to accept it for review, but unfortunately I am happier and happier that I didn't. It kind of breaks my heart to say that.
ReplyDeleteI totally appreciate this honest review and I love your thoughts. Thank you. :)
I'm not against young people writing, so don't get me wrong. I encourage it wholeheartedly. I just - I think you get what I'm saying.
Deletelol- yes Asheley I know what your saying and I agree I think all writers any age have tremendous value, I just dont want to read about obsessive degrading rape sex from a 15 year old...ew.
DeleteI was handed this book at a writers conference - Penguin was trying to promote it - and I couldn't get past the first one hundred pages. Now, I love vampire books (my own debut novel comes out in a month), but this one had me stunned. And for all the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the quality of writing was poor, so I knew straight away it had to have been written by a teenager. Doesn't Penguin Destiny Romance employ an editor?
Secondly, like everyone else's comments here, I too, found the sex scenes disturbing. What is a young girl doing writing adult + books? I can ask the same thing of Penguin in publishing and promoting it!
I actually wrote a blog post about this book a couple of weeks ago.
Ill have to find your post Tima. Not sure way the pub thought it was ok to promote a minor either, but I guess cause shes 17 or 18 now its ok that its a disturbing.
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