Book Review
Title: Awaken (The Dark Paradise Chronicles #1)
Author: Isadora Brown
Genre: Paranormal/Romance
Rating: ***
Review: The prologue to Awaken was confusing, it has a Sleeping Beauty-like opening with a man awakening a woman in a coma with a kiss in a place called Onyx. I didn’t get much from the opening, but we then jump to Andie’s perspective. Annie is having the worst day as she goes for an internship, she knows she isn’t going to Jack Phillip, and when she meets him on the street, she unleashes her temper on him, but it turns out her best friend Carey got her a catering at Jack’s party. We then jump perspective again to that of Keirah, who is Andie’s older sister who hates the fact her sister is so perfect when she is anything but. Keirah was for a doctor’s office as a receptionist but gets the shock of her life the notorious criminal Noir is brought is after being caught by Onyx city’s vigilante hero Black Wing. After the fairytale-like opening, this now reminds me of Gotham, but we switch perspectives again to that of Reese. Reese the girl from the opening who is dreaming about the man who woke her despite the doctors telling her different. When she meets Henry in her first day of high school, she feels like she knows him, and I have a feeling he might be the man from the opening, and I have a feeling that these perspectives are going to collide in some way.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, it seems like all these girls are connected to Jack Phillip in some way even the mysterious Henry seems to know Jack. When he offered Andie the internship despite her outburst, she is surprised but elated. I don’t have much of a read-on Jack yet, but I have a feeling that he is going to have an ulterior motive somewhere, good or bad I don’t know yet. Each girl seems to have a special ability of sorts although they are major or magical in any way, and each seems to be enamored with a man. For Andie, it’s Jack Phillip, for Reese it’s Henry and for Keirah it’s Noir and I have a feeling the storylines for all 6 characters are going to overlap.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the only perspective I was really enjoying was Keirah’s, as her relationship with Noir is fascinating and I really wanted to see more of it. Despite this we do get more of Andie and Jack’s relationship as well as Reese and Henry’s but Noir and Keirah make an interesting pair to say the least purely because he is a sociopath or possibly a psychopath but he makes her feel things that no one has before and is willing to look past what he is to see who he is which fascinate Noir to no end and he loves things that fascinate him which are now Black Wing and Keirah.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, there seems to be a tense atmosphere settling over the story but not much has happened outside of Noir and Keirah’s storyline. While Andie is distressed by the seeing Keirah seems calm and collected knowing the fact that Noir won’t hurt her and despite everything, she seems to want to meet him again. When Ollo enters the story we get this huge info dump on the characters it turns out that Reese is a reincarnation of the Oracle of Delphi and there are angels and demons running around in disguise including Henry and Black Wing. There are also other beings, pawns of Satan like Noir but Keirah is changing his nature loosening the evil grip over him. Despite this info dump, it was an interesting turn in the story and I was eager to see where the author would take it.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, Noir comes back for Keirah and she doesn’t seem remotely afraid of him even when they go to him home. This relationship is complex and Keirah definitely sees Noir for who he is rather than what he is which was refreshing but now Andie is living with Jack because Keirah has disappeared again and I don’t think she is coming back anytime soon, especially if Noir has anything to do with it. We know that Reese is someone extraordinary and I have a feeling that Keirah and Andie might also be special just not in the same way.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, I was enjoying the story but apart from the three girls knowing each other I don’t see how the perspectives are connected. As Reese learns more about what she is we are introduced to Kane, who has been sent to rid Noir of his distraction; Keirah but she has been told not to interfere even if it means hurting her friend. The scene where Andie meets the mysterious Black Wing after getting away from a creep while trying to track down her sister was interesting and I’d like to see more of him, especially since up until this point he has only been mentioned by other characters. Meanwhile, Keirah is developing a genuine affection of Noir even helping commit crimes relatively unfazed when he kills everyone except her.
We see Andie and Jack become closer as well as Reese and Ollo but apart from Keirah and Noir’s relationship, there is no other romance. In places, the plot seems a little rushed like the author couldn’t make up their mind about what genre this book is supposed to be, and it also suffers from some serious pacing issues, but it is enjoyable and in parts quite humorous. As we cross into the final section of the novel, many things are revealed and we have three set romance Reese and Ollo, Jack and Andie, and Keirah and Noir. The ending was interesting and really sets up the catalyst for the war that is to come. While I didn’t live this book, I did really enjoy it and will definitely be continuing on with the series in the future and I have a few other books by Isadora Brown that I need to read.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
I received this review copy from Booksprout.
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