Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Evernight (Darkest London #5) [Holly Everlight & William Thorne] by Kristen Callihan

I'm quite reluctant to write this review.. while this one started and continued on being a total and absolute JOY to read, near the ending I just felt lost, annoyed, tricked and mostly pissed off at the tricks of the Fae. The ending even made me reluctant to read the next one.. I guess it's better then that it will be published in about two months so I'll have my time to cool down and try and forgive Kristen for ruining this one for me. 


As I said, it started AMAZING. I loved both William Thorne and Holly Evernight from the start. Holly is a cold and calculated woman, a scientist who thinks with her head and ignores the emotions she might be feeling, they don't matter, only science and her creations does. But after what she went through - being captured, building the platinum heart that was installed into Will - something inside her changed, or maybe broke, she spent the whole year at her house, never leaving, being captured by herself in her own golden cage. 

Will have been in total torment the past year. After being transferred into something he can't even name he lost his mind, mostly to agonizing pain that he can't control. In his small lucid moments all he could think would be killing the one who made him - Everlight. Holly. 

When he finally arrives at her home, not sure how he even got there he feels a certain relief he can't explain. Holly is dumb folded when she sees Will at her doorstep. He was the 4th demon trying to kill her and while she had no problem killing the previous intruders Will is different, he is hers, her terrible creation and he is in utter pain, pain she is responsible too. 

The least she could do it try to help Will, the least he could do is protect her from the ones trying to kill her and maybe try and find who hired the assassins. This is how their relationship begins. It continues with a lot of antagonism on both parts, mostly on Holly's as she won't let emotions control her and anyhow, Will is Nex, he is a crazy demon with a heart of platinum he can't control and gives him constant pain. Even if she could fix him (can she?) they couldn't have any future together. 

Will isn't a bad "guy", he isn't a good guy either. Yes, he is a blood sucking demon (hooray for the vampire!) yet he truly doesn't want to hurt Holly now that his mind is his own and as time goes by he wants to be more and more in her company and not only because she takes his pain away. I really enjoyed getting to know him. It was also interesting the way we found (with him) about his past as his memory was somehow altered. Holly was a great inspiration, a woman that shouldn't have lived in history but in our days. I think she was the strongest willed and most modern woman of all the ones in the series and the fact that she is a scientist, working with metal made her even more special as even in our times it would be different. There is one or maybe two scenes that surprised me as we see a dominant woman being appreciated by a male who has no problem submitting. Must say, that I didn't see this one coming. Especially not in a Historical Romance.

We got a few glimpsed and several POVs of Sin - St. John Evernight - who is Miranda, Daisy and Poppy's younger brother. I guess he will be getting his book but honestly don't know when.. though I have a feeling that it would be the 7th book in the series. His part in this one feels as a sort of preparation, similar to the way other characters were introduced in the previous novels (including the smallest glimpses into his love interest). Right now he seems EXTREMELY powerful, yet quite childish and naive in his  behavior. We also got more of Adam and Eliza May - the main characters in the next novel - which was totally unclear up until the very end which totally destroyed the book for me. 

In general I didn't enjoy the manipulative feel of the whole book, which was revealed to it's extent nearing the ending as things starts to fall into place. Didn't appreciate the twist in the end. It felt totally unnecessary. You see that in a lot of books were there is one final twist in the end that brings the characters together in the best possible way, yet here it felt they were READY for the happy ending with no need for a twist just a nice solution to one of two "minor" problems.. 

I don't know. I enjoyed this one, was totally hooked from the first page, loved both main characters was intrigued by the miserable Adam and interested in seeing who this Sin is and what he could do, yet the way this one concluded left me somehow unsatisfied. I'm giving this one 4 stars because I DID enjoy most of it and I LOVE this series to pieces. But to be honest, if I would wait for tomorrow before I publish this post my rating might drop since I KNOW I would be even more annoyed after thinking more about it..


Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 432 pages, 8-10 December 2014 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THIS SERIES 
 
Darkest London is a Paranormal Historical Romance / Steampunk series by Kristen Callihan.
The series takes place in London (how shocking! ;)) around 1880~

All the main heroes in the books have a special power or legacy and as the series progress we also learn about the organization in charge of hiding the knowledge of people with special powers, demons and other beings from the general population. 

The series is mostly concerned with the Ellis siblings, starting out with Miranda, Daisy and Poppy in the first three installments and ending in the 7th and final novel of St. John. 

Each novel tells us of two characters finding their HEA but is also action packed with a murder and mystery to be revealed. In some books it's possible to guess who the villain is but you have to really watch for the clues! 

I love that though it's Victorian times all the woman characters are strong and quite independent and the men while being strong as well don't overpower the women or try to put them in a "certain place where they belong".

I'm not usually into Historical Romance but I really enjoyed the feel of London as being such a dark, smelly, menacing place. I loved the way Kristen described the paranormal world with the creatures is contains. We have Werewolves and Vampires as a lot of Paranormal series have, yet they are portrayed differently which was a nice change, also there are creatures I've never heard of before (Like the "GIM"). The whole setting and the way the "special beings" are brought to us felt very unique and interesting. 

Though I REALLY enjoyed the first 4 novels, but then came the 5th one and I did NOT like where Kristen was taking this series. The 6th one was a total disappointment which is why I decided not to read the last one - Forevermore (of St. John/Sin and Layla Starling). 
 
Do I recommend this series? I'm not sure. The first ones were AWESOME. So I don't know, I leave it up to you. 

Books
0.5 Ember [Miranda Ellis & Benjamin Archer] (published 31 January 2012) ★★★★★
1. Firelight [Miranda Ellis & Benjamin Archer] (published 31 January 2012) ★★★★★
2. Moonglow [Daisy Ellis Craigmore & Ian Ranulf] (published 31 July 2012) ★★★★★
3. Winterblaze [Poppy Ellis Lane & Winston Lane] (published 26 February 2013) ★★★★★
3.5  Entwined [Luella Jane & Eamon Evernight] (published 5 November 2013) ★★★★★
4.  Shadowdance [Mary Chase & Jack Talent] (published 17 December 2013) ★★★★★
5. Evernight [Holly Evernight & Will Thorne] (published 26 August 2014) ★★★★
6.  Soulbound [Eliza May & Aodh MacNeil/Adam] (published 24 February 2015) ★ (DNF 45%)
 
 

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