Brightest Kind of DarknessAuthor: P.T. MichellePublisher: Self-Published, 2011Genre: YA Paranormal
Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore.
After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.
Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.
After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.
Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.
My Review:
Inara dreams what happens her entire next day since she was seven. You think that’s pretty cool? NO. Nara finds her life boring, as she already knows what’s going to happen and nothing can surprise her. The only good thing that comes of it is that she can stop a bomb from going off at school. Then dangerous and mysterious Ethan comes along, and her dreams disappear. Suddenly Nara finds herself blind to the dangers that will come her way, because changing the future has a deadly price.
I found myself drawn to Inara’s story from the beginning, though I had a hard time getting through the story as it has some awkward jumping of places and times in the first few chapters. She ignored her rule of interfering with the future by calling in the bomb tip, but though she has saved everyone the students are still getting hurt. Minor little incidents here and there, but then Nara sees a pattern. Unexpected things start happening, things that don't appear in her dreams. She starts seeing scary images of monsters, and creepy messages appear to her in foggy mirrors, doors will lock without a reason, and warning messages will come out of static radios!
I found the book extremely exciting until then, but then little things started to annoy me. Inara is a bit contradictory in her actions. She starts by complaining about knowing it all through her dreams, then complains about not knowing the future when she lost her dreams, then she gets Ethan and is back to loving not knowing what will happen (she likes being surprised by him), then hates him when he refuses to tell her about her dreams! Make. Up. Your. Mind. Then the bad guy is revealed, and all this time I’m thinking demons or some supernatural creepy crawler that is out to kill students at her school for some higher reason. But the villain is Fate. A thing so abstract, but here it’s a person. I didn't buy it, and honestly I didn't care for it. Like I said almost stopped reading right then, but Ethan kept me going. I wanted to know more about him and his mysterious tattoos. That he has a band of thug friends whom he can call at a moment’s notice to rough up some kids…Seriously?
In the end, I did finish the book and overall, I liked it. The mystery kept me interested and the creepy things happening kept me turning pages. But moment of truth, when things are revealed and explained…I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t get past the fact that the villain was Fate. And I was disappointed that I didn’t get a complete answer as to what was going on with Ethan.
Favorite Quotes:
"I'll always watch out for you, Nara, but messing with others' lives like you do…it's dangerous. Let life around you happen as it was meant to. You and I, we might be different, but we should at least try to act like normal people."
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Ethan's kiss didn't feel like the fast spin to thrillsville guys had taken me on in the past. It felt like a road trip; a journey to somewhere entirely different. Somewhere solid and real.
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His lips twitched in amusement, even as his blue eyes sparkled. "I meant sleep with me. Like, literally."
"Oh." I released the breath I'd been holding and felt a brief stab of disapointment. Loosening my tight grip on his hand, I squinted in confusion. "I'm not sure how that will help—"
Before I could finish, he pulled me close and spoke in a velvet purr in my ear, "Loved your reaction though."
*I received this book from the author in exchange for my honest review*
