When Brooke Starr's family is murdered, she decides to
abandon her future with Julliard playing piano and heads to
Alaska to escape it all. When she arrives, she slowly finds
out that no distance from the crime scene can make her
forget. When Chance Taylor saves her from a suicide attempt,
he can't deny the pull he feels toward her, a pull he's
never felt before. Together, they try to battle Brooke's
demons, but the past will not let her go without a fight.
THE DARKEST JOY by Marata Eros does a wonderful job of
setting up the physical Alaskan setting and the emotional
dark setting the characters are in. It pulls you right in
to Brooke's story and makes your heart tear a little as she
goes through her journey of grief. Both Brooke and Chance
take turns at narrating the story, and they each have a
unique voice that makes you want to read more and more.
Even though I love the writing, Brooke and Chance have a
very insta-love relationship that I found hard to get on
board with. Chance is supposed to be a man only in love with
the sea before Brooke, and it repeats that in the story a
lot, but I never felt like I got to see that part of Chance.
His narration comes in after he sees Brooke, and he falls
for her so quickly, there isn't really any 'before Brooke'
that the readers see enough to contrast or note any
development in him. The "I love yous" are out very quickly,
and it gives a rushed feeling to them. I love their
personalities as characters, but I just wish the
relationship between them wasn't so instant.
While Brooke is a nice, rounded character that I really
like, there are some moments where she gets frustrating.
Since her family was killed, an FBI agent keeps in contact
with her since the killer is still on the loose and
murdering other families. Brooke describes the agent as
really amiable and seems to appreciate him, but she
repeatedly ignores his calls and messages. I understand that
she is trying to get away from what happened, but she seems
to have a break through at one point where she wants to help
out the other survivors, and yet she still ignores his
messages. Of course it was necessary plot wise to build up
to something, but I had a hard time believing she would care
that little about the issue to ignore him so often.
Overall, I like THE DARKEST JOY, but I don't love it. Marata
Eros does a great job of pulling the reader into the story,
and I did find it hard to put down. However, in the end, I
just couldn't get past some parts of it to really enjoy it.
Six months ago, Brooke Starr was one impeccable piano
performance away from Juilliard. Now, she is lonely,
devastated, orphaned . . . seeking solace in a place where
the sun never sets and trying to make sense of the dark
tragedy that clouds her shattered heart.
There are no coincidences. . . .
Deep-sea fisherman Chance Taylor can’t imagine what his life
would be if he’d never taken that midnight stroll to the
pier. Had never seen the intriguing, raven-haired girl swan
dive into the Alaskan sea. Had never plunged into the icy
waters to rescue her . . . and finally felt her electric
charge.
As their blazing chemistry consumes them, Chance is
determined to save Brooke from her demons. But Brooke knows
she must find her own footing. She thinks she’s already lost
everything—until the terror of her past catches up with her
and threatens all that she has left: her life, her love, and
the freedom to choose between drowning in grief and finding
joy in the darkness.
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