Review: A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

Published Date: September 27th, 2011
Finished Date: October 10th, 2011
Publishers: HarperTeen
Format: Hardback
Pages: 320

Blurb from Goodreads:
On the night of Skye’s seventeenth birthday, she meets two enigmatic strangers. Complete opposites—like fire and ice—Asher is dark and wild, while Devin is fair and aloof. Their sudden appearance sends Skye’s life into a tailspin. She has no idea what they want, or why they seem to follow her every move—only that their presence coincides with a flurry of strange events. Soon she begins to doubt not just the identity of the two boys, but also the truth about her own past.


In the dead of a bitingly cold Colorado winter, Skye finds herself coming to terms with the impossible secret that threatens to shatter her world. Torn between Asher, who she can’t help falling for, and Devin, who she can’t stay away from, the consequences of Skye’s choice will reach further than the three of them could ever imagine.

My Review

No words can voice how disappointed I was with this book.

Skye is the star of her school's ski team. She hadn't had a perfect life - parents died and all - but it was as good as it was gonna get. She had a best friend called Cassie and 2 more boys that go their clique, been adopted by her mom's best friend, Aunt Jo, and has lived with her for more than 10 years. Life was good, until two boys show up at her surprise birthday party at the local cafe.

Asher, the Rebel, and Devin, the law-abiding Angel. Both handsome and vying for her attention. They seem like such ordinary teenage guys (albeit a little overly handsome to be counted average), but after they show up, strange things started happening around Skye. And what's up with them showing up wherever she went?

Turns out that Skye isn't all that human, and turns out that Asher and Devin's intentions of barging into her life isn't all that innocent after all...

Sounds good, huh? Well, let me tell you - it sucked. I'm sorry, but reality's harsh.

Skye loved to whine. "You think you're going thru a lot? Look at what IIIII'm going thru!" That's what she said to 2 very patient guys who are teaching her how to control her powers and wasting their lives away encouraging her to do stuff for her own good. They themselves are part of two factions that can actually decide the fate of the world, are part of some things that she would never be able to comprehend, and have to deal with being pawns to some crazy idiots' big game for power their whole life, while she gets 2 very encouraging and hot, personal tutors to coach and protect her, and she is the one complaining? Mm, yeah, totally mature.

Skye is an oxymoron. "Don't beat around the bush, tell me the truth staight-on." There, you'll be thinking: Hey, that's a cool, sassy-assed heroine right there! But as you read along, you'll see that when the boys do take her advice and spill the juicy facts, she goes all, "I can't bloody take this anymore. My life sucks! GO AWAY!" And you wonder why the boys don't tell you stuff straight-on, Skye?

Everyone just loves to say Skye's name. "You've gotta try harder, Skye!" "You thought that the color sky blue was named after you that's why you loved it so much, little Skye." "I will always be watching you, Skye." OK, alright, I get that her name's Skye already. STOP IT.

Y'know how both guys, Devin and Asher's supposed to be falling for her and thus trying to protect her and win her affections? Devin's very...aloof and has moodswings like a pansy girl. It gave me whiplashes how one minute he treats Skye so tenderly with that soft look in his eyes, the next he's all cold granite eyes and "I don't give a bat's shit about you". It's not very endearing. But Asher's...he's much better compared to the other love interest who always seem like he's in pain, but Asher's a player. He plays and flirts with, like, all the girls in their school when they just enrolled, and snogs Skye's friend in front of her. And she fell for him. I mean, like, whaaat? Seriously? If my crush does that, my infatuation would just shrivel up and die right at that moment. With all the heartache and all, but shrivel up, no less. Yep, so it was kinda hard to find someone to root for throughout the book.

The story's....kinda choppy sometimes. It sort of flows, but it felt awkward, those kind of choppy. Sometimes uneven. But overall, I thought it was still very interesting. It's just the characters that were getting to me.

And now we come to the ending. THE ENDING. Was. Bad. No other words for it. If you want to give a cliffhanger and create some suspense (tho unwelcomed) for the readers, then do it properly. That does not constitute for an ending. It did not make me all hyped up and excited and "ohhhh, I am going to preorder the next book pronto", it just pissed me off. I wasted hours of my time, just to get myself so annoyed. It's like Aprilynne Pike's Illusion all over again.

I had much higher expectations for A Beautiful Dark when I first started it out, but then I just witnessed such potential crash and burn. And wilt and die. It's just sad. The idea was intriguing (I've always liked angellic novels); The cover was beautiful; The synopsis was perfectly attention-grabbing. What went wrong, man?

Not sure whether I'd pick up the sequel..If there's going to be one.

P.S. Why Beautiful Dark, anyway? It doesn't really fit the story...If it's talking about Asher, then maybe. But he's not really the main character on showcase, is he? It's like Davies/her editor/publicist/whoever comes out with book names is trying too hard.. Ever considered keeping it sweet and simple?

P.P.S. Sorry if I offended anyone with my bitching. But it was heartfelt. Lol.

My Rating