It’s the same old story, really. Good versus evil. Heroes versus villains. Light versus dark. For two years, college freshman Noah Morgan lived his life somewhere in the middle, fighting darkness and light, always searching for answers to a single question:Why, Noah, why?The same three words keep him up at night, struggling for air while gripping a plastic cylinder containing white pills to match … containing white pills to match the white label with his name printed in ink as deep and dark as his memories—memories that turned him into a recluse.
A shut-in.
An introvert.
Luckily for him, that’s not how the girl next door sees him.
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Beauty in the darkness
Oh man jay is the queen of heartbreak warfare . This book is yet another masterpiece that makes you feel everything !!!!
I laughed and cried and fell in love with the characters ! I want more of their story !!! Please tell me there’s more !! I feel like their story has only begun !?
But still , Soooooo good !
Both Noah and Andi have a history of regrets and they find eachother accidentally when they become Neighbours. We follow their journey as they start to discover hope in the darkness .
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: Darkness Matters
: Jay McLean
: 5/5
I put of reading this book for a long time, because I just knew it would be a hard one (and I mean that in the best way possible). It was like I could feel that this book was going to hit me hard, and it did. It was such an intense book and there were so many twist and turns.. but none of them I could have predicted. This book was just another five star read from Jay McLean and I am not surprised (the one thing I could have predicted). What did surprise me the most was the ending, I would categorize this as a somewhat happy ending, but not a “they lived happily ever after” ending and there wasn’t an epilogue. There are still a lot of questions on which I did not get answers to, so this is a short warning for those who need a HEA, this book might not be for you. However, if you are like me and you and you can look past that… I think it’s such a special story and I feel like the ending actually adds to that. A happily ever after might have taken away from the story itself, which takes some very dark turns. Because, not all stories have happy endings, they just have happy (light) moments. And that is why I have to insert this quote from the book, because I feel like this is also why the book does not give us any more answers: ” , , . .”. This book almost feels more like a real/non-fiction story than fiction, because it highlights so many real but dark topics and keeps it realistic. I think Noah and Andie’s story takes you on a beautiful dark journey which really get’s you thinking about your own darkness and seeing the light. The characters are so well developed, as are the side characters. I can’t say much more without spoiling, but this book is really worth your time and money. It is a story I will take with me for the rest of my life.
My reviews are also available with photo at my Bookstagram: @justmyfantasyworld
Your darkness matters! Another amazing book by this author. This is a standalone that has amazing characters that you will fall in love with. I highly recommend!
This book was so much more than I thought it would be with all of the feels it gave me. I wanted to understand how people could be so broken and not see themselves and their own worth. Jay McLean did a beautiful job showing the the broken pieces of both Andie and Noah…even Milky and Bradley’s broken pieces. They slowly heal each other in their own ways at their own pace and THAT is just so beautiful to me. I can’t really say much more about this story for fear that I will get too excited and give spoilers. I give this book 5 stars….love it, love it, loved it…so much.
Wow I don’t even know where to start with this review at all. First thing thank you Jay McLean for being an author I am so glad I was told about your books because the way she writes, I don’t really know how to explain it, I feel like I get so wrapped up in these books and I get all the feels and everyone of her books stays with me forever.
Going into this book blind and not knowing what it was going to be like was an amazing journey, I wasn’t expecting to feel the way I felt and of course I cried and cried to the point I think my nose was crying as well.
The way this book was written caused me to not put it down and I just wanted to know how everything was going to happen and goodness did it have me hooked until the end. I loved how it flowed from past to present and also had some other chapters in there so we knew how things happened and how everyone was feeling.
Andie what a journey she had been on her life was Just one big mess and for what happened to her was just not fair really, but buy the end of the book, the way she had grown strong and tried to do right was amazing.
Noah was a very broken boy who just got really lost and needed answers and just didn’t know what he wanted out of life. He lived the best way how and did what he had to do but the Darkness was always there
This book I felt was deep, emotional, tugged at the heart strings, but what I loved most was what this book stood for and it spoke to me in a way that no other book has. What I have learnt is that everyone’s Darkness Matters and I will remember that forever
I’m going even going to put stars to this book because it deserves a hell of a lot more than 5
I really had no clue what this book was about before I started it. I honestly didn’t care because it’s Jay Freaking McLean so I just picked it up and went with it.
I actually started the book right before I wanted to bed, but I ended up finishing it at 2am. The story moved so I was really surprised that it wasn’t too long. I loved the story line, there were things that surprised me and didn’t see coming. My favorite character is Noah, that super shy guy is so extremely nice and thoughtful. I liked his story and thought it tied up well. And then there’s Andromeda. I liked her too, but girl, I have eleventy million questions about her! The story just kinda ended and there was no epilogue so we’re left with lots of questions. At least I was. So I’m over here in left field scratching my head and feeling a wee bit incomplete. Now don’t get me wrong, I thought this story was great so 5 stars on that, but I knocked one off for leaving in WTF mode. Gah, WTF?! I really hope there’s more because I want to know what the hell happened to Matt?! No really, what happened to him? So yeah, I liked it but didn’t loooove it. Let’s just say it’s different. Fingers crossed that there will be more cause that would totally be the bee’s knee’s
REVIEW: 5 STARS
“I learned that sometimes, there is no reason, and there are no answers. There just is.”
Quirky isn’t the right word for this author’s style of writing, but while I search for the perfect one I’m needing to describe it and the amazingness that is this story, lemme tell you my thoughts. First of all, I felt like I was in a dark room, sitting on a lone chair, with a swinging bulb, illuminating me as it swung by. That was my vision because while she gave us tidbits of information, I felt like I was sitting in the dark waiting for that light to swing back my way, in turn, shedding some proverbial ‘light’ on this mystery I was reading. This book, this story….it snuck up on me. It quietly kidnapped my mind. Quietly. Effortlessly. This was a one-sitting read, and I was blown away. You guys: Blown. Away. This book was fanfuckingtastic.
IF this wasn’t Jay McLean
And IF I hadn’t read her before
And IF I wasn’t anticipating some epic twist, I don’t know that I would have kept reading this one.
Not that it was a bad story; not even a little bit.
Not that it was poorly written; on the contrary.
It would have been because I don’t honestly know many authors that would have been able to hold my mind captive for that long, keeping me turning the pages, with very little to go on throughout the entire story. It was just one massive mystery that pulled at me, but I couldn’t stop reading it if I tried. I was really intrigued. I was super curious. I wanted to know, but I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take to decipher the story I was reading. I almost felt strung along, but I was going willingly. I will be honest, this book is best gone in completely BLIND. Avoid the spoilers, look past the naysayers, enjoy this book for everything magical that Jay’s words can bring you. This one was a well told story that was so in-depth, yet it continually piqued my curiosity the more I read.
That ending? I am still on the fence about it, but I feel sated. This is also where I take the opportunity to see where McLean was trying to take this book. And for that very reason alone, it makes me love her writing that much more, especially since I am fairly new to her. I don’t necessarily need a buttoned up, following the ABCs, bullet-pointed HEA. I can go with non-traditional, forward thinking, thought provoking ones because sometimes the idea of being able to ponder what happens is sometimes a very fun thing to do. This was one of the slowest burning stories I have read in a long while and it consumed me. I want to talk about this one…discuss it…..debate it. I want to seek more answers. I want to hear more of their story. I want to love on Noah and Andie so much more. My gosh. I feel like I am reeling right now.
One of my favorite things about this book was an unexpected, soul crushing, eye-opening moment that tore me up. Damn you, Jay, that got me good right in my little heart. 95% in, and I gasped. I may have welled up a little even. I am completely speechless.
This title has a profound meaning. I think my heart has been forever altered.
Brilliant. That’s the word I was looking for to describe her writing…..brilliant.
“Say something beautiful.”
~BEE