Jessandra was content with her life in New York, before a creature hunted her down and took her to an underworld beneath the city. There, he reveals that she’s more than just a waitress living in a walk-up apartment with her sister. She’s his people’s last hope in ever seeing freedom.Fallon’s people are done being slaves. Lacking the numbers to simply fight back and rebel, they’ve found a secret … found a secret weapon: Jessandra. Once she discovers all that she is and can be, they will have a fighting chance.
That’s if they can keep their hands off one another. Should the enemy find out about Jessandra, the whole plan goes to hell. And her cover relies on the two keeping the heat between them a secret.
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While Descending Into Darkness really hits its stride around 1/3 of the way through, it certainly doesn’t start off slowly. Jess meets a beautiful and otherworldly male named Fallon down a dark alleyway after work and quickly learns that, not only does she belong within his strange and magical world, but she’s its only chance for saving their people from the inequalities thrust upon them by a tyrant king.
Jess’ background and the intricacies of the various supernatural creatures we meet are delved into rather quickly – and in great detail. The author spends a good amount of time laying out this world that neither we, as readers, or dear Jessandra know anything about. What holds the reader to the edge of their seat is trying to sort out the motivations of some of the outlying characters as they’re brought into the story… and waiting for that strong pull between Jess and Fallon to finally come to a head. Mystery and action are nonstop from the first chapter, and it makes for a fast-paced and enjoyable read.
While Descending doesn’t leave off on a cliffhanger, it’ll leave you wanting to jump into Book 2 to see what comes next.
I received a free copy of this book from Book Sirens in exchange for a fair and honest review. There were some errors found throughout the text that were, at times, distracting, but the story is interesting enough that I’d recommend it being worth the read.
DESCENDING INTO DARKNESS is the first book in the Descending series. We start off with Jess being kidnapped following her shift as a waitress and taken to a stronghold. There she is told she isn’t a prisoner but is, instead, a Seelie princess whose powers haven’t yet awakened. At the same time, her sister, Alyss, is kidnapped by the UnSeelie Court and taken there although they are reunited very quickly.
This is a fast-paced novel with plenty of action and a dash of mystery. Being the first book, there is world-building to help the reader understand what’s going on, as well as learning more about the characters that are introduced. Fallon tells Jess that he is her mate very quickly and, just like everything else, Jess accepts that and moves on. Whilst I don’t like unnecessary histrionics, I do feel Jess accepted everything just a little too easily. After all, she’s gone from a waitress who works the late shift to a Princess of the Seelie Court and has the ability to save not one but two races from slavery and/or extinction and she takes it all in her stride.
There is a good storyline here that I would like to read more about and the cliffhanger ending will leave the reader wanting more. The only thing I would say (and it may have been the copy I received to review) but it wasn’t always clear who was talking. It seemed to change from one paragraph to another with nothing to indicate a change of point of view.
A good first book and I look forward to reading more in this series. Recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *