Fire In The Darkness, Book #2 in the Darkness Series.
It’s been four weeks since Ember Brycin witnessed what her powers are capable of. The Electrical Current Storm has turned Seattle, Washington into a natural disaster zone. The death toll is in the thousands with countless others homeless and hungry.
And Ember is the one who caused it. Something she will have to live with every day.
Those … every day.
Those people who were unable to escape either turned quickly into gangs or live in shelters. Ember, on the other hand, can’t do either. With a price on her head and a Dark Dweller on her ass, she is constantly on the move. Both Light and Dark are hunting her for their own purpose to use her as a weapon or a pawn in the war between the Unseelie King of the Dark and the Seelie Queen of the Light.
Em needs help but doesn’t know who to trust: Lars, the mystery man Torin told her to find? Torin, the Seelie Queen’s personal knight, who has sworn to keep Em safe? Or Eli, who wants to turn her over to the Unseelie King, but whom she has an undeniable, intense connection with?
No matter what she chooses she will probably lose—her life or everything and everyone she loves.
This is NOT a YA Series but a New Adult(17+). Sexual Content and Language.
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3.5
Fire in the Darkness picks up where Darkness of Light left off. The first half of the story has improved compared to the first book, it stepped things up. More interaction between Ember & Eli (finally) but the love-hate relationship is still there. We get to know more about the Dark Dwellers and some new characters especially in the second half of the story. I can’t help but mention Cal & Simmons a breath of fresh air for this book.
Though upon reaching the second half it kinda slowed down and nothing much happened until the final pages which lead to more questions on what really happened? I just felt like everyone has kept a secret to Ember (Poor girl).
Fire in the Darkness is book 2 in Stacey Marie Brown’s Darkness Story. If you haven’t read Darkness of Light it is highly recommended as this book takes off where it ends.
Secrets are unearthed, Ember’s journey has her mind, body, and heart challenged and torn. I was blown away by the first book of the Darkness series, Darkness of Light, and I couldn’t wait to get into this story. Ember is in the middle of a war between Light and Dark, both sides wanting her for different but similar reasons.
After being the cause of a city being completely destroyed due to her powers, Ember is riddled with guilt and fear of being caught and used as a weapon again. But guilt and fear aren’t the only emotions she is dealing with she is also having to deal with heartache knowing the man she has a connection with has betrayed her. Struggling to survive on her own in the crumbled city while constantly looking over her shoulder, is starting to take its toll on her emotional, physically and mentally. When her emotions are running high things are happening again and people are being hurt. Being proud for being able to keep herself safe and free for weeks, it’s not until our favourite sexy-as-sin Dark Dweller Eli shows back up that she realises just how much danger she really was in the whole time and how much she has craved and missed him.
Ember questioned everything and everyone as she tried to figure out the motives of pretty much everything around her. It was dizzying and frustrating.
I want so badly for Eli to be what she needs, and my heart raced and grew whenever they get a little closer. But every time Torin would show up I would feel deflated as there is something about him I don’t trust. Please don’t let him be what Ember needs or wants. It has to be the bad boy working against s his natural instincts. #TeamEli I really hope that Ember and Eli are able to work things out and clear up all their secrets and lies, I think they are great together. Besides I have a thing for the bad boy getting the girl, the whole having to work and changing his ways makes it more enjoyable.
My favourite quote:
“I don’t know if I want to smack you because you’re naïve or plain stupid,” Eli said, irritation soaking his words.
“You touch me and you lose your most beloved girlfriend there.” I nodded toward his hand.
Eli scoffed. “Then I’ll train yours.”
4.5/5 Stars
This review MAY contain spoilers.
Stacey Marie Brown really upped her game with the second book in the Darkness series. I’m pretty impressed with how much better it was than the first book. I really enjoyed the first book, but there were a few things that I felt needed refinement. Most of those things were definitely improved in this book.
The flow of the story is much better in this book. I felt that the first book dragged in the middle a bit, but this one didn’t suffer at all in that respect. Everything was spaced out very nicely. I liked the plotting much better in this book. The story is engaging, intriguing, and will keep you wanting to read more. You will absolutely want to know what is going to happen next. The plot really does thicken and get so much better.
I liked the world building much more in this book as well. The first book felt more like a contemporary to me since the paranormal aspects were hidden from the main character for most of the book. This book changed that. We get to see the Otherworld in addition to Earth in this book. I really liked the distinctions between the worlds in the writing.
I loved the addition of new characters in this book. I adore all of the side characters and how they become family to Ember, the main character. Both the Dark Dwellers and the Unseelie King’s household become family to her and I liked the way it progressed. I still thought that Ember’s character had some annoying traits, but I still like her. She can be a little presumptuous and mouthy, not letting anyone get a word in. This is perhaps a legitimate character flaw that is supposed to bring something to the story, but I found it cringeworthy to read about. I kept yelling at her in my head when she flew off the handle without giving letting anyone else get a word in edgewise.
I am still on board for the hate-to-love trope being played out in the romance between Ember and Eli. I did feel like their coming together wasn’t entirely convincing in the first book, and I still feel that way. It happened too quickly for my liking. But I enjoy their romance as a whole even if it didn’t come together in the best way. Ember and Eli are still angsty with each other, though I didn’t get the unhealthy “domestic abuse” feel from it in this book like I did in Darkness of Light. I do enjoy their snappy and aggressive banter. It is greatly entertaining. Deep down it shows that the characters are in love, even if they fight it for their own reasons. I have no doubt that their romance will get even heavier in the rest of the series. I am also enjoying the “love triangle/not a love triangle” thing going on with Torin. Torin is in love with Ember and she cares for him, but she has never claimed to love him in the same way. I loved the dreamscape scenes when Ember would pull Torin, Eli, and herself into them. The jealousy was tantalizing. And honestly, any time there is more than one option on the table for romance it makes things way more interesting.
The only thing that I remotely disliked in this book was that there were way too many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. It needed a serious overload of editing, but the writing is solid and the story is golden.
Overall, I am so glad that I decided to continue this series. I have no doubt that this series will end up being one of my favorites. I already adore it and I’m not even halfway through it. If you are a paranormal romance or urban fantasy fan then you should try this series!
The only reason this is a 3 star instead of a 2.5 is because of the plot twists.
Throughout the book Ember seemed like a whiny brat at times while flipping back to being a good heroine. Eli… I still do not like Eli. I can never fully tell what is going to happen with him. Is he going to final give into the sexual tension or is he going to keep being an asshole.
Ember makes bad decision after bad decision. I get she has trust issues but she’s a freaking idiot.
The plot twists. I sort of guessed one right as it was about to be revealed the other was a complete shock to me. If it wasn’t for the cliff hanger ending and me reading this as a buddy read, I might have DNF the series.
Two more books to go.
I read this in one sitting. I couldn’t stop laughing. The pixies are my heroes. Ember and Eli and the dark dwellers, everyone in the gang…they are all preparing for war. Things are heating up and I am loving this series!!!