The Sweetest Dark by Shana AbéMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lora Jones is an intriguing heroine, party because of the author's choice to add a twist to the "poor tortured orphan" past--not only was she raised in a cruel orphanage, but she also faced a stint in a mental hospital. Having personally seen up-close what even modern mental hospitals are like, it immediately made me more sympathetic and interested in the character.
As in any good YA book, there are two equally mysterious guys who become attracted to her; however, I was gratified to see that Abe didn't force poor Lora to be torn between the two of them. Lora is very sure of who she is in love with, but if you've read any of the other Drakon books, you can sense that there may be a sad twist to this romance even before the full complications are revealed. I didn't mind it so much, because it made the story seem more realistic.
Now here's the tricky part. Shana Abe wrote another trilogy in the Drakon world several years ago, only it was published as adult fantasy-romance instead of YA. And if you haven't read at least the first book of this series, you will probably be a lot more confused and enjoy this new book a lot less. I loved all the little things revealed about the main character--hearing voices and music, loving stones, wanting to jump off a roof, etc., because I knew what they all meant from reading previous Drakon books. But if you haven't read the other stories, you probably are going to start to think she really is crazy, and you're probably going to still have a lot of questions by the end of the book (and at that point I'd recommend reading Smoke Thief). And that's probably the big reason I rated this book 4 instead of 5 stars--it just doesn't completely work as the first book in a new series.
The book was fast-paced and easy to read--I think I finished it in a few days--with a fairly satisfying romance, although at times I did tend to wonder if they liked each other for any other reason besides the fact that their natures naturally drew them together (and this applies to both boys, Jesse and Armand). The climax seemed a little odd to, since it drew in the war, which hadn't really even had much of a presence throughout the rest of the book. If you're able to ignore some of these small oddities like I did, then The Sweetest Dark will be an enjoyable read, leaving you wanting more and ready to find out what else will happen to Lora.
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