Review Detail

Beautiful and heart wrenching these are the words that come to mind after reading The Sweetest Dark.

The Story

Set in 1915, The Sweetest Dark follows 17 year old Lora, an orphan from the London slums sent to a boarding school for young ladies of the elite, of which Lora is not. However Lora is not your average girl spoiler if you haven't read other Shana Abe books (view spoiler) Something she is unaware of.

The Writing

The writing had a slightly dreamy and poetic quality. Which could make it difficult for some people to get in to the story but I found quite lovely.

The Heroine

Lora was an alright protagonist but I felt like I could have really liked her instead of just being okay with her. The problem was we didn't get to see her personality come through like it could have. Which is sad because I think she would have been the kind of girl whose mind I would love to be in. For example she loved to read but this was only mentioned 2-3 times. I would have really liked to see her personality come through a bit more.

The love interest(s)

I fell head over heels for Jesse! He was sweet and caring and oh so perfect! It should be known that the ending with Jesse is not a happy one. In fact it's heart breaking. My heart was ripped from my chest, torn into tiny pieces, and then ground into the floor. I was crying SO HARD! I would hate it because I dislike depressing endings that make me cry but the Epilogue made it bearable even if my heart will forever have scars from being shattered. So I will accept that maybe this is the way fate intended for things to be for Lora and Jesse. I will even admit (begrudgingly) that a happy ending would not have been as good even if I desperately wish they had one.

Armand is the bad boy/snooty rich boy of the love triangle. Although I didn't feel it was that much of a love triangle because Jesse's and Lora's relationship was the focus and not Armand's and Lora's. Despite that the scenes with Armand were electric. Lora has a fiery chemistry with Armand that is somewhat lacking with Jesse. The feelings between Jesse and Lora is a bit more like friends that became more. Not that they don't have sparks, it's just less obvious, like Armand and Lora are a monsoon and Jesse and Lora are a light rain. Your more likely to get a light rain but when a monsoon hits you notice.

The Villain(s)

In this case the villain could be the Germans as this is set in England during World War I and the war plays a big part in the ending. However until then I didn't feel that the war was a big part of the plot line, so I am going to talk about Chloe. I hate Chloe! HATE HER! She was a mean, spoiled brat and I really wish she had gotten what was coming to her. Sure Lora gave her a talking too but Chloe was going to get her expelled! I wish there could have been a scene where a bird poops on her or something! Hopefully in the sequel!