Book Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A dark and lush paranormal romance set in a richly reimagined New Orleans—now in paperback!
Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.
Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.
She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.
Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Judging by the cover of Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton you would think it was strictly a vampire story, however, you would be wrong. Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton blends paranormal, Greek mythology, dystopia, and romance into a neat little package.

Ari Selkirk has teal colored eyes and silver hair, so she’s weird looking. Bounced from foster home to foster home, her otherworldly looks attract the wrong kind of attention. As you can guess, Ari’s birth harbors a secret. To discover the hidden meaning behind her birth and her mother’s suicide, she must go to New 2 – which is New Orleans, but was completely destroyed by hurricanes – now a paranormal haven. Along the way, she makes friends with a rag-tag group of orphans, including Violet who can talk to alligators, and Crank a 12 year old girl who runs the mail out of New 2. She also, of course, finds a love interest in Sebastian, a dude with some weird powers.

Honestly, Ari could give Rose Hathaway a run for her money. She is completely kick ass. She has a gun and can work a knife. Plus she acts exactly how I would in a situation and says things like ‘fuck my life’, and yes she isn’t pristine and actually uses swears like every teenager I have ever met in my life. Also, Ari is self deprecating. She is so much fun to read about, and I would kind of like her reactions to daily life, because, yo it is awesome.

But, what drags Darkness Becomes Her down is the insta-love. I mean, Sebastian is a cool character, don’t get me wrong. He’s also not a giant steaming bag of douche. However, I felt like their love was never really given the time to develop properly. I mean literally, they knew each other for what two days, they go see some voodoo guy and bam, they are making out. Yeah, that’s not how relationships work. That’s how hook ups work. And, well, I just think the book would have been much stronger had the characters actually taken the time to get to know each other, and I don’t know form a relationship based on mutual interests and chemistry, and not oh you are sooo hot let’s kiss for a bit.

I will say that was the only thing I disliked Darkness Becomes Her. I think Kelly Keaton did a great job with keeping the story unpredictable. Certain events and plot points came out of left field, which I thought was fresh and new. I love it when a book is not all just one thing. I enjoy the fact that Darkness Becomes Her can be paranormal and dystopic at the same time.

In all, Darkness Becomes Her is decent if you like a ton of action. However, if you are turned off by insta-love, I would say it might be worth your while to wait until the sequel comes out, and read some reviews to find out if the romance actually develops. Then, if it does, read the two books.

Disclosure: Received for review.

Other Reviews of Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton:

The Compulsive Reader

The Book Smugglers

Only Sexy Books Allowed

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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