Title: Dark Shadows
Author: Toni Vallan
Series: Standalone
Number of Pages: 185
Date Read: 11/14/15
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)
My name’s Ella Raimi.
Until last week, my life was pretty normal for a sixteen-year-old. Until I spent that awful night trapped in the janitor's closet in utter darkness. Until the dreams began — suffocating, panic-filled dreams. My best friend Kyla stays with me, but the dreams still continue. And I wake each morning with cuts & burns on my skin. I don’t recall inflicting them.
And then there is the blood on my hands and my sheets when I wake up.
I’m afraid of myself.
I'm afraid I am a killer.
Until last week, my life was pretty normal for a sixteen-year-old. Until I spent that awful night trapped in the janitor's closet in utter darkness. Until the dreams began — suffocating, panic-filled dreams. My best friend Kyla stays with me, but the dreams still continue. And I wake each morning with cuts & burns on my skin. I don’t recall inflicting them.
And then there is the blood on my hands and my sheets when I wake up.
I’m afraid of myself.
I'm afraid I am a killer.
My Review:
This book was a very
enjoyable read. It was fast paced and I finished it in a day.
In the book the main character Ella, has been having a hard time at school. She is pushed into a janitors closet by some of her classmates and is left locked in the room overnight. From there strange things start to happen to her. She has very life like dreams that she is trapped somewhere, she wakes up with cuts and burns on her body and other times she wakes up with her clothes and bed soaked in blood. She doesn't know why these things are happening and at first she turns to her friend Kyla for help. Kyla is there for Ella but from the very beginning Kyla wants to get revenge on the people who hurt Ella. As time goes on Kyla gets more and more violent and angry. So not only does Ella have to deal with her issues but she has to deal with an angry friend.
I liked Ella. The poor girl couldn't catch a break. She was just trying to keep under the radar at school and just get through the days but it seemed as if everyone at school hated her. I do commend her for being very brave to deal with everything she dealt with and managed to not have a complete meltdown. She was very resilient and when she did need help she turned to her mother instead of trying to deal with everything on her own. I enjoyed that aspect of the book because y.a. books constantly have main characters in them who try to do everything themselves without asking for help and it usually leads to bigger problems. Ella was active in trying to get help for herself and was open to doing whatever she could to fix her situations.
I liked the fact that Ella's mom was a character who actually played a part in the book instead of just being there for show. Her mother was very caring and loved Ella a great deal. She was non-judgemental in hearing about Ella's issues and immediately found ways to help her daughter. She was a hard worker who tried to provide a good life for Ella. Her mother was very concerned about her daughter, was very understanding and tried very hard to help her.
I liked and didn't like Kyla. I liked her in the beginning. She was there for Ella when she needed her and talked to her about her problems/ situations. I agreed with Kyla when she called for revenge on the boys who put Ella in the closet. Kyla is a bit of a tough cookie who has no problems with violence and saying what's on her mind. Towards the middle and end of the book she became very annoying and I disliked her and her obsession about getting revenge.
This book was very fast paced with events happening in rapid succession. For me that was fine and it was not overwhelming. I felt that the book was predictable and I guessed what was really going on and why early on in the book. And I was right.
I do have to say that I didn't like the ending. The book ended too abruptly and left me with more question. The ending was kind of a revelation but it didn't explain why the revelation happened or how the revelation worked out to be the way it was which bothers me and probably will continue to bother me. I want to know the author's reasoning for ending the book that way and why.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In the book the main character Ella, has been having a hard time at school. She is pushed into a janitors closet by some of her classmates and is left locked in the room overnight. From there strange things start to happen to her. She has very life like dreams that she is trapped somewhere, she wakes up with cuts and burns on her body and other times she wakes up with her clothes and bed soaked in blood. She doesn't know why these things are happening and at first she turns to her friend Kyla for help. Kyla is there for Ella but from the very beginning Kyla wants to get revenge on the people who hurt Ella. As time goes on Kyla gets more and more violent and angry. So not only does Ella have to deal with her issues but she has to deal with an angry friend.
I liked Ella. The poor girl couldn't catch a break. She was just trying to keep under the radar at school and just get through the days but it seemed as if everyone at school hated her. I do commend her for being very brave to deal with everything she dealt with and managed to not have a complete meltdown. She was very resilient and when she did need help she turned to her mother instead of trying to deal with everything on her own. I enjoyed that aspect of the book because y.a. books constantly have main characters in them who try to do everything themselves without asking for help and it usually leads to bigger problems. Ella was active in trying to get help for herself and was open to doing whatever she could to fix her situations.
I liked the fact that Ella's mom was a character who actually played a part in the book instead of just being there for show. Her mother was very caring and loved Ella a great deal. She was non-judgemental in hearing about Ella's issues and immediately found ways to help her daughter. She was a hard worker who tried to provide a good life for Ella. Her mother was very concerned about her daughter, was very understanding and tried very hard to help her.
I liked and didn't like Kyla. I liked her in the beginning. She was there for Ella when she needed her and talked to her about her problems/ situations. I agreed with Kyla when she called for revenge on the boys who put Ella in the closet. Kyla is a bit of a tough cookie who has no problems with violence and saying what's on her mind. Towards the middle and end of the book she became very annoying and I disliked her and her obsession about getting revenge.
This book was very fast paced with events happening in rapid succession. For me that was fine and it was not overwhelming. I felt that the book was predictable and I guessed what was really going on and why early on in the book. And I was right.
I do have to say that I didn't like the ending. The book ended too abruptly and left me with more question. The ending was kind of a revelation but it didn't explain why the revelation happened or how the revelation worked out to be the way it was which bothers me and probably will continue to bother me. I want to know the author's reasoning for ending the book that way and why.
I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:B+
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