Young Adult Review: The Deepest Night by Shana Abe

The Deepest Night (The Sweetest Dark #2) by Shana Abe

Hardcover, 320 pages

Expect publication: August 13th, 2013 by Bantam

Source: Amazon Vine

Don't read the description if you haven't yet read the first book!

A rich portrait of post-Victorian England, The Deepest Night seamlessly blends thrilling romance with riveting history and adventure—perfect for fans of Libba Bray and Lauren Kate.

It’s 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England’s southern coast. While she’s always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drákon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities.

As war hits Britain’s shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities. At the request of Armand Louis, the darkly mysterious boy whose father owns Iverson, Lora will spend her summer at his lavish estate. To help the war effort—and to keep Lora by his side—Armand turns his home into a military hospital, where Lora will serve as a nurse. For Armand is inescapably drawn to her—bound to her by heart-deep secrets and a supernatural connection that runs thicker than blood.

Yet while Lora tries to sort out her own feelings toward Armand, fate offers an unexpected surprise. Lora discovers there is another drákon, a prisoner of war being held in Germany. And that only she, with her newly honed Gifts, will be able to rescue him.

With Armand, Lora will cross enemy lines on an incredible mission—one that could bond her to Armand forever, or irrevocably tear them apart.

Beautifully written, deeply romantic, and filled with daring adventure and magic, The Deepest Night is a mesmerizing novel of the enduring pull of destiny, and the eternal strength of love.

Spoiler free review for the first book.
I love this series.  Love, love, love!  The time period, the characters, the magic... it's all just amazing!  I read The Sweetest Dark nearly a year before it's actual release so it's been quite some time and I was concerned I would forget things and not have a clue what was going on.  I actually had zero problems with that.  There was just enough to remind me, but the first book was just so amazing that it stuck in my head very well.

Lora is an amazing character.  She's often treated like crap by the rich girls at the school but she doesn't really let it get to her.  She speaks up for herself and has little ways to get the upper hand.  This book mostly takes place once school is out for the summer though, and that changes things a lot.  She has to find a lot of inner strength and courage.  She has to become this new thing she is all the way.  And she has to set aside some doubts, some frustration and some sadness to move forward.  She does it all so well.  No in a way that's unrealistic, she's moving forward how she should.  She's still in agony about stuff, but she doesn't let it pull her down.

The romance in this was extremely well done.  It's too easy to give spoilers for the first book, so I don't want to get into it too much.  But it's a tricky sort of romance, and how it was handled in this felt right to me.  Things aren't going too fast, but not too slow either.  I often feel frustration regarding romance in books, it's hard to find a romance that I really click with, and this is one I do.  While there's been some sadness, it was maybe a sort of sadness that was right for the books.

Armand is a character I have really grown to love.  If I remember correctly there was a lot of banter in the first book, and that's still present in this one, but it's more toned down because of the seriousness of the situation(s).  However he still has this way about him, the things he thinks and says that just make me feel endeared toward him.

This book was emotional, from highs to lows.  There were sad bits, and there were bits that made me laugh.   I felt it was well balanced and made this book a very quick read that I devoured in really no time at all.  I adore these books so much that I have every intention of starting her adult series ASAP.  And I have my fingers crossed that this series continues.  I could read many more of them.  As of now I don't see anywhere where it says there's a third to come, and there's not a cliffhanger with this one, but there's plenty more things that could be tied up. 

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Here's the trailer for the first book.  It mentions two boys, don't let that turn you off.  I'm not a fan of love triangles and this is a sort of romance that works.  For me anyway...

Instead of just linking to my review of the first book, I decided to just share it again here.  I feel pretty much the same way about the second book.  It's just so freaking GOOD!

The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe

Hardcover, 352 pages

Expected Publication: August 21st (amazon says Sept.17th), 2012 by Random House

Source: Amazon Vine

Description from Goodreads:

“With every fiber of my being, I yearned to be normal. To glide through my days at Iverson without incident. But I’d have to face the fact that my life was about to unfold in a very, very different way than I’d ever envisioned. Normal would become forever out of reach.”

Lora Jones has always known that she’s different. On the outside, she appears to be an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl. Yet Lora’s been keeping a heartful of secrets: She hears songs that no one else can hear, dreams vividly of smoke and flight, and lives with a mysterious voice inside her that insists she’s far more than what she seems.

England, 1915. Raised in an orphanage in a rough corner of London, Lora quickly learns to hide her unique abilities and avoid attention. Then, much to her surprise, she is selected as the new charity student at Iverson, an elite boarding school on England’s southern coast. Iverson’s eerie, gothic castle is like nothing Lora has ever seen. And the two boys she meets there will open her eyes and forever change her destiny.

Jesse is the school’s groundskeeper—a beautiful boy who recognizes Lora for who and what she truly is. Armand is a darkly handsome and arrogant aristocrat who harbors a few closely guarded secrets of his own. Both hold the answers to her past. One is the key to her future. And both will aim to win her heart. As danger descends upon Iverson, Lora must harness the powers she’s only just begun to understand, or else lose everything she dearly loves.

Filled with lush atmosphere, thrilling romance, and ancient magic, The Sweetest Dark brilliantly captures a rich historical era while unfolding an enchanting love story that defies time.

Sometimes there are those books that hit you so hard, so powerfully, that you know that there are no words to describe it, there's no way to get your point across how amazing the book is.   The Sweetest Dark was like that for me.  This was so much perfection within it's pages that I nearly cried at the beauty.  And trust me, I had tears in my eyes a few times, but that was mostly because of what's going on in the story. 

First of all, Lora is everything I could ever want in a character and more.  She's gone through a lot in her life as she lived in an orphanage and was sent to an insane asylum for awhile.  She has no memory of when she was a small child and knows nothing about her early life.  But she was incredibly lucky and got accepted as a charity student at an exclusive boarding school in south England.  Here she is ridiculed and taunted but Lora is no meek weakling, oh no, she speaks right up with the quickest retorts I've ever heard!  Being picked on, while you see it does bother her, she doesn't let it show.  She just carries on with her head held high.  I have so much admiration for her and her ability to take things in stride.  She's heard a voice all her life in her head and she hears music in her head and she doesn't understand any of this.  But as things are revealed to her she's shocked, she's hesitant to believe it, but she doesn't go crazy and do some stupid things, nor get angry at the messenger.  She accepts it all quite quickly, but not so quickly it was unrealistic.  Lora is most certainly going on my favorite heroine's list as I'm quite sure she is as perfect of a main character as I could ever dream of.

Now straight away when Lora arrives at Iverson she meets Jesse.  Jesse is one of those characters that stands out because he's so different.  He has more of a quiet and gentle nature and has this ability to just take things in stride.  He doesn't much care about what everyone thinks of him as there's a much grander picture in his head as he knows far more then most people.  I can't say as I've read many books with a character anything like him, but I think he'll be on my favorites list because he just radiates this goodness.

We meet Armand nearly straight away and Lora and him have some very humorous banter.  He's an aristocrat and to Lora that means he's a snobby jerk.  She's not one to let him get away with an attitude and her quick retorts only seemed to make him like her more.  He seems to be drawn to her for some reason and as the story unfolds we see why.

Now you would think that perhaps two men in this story would mean there's a love triangle, right?  Well, I think it's quite clear who Lora loves and there's no question of it.  She really has no temptations for the other though she does soften up for him.  And there is a connection there, but you'll have to read the book for that as it's spoiler.  But I definitely did not feel it was a love triangle.

The romance was sweet.  Very gentle and sweet.  It wasn't this all consuming fire and rage, it was just quiet and beautiful.  I loved it.  But it most definitely made me cry.  Oh yes, it did.

The time period is during World War I.  I don't think I've read a lot of books set in this time.  Automobiles seem to have been invented and electricity is a new thing.  I really liked it.  And I loved the setting of the old mansion the school is set in and the island it's on.

The plot of the story is quite brilliant.  Many of you perhaps know what Lora is, but for those that don't I won't spoil it for you.  Just know that she's not a vampire, or a ghost, or a zombie or anything like that.  She's something beautiful and special.  And the way the story was told it seemed as though it could be real.  And as Lora learns more about it we only wish for more, more, more!  I wanted to know more, see more, experience more of it.  It was brilliant.

This story was hard for me to put down because it was so good, but it was one that I enjoyed most when I could savor it.  For that reason I read it more slowly and over the period of a day and a half rather than devouring it in one evening.  But when I finished I wanted to turn the book over and begin again.  The writing in the book is simply beautiful.  There were passages I bookmarked because they were so gorgeous and they completely blew me away.

I honestly cannot recommend this book any more highly.  I know it doesn't come out until August or September, but this is one you must add to your wishlist and pre-order if you can.  It is most certainly going on my favorites list and is one I know I will reread time and time again.  I've already added the authors other books to my wishlist as I need more of this gorgeous writing and beautiful storytelling. 

This deserves more than 5 stars, but that's all I can give it, so 5/5 stars for this one!