Review: Brightest Kind of Darkness by P. T. Michelle

Title: Brightest Kind of Darkness

Author: P. T. Michelle

Publisher: Patrice Michelle (June 27, 2011)

Source: Review Request

From GoodReads:

Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore. 

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate. 

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

I was immediately drawn to Brightest Kind of Darkness by P. T. Michelle because of its dark themes, paranormal influence, and romance. Those three things in combination create a sizzling and thrilling story. Exactly the kind of book I look for.

The beginning grabbed my attention immediately with Nara predicting a bombing at her school and trying to stop it. If that's not a good hook, I don't know what is. The excitement from this first chapter got me through the first few chapters, but if I'm being honest, my attention wavered a little after that. The story was still compelling, but some aspects of the writing bothered me.

I'll remind you that I like to write, so some of the things that bothered me might not bother the average reader. For my personal reading preferences I would have wanted more editing, in the sense that I think there was a lot of information that wasn't necessary. Some of that came in the form of telling instead of showing. Ethan--mysterious loner extraordinary--is intriguing. I didn't need Nara to directly think that she was intrigued by him for me to get that impression. Also, it seemed there were too many details. Any introduction to an important character came with some flashback or memory. It didn't necessarily take up much page space, but I think it could have been cut to make the story flow smoother.

Now, the good thing is that even though those aspects of the writing bothered me, I still really enjoyed Brightest Kind of Darkness. After my attention wavered for a few chapters, I became engaged again by the intensity of the story. Once I really got into the meat of the plot, I didn't want to put it down. The creativity of the content and plot was awesome. I could not predict what was coming at all and I loved learning more about Ethan and Nara, as well as the strange paranormal abilities.

Ethan is a classic tortured character, which I'm always drawn to. I thought he was particularly well-done. As much as I loved him as a romantic hero (and yeah, I loved him a lot!), I also was dying to get inside his head. He's just so tortured! I wanted to see more from his perspective! (Okay, crazy person alert. Yes, I revel in the torture of characters.)

By the end of the story, I was riveted for more! You bet I want to read the next in this series.

Final thoughts: Buy it.