Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Book Tour: Review and Giveaway: Darkness Watching by Emma L. Adams

Title: Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1)
Author: Emma L. Adams
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Genre: New Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Release Date: October 10, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Eighteen-year-old Ashlyn is one interview away from her future when she first sees the demons. She thinks she's losing her mind, but the truth is far more frightening: she can see into the Darkworld, the home of spirits– and the darkness is staring back.

Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world.

All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons still stalk Ash, and their interest in her has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is. 

In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...



Darkness Watching has a very interesting take on demons and sorcerers.  Ash begins to see strange black voids with glowing violet eyes that seem to be watching her.  At first she thinks she's losing her mind, but as she begins to notice other changes she begins to wonder if she's just seeing something others can't.

When she arrives at the seculded university in Blackstone she finds answers to many of her questions, but those answers only lead to a million more questions.  Ash is a great character.  I loved her little freak outs as new things happened and her strenght of mind to accept the answers once she realized they were true.  She meets quite a few interesting fellow students while at Blackstone and when a group that has similar abilities takes her under their wing the story really starts to move.

There a few characters I really disliked, even though I think I was supposed to enjoy them.  Some of the girls from Ash's flat were a little on the annoying side and didn't really behave like I would imagine university students to behave.  With a little bit of a romantic situation thrown in that seemed to take away from the story at first, but in the end was very important.

The ending was very surprising.  Several of Ash's questions are finally answered and she feels a little safer, but her answers are almost more frightening than the questions were to start with.  Although listed as the first in a series, there was enough resoultion at the end to satisfy me with a conclusion.







AUTHOR BIO
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy and paranormal for young adults. She was born in Birmingham, UK, which she fled at the first opportunity to study English Literature at Lancaster University. In her three years at Lancaster, she hiked up mountains, skydived in Australia, and endured a traumatic episode involving a swarm of bees in the Costa Rican jungle. She also wrote various novels and short stories. These included her first publication, a rather bleak dystopian piece, and a disturbing story about a homicidal duck (which she hopes will never see the light of day).

Now a reluctant graduate, she can usually be found in front of her writing desk, creating weird and wonderful alternative worlds. Her debut novel The Puppet Spell, published in 2013 by Rowanvale Books, is a fantasy tale for young adults and the young at heart, inspired by her lifelong love of the fantastical, mythology, and video games. Emma also writes supernatural fantasy novels for older teens and adults. Her next book, Darkness Watching, is the first in the upper-YA/New Adult Darkworld series, and will be published in September 2013 by Curiosity Quills Press.



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Tour Schedule
October 28th

October 29th

October 30th

October 31st

November 1st

November 2nd


2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for reviewing my book! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great review I'm curious about that ending now!

    ReplyDelete