CHECK OUT MY REVIEW HERE

Author: Shiloh Walker

Book: Darker Than Desire (Secrets & Shadows #3)

Other Books in Series:

Deeper Than Need (#1)
Sweeter Than Sin (#2)

tl;dr recommendation: Major points for originality + mystery. It was a pretty slow start, but overall a good read.

Book Summary:

LUST FOR LIFE

No matter how many times he’s left her in the past, Sybil Chalmers can’t ignore her feelings for the one man who stole her heart years ago. For countless nights, she has waited for him—for his kiss, his touch—and has longed for him to emerge from the shadows of his past. Only when she is in his arms does Sybil really feel alive…and finally, after all these years, that time is now.

A DEADLY DESIRE

He’s a man raised in a world of strict rules and unbreakable traditions and he’s always yearned to break free. But when a family tragedy lures him back home, he finds his one true passion has been there all along. With Sybil, he can explore his greatest potential—and allow her to discover a whole new level of ecstasy. But will a long-buried secret threaten to tear them apart? The only thing he knows for sure is that he will do anything to keep Sybil in his life…and keep her coming back for more…

Longer Review:

Full disclosure: I haven’t read any of the other books in this series; but each is touted as a standalone, so I didn’t think I would be at too much of a disadvantage. I felt that I picked up on the relationships of the characters pretty well, so it can be done.

Have you ever read an Amish erotica, mystery novel? No? WELL I NOW HAVE. We’re immediately thrust into David’s world where he has been staying and hiding in plain sight with the Amish for the past twenty years. He and a girl, Lana, disappeared one night twenty years ago from the nearby town. The same night David’s parent’s were killed. No one knew what happened to them and after a vigil was held their disappearance fell off the radar.

However, twenty years later, strange things are happening both in town & in the Amish community. David realizes that it’s time to come out of hiding and face whatever demons his past is dishing up to serve him. However, even though he believes he’s a broken shell of a man, he refuses to bring Sybil into the line of fire. She’s the only person left alive who he actually feels anything for. David is somewhat cold and calculating, a leftover result of the horrors he was treated to as a child.

Sybil, his sort-of-girlfriend for the past ten years, is much smarter than David gives her credit for. She knows what’s going on – knows all of David’s secrets, even without him telling her – and she has stuck it out with the scraps he’s thrown her for the past ten years. I really liked Sybil on the whole. I thought she was sexy, smart and could hold her own. I went back and forth on David. I just really wanted him to get his shit together.

The book was really slow moving for me for the first 60% or so. I don’t know if it’s because the POV changed so often and I got confused (because that definitely happened) or if the dialogue was slow or what. I think it was a combination of those things that really had me struggling for the first part of the book. There are some seriously hot sex scenes, but there were a lot more David talking to the police/David in a field/David brooding alone/David talking to his elders scenes. I don’t need a book to be all sex (in fact, I happen to enjoy a plot) but there was just SO MUCH going on that I was spending so much time connecting the dots and the characters and locations that I think I was missing the story. However, as the mystery and the drama heats up in the book I began to become more invested and the second half of the book flew by.

The ending will definitely satisfy you and overall, this is a good mystery/romance read that was so original I could hardly believe what I was reading.

[I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review]