Book Summary

Charlene (Charlie) Bennett is a simple waitress in the wilds of Hyder, Alaska whose father has just gone missing. Isolated and alone, her fathers’ disappearance is nothing new to her, but this time things are a little different. For starters, there is a handsome stranger, Daniel that has come to town and while Charlie has never taken more than a passing interest in strangers, she has an immediate and intense attraction to this one. Secondly, she’s soon to find out that this stranger isn’t what he appears. He’s about to throw Charlie’s entire world into a major upheaval. Now Charlie has to decide if she believes this strangers’ incredible story and follow Daniel or if she wants to stay in the only home she’s ever known for an uncertain future and an absentee father. As she comes to terms with what Daniel shows her, she realizes that he’s the only true thing in her life and leaves everything she knows behind to follow the handsome stranger.

Review

Glimpse of Darkness by Nicole DelaCroix is a paranormal story that had an interesting concept that drew me into the story initially but there were certain aspects of the narrative that I struggled with.

Charlie lives in Hyder, Alaska and is worried over her father’s recent disappearance. Daniel is a new guy in town, who Charlie feels an immediate attraction towards. But soon, it is revealed that Daniel is far more than just an attractive stranger and Charlie is whisked on an adventure away from isolated Alaska.

Charlie is a nice person, arguably naive, but she tries to do the right thing and has a degree of level-headedness about her. With this in mind, it makes some of the actions she takes throughout the novel rather confusing. She trusts Daniel implicitly, even though she had only known him for less than 24 hours and stays with him and he withholds knowledge of the situation for a long while. It was established that Charlie keeps to herself most of the time so the idea of her trusting him so quickly strikes me as suspicious.

With the introduction of Daniel I feel that this book starts to lose me as a reader. I am not partial to Daniel as a character. He comes off more as patronizing and unsettling than sweet and kind-hearted to me; and maybe I’m just not very good at flirting, but the dialogue between Daniel and Charlie when they first meet comes across as stiff and forced to me.

DelaCroix seems to focus more on Daniel and Charlie’s feelings for each other than the plot at times which can cause the scenes to seem dragged out. Also, though I understand the need for internal dialogue, and it is used effectively in many instances, the sheer amount of it can become redundant and it slows the story down for me.

In many ways, this novel’s romance plot reminds me of Twilight which may be why this book did not appeal to me. Daniel reminds me of Edward and Charlie reminds me of Bella. Once I made that parallel, I personally could not find the book very enjoyable. I think that DelaCroix has interesting ideas and concepts, like her version of Biblical myth, but there is little excitement to captivate readers after the first couple chapters. I feel this story would be fitting for readers who enjoyed Twilight.

Reviewed by Jazmin Gousse

Series: Chronicles of the Cursed
Paperback: 366 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 24, 2014)

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