Review: Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton

• Pub. Date: February 22, 2011
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Pages: 320
• Series: Gods & Monsters #1

Ari has always been a little strange. She has long, thick, silver hair that remains unchanged no matter how much she cuts or dyes it. She has teal eyes that lure people in. And growing up with bounty hunting foster parents has taught her how to kick some serious butt. When she learns that her birth mother committed suicide in “New 2,” the reincarnation of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, Ari travels there to uncover her past. New 2, it turns out, is full of unsettling entities like half-spider creatures, sword-wielding strangers, and vampires—including the supersexy Sebastian. Ari seems normal in comparison—but every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly, is afraid of her. And when she finds out why, the truth is worse than she ever imagined…

First Line: : "Under the cafeteria table my right knee bounced like a jackhammer possessed."

Review:


I've had Darkness Becomes Her sitting on my shelf for well over 8 months now and I finally picked it up and read it. I'm not sure why I didn't bother reading this sooner but anyways I'm glad I finally read it, it had a lot of your typical YA cliches but there was a twist I didn't see coming which made my enjoyment factor go up a little more then where it was at.

The story is about Aristanae "Ari" a girl with teal colored eyes and silver hair. She grew up in the foster system and now almost eighteen she is seeking information about her mother which leads her to an insane asylum. She finds out her mother killed herself a few months after she was put in the system and the only thing left to her is a box full of items with a letter from her mother telling her to run and that she needs to stay away from New Orleans and those who can identify her. First off I had issues with that letter, it bugged me that the letter didn't give her any insight on why and who she has to protect herself from..just run! not the most helpful letter in the world.

As for the romance it happened too fast and I never really connected with Sebastian's character. Then again when I think about it besides Ari, Violet (who is this awesome little girl who has a pet alligator named Pascal) and well another main character (who I can't give away without ruining the book for those who haven't read it yet) all the other characters weren't all that memorable.

Overall even though it looks like I didn't enjoy the book due to all the issues I stated above, I did enjoy it. I liked Ari she could fight so no damsel in distress there. I also liked the fact that Keaton setup New Orleans to be a sort of haven for supernatural creatures and she delivered as far as the supernatural goes, there was a diverse amount of creatures all playing their roles in the plot very well. Also I found the plot itself entertaining especially the second half.