Summary: Even the devil was once an angel...
Still reeling from a devastating betrayal, and a shaky relationship with Ethan, her Guardian Angel, Samantha reluctantly seeks comfort with Damien - the original fallen, the devil whispered about and part of the original deception of Adam and Eve. She learns of the real reason for his existence – a sad and twisted reason that would force even the most ardent Bible thumpers to show sympathy. He agrees to help Samantha fight Sebastian but what she doesn't know is there is a price for Damien's involvement. A price she would never allow. The only problem is, she isn't the one making the sale.
Title: Darkness Betrayed
Author: Christine Hughes
Pages: 300
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Review: I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
First off, not sure if I like this cover as much as I loved the first one. The guy is hot don't get me wrong, he just seems a bit old... Oh well. Onto the story. Like the cover, I did not like this book as much as the first one. I'm not sure why. I just couldn't really connect with the characters or the story this time around. Because of this it read a bit slow for me. The story was very well written it just wasn't for me.
Sam made me beyond frustrated. I wanted to give her a good tap to the head. Like when did she become the only person I. The world that mattered?im sick of her sob story, like put in your big girl panties and "man" up, I did enjoy the love triangle even though I am disappointed in what happened to it. That made me think of Sam again so back to her because I am still mad!! What a crap ending (not to you Christine). Sam totally took the easy way out. Must be nice to to have all that guilt crushing you. But on the bright side... Maybe because of that needing there will be a new love interest.
I will read book three even though I didn't care for this instalment because I want to see if I can get reinvested in the characters. Plus I do want to see what will become of everything after what went down. I would recommend this book to angel lovers.
About this author
I’ve always wanted to write. Ever since I was little, I would craft stories and poems but the idea to actually do it “for real” never really crossed my mind until last year. After sitting on three paragraphs of what would eventually become my first novel, I decided to expand upon what I had. At the time I had no real idea of where the story would go, I just knew I had the time to do something with it.
I hadn’t researched market trends, I had no idea about query letters or the evil synopsis, and I was green on the idea of agents and editors and all that is publishing, really. I just wanted to write something I enjoyed. I didn’t plot, outline, or character build, I just wrote. And then an author friend mentioned that I should take my writing to a conference.
So with the confidence that my novel would surely be welcomed by all who read it, I signed up for as many seminars and critiques as I could. I knew someone would love it. In those two days, I found out I had a lot to learn.
Funny, but as a former English teacher, you’d think I’d have figured out the importance of editing and revision and revising again. You’d think I’d have known that the first draft is just that, a draft. And when the critiques started coming in, I thought I was done for. Not that the premise wasn’t good (I was told it was), not that the characters weren’t believable (I was told they were), but I used too much passive voice, I tense shifted and there were some holes in the plotline.
A few agents really liked it, but the market trend couldn’t support it. Some were not fond of the way I told the story. I queried and queried my way to 57 flat out rejections and a number of partial and full requests that didn’t pan out. But along the way I got some great criticism and pointers and I made the story better. Then, on a whim, I trolled the SavvyAuthors website and signed up for a three line pitch to editor Lauri Wellington and I did a happy dance when she requested my full manuscript.
A month later, she responded that she loved the story and the concept but it moved too slowly but I could resubmit if I revised. I informed her I sent her a revision that was based on the opinions of agents, authors and peers but I had the original (cleaned up, of course) and I was sending it in to see if it was more of what she was looking for. And guess what? It was! One caveat, I had to revise the manuscript into past tense. Easy peasy, right? Wrong.
Revising into past tense from present is line editing your entire novel. And it kinda stinks. By the end, I thought my eyes were gonna start bleeding and pop out onto my keyboard. But you know what? That little “exercise” tightened up what was loose, filled in any plot holes that might’ve still been there and forced me to realize I could be a better writer.
The road to publication can be long. It can be a hop, skip and a jump from your first query. Nothing in publication is set in stone. The market is always changing. And the biggest thing I learned is that it’s all subjective. Agents A-Y may pass but all you need is Agent or Editor Z to believe in you as much as you believe in yourself. And I believe in my first novel. And I am happy that Black Opal Books does too. I hope you do, as well.
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