Darkness by Joann I. Martin Sowles

Not long ago, Laney Alexander was living a carefree life, that is, until she was thrown into a world full of creatures only the imagination thought possible. Now, after surviving a terrifying night, Laney and Oliver are lying low at Julz's place, relieved to be in each other's arms once again. But fate seems to have other plans...

Julz is not happy to have visitors in her home and emotions run high. Laney is pushed to her limits as she watches Carter fight for his life and her relationship with Oliver becomes strained as she discovers secrets about Julz that could tear them apart.

As she reaches her boiling point, disaster strikes and her life is shattered. Laney must come to terms with what has unfolded. Will she lose her way and let the darkness consume her or will she find her light in Oliver?

Secrets will be revealed. Hearts will be broken. Lives will be lost. Darkness will fall.

I am going to start this blog off by saying what a TERRIBLE blogger I have been lately! I read this book months ago, but due to some chaotic bumps in the road that is my life, I am just now finding the time to get this review posted.  I'M SORRY!!!!  Ok, now on with the show.

Many of you may remember when I reviewed the first book in this series, LANEY, I started off a bit worried that I was getting another version of TWILIGHT.  Thankfully (and happily) I was quite surprised by Joann's twists and turns that took LANEY down it's own path.  I was left feeling like there was quite a few mysteries left at the end of the book, subtle hints that I thought she had given on where this series was going. So when Joann sent me DARKNESS, I tore into it, eager to find out if all the crazy assumptions and guesses I had made were correct……. 

But once again, she only gave me breadcrumbs of information, not really saying that there is a hidden plot, but very carefully eluding that there is something even more important going on that we don't know about yet. 

With that said, I must proclaim loudly that I HATED Oliver through this one (I wanted to smack him for all the possessive and domineering crap he was pulling on Laney AND everyone else).  But it was Carter, Kiera, and Felix that really stole the show in this book.  Each of them really got to tell more of their own story this time instead of being Laney's supporting cast.  I really enjoyed getting to know the other characters, seeing into some of their past, getting tiny glimpses of their (possible) futures, but more than anything I loved that it wasn't just the Laney and Oliver show.  

So, I leave you with this, if you liked LANEY, you are going to be thrilled with DARKNESS.  And if you're anything like me, you're going to notice all the tiny hints that Joann is weaving in.  I know she has something BIG she is working up to and if I'm right about any of my hunches, this is winding up to have one heck of a finale. So stay tuned and keep reading, it's going to get interesting.