Review ~ Darkness Matters by Jay McLean

Book Description:

It’s the same old story, really. 

Good versus evil. 

Heroes versus villains. 

Light versus dark. 

For two years, college freshman Noah Morgan lived his life somewhere in the middle, fighting darkness and light, always searching for answers to a single question:

Why, Noah, why?

The same three words keep him up at night, struggling for air while gripping a plastic cylinder containing white pills to match the white label with his name printed in ink as deep and dark as his memories—memories that turned him into a recluse. 

A shut-in. 

An introvert.

Luckily for him, that’s not how the girl next door sees him.

Buy Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2sdd9Nm

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2sMWm27

Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4 stars

“I’m a girl with an infinite amount of regrets. A girl who used to believe in chance and in fate but doesn’t anymore.”

So, the sneaky Jay McLean totally side swiped me with this release, not only the fact it went live without warning, but also the content. Jay McLean is infamous for making me cry, delivering angsty romances all while interspersed with her trademark wit. Darkness Matters was different, still that angst, still emotional, but for Jay, this was darker than her norm. No wit, just emotion, more emotion a little intrigue and I loved it.

“I should have done a lot of things I didn’t. And a lot of things I shouldn’t have.”

This book does contain some sensitive topics but they were all dealt with honesty and realism, nothing over the top, nothing there for the shock factor, just a story about two people that have painful back stories that may have the potential to find love and solace with one and other. This was one twisty read, Jay McLean has you teetering on the precipice, desperately wanting to know the low down on Andromeda and once you think you know, you know absolutely nothing at all.

“I’m a girl who sees the world in black and white and different shades of grays, but barely ever in color.”

Andromeda was on route to Harvard despite the crap hand that she had been dealt, she was super intelligent, focused, hard-working and honest…until she met the wrong person. Love makes you blind, blind to reality, blind to the truth, blind to the big red warning lights that are constantly flashing and yet seem unimportant when seen through rose tinted glasses. Andromeda made her mistakes and now she was living with the consequences.

“I step into the shower, lose myself in the warmth of the water raining down on me, and I silently cry three and a half years’ worth of tears over two years’ worth of mistakes.”

Noah was a man who was a prisoner of his own making. One tragic event had turned him from a jock to hermit, a loner, nervous, shy and intimidated by those around him. Self-imposed exile for years has left lasting effects and now, at college, he was slowly learning to come out of his shell, like a tortoise waking up from hibernation…but that light is always a little too bright. Noah still had a way to go and yet he seemed to feel comfortable around the girl next door.

“A recluse. A shut-in. An introvert. All those words run through my mind, but I don’t think I’m any of them. The truth? I’m just extremely fucking shy.”

Andie and Noah were very well suited, both intelligent, both shy albeit for different reasons. Two people that wouldn’t say boo to a goose yet seem to have all the words in each other’s company. Even without words their companionable silence was all they needed to settle one and other.

“Noah Morgan is a gift-giving, soul-sharing, heart-stealing boy next door…And he only had eyes for me.”

For me personally, I felt this one needed a little more. It was a quick read, fairly short for a Jay McLean book and the trademark depth of her characters was missing. However, the message within the lines was all consuming, powerful, beautiful and important and that is what I have taken away from this book. I also felt that the ending was a little abrupt and I was desperately waiting for the next page, therefore, for me, this one needed an epilogue. When you are so invested in a couple sometimes you just need that little bit extra to make sure all is light in the world. We all have a little darkness, it does matter, but the light is what matters the most.

“…Your darkness matters…”