I'm honestly not sure why this one didn't catch my eye before now, but as soon as I started reading 'Undertow' which is book #2 in this series and one that did catch my eye. Enough so that I said yes please when asked if I wanted to review it, however, I'd barely started reading 'Undertow' and I knew I'd screwed up by not reading the first book...so, my recommendation is if you're interested in reading 'Undertow' read this book first.

 

'Darkling' is the first book in Brooklyn Ray's 'Port Lewis Witches' series and I'm happy to say it was worth putting 'Undertow' on hold for a day while I went back and read it. "Port Lewis Witches" is one of those series where the stories really are connected and the characters go from story to story so much of the background and what happens in 'Darkling' is relevant to events in 'Undertow' and at less than 100 pages each it's not a big task to take the time to read both books but so worth it.

 

For me it's been a while since I've gotten so excited about a book of this genre. On a more general scale 'Port Lewis Witches' would be paranormal, but this isn't your vampires, werewolves, shifter paranormal...no this series is predominantly 'witches'!!! While it's not that witches are obscure or anything like that but in general they don't tend to be as popular as other creatures of the paranormal world. So for me it's that little step outside of the norm box that can often times make things interesting.

 

While I'd love to talk more about the actual story that's not going to happen because at just under a hundred pages this is one tightly written story with little to no superfluous information. Essentially Darkling is Ryder's story but we can't have Ryder's story without being introduced to Liam, Christy, Tyler and Donovan. These are the members of the circle that he belongs to and Liam is also  his love interest.

 

While we're given a solid background for each of these characters trust me when I say there's more to come and for this book Ryder is definitely the focus. I really like all of these witches and I love that they each have their own talent some of which won't be fully revealed in this story. 

 

Just like with us normal people at the heart of so much of what goes wrong are secrets...secrets about their magic, secrets about themselves...who they are and what they can do or what they may become...so many secrets and this story plays out against a background of secrets coming to light and changing so much of what these young witches know to be real.

 

Brooklyn Ray is a new to me author and this first foray into her writing world has been a wonderfully enjoyable time for me and I'm very much looking forward to finding out what comes next with this circle of witches. 

 

Ok so that's my ramble about 'Darkling', so while it's a quick read at less than 100 pages. I've read books that were twice as long and been lucky if I got half as much story so definitely recommended...especially if you plan on reading 'Undertow'.

I am uncertain as to how the time went by. I get that in Annwyn time goes by differently than in the mortal world. But it seems as if just a couple of weeks were covered yet we're told it was more like a couple of months...maybe? Confusing.

 

The H is something that shouldn't exist...or more precisely, something that is difficult to maintain. He's the result of a grey (banished) fairy and a mortal. He's not fairy enough to survive without a soul, yet because of his fairy parent's grey status, doesn't have one. So he has to feed. He has, for reasons, decided to stop goofing off and do something for the mortal world following the war and other assorted things that bled over from Annwyn. This attracted the attention of Felan - the king.

 

The h, former handmaiden to the king's not-so-dearly departed mother, has been a shadow for a year and a day (something about a theft to aid the then-prince). To prove her loyalty...or something...she's sent to spy on the H. Given that she falls for him, I'd almost suspect the king of matchmaking. I can't imagine that the Hunter hadn't spied on him previously.

 

There are some interesting characters - Kaid the kelpie for one - and you sort of wonder if in the future various greys won't get their sentence commuted. At least one of the H's friends had been banished because she got pregnant.

Love this cover.
Ultimately this is a friends to lovers story, just with far more obstacles in the way than you would normally expect. Ryder has secrets, many many secrets, and worry if Liam, his best friend and the person he's been in love with for the last two years, will accept Ryder once he discovers he's trans is probably the least dangerous of the secrets he's keeping.
The writing is lusciously descriptive, I could almost feel the dark magic swirling around me with every page I read. But that same quality gave the book an edge that meant I could never truly relax while reading. Some of the blood letting and knife play had heart in my stomach. Ryder's not the easiest person to like, but he's the only narrator and I think an unreliable one at that, because he is scared about the development of his magic and tries to cover that fear by distancing himself from the people he loves.
The world building is excellent and I could easily image this world of witches and necromancers.

 

Why not 5 stars? Well, occasionally I felt like I really didn't know what was going on, that maybe I missed another book that should have explained some things. Oh, and that sense of unease rarely makes for a 5 star read for me, it has me too much on edge. 

Across the Darkling Sea (Magicfall Book ... Evelyn lives in a small town where magic is illegal and this makes her very curious about it so one day she sneaks a little bit of magic into the town. When she is caught the whole town including her mom and dad want to kill her. She is rescued by the witch in their town. The witch tells Evelyn a story about a man coming to town a long time ago that used his magic on her and explains to Evelyn who she really is and about the curse this man placed upon her and her family.

So with everyone wanting to kill her Evelyn or now Ling as she wants to be called and with nowhere to go decides to set out to find this man and get him to remove this curse or for a way to break it. On her journey Ling meets some good people and some not so good people and some downright mean and awful people who take advantage of her in more ways than one.

Ling has to cross the Darkling Sea to reach her destination so she stows away on ships but she finally finds a captain that is willing to help her out and give her a ride on her ship across the Darkling Sea. Ling finds a few people on this ship willing to help her out but she must be very careful because some of these people may not be what they seem or portraying and may just stab her in the back. After all of her harrowing experiences she has no idea who to trust.

Across the Darkling Sea has been an amazing journey. I loved their journey across the Darkling Sea it was magical and so awesome. I would like to have seen Ling use her magic on her own but maybe we will see her come into her magic in future books. Or at least I hope she has magic and she doesn’t know how to use it yet maybe.

If you like to read magical books then I think you would truly enjoy Across the Darkling Sea. Come join Ling on her journey Across the Darkling Sea.

Henry Saint must kill someone and take their soul every year on his birthday to exist. He was the product of a human and a grey - a banished fairy. A kiss will steal the soul Henry needs. Henry has survived over a century which is a rarity for a Darkling. He started out in poverty and worked himself up to a successful man.

There seemed to be something left unresolved by the end of this story. I really didn’t like that. Also a lot of the time this story had problems keeping my attention and I barely finished it. Just really didn’t interest me very much.

I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.