Review: The Darkest Sunrise by Aly Martinez

“While I was expecting an emotionally gutting story because of the subject matter, I can see that this author may just not be the right one for me.”
~ Under the Covers

I hate finding myself here.  First, writing a not so great review.  Second, trying a new author and thinking I should’ve stuck to my gut.  I’ve been tempted to try Aly Martinez for a while.  Her covers are usually beautiful and eye catching, and everyone seems to rave about her books.  I usually tend to stay away from big hype books because I tend to be disappointed.  And sadly, this one didn’t work for me as I wanted.

The subject matter in this book is serious and I think that it makes for an emotional book no matter the execution.  The heroine had a baby quite young and her baby had health issues from the get go.  But at six months old, her baby was abducted from the park while she was helping another mother, never to be seen again.  She’s lived with the pain and the guilt for ten years, went on to become a successful doctor, but that’s about all she’s been able to do with her life.  She’s still living with the shadow of her missing son.

The hero is a widow with two kids, one of which is very sick.  He’s gone through all the best doctors he could find, and an appointment with Dr. Mills, our heroine, is his only choice at this point.

So you see, this is all very emotional and can make for a deep and heartbreaking story.  And I’m not saying it wasn’t heartbreaking.  But the execution for me was not what it should’ve been.  Here comes my unpopular opinion.

There were three things that made this a not so stellar read for me.  First is the hero.  I do not like him, nor respect him.  As a father of a very sick child, his first priority should’ve been getting his son the treatment at whatever cost.  Instead he doesn’t even talk about his son or a need for an appointment and goes on to flirt and ask the one doctor that could help him out on dates and texting and all that.  Sorry dude, you’re not cool with me.  Sick son takes priority over attraction to a chick any day.

Second issue I had with this was the dialogue.  There was A LOT of talk about the darkness both characters felt.  And I mean that in the “come out of the darkness” and “the darkness in your eyes”… who talks like this????  I get that it can be felt and recognized but I just didn’t buy the dialogue.

And lastly, the twist in the end.  If you were surprised by the cliffhanger and where this story went … I’m surprised.  It was the only interesting way the author could go with the story and I had it figured out almost from the beginning that that’s where it was leading to.  In fact I even noticed the small tidbits the author put in on how she’s going to fix it in the next book.  It’s all right there!

While I was expecting an emotionally gutting story because of the subject matter, I can see that this author may just not be the right one for me.  And since I’m pretty much sure I can tell where the story will be going and I have no big love for the characters, I won’t be reading the next one.

[about-author author=”Aly Martinez”]

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