The Couple Who Slays Together, Stays Together

I recently finished reading Lights Out by Navessa Allen. This is book #1 in the Into Darkness series.

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT

  Rating: 4.25/5 stars

"That thought pops into my head whenever I pull up my favorite social media app, but alas, every time I scroll, I learn something new about myself, and another one is born. And yes, I know I’m responsible for what the algorithm shows me, but I’m trying to ignore that fact.

Lately, my feed has been dominated by masked men. I’ve favorited videos with them dressed in full cosplay, decked out in futuristic military apparel, and wrapped up like ghouls.

But more than anything else, my FYP is filled with shirtless men wearing ghost masks. Bonus points if they’re heavily tattooed, wielding a knife, or covered in fake blood. At night, I dream about being chased by them, of them catching me and doing deliciously dark things to my more than willing body.

I never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become my new reality."

Why was this actually so good?! From laughing to giggling, to blushing, to sweating in places I didn’t know I could sweat, this book felt like hitting the pentagon and I absolutely loved it! Imagine a man with golden retriever vibes who wears a mask and stalks the girl he likes. Now lord, please help me! Because if you squint your eyes as hard as you can and look closely at the beginning of this book, you can see self-respect leaving my body for this man.

Anyway, This story follows Josh and Aly and is told from a dual POV. Josh is this masked figure online who hides behind a mask and posts thirst trap videos on TikTok. Ally, a trauma nurse, loves them. When Josh finds out that Ally is a fan, he decides he should stalk her.

Now, since the very beginning, all of Josh's red flags looked very much green to me. You can’t expect me to ever hate on a 6-foot sociopath masked stalker who breaks into her house just to refill her fridge, then breaks into her car to give her a ride home after seeing she had a bad shift at work. I knew the moment he put a camera in her room to watch her but turned it off when she needed privacy, that if approached me I would fold instantly (fictionally that is). He's so funny! Did someone inform him he's supposed to be scary?! His character development was written so well I honestly wouldn’t have finished this book if it weren’t for him. He gorilla-sealed held this book together.

Unfortunately Aly is not one of those FMCs I can say I loved, cheered for, or felt related to. I liked her with Josh and their banter, but as an individual, I didn’t really like her. I hated the fact that she wanted Josh only for sex. She would say the most Gen Z things, and it made me cringe at times, not going to lie. I didn't feel connected to her character or her past as I did with Josh, but she was fine I just wish she was written with more depth and complexity like josh

Now, let's get into the actual context and structure of this whole book. I gotta say, I felt like the second half of this book was very random and off track from the main plot. All of a sudden, we had a mafia plot thrown in out of nowhere and it had nothing to do with the first half of this book. Not that I didn't still enjoy the wild ride, but it felt like a totally different book!

For a dark romance, this was surprisingly mild and funny. I would highly recommend this though for people who like dark romance but not too dark, with a sprinkle of romcom. The topics are dark, but the romance and plot are not that intense.

The audiobook is absolutely worth a listen! I strongly recommend either listening to it while you read or just listening to the audio version. The narrators, particularly the male narrator, Jacob Morgan, did an excellent job. I feel like i wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much if i didn't listen to the audiobook

Check out Lights Out, and discover what happens when you accept your stalker.

Happy Reading :)