Into the Darkness (Darkness - Book 1)
Into the Darkness (Darkness - Book 1) by Nora Ash
5 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Free on Amazon. Novella-length.
Summary: Kathryn is an independent blogger who lives in a corrupt, crime-riddled city where superhuman beings run around acting as costumed superheroes and villains. She witnesses Lightning, the most famous of the city superheroes, stop a robbery at a convenience store. When she stops him to get a quick interview for her blog, he shocks her by making innuendos and coming off as a total jerk, suggesting that he only dons the costume and fights crime to get girls. When she blogs about her experience, painting Lightning in less than stellar colors and even suggests that there might be corrupt elements in the government, Lightning pays her a personal visit in her apartment. Using mind control to fuel her lust, her marks her by biting her neck, telling her that will warn away all other superhumans from doing her harm, but he will be watching to make sure she stays in line. But it's like he's never met an intrepid reporter before.
Comments: I adore superhero fiction! And the superheroes in this were epic, larger than life, with all of the super powers and costumes. So many stories these days just have the basic demon slayers, or mages, or military ops groups in normal clothes or boring black leather and market them as superheroes. For the record, this is mis-marketed as a PNR (paranormal romance). The only PNR thing about it is the cringey cliched mating marking (are they part animal? I’m really wondering what the logic of the marking is. In the usual PNR fare the characters doing the marking are usually part animal, but as far as I can tell, there’s been no mention of the supes in this being part animal). Kat (Kathryn) is a chubby (which gets mention far too often. Speaking of which, the lady on the front cover isn’t chubby, so no idea who that’s supposed to be) Lois Lane. Lightning is pretty much a dark corrupt version of Superman and The Shade is pretty much like Batman, and we all know the rivalry between the two. In the cartoon they did in fact squabble over Lois. Just like Lois, Kathryn has a determination to expose the truth, gets herself in way over her head, and does some very idiotic things in pursuit of her story. I love that this is updated so we’ve now got the internet, and cellphones, but oddly no cars? (At least she doesn’t seem to have one). This is erotica, so she’s constantly having sexual thoughts (which seemed really over the top and out of place at times), and the sex scene was graphic. I wavered on whether it felt hot verses times when it felt very rapey. There was use of words like forced and pain, which definitely weren’t hot to me as well as a point when she pleaded with him to stop. It did bug me that she didn’t question at any point what the guys looked like beyond the costumes or who they were as people, not even during the sex scene. In all, I bought the rest of the series as soon as I finished this section because I really do need more superhero fiction in my life. If anyone else is considering it, it’s two dollars cheaper to buy the collection/box set rather than buying the books individually.
5 stars
Category: Adult
Note: Free on Amazon. Novella-length.
Summary: Kathryn is an independent blogger who lives in a corrupt, crime-riddled city where superhuman beings run around acting as costumed superheroes and villains. She witnesses Lightning, the most famous of the city superheroes, stop a robbery at a convenience store. When she stops him to get a quick interview for her blog, he shocks her by making innuendos and coming off as a total jerk, suggesting that he only dons the costume and fights crime to get girls. When she blogs about her experience, painting Lightning in less than stellar colors and even suggests that there might be corrupt elements in the government, Lightning pays her a personal visit in her apartment. Using mind control to fuel her lust, her marks her by biting her neck, telling her that will warn away all other superhumans from doing her harm, but he will be watching to make sure she stays in line. But it's like he's never met an intrepid reporter before.
Comments: I adore superhero fiction! And the superheroes in this were epic, larger than life, with all of the super powers and costumes. So many stories these days just have the basic demon slayers, or mages, or military ops groups in normal clothes or boring black leather and market them as superheroes. For the record, this is mis-marketed as a PNR (paranormal romance). The only PNR thing about it is the cringey cliched mating marking (are they part animal? I’m really wondering what the logic of the marking is. In the usual PNR fare the characters doing the marking are usually part animal, but as far as I can tell, there’s been no mention of the supes in this being part animal). Kat (Kathryn) is a chubby (which gets mention far too often. Speaking of which, the lady on the front cover isn’t chubby, so no idea who that’s supposed to be) Lois Lane. Lightning is pretty much a dark corrupt version of Superman and The Shade is pretty much like Batman, and we all know the rivalry between the two. In the cartoon they did in fact squabble over Lois. Just like Lois, Kathryn has a determination to expose the truth, gets herself in way over her head, and does some very idiotic things in pursuit of her story. I love that this is updated so we’ve now got the internet, and cellphones, but oddly no cars? (At least she doesn’t seem to have one). This is erotica, so she’s constantly having sexual thoughts (which seemed really over the top and out of place at times), and the sex scene was graphic. I wavered on whether it felt hot verses times when it felt very rapey. There was use of words like forced and pain, which definitely weren’t hot to me as well as a point when she pleaded with him to stop. It did bug me that she didn’t question at any point what the guys looked like beyond the costumes or who they were as people, not even during the sex scene. In all, I bought the rest of the series as soon as I finished this section because I really do need more superhero fiction in my life. If anyone else is considering it, it’s two dollars cheaper to buy the collection/box set rather than buying the books individually.