This book presented a unique form of magical realism. The character interactions were realistic and honest. As a local to the area in which the story takes place, I appreciated references to locations and beauty along the parkway.

A Black and Solemn Silence is a fast paced paranormal urban fantasy with a bit of an enemies to lovers romance and a ton of action.

Two shape shifters, Kuro and Jaden, are alone in the forest when someone from Kuro’s past takes a picture of him in his demon fox form. They begin a journey to find him before he’s able to post the picture. Kuro becomes injured after someone shoots him and he has to make a very difficult decision that will challenge his morals. This book was so fun to read! I got absolutely lost in the story and loved the characters. There was also an aspect of mystery that I loved alongside the romance. It had a little of everything and I thought it was great.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Danielle Thompson for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This published today!

I have posted my review on Goodreads, in my Facebook book club, and will rave about this on TikTok the day after publishing day!

Thank you NetGalley and Danielle Thompson, Independent Book Publishers Association for this ARC Copy!

This was a book that I was immediately drawn to. The premise was so interesting and I was hooked from the beginning.
The story follows two MMCs who are shifters and they have grown up separate from the world, but as the begin to immerse themselves into the human world. The path that each of them take are very diffident but they will forever remain tied to each other, whether they want to be or not.

This book had some dark and twisty parts and I could not stop reading, and I can not wait for the second book in the series.

This is such an eerie story - not spooky or scary at all, but the kind of story that lives in shadows and dread. This is the story of two kitsune - mystical demon foxes - who only have each other, but when one accidentally gets himself photographed by a human, the other takes that as an excuse to indulge his cruelest tendencies.

I was completely enthralled by this book - from the start, I couldn’t put it down. The bits of magic, the way the relationships stretch and pull, they way little offerings of the full story are slowly revealed, all had me hooked. At times it could be shockingly gory, but the gore never felt gratuitous.

My only complaint is the cliffhanger ending - how cruel to leave us readers at that point! - but we’ve been promised even more kitsune in future books, so all will eventually be forgiven.

This was a really mixed read for me. I got on really well with the author's writing style. The prose is very rich, it's written maturely and I found the style itself very pleasing overall. I also liked how this is an urban fantasy romance with a very unique mythological basis which you don't see very much in the genre. Kudos to the author for picking something more out of the box!

Unfortunately, I felt like I just didn't really connect with the characters, not even Kuro. The plot was also a little meandering and there weren't many significant peaks or troughs - just the same kind of muted tension throughout. There were long periods of time where I didn't pick this book up because I didn't have that burn to read more.

A Black and Solemn Silence by Danielle Thompson is a slowburn, paranormal, enemies-to-lovers romance and the first book in the adult urban fantasy Color by Numbers series. It includes adult themes and ends on a cliff-hanger.

Kuro is the grumpy, brooding book boyfriend you want to take into your arms and show him that he can be loved. He hangs around with an evil and dangerous fellow, Jaden, who is the only other kitsune he's known since his existence. Jaden is very conniving and manipulative and Kuro never really puts too much thought into his future beyond hanging out in nature, that is until one fateful day when a chain of events unfolds in which they are being hunted for murderer and Kuro’s very existence and survival hangs in the balance between his trouble seeking companion and a country girl whom Kuro develops an unhealthy (physically makes him sick) interest in.

I loved Kuro’s character development as he begins to realize that there is more to life and companionship outside of the mountains. Jaden was portrayed exactly how you would expect a villian to be. I felt like there could have been more back story given for some of the other characters, but have high hopes those will be revealed in the future books released for the Color By Numbers series. Overall, I really enjoyed this story and it was left on a cliffhanger with a sneak peek into the next book at the end that has me anticipating the next release!

I really struggled getting into this book. The blurb sounded really exciting, but I found the writing and the storyline just wasn’t for me.

It immediately begins in a really confusing way. The author seems to expect the reader to immediately understand what’s happening and understand what the main character really is, but that was not the case.

The style of writing was good, but I think overall there could have been more explanations.

I started this one and while I enjoyed the writing it was never he right time for it.

Thank you NetGalley

CONTAINS SPOILERS


the book was extremely dark and graphic, but it was so good. Jaden being Kuro's foil was an interesting dynamic. I *hated* Jaden more and more as time went on. Kuro isn't perfect, and I actually like that. I prefer when characters are flawed. Caroline is a wonderfully written character, although I wouldn't describe her and Kuro's dynamic as "enemies to lovers". More like "complicated distrust to friends to maybe, sometime in the future, lovers?"

This was an easy read to get through. I did like the characters a good bit as well! It did have some depth to it that was a bit complex but wasn't to hard to follow. The kitsune aspect is what originally drew me in. The only complaint is the cliffhanger so I'm impatiently awaiting the next!

Thank you Danielle Thompson, Netgalley, and IBPA for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC for A Black and Solemn Silence!

I wanted to love this book and the cover is one of best I have seen so far this year. It has a great foundation and there were a lot of good things in the book it was just executed the best. One of the things is the chapter are way too long. Also every chapter felt like it could have been 3 chapters. Because of that the flow of the book is a bit off. This book had good moment the concept was good. The ending did bring the book up and bring the book up for me.

Put simply, this book felt a bit like a bad execution of another book I read. The novel follows Kuro and Jaden, two kitsune (or fox shifters). Kuro has been caught on camera, and the story shows the foxes’ ideological difference (i.e. violent or not) as they try to track down the photographic proof of their existence, and Kuro also accidentally falls in love with a woman who tries to kill him when they first meet.

Frankly, this book felt all over the place. It couldn’t tell if it wanted to be a romance, mystery, magical realism, or a revenge story. In theory, it could be all four, but its bad pacing and abrupt transition between side plots left me feeling detached from the story and I didn’t really care about any of it. Further, and this is partially my fault, I had just come from reading The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo, which similarly tracks a fox shifter whose now-dead daughter was caught on film, and her journey of revenge as she tracks down the photographer. Whereas Choo’s novel manages to beautifully weave together historical fiction and magical realism, tenderly rendering emotions and keeping the reader interested, I found myself incredibly uninterested in the romantic pairing, and I hated Jaden. I am not sure if the author intended to portray him as a morally grey bad boy, but he truly just comes across as an irredeemable villain.

The novel ends on a cliffhanger, and I found that I didn’t care about it. I won’t be reading the sequels, and give this 2⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

I am so happy I got the chance to read this book. It was different from my usual reads and I am glad for that because it gave me a different taste.
The writing style of the author and the flow is super nice. The story points were grabbing my attention immediately - I didn't want to put it down!
In addition, the chapters are of a good size as well, which is a book characteristic that helps me enjoy a book better.
Finally, I liked the characters, the descriptions and the way they were reacting realistically in certain situations.

Overall, I would say that I will definitely read the next book and of course read more of the future books of Danielle !

I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of Kuro, a kitsune who has been living on the outskirts of the human world for some time. After he gets tangled upon a mess when someone takes a photograph of him he and his fellow ‘demon fox’ Jaden, try to get the photo back before it is leaked to the human world.

This story is written very well and I really felt connected to Kuro and his journey. The way the author writes the slow blend of the mythical world with the human world was great. The world building was done in a subtle way, without any feeling of confusion or overwhelm at any point.

It has a great mix of fantasy, thriller and murder mystery with some developing character depth as things go on. There is also an element of a love story which I found organic and interesting.

It does end of a cliffhanger so I’ll have to check out book two for sure!

Really liked the dark mystical vibes in this book and it was beautifully written! I did however find it a little difficult to connect to the characters, especially with the multiple povs. I enjoyed the cliffhanger, and look forward to reading more from Danielle Thompson!

Thank you to NetGallery and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with arc of this book.

I will be honest I did not enjoy this book - it really wasn’t for me but I can say that many will enjoy it

This is a book about a Kitsune who is struggling to find his way. The book is dark and spooky vibes and an air of mystery that was fun. The author is building a unique world.

For me it was a little disjointed and I struggled to follow the rules of the magic system. Which meant I was often pulled out of scenes trying to piece together what was happening. The multiple POVs added to the feeling for me which didn’t help

I’m sure many will love this but it wasn’t for me

I really enjoyed reading this book. The action started right away, it felt like you were dropped straight into the story with information coming at you in snippets of backstory rather than faced head on.

I would’ve liked more romance between the mmc and the fmc, but I assume that’ll be developed more in the coming stories.

I like it enough to read what comes next. It captured my attention.

The writing was very good and everything flowed really well. However I had a really hard time connecting with the characters. Overall I feel like the concept was really interesting. I am just not really a fan of main characters who sullenly just let things happen to them, and that is what I felt like they all were.

Book was good, I liked the novelty of the kitsune being in Appalachia. But it didn't hook me. The religious undertones felt a little heavy handed at times, that could be why. I am intrigued by the idea of the haunted souls being described, and the good kitsune and bad kitsune idea. And the eating of a souls energy. Maybe if the book wasn't a cliffhanger and I could see the end result I would have enjoyed it more. I'm sure that there will be an audience who will adore this book and it will resonate with them. But not me. I'd still probably read the sequel though if it was free or on kindle unlimited, mainly because I hate walking away from any book series I start without finishing it.

Love this book! Awesome new adventure with twisted and shocking parts that leaves you speechless. In the beginning everything is playing out it's kind of a lot, when you get to the middle of the book it helps you understand more of what's going on but towards the end you're so immersed. I absolutely want the second book like now! The ending was intense and I didn't want it to end. I read the whole book in one day!