✨Forgiving Darkness - Cat Sirota✨

“So, you two seem to be better then?”

Okay, I’m internally screaming right now! This debut book by Cat Sirota is everything. I had the privilege of reading Forgiving Darkness as an ARC, and let me tell you! This is why I sometimes loath unfinished series, that Cliffhanger! Absolutely Wild, buttt totally worth it! 😅😏

We follow Estrid, a nineteen year old runaway with some deep secrets and regrets. She’s trying to atone for past deeds while staying out of reach from those who want to use her. Her quiet life of solitude gets totally thrown a curve ball when she encounters a wounded fae during a hunting trip in the Dark Forest. Oh, and did I mention he’s dangerous….and smokin hot?🥵

This book is the first in the Binary Souls duology, and let’s just say I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for more. The good news? You won’t have to wait long to jump into this world! Forgiving Darkness officially drops on Friday, 13th December 2024!

Tropes:
✨Magic
🧚‍♀️Fae
🖤Dark Romance
🗡️Baddass FMC

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/out of 5
🌶️🌶️/out of 5

- Will be posted on GoodReads, Fable, Instragram, My Website and Amazon over the course of the next few days. I included the GoodReads and Fable links as they are up currently

“Forgiving Darkness,” by Cat Sirota

I liked this book, but I wasn’t overly attached to the characters or plot. I’m not quite sure why it didn’t hit me in the right place, but I was just along for the ride. It does have a stunning cover though, one of the best I’ve seen this year. I’m going to read book 2 when it comes out and hope that I feel more invested in the story. 3 out of 5 stars.

-Fae
-Magic
-Mages

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley.

This is the first book in a new duology - a debut from this author! - and I had so. much. fun with this book. I enjoyed the immediate connection between Estrid and Zain; the world building and the character development felt well-paced from beginning to end, and the descriptions were perfectly balanced (not too much description to be boring and dragged out, but just enough description to keep me interested and able to visualize the scenes). I felt a whirlwind of emotions for both Estrid and Zain, and the things they both went through separately and together. I think what I was most intrigued by was the magic system, the light and dark magic that was wielded by the characters. Admittedly, that isn’t something new - nor was the seasonal courts in the Fae Lands and the Shadow Court, etc. BUT what I did find intriguing was the fact that Estrid was the one to wield the shadow magic. Usually we see the male protagonists as the ones to wield this power - the Shadow Daddys of fantasy literature - so something about having Estrid as the shadow magic protagonist was a breath of fresh air. I absolutely look forward to picking this up when it’s released & adding it to my collection; and I look forward to rereading it before book two comes out because that’s cliffhanger? Oh my goodness.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this book.

While I absolutely loved the premise and know this book might be amazing, I couldn’t get past the issues that I found to get through it.

The writing style is very simple. There are very little details in the writing to give me something to grab onto and the word choices became repetitive to the point of noticing it. The sentence structures were lacking complexity and I hate to say this, but it feels unedited. I hardly enjoy using that word as I know we are all human and authors might not be able to afford official editors, which is valid, but there is a flow with the way books are written that is just missing.

Due to the above concern, I found myself unable to connect with the FMC. She comes across stilted and one dimensional. Granted, I might not have gotten far enough into the story for her to flesh out, but I couldn’t push past this enough to keep going.

I hope this book finds its audience, and from the few reviews I’ve seen by others, I feel that may be the case and wish this author the best!

I enjoyed this ARC from NetGalley. I thought the story was great. I enjoyed the world building and characters. The plot was great. I can’t wait to find out what happens in book 2!

The only reason it’s not a 5 star read for me is I just didn’t get emotionally bonded to the characters or their struggles. I needed more depth to be drawn in.

Again I enjoyed it, it was just missing something for me to be in love. I can’t quite put my finger on it.