{Review} THE STORM AND THE DARKNESS (THE HOUSE OF CRIMSON AND CLOVER, Book 2) by Sarah M. Cradit

ASIN #: B00DS86XU2

File Size: 2579 KB

Page Count: 433

Copyright: June 4, 2013

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Ana Deschanel has made a terrible mistake. The only chance of protecting the other people involved is to flee New Orleans, the only home she has ever known, for the quiet solitude of Summer Island.

Summer Island, Maine (population 202) is not the tranquil escape Ana imagined. The locals are distant and cold, especially her neighbor, the reclusive veterinarian Jonathan St. Andrews. Her only lifeline is the kind but odd caretaker Alex Whitman. Showing up at all the right moments, he warns her she is completely unprepared for a Maine winter. As the first winter storm approaches to whispers of an island shutdown- Ana realizes that she may soon be cut off from the rest of the world.

After a surprising encounter with Jonathan’s brother, Finn, Ana finds herself braving the storm to return something to him. Unprepared for the Maine storm, she slips and falls onto the jagged rocks along the shore. The St. Andrews brothers find her in the nick of time, but she remains unconscious. As the storm worsens, the St. Andrews brothers learn there are other, more sinister forces at work closer than they ever imagined.

With no help from the outside world, they must find a way to protect themselves from both the storm, and the growing darkness that looms across the island.

Mandy's Review:

I didn't read the first book in this series and, to be honest, I felt like I was missing part of the background. Ana leaving New Orleans over her "terrible mistake" felt a bit excessive ... especially seeing how a lot of people make that "terrible mistake" all the time.

There also seems to be an almost incestuous relationship between Ana and her cousin. I knew right from the start that there were some feelings involved that were a little more than a cousin should have. Granted, most of those too-close feelings were one-sided, but given time, I think both parties would've felt the same ... whether they wanted to admit it or not. Not sure how I feel about that. A little grossed out, I think.

I can relate some with Ana, though. Not about the incest. About how she is with relationships. Just because a woman enjoys sex with multiple ... okay, many ... partners over the course of her life, doesn't mean she doesn't have any feelings. A guy can do it and it's okay, but a girl does it and she's cold. I don't get it. Girls just wanna have fun, too. =)

Jonathan and Finn were two opposite ends of the spectrum as far as brothers go. Finn was a little too goody-goody for me and Jonathan was a little too cold-fish for my taste. If Ana has to pick from one of the two extremes, I'm not sure which I'd want her to go with. I think she'd get bored with Finn, but I think Jonathan wouldn't help her out of her shell she's in since he's in one himself. It's a complicated situation, at best. Then, to top it off, she has sex with Jonathan when she's falling in love with Finn. Wow. Talk about flipping a complete 180 there, chica.

Oh, and let's not forget about the crazy caretaker in this story peeps. Not only do we have a love quadrilateral, but we have a psycho caretaker who thinks he's the only one who knows how to take proper care of Ana. Not to mention said psycho has killed multiple people over the course of his life.

Overall, I'm not really sure HOW to classify this story. It's not a mystery because we know who did what. It's not a love story because there's some cold fishies in there. It's not a cozy mystery and it's not an epic novel. It's a story with a lot of complexity and simplicity at the same time. It has moments of darkness, yet there's moments of light and hope. I did enjoy this novel, but I'm not sure what it is exactly I enjoyed. Maybe I just enjoyed the feeling of not really knowing what in the world was going to happen next or how cuckoo someone was going to act. Maybe I just enjoyed it because it took me out of my own world for awhile and entertained me in a new world. Which is, after all, what a book is supposed to do, right?


*An ecopy of this novel was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.