Darkness Becomes Her
Gods & Monsters, Book #1
By Kelly Keaton
ISBN# 9781442409248
Author’s Website:  http://kellykeaton.net/

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi

Ari grew up in foster homes all her life, never knowing much about her real parents.  She just graduated high school a semester early and with her current foster parents’ (the only ones that felt like real parents) blessings she starts trying to find out information about her birth mother.

She goes to the mental institution where her mother killed herself to get all the information she can.  They have a shoe box of her mother’s possessions that include a letter to her.  The letter contains an apology for passing the curse on to her, a warning telling her to stay away from New Orleans (now known as New 2) and most importantly to run.

Ari is still trying to decide what to do with all this information when she is attacked in the parking lot of her hotel.  She stabs her attacker with his own sword and he disappears into smoke.  The whole situation is so strange that the only thing she can think to do is to go to New 2, despite her adoptive mother’s warnings and find out what she can.

She catches a ride into town with a young girl named Crank and ends up staying at her house with her family, a bunch of misfit kids left to fend for themselves after the hurricanes came leaving nothing, but destruction in their wake.

One of the misfits, Sebastian, offers to help her and once they start to become close Ari is kidnapped by another attacker like the one from the hotel parking lot.  He throws her into a prison that she later discovers is the Goddess Athena’s prison where she locks up all the creatures she has created.  Ari escapes and frees all the prisoners; all but one that is.

Now all the founding families of New 2 are trying to decide what to do with Ari, get her out of town, keep her and use her as a weapon later, or to protect her.  Everyone keeps talking about her powers, but Ari has no clue what they’re talking about.  But one thing is for sure…. Athena is going to come after her with a vengeance and is willing to start a war to get her.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I started reading this book.  I’m not a fan of young adult books at all and the blurb sounded a bit strange for my tastes, but I decided to give it a try anyway since I’ve heard some really good things about the book.  Oh and the fact that I received a free copy of the sequel, A Beautiful Evil, from the publisher didn’t hurt.

I was instantly drawn in with the authors style of writing and it just made me want to keep reading and find out what secrets Ari’s mother took to the grave with her.

I wasn’t really sure about the misfits as the story doesn’t get too in-depth with any of them, but I was starting to like the budding romance between Ari and Sebastian, before all hell broke loose that is! I hope the relationship continues to grow in the future installments of the series.

I also tend to like books that delve in mythology so seeing Athena and Medusa brought into it was an interesting touch that I really didn’t see coming.  Although I’ve never seen them, portrayed quite this way before as I’ve never seen Athena so…..evil before.  Even with Violet stabbing her in the final showdown, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the Goddess of War just yet.

I liked that by the end of the book that Ari has grown some confidence in herself and has really come into her own and is even able to bargain with the founding families for what she wants.   I hope in the future novels that we continue to see some character growth with her and get to know more about Sebastian and his father as well.

Overall, I thought it was a decent read and a good start to a new series.  It’s a mix of paranormal, action, mythology and some light romance; all done with a slight Gothic edge to it.  There are some things that are a bit strange, but I have to say it’s anything, but predictable.