Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jessa

*Beware of possible Spoilers*

Noremway Parish was founded over 2000 years ago by the greatly redeemed savior Ragas Moliere and is the last stronghold of humanity after a terrible war with the demons otherwise known as the Darkness. It is imperative that Noremway Parish continue to exist otherwise the human race may not survive. Unfortunately, the general peaceful existence of the Parish’s inhabitants has been rudely interrupted by the mysterious arrival of conjoined twins. Teret Finley has a mother’s heart and soul, but having taken an oath of celibacy, has no children of her own. Thus it is no surprise that she and the Deacon Mangler, take the twins and begin to raise them as their own. Unfortunately for them, rumors that could easily destroy their lives as they know it quickly spread throughout the parish. Is Teret breaking her oaths by forming a surrogate family? Interestingly enough, this is the least of Noremway Parish’s problems. After the untimely death of the mayor and his wife, the sheriff has seized control and doesn’t seem to have particularly good intentions. The sheriff, along with the town gossip, has set to destroying the foundations of their little society and spreading moral corruption as they go.  Can Decon and Teret find a way to survive and still be together? And if they cannot, what will happen to the twins they so strongly want to protect? We can only hope that good will triumph over evil.

An Inner Darkness is a fun little story that weaves a tale of good versus evil. We have the religious fighting the demons that are an overpowering evil darkness. If Teret and Deacon can’t figure out something quick, their community, along with humanity in general, will be destroyed. The odds are stacked against them, and it’s a captivating ride as you read on to find out what will happen next. I did have a tough time when I first picked this book up as most of the characters have a first and last name and some of them get switched back and forth at random. The lack of consistency can throw you off for the first few chapters. After that, you get used to it, figure out anybody important, and it’s no longer an issue. This definitely sucks you in the further you get. I was also confused when the story bounced between current events and the events involving the character known as The Story Teller. I wish Johnston had either split the chapters and alternated that way, or simply separated the paragraphs. Eventually you get used to the style, but it is definitely jarring the first couple of times that it occurs.

It seems that An Inner Darkness was originally released under the title The Twins of Noremway Parish. If you are going to look up this title, keep that in mind that it’s a reprint rather than a sequel. It seems that the main difference between the two versions is that An Inner Darkness has a prologue which serves the purpose of introducing the character known as The Story Teller. I would recommend this title to fans of the fantasy genre. Don’t give up when you first start reading, I promise… it gets better and I ended up really enjoying it.