Lights Out

Into Darkness, Book #1

By Navessa Allen

ISBN# 9781638932239

Author’s Website: navessaallen.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Review

Aly Cappellucci is an overworked trauma nurse.  She sees the worst humanity has to offer.  She spends most of her time working or sleeping.  However, she has found a new guilty pleasure in her spare time.  Watching thirst traps of masked men doing wicked things.  Her favorite goes by the name the faceless man.  What she wouldn’t give to have him break into her house and have his dirty way with her.  Until it actually happens, that is.

“I didn’t want him morally grey. I wanted someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.”

Josh didn’t live a normal childhood.  His father was a serial killer and put his mom and him through hell with his moods.  Josh worries that he will become just like him.  That a dark side will come out and cause him to hurt small animals and kill women too.  And, if that wasn’t bad enough, he’s the spitting image of dear old dad.  And, due to the increased popularity of true crime shows, Josh is always worried people will recognize him.  It’s caused him to live as a recluse, shutting himself away in his apartment, hiding from the world.

Josh found a new outlet with his thirst trap videos.  It allows him to be on social media, but hidden and anonymous.  And, he starts getting all kinds of thoughts when his best friend shows him a picture that his ex-hookup sent him.  It’s a picture of Josh as the faceless man.  She wanted Tyler to come help her live out her fantasies.  He was not into it and turned her down.  Josh remembers Aly and thinks Tyler is a fool.  He starts looking at all Aly’s comments on his videos, she wants him to break into her place and have his way with her.  Who is he to deny what the lady wants?

This is your typical stalker romance book.  It technically is dark, although I’ve seen several say that it’s not.  It definitely straddles the line.  The topics are dark, but the romance itself really isn’t.  More like two people living out their kinks with each other with full consent. Aly quickly realizes that she’s in no danger from her stalker and grows to rely on him even.  He’s a presence that hangs over her and protects her.  The two tease each other quite a bit and seem more like flirting than anything else.  And, they both seem to really enjoy it.  There are a few smexy scenes to enjoy as well.

“Feisty Aly was hot. I couldn’t wait until she forgave me so I could start finding ways to piss her off again. Masochistic? Maybe. But for some reason, our bickering felt more like foreplay than an actual argument, and I was into it. I could only imagine how good the makeup sex would be.”

I actually really enjoyed Josh.  I liked the way he didn’t take things too seriously most of the time.  However, he could turn on a dime if you disrespected his girl in any way or put her in danger.  I enjoyed how he embraced the daddy roll so quickly … of the cat.  His conversations with Fred were pretty cute.  And, he was quick to want to expand the family in that way too.  However, he could role-play with the best of them.  There is no joking when he slips on that mask and the faceless man takes over.  I think his silliness is why most people don’t see this as a dark romance though.

“You’re deranged. You know that?” I shrugged. Deranged. Protective. Same thing.”

My only real issue with this book, is that I felt it ran long in places.  It seemed like there was a lot of unnecessary filler in it.  Like all the day-to-day interactions in the beginning, really could have been cut down.  I honestly just wanted the author to get to the point already.  The book was a slow read for me as much as it dragged on. Then, when Josh saved the day and there were still like ten chapters left, I was like what else is there possibly to say?  In the end, I am honestly surprised I liked it as much as I did.  It must have been the spicy scenes at the end that tipped me over the edge. 

I’m undecided if I’ll continue the series, because that drag was real.  But who knows… maybe I’ll eventually make it back here.  I can only hope that the author figures out how to edit it down a bit more in the future to improve the pacing.