Nightingale Review

Depressed and confused after her rescue from Summer Hill, Lark Greene trusts no one—not even herself. Cut off from Beck, all she wants to do is fade away and forget everything, but her mother has other plans: she wants to teach Lark how to master her Dark magic and pair her off with a new mate.

Lark is desperate to keep herself from going completely Dark, while also keeping Beck safe, so she allows herself to be drawn deeper into the dangerous, yet glamorous, world of the State. But as the Splinter Group launches attacks to wrest governmental control from the Dark witches, Lark finds herself drawing on her Dark magic more and more.

As her magic spirals out of control, no one around Lark is safe.

Certainly not Beck.

And not even Lark herself.
Ever since I finished the last page of Larkstorm, I have been desperately waiting for Nightingale to be released.  You may or may not remember that I fell in love with Larkstorm (review here) back in July of this year and have since re-read it three times, something that is UNHEARD of for me, let alone for a book blogger with a hefty TBR pile.  I may have read Nightingale more than once too LOL.  Nightingale is of course a continuation of the story as Larkstorm left our starcrossed lovers in a bit of a quandary. I am being kind of course, what I meant is that they’re basically screwed.

This is not going to come as a shocker to you but I LOVED the book.  Nightingale is a full on ANGSTFEST and I think it should come with a warning as I’m feeling a little battered and bruised emotionally speaking.  It was full of crazy and more than a little intense but still amazing and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It’s no secret that Dawn has been having a hard time recently in her personal life (she blogs about it) and I feel like she channelled that energy and all her emotions into the story and man, could I feel it.  There’s some pretty fabulous writing that is both raw and real and will rip your heart out.

“The world is on fire and I don’t know which way to run”

In Nightingale, Lark and Beck have been separated by the battle at Summer Hill and Lark is being manipulated by her crazy mother into telling the press and indeed the world, that Beck is evil and wants her dead.  She is forced to publically deny any feelings she has for him and it’s having a hefty toll on her mental state.  Basically, she’s a mess and not altogether likeable at times.  She is often out of control and lets the darkness consume her....and then she hurts people.  She always feels regret afterwards though which shows me that at least she retains some of her humanity.  I want to hug her one minute and slap her the next but mostly, I just want to hold on to her and let her cry.  I LOVE Beck for not giving up on her when she needs him the most and when it would almost be easier to let go.  I decided early on that I wasn’t going to give up on her either.  Besides, it’s not WHAT we are that matters but WHO we are, our behaviours are what makes us.  Lark has a choice and she needs to realise that instead of feeling powerless (for someone so powerful, she’s actually powerless in that respect).  She needs to take control and take responsibility for her magic and I hope we get to see that in the next book.

Nightingale allows some of the secondary characters to come to the forefront, one of which was Ryker.  I really liked Ryker you know...but...he’s not Beck and I lived for the moments when Beck popped up in the story.

I enjoyed seeing Kyra grow up although I’m scared for her and the world she has joined so easily.  It was interesting to see more of the dynamic between Callum and Annalise and her behaviour intrigues me.  I do believe she is hiding a lot of secrets and I don’t fully trust her.  I’m also highly suspicious of Dawson (Lark’s bodyguard) and I want to know who he is really and what is his agenda?  I guess time will tell.

Dawn is a fabulous writer who excels at realistic dialogue and natural, descriptive emotions and I would read anything she writes.  Nightingale will stay will you long after the daylight ends and whilst there are a lot of dark moments, the message I gleaned from it is one of hope.  I do love this story and after THAT ending? I need the next book STAT.

Nightingale was published on 24th September, 2012. To find out more about Dawn Rae Miller and her books, please click here to visit her website.