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joecago's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
brooksie03051's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
An intricate tale of a young woman’s struggles and the justice paid for her torment. Mental health, self harm, revenge, retribution, and the journey to get there. Then the ending… I loved this book.
readsfordee's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
So much longer than it needs to be. Very predictable. Knew what was coming from the beginning. Overwritten. Skimmed and didn't miss a thing.
bethandthebooks's review
3.0
Dark Things I Adore is a dark and twisty revenge thriller with an unpredictable ending.
The story is split between two timelines, one in 1988 and one in 2018, and it flips between them throughout. The 1988 timeline follows a group of artists who are staying at a prestigious art camp and, while at first they’re all having fun together, cracks begin to emerge and someone ends up dead. In the 2018 timeline, we are introduced to Audra and her art professor, Max Durant. Audra has invited him away for the weekend to her home and it’s clear from the get-go that both have different things in mind for their time together. While Max is expecting a romantic getaway, Audra is plotting her revenge. Max isn’t aware that Audra has pieced together what really happened during the summer of 1988 and that she knows Max was involved. She’s determined to make him, and others, pay for what happened.
I have read a few dark academia books, but this one is very unique as it provides an art setting. It was interesting to see an artist’s ambition; the desperation to succeed and how it can all fall apart in the blink of an eye. As can be expected, this book is rife with drawings and paintings, and it was very interesting to see how they tied into the overall story, particularly with Max’s character as he’s a well-known artist in the present day. Audra also taunts him with portraits without giving away the past events and it was interesting to see his reaction to them. It was clear that he wanted to forget all about his time at Lupine Valley. I was also questioning how Audra was tied into all of this and why she felt like she was the one who had to enact revenge.
It took me a few chapters to get into the 1988 timeline, but I was interested to see how it connected to the present day. This timeline was incredibly detailed, more so than the present day one, and it took time setting the scene. You got to know all the artists staying there and their relationships. The events are told from the perspective of Juniper and there’s lots of questions surrounding her involvement too. Juniper is aware of some of the darker things that are happening at the camp, but she chooses not to step in, so there’s questions there whether some of the blame lies at her feet too. These chapters were very captivating and incredibly well-written. You can feel how charged the atmosphere is at times and the tension between certain characters.
Both timelines were equally interesting and I wouldn’t say that one was better than the other. The present day chapters do drag a little at times, however Audra never fails to taunt Max and remind him about Lupine Valley, which propels the story forward as she forces him to revisit the past. I loved how vengeful she is and how she manipulates Max so perfectly to get what she wants and he can’t even see it.
While the majority of the story is a slow burn, taking the time to build the setting and each character’s personality traits, the ending makes up for it. The last few chapters are riveting; the tension really ramps up as Audra reaches the last stage of her plan and what she intends to do with Max. I was questioning just how far she was willing to go to make him pay and what sort of person that makes her.
I loved how art played such a big role in this story and how poetic the writing was at times. There’s lots of twists throughout, some of which I never saw coming. Dark Things I Adore is an exciting and tense thriller that provides plenty of suspense and will leave you hungrily turning the pages. I highly recommend this to fans of dark academia.
*I received a copy of this book for review.*
The story is split between two timelines, one in 1988 and one in 2018, and it flips between them throughout. The 1988 timeline follows a group of artists who are staying at a prestigious art camp and, while at first they’re all having fun together, cracks begin to emerge and someone ends up dead. In the 2018 timeline, we are introduced to Audra and her art professor, Max Durant. Audra has invited him away for the weekend to her home and it’s clear from the get-go that both have different things in mind for their time together. While Max is expecting a romantic getaway, Audra is plotting her revenge. Max isn’t aware that Audra has pieced together what really happened during the summer of 1988 and that she knows Max was involved. She’s determined to make him, and others, pay for what happened.
I have read a few dark academia books, but this one is very unique as it provides an art setting. It was interesting to see an artist’s ambition; the desperation to succeed and how it can all fall apart in the blink of an eye. As can be expected, this book is rife with drawings and paintings, and it was very interesting to see how they tied into the overall story, particularly with Max’s character as he’s a well-known artist in the present day. Audra also taunts him with portraits without giving away the past events and it was interesting to see his reaction to them. It was clear that he wanted to forget all about his time at Lupine Valley. I was also questioning how Audra was tied into all of this and why she felt like she was the one who had to enact revenge.
It took me a few chapters to get into the 1988 timeline, but I was interested to see how it connected to the present day. This timeline was incredibly detailed, more so than the present day one, and it took time setting the scene. You got to know all the artists staying there and their relationships. The events are told from the perspective of Juniper and there’s lots of questions surrounding her involvement too. Juniper is aware of some of the darker things that are happening at the camp, but she chooses not to step in, so there’s questions there whether some of the blame lies at her feet too. These chapters were very captivating and incredibly well-written. You can feel how charged the atmosphere is at times and the tension between certain characters.
Both timelines were equally interesting and I wouldn’t say that one was better than the other. The present day chapters do drag a little at times, however Audra never fails to taunt Max and remind him about Lupine Valley, which propels the story forward as she forces him to revisit the past. I loved how vengeful she is and how she manipulates Max so perfectly to get what she wants and he can’t even see it.
While the majority of the story is a slow burn, taking the time to build the setting and each character’s personality traits, the ending makes up for it. The last few chapters are riveting; the tension really ramps up as Audra reaches the last stage of her plan and what she intends to do with Max. I was questioning just how far she was willing to go to make him pay and what sort of person that makes her.
I loved how art played such a big role in this story and how poetic the writing was at times. There’s lots of twists throughout, some of which I never saw coming. Dark Things I Adore is an exciting and tense thriller that provides plenty of suspense and will leave you hungrily turning the pages. I highly recommend this to fans of dark academia.
*I received a copy of this book for review.*
treehousereading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.25
readwith_morgan's review against another edition
3.0
I was nervous the double plot lines would be to much to handle but this book was great! Took a little to get suspenseful and was kind of predictable in plot but overall very enjoyable!
sagicarrius's review against another edition
2.0
This may have been the first book I’ve read (in my recent memory at least) that isn’t a who-done-it but a why-done-it and I’m not sure I’ve enjoyed this experience. For one, I think because I knew what was going to happen (only one “twist” caught me off guard), just not why, it made the pace of the book feel very slow. I felt so tempted to just skip to the end just to be sure my guesses were correct. Secondly, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, which I’m assuming you aren’t really meant to but it made it hard for me to feel invested in the book because honestly, I didn’t care about anyone. Lastly, while what Max (and Marcus) did was atrocious and vile, I feel like Juniper could have been the worst out of all of them. SHE KNEW!!!! She KNEW what happened, she even saw the slow descent of Coral and DID nothing. And not only did she keep this secret she continued to stay friends with Max?! To give him a fucking job?!! And even at the end, she still thinks of him in her head as “my dearest friend”…. WHAT. THE. FUCK. It was disgusting and honestly I can’t believe that Audra hadn’t targeted her too, I was kind of rooting for her demise as well.