DOWN COMES THE NIGHT - Allison Saft


 Wren Southerland is probably the best healer in the Queen's Guard but she's been a bit reckless with her magic so she's constantly in trouble with her superiors. When she receives a letter from a lord asking for her help to cure a servant, she only sees the opportunity to redeem herself and improve her name.  But she arrives she discovers that nothing is as she imagined.  The patient is actually the lord himself and he's the sworn enemy to her kingdom.

Wren is deep in snow-covered mountains and it is impossible to leave. During the time Wren and the lord, Hal Cavendish, are stuck together a romance between them blossoms. But a love between them could bring complete devastation to both their kingdoms.

If ever there was a book that one would label a gothic romance, this is it.

There's the forbidden romance, the exotic location, magic, and a young woman going through a slough of emotions.

Author Allison Saft does a tremendous job providing some moody atmosphere and creating a strong, identifiable YA main character. I really enjoyed the healing through magic, which is still tough (not just a wave of a wand), brutal, and bloody.

The dangerous, forbidden romance between Wren and Hal is stereotypical, though Saft handles it well it doesn't really rise above the many, many other forbidden romances in YA literature.

And while I liked the magic and the tone of the book, I never really got into this.  I never felt strongly for any of the characters - they were all cardboard to me, moving about in a cool setting

Looking for a good book? Down Comes the Night by Allison Saft is a YA gothic romance with some good, moody atmosphere, and some great ideas, but doesn't really pull the average reader into the book.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Down Comes the Night

author: Allison Saft

publisher: Wednesday Books

ISBN: 1250623634

hardcover, 400 pages

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