House of Darken by Jaymin Eve
Really recommend it to people who love fantasy dragon romance books (like me), and has a great balance between romance, world-building, and plot!
House of Darken Book Review
The trick to enjoying this book is to not expect it to be anything other than what it is trying to be: an easily forgettable book that is just here to swoon you for a temporary period of time while you recover from some other OTP hangover. Or if you’re just craving a decent hate-love relationship. The House of Darken would be perfect for anyone trying to get their hands on books that are more…easily read. Books with your favourite tropes (such as hate-love relationship, alpha-male-kinda, etc). Fun, enjoyable, but also predictable storyline (but nevertheless extremely enjoyable).
House of Darken would be an amazing book to read on a trip, or on the airplane and just a good distraction in general (imagine yourself on a plane, swooning while eating your airplane food). You will hate this book if you expect it to be even to anything other than an enjoyable and shippable indie book.
Even better, House of Darken was exactly what I needed right now, with me still suffering over the book hangover over Warcross. This book was a perfect distraction and a good read that does not require much brain-power thanks to its quite standardized and unoriginal storyline structure, and if anyone is just looking for a ship to ship, this is the book for you.
House of Darken is also basically a stand-alone because the Secret Keepers series is made out of individual novels that revolve in the same universe, rather than all following one single protagonist (which is not a bad idea if you ask me).
I can’t deny how standardized House of Darken’s storyline format is, but to me, it is more of a pro than a con. I like this standardized storyline. I wanted it to be like this because this gives me a decent enough hate-love relationship and an enjoyable enough storyline for it to become the perfect distraction and swoon me off my feet, even if it’s just temporarily.
Emma to me is a likable enough narrative because (thank god) she was not too overly impulsive, especially compared to some other characters I have on my mind right now *cough* America Singer *cough*. However, one thing I noticed about the world building was how…wide-varied it is. I mean, you have aliens, dragons, magic, paranormal, you name it. It’s kind of all over the place to be honest, to the extent that this world is almost a bit unbelievable.
If you’re suffering from a book hangover (or specifically, an OTP hangover), this is definitely one of the books that can (at least temporarily) ease your pain and distract you with enjoyment.
I strongly recommend this to people who:
- Are suffering from a book hangover
- Are suffering from an OPT hangover
- Is desperately craving a decent hate-love relationship
- Just want a really, really fun read that does not require too much brainpower
- Gives a ship that is really ship-able, but (maybe a little bit) kind of throw-away-able
You will like this book if you like:
- A love interest that people all find unapproachable and scary (and powerful)
- Gang of guys (not exactly reverse harem, though if you are interested in that I have a few recommendations that also include Jaymin Eve’s other books)
- Aliens
- The aliens in here kind of reminded me of the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, so that’s something for consideration to everyone out there
- Academy
- Magic
- Shippable ship
- Enemies to lovers (duh)
About the Author
Jaymin Eve is the USA Today Bestselling author of YA and NA fantasy/romance series. She lives in Australia with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and a couple of crazy pets. Since 2013 she has sold over a million ebooks and has no plans to stop writing anytime in the next 30-50 years. For action, adventure, romance, and a guaranteed HEA, start one of her series today.