In Daylight and Darkness
by Dana Ardis
GENRE: Romantic Fantasy
BLURB:
Lots of kids have imaginary friends, but Kate had an entire imaginary world to visit when she was a girl. When she keeps insisting that her friends are real, she ends up in an institution, where she is forced to put that part of her life behind her. Shortly after Kate turns eighteen and leaves Bayshore Psychiatric to start a normal life, her old friend Cor returns, transformed from the boy she loved into a handsome but guarded stranger. His world is darker than the fun and games she remembers from childhood and he warns her that the monsters there can hunt her now that she lives on her own. If she’ll come back to his world long enough to learn the magic she needs to defend herself, he’ll agree to stay out of her life. He’s only imaginary, but it gets harder and harder for Kate to think of saying goodbye.
Excerpt:
The sun set without any trouble. For the second night in a row, I didn’t see anything I wasn’t supposed to. I pushed the cold cup of coffee away, relieved.
Then Cor walked through the door of the diner.
After everything I’d gone through, part of me still wanted to rationalize why no one stared as he walked to my table despite his tangerine hair and his long, black coat. Maybe he stood out less in my sketchy neighborhood. Maybe people assumed his impossibly bright hair came out of a bottle.
No. No one else could see Cor because he didn’t exist. I couldn’t make excuses for him anymore. By now, I knew better than to think imaginary friends were harmless.
I didn’t want to see him, but I couldn’t quite ignore him, either. He stopped just outside the range of comfortable conversation, his golden eyes not quite meeting mine.
If I’d meant to ignore him, I should have stayed in my apartment, taken my sleeping pill like usual, and been out like a light before the sun had slipped beneath the horizon.
“Cor,” I said, his name familiar on my tongue, though I’d sworn I’d never say it again. His narrow shoulders relaxed just a bit at the fact I didn’t say his full name, as a stranger might have.
“Kate.” He spoke so softly, the name almost sank beneath the level of diner chatter. Or the sound of the blood pounding in my ears. He slid in to the opposite side of the booth.
He’d never been shy like this as a child.
The last time I’d seen him, five years ago, he’d been hardly more than a kid, spindly with sudden growth, stricken by my disbelief. It unsettled me to see him recast as this nervous stranger. His face was long and lean, his features angular and stark, handsome but subtly inhuman. His alien eyes, yellow-hazel with a vertical pupil like a cat’s, had changed the most. I didn’t recognize the hardness in them at all.
I was not prepared to have him sitting here, real as real, toying with the salt shaker.
My Review:
When Kate was a young girl she had imaginary friends and an imaginary world to go with them. She could only visit her imaginary world at night. When Kate tried to tell her parents about her friends they don’t believe her as no one besides Kate has ever seen them. Kate’s mom and dad become worried about her and take her to a doctor who proceeds to put her on medication and then in an institution.
After a while, I am assuming that Kate learns to tell them what they want to hear. I mean she probably doesn’t have a choice if she ever wants to be released. When Kate turns eighteen she leaves Bayshore Psychiatric behind.
After her release Kate is revisited by her old friend Cor. Cor tells her that she is in danger and she is being hunted. Cor says he can teach Kate what she needs to know to protect herself but she must go with him to his home planet. After her time in Bayshore Psychiatric Kate begins to wonder if Cor is real or imaginary.
In Daylight and Darkness keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering if Kate’s world is real or imaginary. You keep asking yourself over and over if it is real or not. I felt bad for Kate I could just imagine how she must have felt when no one would believe her making her wonder herself if it was all real or not. I wonder how it made her feel to not know if the guy she loved was real or not. What heartache that would be. Can you imagine?
In Daylight and Darkness is the first book by Dana Ardis that I have read and I would like to say that it is brilliantly written. In Daylight and Darkness is written in such a way that it is hard for the reader to figure out if Kate’s friends are real. The world-building was grand and so are the characters, amazing just amazing.
I highly recommend In Daylight and Darkness to anyone who likes a great fantasy novel with a little magic and romance on the side. One-click your copy of this amazing story, In Daylight and Darkness today!
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dana Ardis grew up surrounded by books and decided she likes it that way, pursuing a career in public libraries. Now she writes her own books, creating the rich worlds and vibrant characters that tugged at her imagination as a child.
In addition to writing, she loves art, board games, travel, and anything to do with dogs.
To connect on social media, find me at:
Instagram ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
Buy Link:
4 comments:
Thank you for hosting! I'm glad you enjoyed the book, it's been wonderful to readers' feedback on it.
Sounds like a good book.
Sounds like a good read
The book sounds very intriguing. Love the cover!
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