Review ~ The Deepest Night (The Sweetest Dark #2) - Shana Abe (ARC)

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Expected Publication Date: August 13th 2013
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell

Description
It’s 1915, and sixteen-year-old Lora Jones is finishing up her first year as a charity student at Iverson, a prestigious, gothic boarding school on England’s southern coast. While she’s always felt different from everyone around her, now she finally knows why: She is a drákon, a rare, enchanted being with astonishing magical abilities.

As war hits Britain’s shores, and Lora reels from an unimaginable loss, she finds that her powers come with grave and dangerous responsibilities. At the request of Armand Louis, the darkly mysterious boy whose father owns Iverson, Lora will spend her summer at his lavish estate. To help the war effort—and to keep Lora by his side—Armand turns his home into a military hospital, where Lora will serve as a nurse. For Armand is inescapably drawn to her—bound to her by heart-deep secrets and a supernatural connection that runs thicker than blood.

Yet while Lora tries to sort out her own feelings toward Armand, fate offers an unexpected surprise. Lora discovers there is another drákon, a prisoner of war being held in Germany. And that only she, with her newly honed Gifts, will be able to rescue him.

With Armand, Lora will cross enemy lines on an incredible mission—one that could bond her to Armand forever, or irrevocably tear them apart.

Beautifully written, deeply romantic, and filled with daring adventure and magic, The Deepest Night is a mesmerizing novel of the enduring pull of destiny, and the eternal strength of love.

My Opinion
This book was so much better than the first (The Sweetest Dark)! I wasn't sure what was going to happen as the ending from the first didn't really follow a particular storyline that could be continued. It summed everything up really well and seemed final so I was glad to read that although the book picks up from where it left off most of it is about something totally different from the first installment.

The Deepest Night was better written and had a lot more action in it which I loved. It kept me hooked and I couldn't put it down for the solid 3 hour it took me to read. The aspect of the war has been brought into the limelight and even though some of the description did make my stomach feel a little queasy, the author did a great job of entwining the harsh realities among the main plot line to create a believable book. 

I liked how Lora morphed into a strong and more independent woman throughout this book and I loved it when she began to throw the etiquette rule book out the window, it was really entertaining to read. As well as this the romance was a lot more subtle in this book which I enjoyed as the two finally grew towards each other. It wasn't the whirlwind romance like with Jesse and it made me connect and engage with the characters more as it didn't seem so abrupt. 

This book is written from three points of view, Lora, Armand and Jesse. Although this was one of the things I disliked in the first book it seemed better executed and flowed with more natural breaks in The Deepest Night. I'm still not sure whether we needed Armands POV but I liked how Jesse wasn't written out of the story and we got to hear his thoughts every so often.

There are only two things I can think of that nagged me slightly while reading. This may be me being picky but a few times the author slipped into American English and although it wouldn't bother me for the main narrative when the characters use it in speech it detracted from the realism as people in the time period and setting would not be using the US version. One example of this was referring to the "fall term" and although it is minor it nagged me slightly.

The only other thing I have a slight problem with is that there isn't really a section in the book that explains what the stars are or what they are meant to do. You hear their comments throughout the book but I'm still unsure of what their main purpose is meant to be. 

Overall though, The Deepest Night was far better than the first book. It was action packed, hard to put down and fast paced. The writing has developed a lot and flows so much more than in the first book. The romances develop well and makes it easier to fall in love with the characters and sympathise with them as the story moves along. I also love this cover as well!