Viki’s Review: ‘The Darkest Sunrise’ by Aly Martinez

Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.
Whoever coined that phrase is a bald-faced liar. Words are often the sharpest weapon of all, triggering some of the most powerful emotions a human can experience.
“You’re pregnant.”
“It’s a boy.”
“Your son needs a heart transplant.”
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me.
Lies.
Syllables and letters may not be tangible, but they can still destroy your entire life faster than a bullet from a gun.
Two words—that was all it took to extinguish the sun from my sky.
“He’s gone.”
For ten years, the darkness consumed me.
In the end, it was four deep, gravelly words that gave me hope of another sunrise.
“Hi. I’m Porter Reese.”

Title: The Darkest Sunrise (The Darkest Sunrise #1)
Author: Aly Martinez
Published: July 13th 2017 by Aly Martinez
Genres: contemporary romance, new adult, suspense

– My thoughts –

I will admit I didn’t like this book as much as I hoped. It’s beautiful, raw and heartbreaking as it’s expected from the author but for me it was a bit too heavy.

Aly Martinez has an amazing writing style and the way this story just sucked me in with the first chapter is the perfect representation of that. I devoured the book and my heart broke a little bit more with each twist. The plot is perfectly planned and executed. Every little thing happens for a reason and I think it’s phenomenal how the puzzle pieces come together. However well crafted the storyline is let’s just be honest it’s a bit predictable, too. At least if it’s not your first Aly Martinez book. The ending, although shocking, there were clear indications that will happen. But I seriously not bothered by this predictability because it’s kind of overshadowed by everything else that happens in the story.

The characters both start form a really low point in their life and during the story they start to heal with each other help. They develop gradually and it’s fascinating to follow.
Charlotte is the darker personality between them. She is so overwhelmed by guilt and grief that it’s a surprise she can function. Her bigger problem is that she doesn’t allow herself to truly grief and let go even after years. Her perspective is quite heavy and a bit depressing but I also think she was a but unreasonable at times. For example when she declares that nobody else loss can be as devastating as hers.
Then there is Porter who is just much weighted down by guilt as Charlotte but because of his children he can’t afford to lose himself to it. Also I feel he has more of an incentive to move on, to heal.

Now the reason why I didn’t like the book as much as I hoped. I know that the whole plot revolves around the main characters grief, mental and emotional health, healing and it comes through beautifully. But as much as I liked that aspect of the story it was a bit too heavy for me at times. I would have liked if we see more of the characters every day and family life too and not just their weighty conversations about their inner struggles and the darkness. Just some lightness among the dark. My favorite part was their first meeting.

I enjoyed it and definitely will read the next book because I’m really curious how it will all end but it was not my favorite from the author. Thinking back it reminds me a bit Razing Kayne by Julieanne Reeves, I recommend that if you liked this.