Mini Review: Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

Darker Still Magic Most Foul #1 Leanna Renee Hieber

I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brushstrokes of color swirled onto the canvas. It was the most exquisite portrait I'd ever seen--everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable...utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. Trapped within his golden frame.

I've crossed over into his world within the painting, and I've seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked--bound together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. Unless I can free him soon, things will only get Darker Still.

You get a 2.5 or a three... Alright, Darker Still gets a 3.
I liked what Darker Still had going on for the first three-fourths of the book. It was dark, it was gothic and it was unlike other books I have read before.
Darker Still opened with a note from an officer stating that this was the account of Miss Stewart who apparently was missing and that everyone involved in the case was quite mad.
Natalie Stewart's story began with her just coming out from the asylum. Not that kind of asylum but a place for those who were mute, deaf and blind. You see, Natalie was mute due since her mother's death. She wanted to speak but she never seemed to. Her family was not part of the elite stratum of the New York City but they were content enough to live comfortably and for Natalie to have the luxury of private tutors.
Then came that painting, that painting of a man so beautiful that women faint when they see that canvas. And Natalie was drawn to it from the start.
It was going well, I tell you. I'll even rate this book a four if not for that damnable instalove. Enough said.*sobs*