Emoji Review by Rebecca Dixon
I read the ENTIRE series of ‘Dark Secrets’ by Angela M Hudson and it was INCREDIBLE 🤯🤯🤯! (FYI, I’m not affiliated with the author, not in the book biz, reading is just a HOBBY, and I’m just a regular reader that is super passionate 💗 about spreading the word on GREAT books!) There are NO spoilers 🙌🏻!
OK ✅! So this is a series of 15 books (9 main books, and 6 spin-offs!) I read these BEFORE I started writing emoji 🤪 reviews (which is why there wasn’t one written before!) But there are several series like this that I want to circle ⭕️ back to and write ✍️ an emoji review … and since the LIVE StreamYard for Angela M. Hudson is THIS Saturday … thought I’d kick it off 🦵 with this one 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!
This will give you EVERYTHING you need to know 🙌🏻… without spoilers 🥳… to determine if this series is for you 💕! There are TONS of posts about this series on FB and I’m going to try to answer all those questions 🙌🏻!!
So first off 🤗! What is the series even about?! Well! It actually starts off A LOT like Twilight 🧛(sorry Angie 😆!) After a tragedy, Ara travels from Australia 🇦🇺 to America 🇺🇸 to live with her dad and go to highschool 🏫 ! Where she then meets a HANDSOME, GREEN eyed 👀 … vampire 😱! He’s MYSTERIOUS 🕵️♂️ and she’s SMITTEN 😍! NO ONE has EVER held his attention before like Ara ❤️ and we soon get swept into a sweet romance 💘…. UNTIL… well… BOOM 💥! We DON’T 😵! Muhahahahaa 😈😈😈! By the end of the first book you realize this is NOT TWILIGHT 🩸! It’s an entirely UNIQUE and CRAZY 😲 story that kicks off at the MASQUERADE 🎭 BALL (FYI around 80% into first book!) and the insane ride doesn’t stop until the FINAL book 😱!
So much to say 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻! OK! The BIGGEST thing to mention is this author is a MASTERMIND 🧠 (aka EVIL 😈 MASTERMIND!) at plot twists 🌪 ! You LITERALLY have NO idea what is going to happen next! EVERY book is like PEELING away a layer of an ONION 🧅 to only find out in the FINAL book you were eating an ORANGE 🍊 ALL ALONG! A very, VERY large COMPLICATED ORANGE 😂😂😂!) There is soooo much EMOTION 😩 in these books! You literally want to THROW your DEVICE 📱 (seriously, Angie!! … you NEED a device throwing warning ⚠️!) … and other times, you want to SOB 😭 away with a box of tissues and a bottle of wine 🍷!
These characters!! BOY, can they annoy the CRAP out of you 😂😂😂! But at the SAME time, you still feel SO attached to their journeys! We have our main girl, Ara 👗, who starts off super immature (she is YOUNG!!) … but does GROW 🌱 as the series progresses 👏🏻! YES, the first book takes place in highschool. BUT 🤚🏻! After that, it launches 🚀 into a more ADULT series (and thank you 🙏🏻 thank you 🙏🏻 thank you 🙏🏻 Angie that she is no longer in high school 🥳!) DAVID, Ara’s handsome green-eyed 👀 VAMP, is actually the PURE definition of EVIL 👿! But he’s HOT 🥵 as well (so there’s that 😅!) Seriously, it is sooooo REFRESHING 🌬 to get a VAMPIRE 🧛 story where the VAMPIRES actually don’t give a YOU KNOW WHAT about eating their FOOD 🩸! Oh & get this!! … HOT 🥵 David has a HOT 🥵 BROTHER… a TWIN BROTHER 😮! JASON!! Oh my goodness… JASE ❤️ JASE ❤️ JASE ❤️… nom 🤤 nom 🤤 nom 🤤! Let me tell you, LOVING ❤️🔥 on DAVID or LOVING ❤️🔥 on JASE is like FIGHTING 🤺 words 🤣🤣🤣! People tend to be DIEHARD 😍 David fans or DIEHARD 😍 Jase fans! And YES… this is a LOVE ❤️ TRIANGLE 🔺! But! For those of you who don’t like them… just KNOW 💡… the author is BIG TIME into HEA’s and you WILL GET ONE 🥳… for EVERYONE 🙌🏻… errrr … EVENTUALLY 🤣😂🤣! HONESTLY, there are so many twists 🌪 & turns ↩️, I didn’t even know who Ara would end up with until Book 15 😲😲😲! And there is NO way you can guess this ending BTW! I PROMISE ✌🏻!
Now speaking of books… YES… there are A LOT 😆! BUT! For those of you who don’t want to invest the time for 15 straight books… there are NATURAL breaking points along the way 🥳! Book 6 feels like it has a HEA 💘 at the end, so does Book 9 (it’s a spin-off) and so does Book 12 (it’s also a spin-off!) ANY of those times is a GREAT 👍🏻 time to take a break 🏝 and read something else for a bit (and then come back for MORE emotional devastation later 😂!) Cuz let me tell ya… this series is EMOTIONALLY DEVISTATING 😩😩😩! It has it’s DARK moments… and a helluva lot of secrets 🤫… hence ‘DARK SECRETS!’ 😉😉😉 There may be some triggers for some (cough* cough* torture 🔪 ) but outside of THAT 😆, other than ABSOLUTE EMOTIONAL AGONY 😭😭😭… it’s not TOO bad compared to other dark series out there 👍🏻!!
And speaking of emotional AGONY 😩! HOLY BOJANGLES 😲! The three spin-offs ‘In Another Life’… WHAT. THE. HECK. ANGIE!!!!!!! 😩😩😩 I literally put my book down, walked to the gas station, bought a bottle of wine 🍷, got some tissues, and then SOBBED 😭😭😭 my eyes out while yep, continuing to reading IAL Book 3 😂😂😂! TO THIS DAY, with all the books I have read (and if you follow my reviews, you know there are QUITE a FEW 😉😂!,) I think this one takes the emotional CAKE 🎂! It was so GENIUS 💡, but SO HEARTBREAKING 💔💔💔! For all who wonder what’s the deal with the IAL books… it’s a VISION 💭 being shown to Ara of what COULD have happened. But it’s KEY 🔑 to the main saga, so they can’t be skipped! And if you thought the MAIN SAGA was BRUTAL 😩… WOW 😲… just imagine how bad THIS is since it is literally NOT the path that was chosen for Ara because it is MORE BRUTAL than the MAIN SAGA 😲😲😲!
A lot of people start this series and mistakenly think it is YA. And I GET IT 👌🏻! MOST of book 1 feels that way! But just HOLD on to your HATS 🎩 folks, it is soooooo NOT YA and once you get on that emotional rollercoaster 🎢 … it just does NOT STOP! There is STEAM 🔥 (NOT tons, but the non-romantic plotline is SO engrossing, you literally don’t care!) There is DRAMA 🎭 ! There are MIND BLOWING 🤯 twists 🌪 ! There is EMOTIONAL AGONY 😩😭😩! Honestly, it’s a BRILLIANT 💡series and the writing is TOP NOTCH 🤌🏻! This lady KNOWS what she is doing 👏🏻! There really is nothing else out there like this series! I usually try to say when recommending books… “If you like this series, then you’ll like this series.” But I LITERALLY CANNOT 🚫 with this one. There is NOTHING out there like this!!!
So if you LOVE to be constantly SUPRISED 😲 & SHOCKED 😵, you LOVE to read series that make you want to THROW YOUR BOOK 📕 (watch out, cuz it has happened to someone 😅!,) you LOVE the emotional AGONY 😩 of a love triangle 🔺 … but at the same time, LOVE that you KNOW 💡 it will ALL WORK OUT RIGHT in the end 💗💗💗… give this series a shot! It’s free on KU and you never know, it may JUST be the best kept SECRET 🤫 of a series that is PERFECTLY DARK 👌🏻 for you!
FYI Perfect Reading Order below (Spin-offs are CRUCIAL to main saga! Recommend getting the boxset with all books in the right order!)
💗Dark Secrets
💗The Heart’s Ashes
💗Mark of Betrayal
💗Lies in Blood
💗Echoes: Part One of Echoes & Silence
💗Echoes: Part Two of Echoes & Silence
💜Bound 1 (spin-off)
💜Bound 2 (spin-off)
💗Bound by Secrets
🤍In Another Life 1 (spin-off)
🤍In Another Life 2 (spin-off)
🤍In Another Life 3 (spin-off)
🖤In My Blood (spin-off)
💗Heart of Darkness
💗Underworld
