Review: Dark Lessons

Dark Lessons by Julia Sykes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dark Lessons was my first Julia Sykes read, and it’s certainly left me excited to read more of her work. In fact, I already plan to pick up her Impossible series to see whether it’s as addictive as this one.

You see, Dark Lessons is one of those reads where you’re sucked right in. As soon as you start the story, you’re pulled into the world. It was a one-sit read, every time I told myself I’d be putting it aside at the end of a chapter, I was hit by something that left me wanting more. Whether it was a dramatic moment in the romance or a new twist to the suspense, every chapter left me wanting to read more. Every single chapter left me with questions of how things would play out.

Don’t get me wrong, the book wasn’t perfect. It was merely the perfect level of addition to ensure I kept reading. I had some ups and downs with this one, certain things left me unsure, but I was always curious about what would come next. The one thing I cannot fault is the level of addition created by the story.

As I’ve already stated, you’re pulled in from the very first page. The prologue introduces us to our broken lead, and then we’re thrown into the steamy stuff. It’s wonderful, and instantly I was left wanting more. It’s over quickly, though, and we’re thrown into what the super interesting synopsis promised us.

I’ve yet to mention that, actually. The synopsis. By gosh, that synopsis pulled me in. Honestly, I cannot begin to explain how excited the synopsis made me. A devilishly handsome FBI agent and dark bedroom antics – sign me right up. There was no way for me to ignore the synopsis. The book screamed out to me – it’s two of my favourite things thrown together. It was impossible to ignore.

Although, in all honesty, I was quite surprised by how little of the story was actually taken up by the whole teacher-student aspect. I was really enjoying the way it played out, but once we get part way through the story chances and requires us to suspend our belief somewhat. I’m not saying what happens, as I have no wish to be the person who spoils the story, but it changes and it took me a while to really appreciate where things were going. At first, I disliked the shift. By the end, though, I came to like where things went. It wasn’t how I’d wanted the story to play out, it wasn’t quite the story I had expected it to be, but I did enjoy it. Hence the four star rating.

If nothing else, the second part of the story has left me super excited about the next book. Whilst this works perfectly fine as a standalone novel, the ending has left me intrigued to see where the story of other characters will go. I’m fairly certainly I’ll be picking it up when I get a chance – until then, I do plan to read some of the author’s prior work.

As a whole, it was a wonderful read. It wasn’t quite all I’d been hoping for, but it was a thoroughly addictive story.

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