Booktour: Karolina Dalca: Dark Eyes by M. R. Noble

Blindsided by an attack that destroys her home and blamed for murder, Karolina Dalca, a half-vampire, escapes, only to plunge into the magical societies from which she was sheltered.

Betrayed by those around her, she abandons her dreams of becoming an investigator and flees, trusting only herself. Her police internship would never prove more useful. Hoofing it through the wilderness, she makes it to her university dorm, disheveled but delightfully deflowered.

Enter a full vampire: one wielding dark magic and a ride out of Canada. A fugitive from the law, Karo complies with his demands to escape, unsure whether his requests are bewitched. She vows to clear her name and avenge her mother's death, but Karo's family secrets aren't so easily left behind.

Thank you to The Write Reads and the author for the free copy as part of the book tour. Below is my honest opinion of the book.

Dark Eyes starts off as a typical urban fantasy with a vampire and a werewolf. Karolina is a half-vampire, and her childhood friend happens to be a werewolf, and the closest thing she has to a sibling. After her mother died, she sets out on a search for her vampire father’s family, making a stop in her motherland Romania. It’s a setting you don’t see often and it’s refreshing to read about a different setting. It really does give a more sinister, dark vibe to the story.

Karolina is still young and not in total control of her powers, which results in rash decisions and unfortunate situations. Still, she seems to master her (new) powers faster than seems realistic. Despite the constant obstacles, she and her party overcome them a little too easy. There are a ton of action scenes between vampires, demons, and werewolves. If this is your thing, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

While the writing itself isn’t bad, I feel like more time could’ve gone into editing the story instead of making each sentence work. For now, it feels like the author wanted to include every urban fantasy trope into one book and make it work. I really like the magic system, but it’s such a small part of the overall story. I wish this system got more screen time and maybe more space to truly understand it.

Maybe it’s just me and I’m not in the mood to really enjoy an urban fantasy novel, so I’m not going to rate this one. It seems many did enjoy it, so if you like urban fantasy, give it a go. See how you feel.