Review: The Dark World by Cara Lynn Shultz

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Blurb:

Paige Kelly is used to weird--in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn't fazed by Paige's propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she'll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that's overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.

Review:

When a paranormal story can mix not only human with other, but create a world where more than one race can coexist in a fascinating and creative way, you know you've hit the jackpot of books. The Dark World did that for me. Paige Kelly has been seeing ghosts since the day she saved a little boy from getting hit by a car and died herself for a short period of time. Of course everyone around her thinks she is nuts until a quiet but sexy boy comes to school named Logan Bradley. Now demons weren't trying to steal her to another realm and injuries weren't being racked up by the dozens before he came either but we can ignore that because of how awesome he turned out to be all around. 

Paige was someone I could not only relate too but you wanted to root for throughout the story. I think everyone has had that moment in High School where you feel alone or isolated from your peers, even if you aren't really seeing ghosts, so she tugs at your heart strings multiple times. At the same time she's this girl who challenges that aura of weird by not being waylaid by taunts or snickers, she actually seems quite strong both inside and out which is rare to see in someone so tormented. Logan sees that in Paige and as a reader, I saw it too. It's one of the reasons their romance really made me a fan. These two had a level of respect towards each other that made me believe it was more than just teen puppy-dog love and that it could actually last. Their spark was also developed over the course of story and wasn't instant love. I always appreciate a romance that takes the time to ignite an interest and then nurture it into a full blown fire.

That time the author took to make the romantic relationship work between these two characters did sacrifice something on the action part of this book. There were several lulls in plot that were spent working out issues within  Paige's head and also with the two of them together. For example after the first major fight between Aiden, the main protagonists, and the next real plot moving event seemed like a very long time. I know that it takes a lot of pages to create a believable love story and I can appreciate that but it just seemed to stop the world around them from growing and being moved along. That being said it didn't hinder me from loving the story. The world was fascinating and really stole from the normal New York City we know and built a crazy supernatural wonderland that created a unique story for these characters to run around fighting battles. A refreshing story about two young adults that are a great team is always a joy reading about and I am yearning for more from The Dark World!- My Opinion- **** 4 Stars!

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