Dark Heart Surrender by Lee Monroe **Review**

Review of Book one: Dark Heart Forever
Review of Book two: Dark Heart Rising

Dark Heart Surrender by Lee Monroe

Series: Dark Heart #3
Pages: 390
Publisher: Hodder Children's
Release date: 5th April 2012
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Waterstones
Thanks to Hachette for my review copy of this book

If you've not already read books 1 and 2, this synopsis contains a slight spoiler.
Goodreads synopsis:
ONE GIRL. TWO WORLDS. SHATTERED. Jane's world has changed now that Luca, love of her live, inhabits it, and she's happier than she ever thought she could be. But how can a werewolf survive in the real world? When an immortal lives in the mortal world, the natural order of things must change. And what seems perfect, becomes destructive. They've overcome different worlds. But nothing could prepare Jane for this ...

At first, I think it must be said, that I was a little disappointed with this instalment in the series. This, though, is not because the story in this book is uninteresting, but rather because the story doesn't really lead on from Dark Heart Rising. The only thing that is continued from the previous book is Jane and Luca's relationship, but I was hoping that the storyline would also be developed and continued.
I thought that Raphael's story in Dark Heart Rising was really interesting, and we were left with a definite sense of having something more to come from him and his personal quest, but even a book later, we still know nothing new about what is happening with him.
I also really wanted to see more from Soren, and of course from the fabulous Vanya, who remains my favourite character in the series. But we saw nothing from either of them.

That however, is my only real complaint about the book - it was still a really great read in its own right. We get to see Jane and Luca's relationship tested to absolute breaking point, which is always interesting, and satisfying when they overcome the seemingly unsolvable problems they're faced with.

I think what I enjoyed most about this story was the amount of creativity behind it.
Without giving too much away, when the characters started talking about supernatural, evil, mischievous foxes, I immediately though that I was going to be faced with some kind of variation of a Kitsune (a Japanese Fox-Spirit), but what it actually turned about to be was a little more unique than that, which was amazing!
It also added a whole new, and certainly more dangerous twist to the whole series, as we now know that Jane and Luca are still going to have to face danger, even away from the creatures of Nissilum.

Like in Dark Heart Rising, the point-of-view that we're reading from switches from character to character - this time from Jane (obviously), to Luca, and to an entirely new character, Olivia. I enjoyed this in Dark Heart Rising, but it was even more effective in this book!
I loved the confusion that was apparent from both Jane and Luca, and that there appeared to be no reasonable explanation for this (apart from the presence of the mysterious siblings, Ade and Polly). It felt so real to me, mostly, I think, because we get to see each character's confusion and altering emotions first-hand (thanks to the switching point-of-view in the chapters), and when a character had a sudden change of heart, the reader becomes momentarily confused as well.
It was because, on occasion, I felt the same bewilderment as Jane and Luca, that it became suddenly more real to me.

This is just a small thing, but I also really enjoyed seeing Dalya (even as briefly as we did) in the novel, because we get to see her transforming from a little girl into a woman. It was brilliant to see her finally beginning to fill out and fit her mental age - she's been extremely mature since book one.
I can't wait to see what becomes of here in later books.

I'm definitely hoping to see more in this series - but what I would really love to see from the next instalment, is a continuation of the storyline that was left off at the end of Dark Heart Rising. I just feel as though there needs to be a little more continuity throughout the series.
Plus, I'd love to see much more mischievous fun from Vanya!!