ARC Review: Darker Days by Jus Accardo

 

Title: Darker Days (The Darker Agency, #1)

Author: Jus Accardo

Publisher/Publication Date:  Entangled Publishing, August 26, 2013

Format/Source:  E-ARC, Publisher 

 

Summary

     Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...
     When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.
     Seven deadly ones, in fact.
     They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...
     There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.  

My Thoughts 

     Darker Days by Jus Accardo started out as a lighthearted paranormal book. At first I thought that the storyline was amazing. I liked the bits of humor spread throughout the story as the Darkers investigated unusual paranormal events. The writing style and pacing were good. Jessie’s investigative skills were a little messy yet entertaining. And some of the characters were just priceless, especially Mr. Winkie who showed up at the most inopportune times. At times there was crude language, but that wasn’t the bad part. My major issue with Darker Days was one of the key players, Vida better known as Lust. The events surrounding this character were cringe worthy and I had a difficult time discerning the target audience. There was an instance in the book in which one of the characters didn’t want to tell when she found herself in a bad situation. So, I started to question whether this sends the wrong message to teens/young adults. Yes, I understand that the seven sins had a hold on some of the townspeople, but there are just certain behaviors/situations that deserve consequences/corrective actions, even in fiction. And I totally get that young adult books of today try to capture the harsh reality of life, but there are just some things that shouldn’t be broached in books for teens.

     I read until I reached the beginning of page 173 before I decided to call it quits. Overall, Darker Days has a promising premise that can be transformed into an amazing story with some changes.

 

I received an ARC of Darker Days from the publisher for an honest review, thank you.

Cover Reveal: Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1) by Jus Accardo

     As always, thanks to Entangled Publishing for letting us do yet another cover reveal for them!  I have to say, the cover is unique, and I like the pop of colors in the background.  So without further ado, scroll down to see the cover of Darker Days by Jus Accardo. I hope you enjoy the cover and excerpt!

 

 

 

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The cover 

 

Title: Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)

Author: Jus Accardo

Publisher/Expected Publication Date:  Entangled Teen, August 2013

 

Synopsis

     Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They’re your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They’ll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course...

     When gorgeous new client, Lukas Scott, saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin.

     Seven deadly ones, in fact.

     They’ve got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing...

     There’s a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything. 

Excerpt

     “So not your biggest fan at the moment,” I said, closing the office door behind me. The runofffrom my jeans had soaked my sneakers pretty good. With each step, I gave a slight squishing noise accompanied by an annoying squeak against the old tile floor.

      From across the room, Mom stared. “What happened to you?”

      “It attacked me.” Tossing my bag on the couch, I sank into her chair and made sure to grind my butt into the cushion. Got it nice and wet. I was all about sharing the love—and right now, the love was soggy.

     She laughed, waving a folder in my direction. “Surely you’re overreacting. It was one little zombie. They don’t attack people.”

     “I’m serious, Ma. It tried to drown me. And the client assaulted me with ugly footwear. As far as punishments go, I’d say we’re probably square. I’ve learned my lesson.”

     “You’re serious?” Amused expression now replaced by concern, she crossed the room and leaned over her desk to get a better look at me.

      “As a coronary.” Once I was sure the chair had sponged up all it could, I stood and huffed past her. Pulling at my favorite T-shirt—the word Fate inside a blood red heart, is a four letter word on the back—I said, “Child welfare would not be happy to hear you tried to feed your only child to a walking corpse…”

     “But why would it attack? Did you provoke it?” Folding her arms, she frowned. “Insult it, perhaps?”

      I winked at her. “Provoke it? Sure. I went and wiggled my ass in front of it yelling lunch just to see what’d happen.” I’d called it Stinky, but that didn’t count as an insult. Something couldn’t be considered an insult if it was true, right?

     Right eyebrow twitching, she fought against a smile. “But you’re okay, right? No bites, broken bones, head injuries, possessions…?”

     I smiled and did a little twirl. “All in one piece and still me.”

     Mom had a checklist she went through at the end of each job. I was known for taking almost as much damage as I inflicted.

     “Oh, and you’re probably going to get a call from the client. I sorta smashed her fence in the process.”

      Mom groaned. “I told you to be more careful.”

     “It’s not like I tried to break anything.”

     “Something tells me you didn’t try hard enough not to break anything, either.”

     “In my defense, it wasn’t a simple trap and slap…”

     “We can’t afford this.” She reached down and pulled a white envelope out from under a stack of papers. “This is the bill for that Mercedes you smashed.”

     “Oh! So not my fault. How was I supposed to know that Spring Heel was gonna land on the car? If it makes you feel any better, I think he was aiming for my head…”

     “If you keep this up, we won’t even be able to afford the rent.”

     She was right, of course, and it made me feel horrible. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a wrecking ball wrapped in blue jeans. Take my cut of this job and put it toward the repairs. Keep my paycheck for the next month, too.” A good start, but it didn’t feel like enough. Sure, it would cover the damages—I hoped—but I felt guilty about upsetting her. The bills that were piling up kept her awake at night. This was only going to make things worse. We got a fair amount of business, but the overhead in our line of work was sky high.

     As much as I hated the idea, I knew what would cheer her up. “I’ll even throw in pet possessions for the next month.”



 

 Find Darker Days

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About Jus AccAardo

 

 

JUS ACCARDO spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author the popular Denazen series from Entangled publishing and is currently working on the first book in a new adult series due out summer 2013. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald.

 

Find Jus Accardo

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Cover Reveal: Tremble by Jus Accardo



    Thank you to Entangled Publishing for letting us reveal the cover of Jus Accardo's Tremble, the third book in the Denazen series.   So, before you get to the awesome cover below, check out the synopsis for this book:

Synopsis

 

Dez Cross has problems. She’s almost eighteen and on the verge of losing her mind thanks to the drug the Denazen corporation used to enhance her abilities. People close to her have turned their backs on the underground and are now fighting for the wrong side. And then there’s Kale... Things couldn’t get any worse.

Until, of course, they do. Denazen is about to start a new trial—this one called Domination—and it works. But that means out with the old and in with the new. The order has been given to terminate all remnants of the second trial—including Dez. The good news is that there’s a survivor from the original trial. A woman whose blood may hold the cure for the second generation of Supremacy kids' defects. But the underground Sixes aren’t the only ones who know about her.

Dez's father is willing to throw away everything he has to keep Dez from getting the cure—including the one thing that might tear her apart from the inside out.

 

    

And now for the cover...

 

 

  

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         Here it is the cover for Tremble!

 

                                                   

Nice, isn't it?  Yeah, I've got to say that I really do like this cover.  Paired with the awesome synopsis, well, i'm now going to run off and put this one on my TBR list.  Now on to what you really came for, the EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT, which you will find below.  So, keep scrolling. 

 

Exclusive Excerpt

“I told them you wouldn’t come alone. Yet here you are,” Kale’s dark voice said from the doorway. “You’re an odd one.”

“You don’t realize it, but coming from you, that’s kinda funny,” I said, swallowing hard and turning to face him. The light from the hall lit the entire right side of his face, leaving the left cloaked in darkness. Two sides of the same dangerous coin. I wanted to back away but resisted, meeting his gaze straight on. My Kale was in there somewhere—and he could sense weakness. “Did you kill her?”


            “She’s dead.”

            
“I figured as much,” I said, jaw tense. Another step closer. “But I’m asking if you did it.”

            He cocked his head to the left and I could see his expression. Confusion. “You asked the same thing about the other girl. Why does it matter?”

            “Because it does. It matters to you, too. You just don’t remember.”

            He took another step. Inches. He was inches from me now, the warmth from his body radiating like the sun. Every one of my muscles plunged into an all-out war with my heart. Common sense screamed for me to match his steps forward with ones away. Keep your distance—he’s dangerous!

My heart wanted to move closer. I wanted this to all be nothing more than a bad dream.

            “I feel like...when I look at you—” He shook his head and placed a hand on either side of me, up against the mattress, and brought his face close to mine. For the longest moment all he did was stare. When he did speak, there was so much rage in his voice. “You stabbed me. When that didn’t do the trick, you pushed me from the bridge. I’m asking you why?”

            “I never did that, Kale. No one’s ever pushed you from a bridge as far as I know. I promise. As for the scar, yeah. You were stabbed. Alex did it.”

            “You’re lying, Kiernan.”

            “I’m not. And my name is Dez,” I said, voice cracking under the weight of his words. “Deznee.” I wasn’t ready to give up, so I went with what had always worked for me. Something insane.

            Pushing forward, I crushed my lips to his, wrapping both arms around his neck to lock him in place. He didn’t resist and, to my surprise, didn’t shove me away. Instead, after a moment, he responded, his lips moving fervently with mine.

            The kiss only lasted a few moments. I was the one who broke it, pulling away as the clouds passed, allowing the moonlight to shine through the bedroom window once again. For a second, neither of us said a word. His cheeks glistened with my tears, making it look like he’d been crying, too, as he stared—eyes wide and mouth agape—like he’d never seen me before.

            For a crazy, insane moment, time froze. I thought maybe the kiss had done the trick. That this time the princess had woken the prince. He looked at me with a mix of shock and awe, the tiniest hint of my Kale gleamed through. My heart pounded so loudly I could barely hear anything else. It was there. I could see the spark in his eyes. “Kale?”

            But it didn’t last. Or maybe it hadn’t been there at all. Maybe I wanted to see it so badly that I imagined the whole thing.

            His lips parted and the corners tilted upward just a hair. “Roz is right. You are crazy.”

 

Find Jus Accardo

 

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Author Bio
 

     Jus Accardo spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her path lay with fiction, not food, and passed on the spot to pursue writing. Jus is the bestselling author of YA paranormal romance and urban fantasy fiction. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and sometimes guard bear, Oswald. Her first book, Touch was released in November 2011 from Entangled Publishing. She is currently working on the next book in the Denazen series.