06 November

❀ ARC REVIEW ❀ DEVILS WITH HALOS (MALIGNANT #1) BY NATALIE BENNETT

TITLE: Devils with Halos

SERIES: Malignant #1

AUTHOR: Natalie Bennett

GENRE: Dark | Romance

PUBLICATION: November

Ma-lig-nant

Adjective.

1. Malevolent

2. Very virulent or infectious.

Charm is deceptive.

We were taken in the middle of the night.

Beauty is deceitful.

They called it an institution for the diseased.

Freedom is an illusion.

Our choices were no longer our own.

Our bodies became their exclusive property.

Our lives no longer mattered.

Survival is subjective.

We’d all done terrible things.

We all had demons.

We all had secrets.

And the truth would destroy everything.

'DEVILS WITH HALOS'

This is the first book in Natalie Bennett's 'Malignant' series'. It is spoken in 'Dual Perspectives.

The beginning of this gripped me by the throat, my heart rate sped up, my anxiety levels spiked,and I honestly even had to set it aside and restart it back in the morning due to it not being the best subject matter before bed. I could imagine the fear going through these four friends as their vacation takes a turn for the worst. I wanted, needed, screamed for the author just to stay in that scene for a wee bit longer, just to build it up just that little bit more.

Then the kidnapping occurs, I'm still in the zone, full out loving this and what the author has created, but then as I progressed further into the book it all just fell short for me and I'm left feeling just that tad wee bit deflated, like a balloon that's been left abandoned in the sun too long.

It started to feel rushed, scenes were left undeveloped, like a cliffhanger we were left hanging, I needed more information, I also didn't get the heroines and heros connection we were just told they had a previous connection and that was that, I would've liked more background particulars about the two of them since this was their story I just found that part lacking, it almost felt like there was a book before this that I'd missed out on and like a previous book by this author it just didn't tick the box of a full length novel, it was a very quick, short read.

I know it's just seems like I've been pinpointing negatives these are only small things that if developed more would've for me been an outstanding book. Because there were some elements in this book that were really good..

Natalie Bennett is your average socially awkward author that turns her spontaneous head ramblings into stories.

She has a penchant for writing about villainous immoral men, crazed anti-heroines, and tends to deviate away from traditional HEA's.

She likes chocolate, Netflix, and Prickly Pear Margaritas.

When she isn't writing she's hanging out with her husband and their three boys.