Lights Out by Navessa Allen Series: Into Darkness #1
Published by Slowburn (2.14.2024)
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance
Format: Audiobook, 416 pages
Length: 13 hours, 36 minutes
Narrator: Elena Wolfe, Jacob Morgan
Source: Library
I want someone with a soul as black as night. Someone who would burn the world down for me and not lose a single minute of sleep over it.
Trauma nurse Aly Cappellucci doesn’t need any more kinks. She likes the one she’s landed on just fine. To her, nothing could top the masked men she follows online. Unless one of those men was shirtless, heavily tattooed, and waiting for her in her bedroom. She dreams about being hunted by one in particular, of him chasing her down and doing deliciously dark things to her willing body. She never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become her new reality.
I want things most people don’t, craving darkness and depravity instead of light and love.
Josh Hammond has spent his life avoiding the limelight, but his online persona is another story. At night, he posts masked thirst traps for his millions of fans to drool over, but one follower has caught his eye: Aly. After reading a comment begging him to break into her house wearing a mask, he decides to take her up on her offer.
Together, Aly and Josh live out their darkest fantasies, unaware that Aly has captured the attention of someone else. Someone with far more sinister intentions than a little light stalking. As Josh turns from predator to protector and the stakes heighten, he must ask himself how far he’s willing to go for the woman he’s obsessed with.
My thoughts
I kept hearing about this book over and over, and even though this isn’t my typical genre (I am a SFF girlie, through and through lol), I wanted to know what the fuss was about. I was on the fence going into this, and trying to keep my expectations low, because let’s face it – BookTok has let me down before (side eyeing you, Quicksilver). Surprisingly, this one worked for me! I’m quite shocked I enjoyed it, lmao.
Not gonna lie, this reads like a BookTok girl’s fanfic. But let me tell you, I ate that shit UP, haha! In the first half, I was SO onboard. Super sexy, heavily muscled and tattooed masked man breaking into your house and stalking you, but like…in a total golden retriever, watching over you, keeping you safe kind of way? I’m not sure what it says about me, but it was hot as hell! Especially since she was already obsessed with him (and kinda stalking him first). A romance where he’s obsessed with me as I am him, YES PLEASE. Where is my sexy protector/stalker guy?
The audiobook was a great choice. I thought Aly’s narrator was decent, but not spectacular. However, Josh’s voice was sexy AF and I loved it! Especially the parts with the voice modulator – he sounded like Adam Driver in the Kylo Ren mask. WHEWWWW.
The other major component in my enjoyment? FRED!! Oh my gawd I loved Fred, haha. It was adorable that he loved Josh.
While I loved it in the first half, the last half kinda lost me a little. The mafia/murder thing seemed WAY out of left field to me, to be honest. There were also a few times where the spicy content got a little cringey for me. Maybe I’m just too vanilla, lmao, but I don’t like pain or fear in the bedroom, so those parts were not my jam. (And, um, THE KNIFE?! Nope, sorry, that’s just like the gun scene from Haunting Adeline, aka not appealing to me, not even remotely. Getting a hard, unyielding object shoved into your vajayjay? No thanks!) There were also parts where words used in descriptors and things they said to each other gave me the ick. (I was listened at work, so sadly didn’t bookmark any of them.)
Overall though, this was surprisingly enjoyable read!
Overall Assessment
Plot: 3.5/5
Premise: 4/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Pace: 3.5/5
Feels: 3.5/5
Narration: 4/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 4/5
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