Review: NOCTE by Courtney Cole

Nocte by Courtney Cole

Synopsis:  My name is Calla Price. I’m eighteen years old, and I’m one half of a whole. My other half– my twin brother, my Finn– is crazy. I love him. More than life, more than anything. And even though I’m terrified he’ll suck me down with him, no one can save him but me.  I’m doing all I can to stay afloat in a sea of insanity, but I’m drowning more and more each day. So I reach out for a lifeline. Dare DuBray. He’s my savior and my anti-Christ. His arms are where I feel safe, where I’m afraid, where I belong, where I’m lost. He will heal me, break me, love me and hate me. He has the power to destroy me. Maybe that’s ok. Because I can’t seem to save Finn and love Dare without everyone getting hurt. Why? Because of a secret. A secret I’m so busy trying to figure out, that I never see it coming.  You won’t either.

Genre: New Adult

Rating: 4/5 STARS!

WOW! I feel like I need a minute to digest what I have read. This book was….really good. It was different, and I liked that.

“I’m doing all I can to stay afloat in a sea of insanity, but I’m drowning more and more each day.”

I have to admit I was hesitant to dive in after reading the synopsis. Darker reads usually aren’t my flavor, but my curiosity was piqued so I dived in head first with a clear and open mind.

What first caught my attention was the WRITING! I love the way Cole writes. It’s very engaging, and just flows. It’s not overly done with details, which is a HUGE peeve of mine, it drives me nuts! I don’t need to know that-you walked out of the front door across the long vast green yard to your blue car and opened the door and sat down and put the key-you get my point.

She skips over the unnecessary and gets straight to the meat without making it seem like you missed something or skipped a step. The story flows that way through-out and it made reading it so easy once you got used to the style. Towards the end, it made things feel a little jumpy, but I think that was only to breeze through unnecessary filler and get to the good stuff…

Second thing to snag me  was the scenic design. This book paints such a glorious place, I wanted to climb in and take a look around. I love the idea of this secluded Victorian home on top of a mountain over-looking the ocean and greenery. It has an eerie feel to it, but still beautiful. It was the perfect setting for this story, so fitting and one of the things I loved most.

“All the world is a stage and we all smile falsely upon it.”

Okay…this story starts with an emotional bang, and at first I felt it was hard to get to know the character's true self when they are buried in grief, but that wasn’t the case. Calla was very easy to get to know as her mind is very open. I instantly liked her. I found her to be humorous and sarcastic and little morbid even, which is totally understandable given that she has grown up the daughter of a mortician living at a funeral parlor. She’s logical and rational and loyal, and seems to have a good grip on reality….

She loves her brother Finn fiercely and seemed willing to go to any lengths and put his needs above her own. I like that devotion though at times, it seemed unhealthy and off. It was all very intense.

“Save me and I will save you.”

Finn was an enigma, and I was dying to know his secrets. I loved the snippet chapters from his POV. You can see his crazy spilling all over the page, but you can also see his light. His willingness to do good, be better and love and protect his sister. I admired him, even when he gave me the skeeves for being a total nut job. I LOVED him random “death facts”….

“Did you know that the Italian serial killer Leonarda Cianciulli was famous doe turning her victims into tea cakes and serving them to her guests?”

Then there is Dare DuBray…..British men get me every time man….He is so gentlemanly that I instantly fell for him and rooted for him and Calla. I loved that he wanted to move slow and be patient. To make sure that she was in the right place emotionally and mentally before going down that road with her. But I also hated that he had secrets from Calla, and felt he couldn’t share them.

“Death is big,” Dare acknowledges. “But there are things bigger than that. If there’s not, then this is all for nothing. Life is worth nothing. Putting yourself out there, and taking chances and all that. All of that stuff is bullocks if it can just disappear in the end.”

“I’m not a trekkie. I’m a die-hard Whovian. I don’t think you can be both.”

That line alone had me sold on Dare for life….

This book is a mystery wrapped in a love story. You know from the beginning things are off, and that there are secrets. It’s trying to figure them out that makes this book so interesting. Even if you are clever enough to pick up on WHAT the secret may be, I think the author does an amazing job of slamming the answers into you in such an unexpected way that it makes up for any predictability you may have caught. At least for me. Right around the 90% mark my mind was blown and I definitely didn’t see it coming at me that way…Calla and Finn and Dare…on top of mountain with mysteries shoved into more than one corner…

“…Then what pray tell will be your downfall?”

Dare pauses too, purveying me with his arms dangling at his sides.

“There’s a very good chance it’ll be you.”

I know this may all seem vague, but this story just cannot be tainted with spoilers, it would ruin so much of its amazingness, and really be doing a disservice to the reader.

Just when you think you’re going to get ALL the answers you read….

“You have one question left Calla,” he reminds me, his voice somber. “Ask it.”

So with fear in my heart and ice in my veins…I do.

And this is the point where I lost it! I mean…CMON! Total  cliffy…and I am dying to know… I want more of Calla and Dare’s origins….what more could there possibly be!

Cole spins a divine web and I am dying to tear it apart and see what’s going on NOW…I mean honestly HOW can there be any more…

Let’s just say my expectations are HIGH for VERUM.  Job well done Courtney Cole, I am hooked!