[English review] A kiss in the dark, Cat Clarke

◄►◄►◄ Book's presentation ►◄►◄►

When Alex meets Kate the attraction is instant.
Alex is funny, good-looking, and a little shy – everything that Kate wants in a boyfriend.
Alex can’t help falling for Kate, who is pretty, charming and maybe just a little naive…
But one of them is hiding a secret, and as their love blossoms, it threatens to ruin not just their relationship, but their lives.

By Cat Clarke

Quercus Publishers
370 pages
8,99 €

◄►◄►◄ My review►◄►◄►

            What to say about this book? I’m washed out. There are no words for this novel, no way for me to say how much I loved this book. I fell in love with it, just as Alex and Kate fell in love. We have to survive this: our heart gets broken, and then we have to wait for it to be pieced back together. But when will it happen? There are no words to express this kind of emotional turmoil. Yet I have to do that, don’t I? This book is narrated by two voices, which are emerging from the darkness to tell their story. Electrifying, endearing, disturbing and yet so very real …

            Alex and Kate meet on a forum. It’s total alchemy. The couple gets together as if it is inevitable. Their relationship is filled with tenderness. But one of them is hiding a secret. A terrible secret. “Can their love survive?”

            Everything begins tactfully. We plunge into a strange and terribly fascinating atmosphere; a mixture of attraction, fear and excitement. The feelings are brilliantly portrayed and there is this incredible atmosphere which urges you to believe in them. You become attached to this heartrending couple, where each point of view is unique and simply moving. You begin to dream, to see things from the point of view of Alex. Who also persuades us to believe this, who persuades us that anything is possible, yes, that this dream exists.

            This dream, this Love. This is an incredible dream-like ode to sincere, just and sweet feelings. Quintessentially, bearing in mind the idea that anything is possible, this book is wonderfully delicate. How can we not believe in it? How can you not tell yourself that love makes anything possible.

            Every moment from the beginning, enchants you, slowly at first, then more and more deeply. At the beginning, the story is interesting, engaging, then it gets more and more fascinating.

            All of this moves you and makes you understand that it’s much more than a simple love story. My heart was in my throat. When everything collapses, when everything changes, there is only the fear, the darkness, and no more kisses left. How can we get through it? What do broken dreams become? What does withered hope become? Cat Clarke answers these questions with tears and some love.

             In reality, this is a book about all of the above, but it’s also about lies. What is this lie? What does it bring? Good or bad. What is left in the end? Does the hope of truth remain? Poignant, this book brings answers, but questions as well. Sensitively and powerfully, Cat Clarke brings us a story like no other, that will have your heart in your throat and tears in your eyes. The lie will destroy everything.

             There is Alex. A person who is sweet, attentive, and who leads us to believe that everything could be different, unique, dreamy. Hope and heart, Love and fear. The first part is sincerely wonderful, endearing in all aspects, but also so heartrending and captivating: how will it resolve itself? Then there is Kate, down to earth and in love, she stays in our hearts and we wonder, what is left of her feelings? What is left for her? Will she ever recover? They’re a couple, just a couple. But this is so real, it’s our turn to fall in love with them. Who do we fall in love with? People are just people, aren’t they?

             Questions. Always the same questions throughout the story which captivate you. Cat Clarke leads us in a dance and we get transported on a movement so marvelous, and not as alien as we might think, in a blend of black and white, hot and cold, lie and truth…

             And when all is lost, we understand that this is more complex than that. And that everything is different from this incredible dream we forged with Alex and Kate. On what does love rely? All these questions are touched on with depth and an infallible intelligence. These questions ran on a loop in my head, and they’re still running. I’ve been looking for the answers since I finished the book… but I always come back to the same thing: this intelligence used with care and depth confuses you and brings so many feelings out in you… This couple is sincerely wonderful and this ending is… indescribable. Extraordinary. (What else is there to say?!)

Indeed, Cat Clarke handles our feelings with skill in order to bring us into this incredible story in a believable way, never wavering. Her writing style is simple but endearing and effective. Words smash against us. A writing genius, she tells us about the discernible existence of love and the terrifying threat of lies. What remains after that?

What remains after A Kiss in the Dark? The incredible hope of a happy ending haunts us throughout the whole book. This is the main question of the novel: can love, true love, survive in any circumstances? And are lies the most destructive force in the world? More generally, the novel is about hope. The hope of a sweet, wonderful life, far away from darkness, spent in someone else’s arms or in the warmth of a sunset on the beach. This book is about hope that illuminates the darkness … much like a kiss in the dark.

(Thanks a lot to Caroline, and thanks Iris ♥)

◄►◄►◄ + ►◄►◄►

- An incredible, honest and strong ode
- Sweet and unique characters
- Strong feelings
- Sensible and powerful writing

◄►◄►◄ - ►◄►◄►

- ♥

◄►◄►◄ EN BREF ►◄►◄►

An incrediblebly strong romance, ravaging and sincerely fascinating. A big heart-stopper.

CHRONIQUE FRANCAISE >>>

One music ?

Delicate, love, strong, tears, sincerity...

If you like it...

Other ideas...

(French covers, sorry, and french reviews, so in english : Torn, Entangled, Undone and The fault in our stars)

Cruelles, pour l'angoisse, l'émotion, la peur - "Ce n’est pas encore le coup de cœur, mais Cat Clarke est monté en grade avec Cruelles, et je ne peux donc que vous le conseiller !" >>>

Confusion, pour le mystère, pour la fin, pour les émotions - "Un livre angoissant mais addictif à haut point !" >>>

Revanche, pour l'émotion, pour la fin, pour l'espoir qui se meurt, la peur et le mensonge - "Il y a des livres qui vont font des hématomes. Des bleus au cœur. Des marques qui vous restent plus ou moins longtemps. Revanche en est un. Electrisant et frappant, il m’a marqué. Il suffit d’un coup d’œil à la couverture, cette fille qui tombe, à peine retenue par un ruban, il suffit d’un coup d’œil pour s’imaginer le vide, pour s’imaginer le gouffre, pour s’imaginer la douleur. Ça frappe de ces souvenirs, ça heurte. Ça se débat au fond de nous pour sortir. Revanche est un livre qui chercher à sortir du fond de chacun de nous. Pénombre." >>>

Nos étoiles contraires, parce que livre parfait, pour l'émotion, pour la fin, pour le coup de poing au coeur cette fois-ci - "Au milieu d’une tempête de sentiments et d’émotions, même le plus inébranlable des lecteurs en ressortira bouleversé, jusqu’au plus profond de son être, là où les étoiles chutent et décollent : là où nos sentiments sont les plus incertains, et plus vrais aussi." >>>

And the others ?

Other (english) reviews about A kiss in the dark !

• Rachel >>> "Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars for matching hats. I do like this novel and has interesting themes going on. "
• Daisy >>> "Intense and gripping, A Kiss in the Dark is another page-turning winner from Cat Clarke."