Review: She Waits for You Beyond the Dark by Kristen Simmons

Of course I had to give this sequel a try, to know what happened after the ending of book one. I'm glad that I read this, that I know how it all ends. But I'm disappointed to say that I sadly did not like it much. The ending was good. But I had no feelings at all for it. A two star, like the first one. I didn't hate it, but I did not like it either.

It shall not be easy to write down my thoughts for this book. As I have many of those. I so wish I could have loved this sequel. I'm sad that I'm giving it the same rating that I gave book one, a year and half ago. But it is my honest thoughts. And I wish it had been better. There were parts that were great and that I enjoyed a lot.

But then there were all the other parts that I just did not care for at all. I did not actually like any of the characters. Maybe just that one villain from the other world, the guy with all of the spiders. He was pretty awesome. But the others I did not love at all. I did not feel any of their emotions. I did not care what happened to them. And that is not a plus at all. I liked learning about this extra world. I did not like the real world at all. I liked the creatures. But I found none of it to be creepy or scary I do not get why I did not care for this book. I just found it hard. I wanted to love it, I really did. But I sadly did not. Maybe it was the writing. I had some issues. But still. It was not that bad. I didn't re-read book one before I started, but I peeked, and somewhat read the important parts.

This book starts one month after Find Him Where You Left Him Dead ended. They managed to save Ian from Meido, got him back home again. But they lost Dax back there while doing so. I was happy that Ian was back home with his family. He seemed like a sweet boy. The beginning of this book focused a lot on the unspoken romance between Ian and Owen. I did like them together. But it was a little silly to me too. They had been apart for four years. And I felt like they should have gotten to know each other again first.

Then there was Maddy and Emerson. Back to being best friends. And I just did not understand it at all. Sigh. And Emerson had a whole lot of issues too, believing that Maddy would leave her and that she did not care. This happened a lot in the book, so it ended up being a bit too much for me. I did like when she got past it, but found that whole part to be all kinds of silly and weird, where that took place near the end of it all. I did like Emerson, though, for the most part. Did not like how she seemed to hate Dax. So rude.

How they all seemed to hate Dax. Because they learned what he truly was. But even so. The rest of them became friends again so fast. And yet they are hating on Dax for something he could not control. I did not approve. And it made me dislike them all. Except for Maddy. She loved him. But that was so very rushed that it hurt my heart a little. Still. At least she cared. And Dax was the person that I liked the very most in this series. His past was heartbreaking. And I loved it so much. He got a little weird in this book, though.

I'm not going to write too much about the plot of this book. Like the first one, it takes place over one day only. Which I liked and did not, haha. I do wish there had been a longer time, where the characters got to spend more time together and actually get to know each other. I missed that. With everything taking place in just one day I felt like it was all too rushed. All the feelings, all the things that happened. It would have felt more real for me, I think, if it had been a little slower. Maybe. Or I wouldn't have liked that either, haha.

The story is that the empress did not die in book one. She is now inside of Ian and she's using him to get back to life again. And so to save Ian, Owen agrees to another game in Meido, to find three pieces of an item. This is not a good thing to do. But so they are all sucked back into the game. But it is different this time. I did like all the changes and the games. I just didn't care. It took them forever to find Dax again. So rude. I liked that one guy from book one with all the spiders. He was crazy, but pretty awesome as well.

I honestly wish this book had been more scary. I do suppose it is meant to be scary. But I didn't feel it, not once. Which makes me sad. There was a game that happened in a spiral. Where they had to die several times to try to win it. And I just did not care. It wasn't dramatic or epic or anything. Made me feel nothing. Sigh. Then there were all of the characters and their emotions. I did not feel any of them. Dax had some anger, and it was so silly to me to read about. And Emerson with her alone issues. Still I wanted to care.

I think one of the things that bothered me most about this was how great friends they were supposed to be. As I didn't get that at all. None of them spoke together for four years. They were best friends before that. Then so many years of nothing from any of them. And then they spend about a day together in the game, in Meido, And now they are all best friends again and Maddy and Dax are so very in love. I didn't buy it, sadly. I guess that is also why it was hard for me to connect with these characters and this story.

But even though She Waits for You Beyond the Dark was not a book for me, I still very much adore this author. I have read and loved several of her books. This duology just ended up not being for me. And yet I do think many others will love it. I just could not. I'm glad that I read this final book, though, as I usually do not when I don't like book one. But I wanted to see how it all ended. So I'm happy that I did, even if I wasn't in love with the book. Parts of it were great. And it's a story I will remember, even so. Give it a try.

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