Darker Than Desire: A Secrets & Shadows Novel- ARC Review

***A gifted copy was provided by NetGalley for an honest review***

This is book 3 in the Secrets and Shadows series. Also, there are 3 novellas in this series as well.
You have a mystery that involves multigenerational group of abusers and the subsequent generations, the victims who then often went on to become the next generations of abusers. This book was dark, for sure. The plot slowly unwinds over the series, though each book focuses on a distinct couple that works out their own relationship issue and/or issues during the course of that particular book.

In this book we have Caine Yoder who goes by the name David Sutter- who is known as an Amish man. He has been hiding in plain sight for so long. The Amish have given him a place to hide, of refuge when he needed it and the time to grow to the man that he now is, a man broken by things that happened , that were done to him.
Sybil Chalmers has been in love with an Amish man for ten years, a man not of their faith but hiding within it. She’s cherished their stolen moments and wished for more, she’s waited for him, for him to come to her because she loves him but he never does. She also knows there was more to him than most people saw, she figured out who he was and it didn’t matter for she saw through to the man within. Sybil, she’s good people who stand up for herself and for others and she knows what she wants. Sybil cares for her nephew since her sister won’t or can’t.

In this story, Caine/David gets word family is targeted, he returns to town and is faced with the past that he can no longer hide from. He seeks to finally shut down the evil Cronus Club by putting all the remaining pieces together from his memories and information that he finds but it’s the peace that he feels with Sybil that keeps him in the here and now, nothing has ever done that for him but her. Caine fears he wont be able to keep her safe and he also worries about being around her family.
This book had a lot of emotional pull and a lot of dark subject matter. Here in this book, we meet a direct victim of the Cronus Club and actually have to see the impact of what they did to him. Reading what they did and going thru his emotions, his emotions were heartbreaking but at the same time, seeing how Sybil showed Caine/David how she loved him and was there for him all the way-it was good. Yes, Caine thought he was damaged, broken but really, he wasn’t.

I do not want to give anything away. I want you to read this story. As a reader, it made me think. It made me feel his emotions. My heart broke, my heart bled. I was angry. But seeing how attracted he was to Sybil gave me hope. There was sparks-there was attraction, chemistry. Out of despair came hope, love. There were tears shed. I threw things. Emotions were all over the place. When reading a story that evokes such feelings, it is a good thing.

Ms Walker writes such intense, passionate, at times dark stories but I love it. I keep coming back for my “fix”. I liked the mystery also interplayed into the story which also I had to figure out who was good and who was also so evil to be in the “Club”. Great Story!!

My rating: 4.7 stars ****