Thank you to Amelia Wilde and the Dangerous Team for the advance reader copy of Dark Reign, the first book in Daphne Morelli’s story.
I am ecstatic to be bringing all of you the review of Daphne Morelli’s story! I was interested in her from when she first stepped onto the page. Amelia Wilde’s previous Dangerous Press series the Beauty and the Beast series was phenomenal so high hopes for Dark Reign.
I am a member of The Dangerous Press review team, but I stand by my reviews remaining honest and true.
“Wealthy. Reclusive. Dangerous. Emerson LeBlanc doesn’t enter society much. He only ventures out in pursuit of new art for his collection. It starts with a haunting painting. Then he meets the artist…
Innocent Daphne Morelli is more exquisite than anything he’s ever seen. He becomes obsessed with her. It doesn’t matter that she’s a living, breathing person with her own hopes and dreams.
She’ll be the perfect addition to his collection.”
Check out my more detailed thoughts below…
- Characters: Daphne Morelli is our heroine. She is one of Bryant and Sarah Morelli’s middle children. If you are a fan of The Midnight Dynasty world you will remember Daphne from Leo’s books. She is on the much more innocent side. She is a painter, having gone to university for fine art. She may have come from Morelli money but she wants to earn her own coin and be more independent. She is introduced as very principled and disciplined. But when the Collector enters the picture it has her falling victim to his allure. Emerson Leblanc is the Collector. An infamous collector of fine art in the city. He is a man of mystery and untold wealth. He is drawn not only to Daphne’s work but to Daphne herself. I found that I was not connecting with him at all. I understand that none of the men in this world are good guys, how many of them are kidnappers and murderers. There was something off about Emerson for me, he just creeped me out.
- Setting: The story was set in New York. This was the first time we did not spend a considerable amount of time at Bishop’s Landing. We do get a bit of time there as Daphne spends time with Leo and Eva there. The parts of Leo’s books that have Daphne in them. These scenes get some air time in Daphne’s book as well. I did enjoy this as my favourite parts of the book were when we got to see the dynamic between Daphne and her siblings, Leo and Eva.
- Pacing: The pacing felt off. This was the first Dangerous Press release I did not consume in a matter of hours. I just did not have the drive to return to this story.
- Romance: I was just not getting invested in these two. Maybe another book will change that for me. The sex scenes were only okay and I had high expectations because this is Amelia Wilde. As I mentioned earlier I found Emerson creepy, which really turned me off from him and the relationship.
Dark Reign receives three out of five stars.
You can pick up the story below…
Amazon US | Amazon INTL | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Kobo | Google
Thank you again to Amelia Wilde and the Dangerous Press team for the review opportunity. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog!
