Is There Love After Death?

Our Darkest Hour by Gabriella E. Mari

It’s been nine months since my review of KJ Charles’ The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen. I began that review with this line - “ Right up front I want to tell you that this is not my usual read - it's a full-on romance novel.” Well, I’ve surprised myself now by reading two romance novels this year.

Gabriella E. Mari’s 2022 novel Our Darkest Hour does indeed have a romance in it. But what drew me to it was the paranormal setting, and the fact that it’s an indie novel (and its been too long since I read my last indie book). I would have to say that this one is equal parts fantasy and romance. So not quite the “full-on romance novel”.

The book centers on Adrian Sinclair, a twenty something young man from Ohio. As the book begins, we find Adrian literally running from the ghosts of his recent past. He has suffered a trauma, and as the book unfolds, we come to understand that he’s been in a terrible car accident which left his passenger and best friend dead, and which Adrian himself barely survived, being revived after he was for all intents dead himself.

The accident left Adrian with scars both mental and physical, leaving him shy and withdrawn. But it changed him in another way too - he became psychic and began to experience encounters with the dead.

These experiences brought the Crossroads Paranormal Research Society (CPRS) into his life. CPRS consists of four young men who go around the country aiding people who have been troubled with ghosts, poltergeists or worse. They respond to a call from Adrian’s parents who are concerned about his encounters. The group quickly realize that Adrian has psychic powers and ask him to join their team.

Life as a member of the CPRS team is not what you might expect. But it is 2023 after all so it’s not that surprising that the team produces popular YouTube videos of their work, and earns money through Patreon. They have legions of fans who have their own online forum to comment on the guys’ adventures. Their fan base is quite devoted and includes a number of writers of fan fiction who “ship” the guys. For those not familiar with fan fiction, “shipping” means that the writer puts the characters into relationships, sometimes writing explicit love scenes for them.

Meanwhile as Adrian goes on assignments with CPRS he encounters a dark force. Not a demon, but something more. This dark force is stalking him and his life is in great danger.

I found this book very creative. The author’s bio on Amazon says that she got her start writing fan fiction. The book is interspersed with chapters which are snippets of conversations from the CPRS online forum and include interactions between several writers of fan fiction about the CPRS team. In this way Mari pairs the actions of the team with their fans and builds tension - as the fans have shipped the two co-founders of the team, while Adrian is beginning to have feelings for one of them. These chapters also foreshadow a large role for the fan base in the book’s climactic scene.

The book also echos the authors fan fiction background by putting Adrian and one of the CPRS cofounders in a growing relationship and including a couple of explicit love scenes between them.

This was a fun read. It dragged a bit in the middle, and it also took a bit longer than necessary for Adrian to fully come out of his shell. But I really liked the way the author put the climactic scene together, and overall, I enjoyed the book.

RATING: Three and a Half Stars ⭐⭐⭐🌠

Rating Comment: Mari’s book successfully weds paranormal fantasy with a gay romance while also acting as a commentary on YouTube fame and fan fiction. Cleverly written and a fun read.

NOTE: I read a review copy of this book as part of the online book tour by TheWriteReads. This self-published novel was released in the US in 2022 and is available this week on Kindle on Amazon UK for £1.99.

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Buy Our Darkest Hour here:

📘 Buy this book in the US on Amazon 

📗 Buy this book in the UK on Amazon UK

📕Buy this book in Australia on Amazon AU