Date published: August 30, 2011
ISBN 978-0061434907
Paranormal
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Obtained via Publisher
On the heels of her wedding gone wrong, Jane Doran, nee Boyle is on the run under the nose of her nemesis, Lynne Doran. That would be her mother-in-law. After the horrific events set in motion following her wedding to Lynne’s son, Malcolm, Jane is slowly regrouping and setting her life to rights. Malcolm has pretty much disappeared—Jane did tell him to email her when he could but so far, not a word from her erstwhile bride groom. He did leave her an array of new identities and finally Jane digs into the goodies her husband left behind. But Jane has another plan in mind and with the help of her friends Dee and Misty she sets that plan into motion—enter Ella.
Ella heads off to the bank that Malcolm left a bit of cash for Jane at. Well actually it’s more than a bit of cash—it’s an unlimited amount of funds with the promise of continual replenishment. Jane, well, Ella, begins to make good use of the money but she also finds something odd at the bank. Thinking it may lead her to her husband she takes it. Rather than leading her to Malcolm, however, it leads her to the one person Lynne would do anything for. Before she can track down that person she meets up with the mysterious and quite sexy Andre. But the question is, is Andre friend or foe?
I wasn’t too impressed with Gabriella Pierce’s debut novel, 666 PARK AVENUE and hadn’t planned to read the second book, THE DARK GLAMOUR. Then I heard that the fall television schedule had a series based on 666 Park Avenue on the schedule and one of my favorite actresses, Vanessa Williams is in it. That had me picking up THE DARK GLAMOUR to see where Ms. Pierce went with the story. One of the reasons I enjoy reading everything an author has written in the order it was written in is it has the potential to show just how an author grows and hones his or her voice from book to book. THE DARK GLAMOUR is a great example of that growth an author can have because it is definitely a much better written book. One of the downfalls for me of 666 PARK AVENUE, was the use of so many adjectives—if an object was mentioned it was almost always accompanied by a color and often another adjective. It began to pull me out of the story every time it happened. In THE DARK GLAMOUR the color business only happened in one chapter. The writing is definitely stronger and the story moved at a much better pace.
I would have enjoyed having a bit about what Malcolm is up to. For a newlywed Jane didn’t seem all that concerned about his whereabouts.There is some lip service given to it, but no real emotion to it. The story is pretty much about Jane and her road to claiming her life back from Lynne Doran, more of a narrative about it. I had a hard time relating to Jane. Actually Anne was a much more interesting character and I’d love to see some sort of spin off featuring Anne.
Each book is a standalone and you don’t need to read one to appreciate the other. I would, however, recommend checking out 666 PARK AVENUE and to be prepared for a much better story in THE DARK GLAMOUR. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Williams does for Lynne’s character in the upcoming television show.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.
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