Book Info
Embers by Yolanda OlsonSeries: Inferno #4
Rating: Book ratings explained
Genres: Dark Romance, Horror, Psychological Fiction
Pages: 150
ASIN: B07RQ9JNRS
Published: 06/07/2019
Purchase at: Amazon | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | B&N | Kobo | Apple
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I swore to myself that I would never love you.
I promised my children that they wouldnβt suffer for my sins.
But itβs so hard, Daddy.
Itβs hard to not love the man that gave me life. Itβs hard to not love the man thatβs taken care of me the only way he knows how.
I know itβs not your fault, and maybe one day, Iβll find out why you became a monster.
While we still have time left together, I want you to know that I forgive you for everything youβve done. I want you to know that I do love you, even if not in the way you would have hoped for.
Itβs almost over, Daddy.
Close your eyes and go to sleep; Iβll be here with you, holding your hand and letting you know that everything will be alright.
Because it will be, wonβt it?
Thatβs the promise that you made to meβthat no matter what happens between us, everything will always turn out okay.
I know you donβt care much for anything you canβt control, but sometimes life folds its cards and we have to go when itβs our time.
Please stop fighting it, Daddy.
It hurts me to see you suffering so much.
Iβve done my best to take care of you, but itβs time to go.
Hurry along and know that weβll be behind you shortly because I canβt live in a world that doesnβt have you in it.
I love you, Daddy.
Always and forever.
Embers - My Review
I thought that having binged my way through Cinere and Sparks, I was ready for Embers. I really was not.
After a brief interlude visiting Mom in the last book, this one takes us back to the timeline followed in Inferno and Cinere. Now Darby’s all grown up (if you can call a woman who’s around 20 years old grown up) and has kids of her own. Philosophical question: does that make Luke their father, their grandfather, or their great-grandfather? In the same way as Joce before her, Darby is desperate to protect her children from their father and the dark truth of their family. She is willing to put herself in harm’s way to keep them safe but if you’ve read the previous books, you’ll know that Luke’s cunning nature will always have the upper hand.
Darby has more of a backbone than Joce ever had and I get the impression Luke quite likes that, not in an appreciative sort of way but more that it gives him something to battle against. She’s also incredibly smart in her own way and has figured out many of Luke’s tricks and how to work around them.
What holds her back from her full potential is love. Despite all that he’s done, Darby loves her father (even if not in the way he’d like her to) and she knows that their children adore him. It’s love – both her own and her children’s – that frequently stops her from killing Luke. She can’t bear to leave them without their father and, in some ways, as long as he’s still not touching them, that seems like something she can live with. I found that her predicament tugged at my heart far more than Joce’s similar situation and, despite the book being half the length of Inferno it was much more emotionally powerful.
The ending is brilliant, although not entirely unexpected. When you see events unfolding you almost know the direction they’re taking, but like with a ten-car pile-up on the motorway, you can’t look away. You have to read on just to be sure.