This book has left me confused. I’m confused because it has several of the things that usually annoy me in Young Adult books, and yet…I really enjoyed reading it. The book started out a little slow, but it eventually picked up and made for a very interesting angel story.

Skye was a little murky as a character and I found myself liking pieces of her and annoyed by other parts. She’s not the strongest female character I’ve read, but she’s also not the weakest. I think she has a lot of potential and I’m really hoping she reaches it in the next book.

Asher and Devin were polar opposites, which of course led to the Young Adult love triangle. This one just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t understand why she felt a pull towards either one strong enough to leave her life as much as she did. I felt that Davies could have really done something different and built a romance between Skye and Ian, giving Skye a choice that was her own and not tying the fight between angel sides into it.

Aside from the characters, the origin story really drew me in and held my interest throughout the entire novel. It felt like it was a unique enough take on angels to make it believable and yet something new and fresh. Davies’ writing was also wonderful to read and had a nice flowing style that made going from page to page easy and finding a place to stop reading difficult.

The only other thing that bothered me a bit is the setting. As a native Coloradoan, I was trying to figure out where River Springs would be located. It sounded like it was a mountain town, but there’d occasionally be lines that made me think it was a plains town and it left me feeling a little confused.

A Beautiful Dark is a fresh take on the good vs. bad angel struggle and despite having things that annoy me in the Young Adult genre, I found myself unable to put it down and the ending has me anxiously awaiting A Fractured Light.