Review--The Darkness Within Us by Tricia Levenseller

 

Chrysantha Stathos has won.

By hiding her intelligence and ambition behind the mask of a beautiful air-headed girl, she has gathered important secrets, earned her father’s constant care, and become a wealthy duchess—all by age nineteen. Now, she is only one elderly, dying duke away from having all the freedom, money, and safety she’s ever wanted.

Or so she thought.

Turns out her little sister somehow snatched the true victory away from her: Alessandra is wedding the Shadow King, the most powerful man in the world. Meanwhile, after the death of Chrysantha’s no-good, lecherous husband, a man claiming to be the duke’s estranged grandson turns up to inherit everything that should be hers.

Chrysantha is enraged. There is no way that she’s going to let some man take everything from her. Never mind that he’s extremely handsome and secretive and alluring with mysterious powers… No, Chrysantha wants Eryx Demos dead, and in the end, a Stathos girl always gets what she wants.

It's been a good long time since I read Tricia Levenseller's The Shadows Between Us but diving into the companion novel, The Darkness Within Us was relatively easy! Chrysantha is Alessandra's older sister, the one we thought cold and uncaring about her younger sister, but there are two sides to every story and this one is Chrysantha's.

Chrysantha's plan from the beginning was to always be her own woman. She wanted to make decisions for herself and be in control of her own life. But living in a time where women are beholden to their fathers and then their husbands didn't leave her with many options, but where there's a will, there's way and Chrysantha found her way. She "arranged" her own marriage to an old duke with no children or possible heirs and when he meets his untimely demise, Chrysantha is finally free. 

But then everything comes crashing down when a young man, Eryx, comes claiming to be the duke's grandson and has the documents to prove it and suddenly Chrysantha is about to lose everything she fought so hard to obtain. Unless she can find another way to get what she wants.

Eryx just wants what he believes to be his. His grandfather entrusted his title, money, home, and everything in between to him, but what he had counted on was there to be a widow in the wings. Naturally, he and Chrysantha collide as both are determined to keep what they believe to be theirs. While we only get Chrysantha's point of view in this story, Eryx's makes his wants very vocal as well and what he wants is for Chrysantha to leave and let him live in peace. He sees the only way to get rid of her is to "help" her find a new husband.

I have to say I positively love these Stathos sisters. They are both strong, determined young women who will not let anyone or anything get in their way. You would think this would make them cruel or selfish people, but when you are inside their heads, like with Chrysantha, you realize that's not the case at all. Chrysantha knows what she wants out of life and will do whatever she has to do to get it. Which in the long run, is very basic human rights and wanting to choose for herself.

We get to know what was driving Chrysantha behind her choices that we vaguely heard about in Alessandra's book, and it all makes a fitting kind of sense. Chrysantha's dynamics with Eryx were delightful as well. She's a cunning young woman and knows what part she's to play with each particular man she encounters, yet Eryx is not quite your ordinary young man. We soon get bits and teases that there's something unique about this man. Given this book's predecessor, things are a little easier to deduce but only in the vaguest of ways.

There was a wee bit of a mystery to this one surrounding Eryx of course. Who he is, where he came from, the past that continues to haunt him. I also liked that we got to see Alessandra again as well. Then we have that romantic tension between Chrysantha and Eryx that was positively delightful. While trying to get rid of the other they find themselves falling for each other! What's not to love about that?

All in all this was a most fantastic read! Since this is a companion novel, I wouldn't say you "have" to have read The Shadows Between Us in order to follow this one, but it helps. Besides being another great read it gets you setup in this world and explains things. There are things that occur in this one that are more familiar like and less surprising by having read the first book. If that makes sense! Lol. Needless to say The Darkness Within Us was yet another tantalizing Levenseller read that was simply unputdownable and is totally bingeworthy!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars