Erica –
☆☆☆☆
What We Do in the Light is the second installment in Day to Night. I
believe it's the final installment, but don't quote me on that. Can it be read
independently from
What We Do in the Night? No, absolutely not. It's a
continuation, and I strongly recommend reading in order.
What We Do in the Night ended with a massive cliffhanger, with Saint
Valentine overhearing Ari speaking to his father, calling Val a very unsavory
word, which she deep-down saw herself to be.
What We Do in the Light is basically Val getting in her own way on every
page, struggling with her inner demons, not accepting that things aren't as
they may seem.
Ari is on a redemption quest, trying to convince Val actions speak louder than
words. For such a strong character, he was pretty much entering perfect person
territory, which highlighted how off Val was behaving.
I recommend reading the novel in one-sitting, from the first page until the
last. The novel is a quick read, but I suggest reading it all at once so you
don't look too deeply beneath the surface.
Entertained in the extreme, why didn't I hand out a 5-Star rating?
This was a novel about the heroine getting in her own way. Non-freaking-stop.
There are plot-driven storylines, action-driven storylines, and
character-building storylines. The entire plot was basically waiting for Val to
give in and do what she ultimately wanted, so there wasn't much conflict or
plot in that regard, which I'm fine with and was thoroughly entertained.
The first portion of the story, I understood Val's actions/reactions/emotions,
felt it very human and couldn't stop tapping the pages. But by the halfway
point, it felt as if the book had already met its conclusion, so I knew
something angsty would happen that would be frustrating, because it had to be a
full-length novel. But it wasn't angsty or frustrating – it just left me
feeling like, why waste pages on it?
In fact, while I know people do the most irrational things – I know these people
in my everyday life – I don't believe Val even knew why she did what she did,
because I don't believe the author could truly explain it – there needed to be
some conflict, but it needed to make sense. It was a situation where "this
is exactly why everyone on the planet uses women as the brunt of jokes and
refuses to respect them" type of emotionally driven, hormonal response
that quite literally comes out of nowhere and make people not like women.
Between the villainess of the tale and Val, women weren't represented well. The
ex-girlfriend was a ridiculous parody of character, which took away from the
emotions of the novel. We could have a debate, but I bet it would be difficult
to find a reader that would believe the ex would behave as she did toward Ari.
(The bullying of Val, yes. The crazy pants stuff with Ari, NFW.) I could ignore
the ex's criminal behavior, because every novel needs a weirdo, if it hadn't
been for Val having a personality lobotomy, where her traits shifted at last
minute.
Since this isn't a paranormal novel (listen up, every woman who expects people
to read your mind – use your words, ladies!), no one should have to be a mind-reader
because Val is an insecure wreck who plays games with someone's head who showed
her nonstop how he felt about her, when words can be lies. That is where the
novel didn't work for me. Someone who was raised as Val was, someone who was
taking care of her grandmother and doing whatever she could to survive, she
wouldn't be so flighty and irrational with that idiocy, just to add a few more
pages to the novel.
What resonated with me the deepest was Gam-Gam, written beautifully and
accurately. Most would say they've gone through similar experiences, so they
get choked up by reading. But what was on the pages (aside from the legal
matter) was exactly what impacted my family only a few months ago. I had a
difficult time reading those portions, able to empathize, unable to keep the
sobs at bay.
Highly recommended to fans of Stylo Fantôme and returning readers. I'm a big
fan of the author, having read the majority of all of her work, but I still
struggle with how women are represented – how all the sudden they act out of
character or end up being slap-happy hormonal crazies that civilized society
would eat up and spit out for being insufferable.
Ladies, stop the mind-reading BS. Here's a piece of advice from my dad. If you
hit someone, expect to be hit back. You're not exempt just because you're a
woman. Here's my advice: don't hit people – you're not a toddler.
Aside from the few pages of "WTH, where did this come from?" I enjoyed
Val's character, found her to be mature and logical and compassionate, with
just the right amount of insecurities to resonate with readers, while having us
root for her because of her backstory. It was the strong sense of survivor
instinct that kept the martyred victim mentality from being too much to read.
Shannan –
☆☆☆☆
What We Do in the Light is the follow up to
What We Do in the Night.
You should read book one before jumping into this one.
What We Do in the Light jumps right in where book one left off on a huge
cliffhanger. Valentine overheard a conversation between Ari and his dad. Things
were said that Val was never supposed to hear, thus ending the relationship
between them.
Ari basically spends this entire novel groveling to get Val back. There was a
huge push-pull between the two. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book and
the characters, but I did give a few eye rolls when Ari was bending over
backwards for Val's attention. Gam-Gam’s storyline did bring tears to my eyes.
In my opinion, the first installment was better but the second installment did
tie-up the storyline and answer any questions book one left me with.
Shelby –
☆☆☆☆
3.5 Stars
If you know me, you know I'm an avid Stylo Fantôme fan! She is my #1 MUST READ
author, I don't need to read the blurb, if she publishes it then I'm all over
it.
What We Do in the Night absolutely blew me away. I loved Val, I really
liked Ari, and I needed to see their story end happily. The cliffhanger ending
left me wanting so much for this couple. Not to fear though,
What We Do in
the Light will cover everything... or so I thought. (Let me mention that
these books NEED to be read in order.)
I don't want to ruin this for anyone, but I have to say that Val felt totally
different in book two. She just wasn't the same self-assured, sassy,
dual-personality woman we met in the first book. I know that circumstances
changed, I know she has a lot going on, but it was a drastic personality
transplant from the character I totally fell for. On one hand, she's the
backbone of her family, but in the next she's a pouty toddler.
If anything, Ari became my favorite character in this story. He stepped up, he
righted his wrongs, and totally worked for his redemption. He's not a perfect
person, he has his own issues, but he is quite persistent (must by the lawyer
in him).
Beyond my criticism above, I was able to fall into this story quite easily once
I acknowledged the Val differences. The chemistry was still there, if not a
little dimmed, but just simmering below the surface. I was hoping for a little
more from the villain angle, this seemed to be swept away too swiftly.
Book 3
