Rae Hachton

Black Satin is the second book in the Pretty in Black line by Rae Hachton. As always with a second book in the series, y'all know I'm going to point you toward the first book. It's difficult to explain, and give an in depth review without spoilers, so please go check out Pretty in Black first!

Onto the review!

Black Satin begins in a rather unique way, so for anyone who hasn't read the first book, you can follow along, for awhile. Eventually you'll have questions that can only be fully answered by reading the first book. It begins with a replay of the key events, but it's from Marcus' point of view. Ingenious!

Eventually we meet back up with the lovely Ellie. She quickly realizes that when she told Marcus she wanted her family back that it wasn't what she truly wanted, no it wasn't what her heart wanted. But it's too late, and Marcus has left her as he plans to walk through to be reborn. Of course Ellie has no clue what is going on, and desperately tries to find him.


However, her ex-boyfriend starts making threats about how he remembers her sister dieing, and the new guy at school, Walter, steps in to save the day. Ellie quickly realizes that she has strong feelings for Walter, the same feelings she has for Marcus. It becomes harder and harder for her to choose, even after he saves her life from a ripper who had already claimed the lives of two classmates.


Does Ellie have the strength to make the choice, knowing it will be final? Does Marcus pass through? Homestly folks, there is so much going on that what I've covered is a small tidbit, a tiny morsel, of the evolving story of not only Ellie and Marcus, but more in-depth with the Corvidae hunters, the gargoyles, and let's not forget the Evermores. With that being said, this is a highly recommended darker young adult read, and author to follow. While it's yet to be seen if Ellie with have a “Happily Ever After”, it's clear that the choices she makes will not make it easier for her obtain. I really like that message, because love isn't easy and neither is life. Bravo!… (más)

Originally Reviewed at: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 4out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: Blog Tour
Reviewer: Heather



Pretty in Black is about a young woman named Ellie who has lost her sister, her perfect life, and she is seeking death. Marcus Marble saves her in more ways than she knew she needed saving. But he has a secret, many secrets, that he’s keeping from her.



To further the story, Ellie is also a Corvidae hunter, and her purpose is to hunt down the Evermore. She is warned that if she fails, or allows one to live, that she too would be hunted down. Can she come to terms with this crazy notion? Will she run when Marcus uncovers his great secrets?



I would have enjoyed more action, more of the Evermore and Corvidae story. I think it’s why I wasn’t overly thrilled after I finished reading. It’s entirely possible that there will be more in the future, and I would gladly read it. Instead we got more of the love story between Ellie and Marcus, which was very well written. I enjoyed the dark twists, the forbidden love, as well as the poetic edge that was taken.



I was also a bit confused by the ending when the author switched the point-of-view. It took me a few pages to realize this, but once it registered in my brain all was well again. I’m hoping that there is more to this story, and that this really only the beginning.… (más)

Originally Reviewed at: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: Blog Tour
Reviewer: Heather




Black Satin is the second book in the Pretty in Black line by Rae Hachton. As always with a second book in the series, y’all know I’m going to point you toward the first book. It’s difficult to explain, and give an in depth review without spoilers, so please go check out Pretty in Black first!


Onto the review!


Black Satin begins in a rather unique way, so for anyone who hasn’t read the first book, you can follow along, for awhile. Eventually you’ll have questions that can only be fully answered by reading the first book. It begins with a replay of the key events, but it’s from Marcus’ point of view. Ingenious!


Eventually we meet back up with the lovely Ellie. She quickly realizes that when she told Marcus she wanted her family back that it wasn’t what she truly wanted, no it wasn’t what her heart wanted. But it’s too late, and Marcus has left her as he plans to walk through to be reborn. Of course Ellie has no clue what is going on, and desperately tries to find him.


However, her ex-boyfriend starts making threats about how he remembers her sister dying, and the new guy at school, Walter, steps in to save the day. Ellie quickly realizes that she has strong feelings for Walter, the same feelings she has for Marcus. It becomes harder and harder for her to choose, even after he saves her life from a ripper who had already claimed the lives of two classmates.


Does Ellie have the strength to make the choice, knowing it will be final? Does Marcus pass through? Honestly folks, there is so much going on that what I’ve covered is a small tidbit, a tiny morsel, of the evolving story of not only Ellie and Marcus, but more in-depth with the Corvidae hunters, the gargoyles, and let’s not forget the Evermores. With that being said, this is a highly recommended darker young adult read, and author to follow. While it’s yet to be seen if Ellie with have a “Happily Ever After”, it’s clear that the choices she makes will not make it easier for her obtain. I really like that message, because love isn’t easy and neither is life. Bravo!… (más)

WARNING: Before you read this review, please note the fact that there is nothing (and I mean nothing) about this book that I thought was good or awesome or worth my time. I've been going through a bit of a reading slump lately, and...it's making me way more critical. So I will tell you straight up exactly what I thought, and it probably won't be nice, and as I don't want to offend anyone...if you don't wanna see it, just don't read it please. There will be profanity involved, which I never do.

Anywho, now that I've warned you of that, we can get started; because I believe you may be here for the snark. First issue on the agenda-- the odd sentence structure and the constant feeling of not being immersed in the story. I just couldn't get into it from the very beginning. There was no rhyme or reason or anything for me to go off of. Not only that, but a few chapters in, some facts were changed. And that confused the bejeezus out of me-- I was like this for a while:

(gif lost)

But then this madness and awkwardness and craziness persisted-- and I started cussing like a squirrel on crack who ain't ever seen a nut. It was terrible. I'm not normally a violent person but...violence. Violence was involved in my twisted imagination.

You really don't even wanna go there with me. But. I gotta better explain this for you-- Kaleb and Kayleigh made me wanna beat their heads together. Repeatedly. They just were so clueless-- a lot of the things that they didn't get were completely obvious to me from the very beginning. And a lot of things about them just didn't add up-- supposedly they've both had crushes on each other forever or whatever, yet they don't even hang out together. They watch each other from afar and avoid each other. Please explain this logic to me, I think it's missing something. Like common sense. But before I get too ahead of myself, let's start with Kaleb.

Kaleb is your typical bad boy-- "Oh, she would never want me" or "I have no chance with her she's too good for me" and the like. To get things straight with y'all, I'm not a fan of stereotypes, and Kaleb just has stereotype written all over him. In love with the unattainable, "good" girl, has no car, job, or hope for the future and thinks he's going somewhere, as well as being a nicotine "pack a day" type inhaler. Need I say more? The only time I felt like Kaleb had any development at all was when he was holding his niece and talking to Kayleigh at the same time-- as soon as he put down his niece, the possible character that we working toward went away. Gone, kaput, you thought he was gonna be okay? Nope. To add more depth to the character, I shall show you a quote.

(When talking about sex and whether or not it will hurt Kayleigh) "A little," I said. "But not a lot."

*coughs to clear throat* EXCUSE ME? YOU'RE A BOY. YOU DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL HURT OR NOT. YOU CAN'T EVEN PRESUME TO TELL HER SOMETHING LIKE THAT. COME CLOSER SO I MAY CHEWETH YOUR ASS OUT.

As you can see, I'm under the distinct opinion that Kaleb is a total ass. And to make matters worse, since we have dual points of view, it's possible to see the home life of Kaleb and Kayleigh-- and I really wanna beat some respect into Kaleb. He treats his momma like absolute shit. Don't forget buddy, she brought you into this world and she can damn sure take you out. He has absolutely no right to treat her like that, or to create messes for her to clean up. And yet he does-- all throughout the book. And I really, really...where's my baseball bat?

Anyway, let's move on to Kayleigh. Sometimes, well, I just have problems with characters from the very beginning. That was not the case with Kayleigh. At first, I thought that I might even turn out to like her. A slightly nerdy girl who's maybe a bit too timid, but I still thought I might like her. But then, well...I didn't. Mostly because that although she's supposedly "smart" she is constantly doing stupid things. And she hangs out with Kaleb, (and falls in love with him) even though I have already revealed that he's an ass. At one point in the story, I honestly feared for Kayleigh's well-being, because I thought that Kaleb was getting too violent.

But still, she stuck around him. And I feel like that's why we didn't connect. The second reason that we didn't connect is honestly kind of stupid, but...she and Kaleb had sex, remember that quote that made me mad up there? Well...there was penetration (and movement!), because he said he'd pull out (no condom, you dumbass!!), but then she freaked out and ran away after that...but the point is, after "penetration" Kayleigh runs home and starts questioning herself...see quote below.

And oh my God, was I still a virgin, or no? Because we hadn't really done it, we almost did. Right?

No, honey...you did it. There's no two ways about it, and it shocks me that you would even presume to think that you didn't have sex with him when you did. I AM SO AGGRAVATED. Like, would you think that you hadn't had sex if there was penetration (and movement!) involved? Just because you got him to stop and ran away before either of you...*bleep* means nothing. That was still sex, and you had it, and that makes you not a virgin. This is a simple fact. I realize that you are just confused, but...damn girl. Seriously, correct me if I'm wrong.

And then... *dunt dun da* they ignore each other. They ignore the fact that it happened. Let's get this straight-- I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I'M MAD AT YOU, AND YOU. I DON'T WANT TO EVER SEE YOU AGAIN. *big dramatic blowup*

Excuse me while I go cry into my cornflakes. As you can see, there was just no way that I could love this one. And to make matters worse, throughout the book (having figured out the reason that the moms hate each other early on) I had to wonder about something and the six months between them and....ERGH. Until the end, when that was resolved and started to look better. It was all drama and convenience, to tell you the truth.

I won't even go into the many stereotypes and the sad point when I realized that there was no way this book could ever redeem itself in my eyes. I didn't like or ever get to know the characters, the romance was so subpar, and...this just wasn't for me. And I've never written such a ranting review in my life. O.O… (más)