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This is a book review tour hosted by Black Tide Book Tours. A copy of the book was provided in exchange for my honest review.
MY REVIEW:
What a twisted read this was! A story of twin sisters: Kristin and Tessa – the epitome of light and dark represented in each. Tessa wants to be a doctor and is heading to med school while Kristin wants to be rich and famous. To ensure her future, Kristin uses every means possible to drag her sister into the world she wants because she knows that to achieve her stardom, she’s going to need her twin sister.
Utilizing their beauty for a modeling career quickly turns their lives upside down when they do in fact achieve success. But that success comes with a price and Kristin doesn’t like how much attention her sweet and loving sister gets.
The character of Kristin made my skin crawl – she’s deeply disturbed, dangerous and will do anything to get what she wants. But a terrible accident befalls both of them when their beauty is marred just at the peak of their success. All Kristin can think about is revenge and all Tessa can think about is whether her fiancé will still love her even after the accident.
Pain could be useful. She’d known that for a while now—at least since
Dark Beauty by Blake Rudman
the ninth grade. The world had hurt her. Fine. She’d hurt it back. “Kill it with
fire”—she liked that saying. And this new kind of pain would make the best fuel
for her personal conflagration.
A story about the depths some people will go to have the things they want, even if it means they have to take down their own family to get it. Tessa’s character is the balance to Kristin with her sweet demeanor and caring attitude for everyone she interacts with.
The writing style alternates between perspectives of the sisters and also jumps back and forth from present to past to help fill in information as the events unfold. I am a big fan of this form of writing as it keeps me always hanging on wondering what happened before and how that impacts things happening now in the story. The pacing was good, but does feel somewhat like it gets hung up at times when focusing on the past elements. While it gets a little slow, the information provided is essential to understanding the sisters’ dynamic and is overall necessary.
Overall, I enjoyed the contrasting emotions and attitudes in this story. It could have been improved slightly with a little more information on some of the supporting characters, such as someone in Kristin’s life that was consistent or that had been a part of her development – but her relationship with her sister is the only constant. This is what the story is really all about; their dynamics and downfall.
GET IT HERE:
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“Dark Beauty is indeed a thing of beauty. A page turner from the first page to the last! Superb!”
Andy Rausch, author of thriller novels Layla’s Score, American Trash, and Until One of Us Is Dead.
Tessa and Kristin Morgan are identical twins, exquisitely beautiful, and have the world at their perfectly pedicured feet; they are also profoundly different beneath their stunning facades.
Tessa is the laser-focused academic with her eyes firmly fixed upon a career in neurology, while Kristin exploits her striking looks and undeniable power over men to carve out a single-minded path to fame and fortune as a model and actress; an ambition she also holds for her sister.
But, on the night of the pair’s debut as top-tier models, and with a high-profile movie role in the bag, tragedy strikes the twins in the form of a cruel acid attack by an unknown assailant. Thus, a gruesome chain of events begins – one that leaves a trail of blood, death, and devastation behind both Tessa and Kristin.
As Tessa fights to rebuild her life and uncover the truth behind the attack, she finds herself getting closer and closer to an uncomfortable truth about her sister and her search for the truth turns into a nightmare struggle to stay alive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Blake Rudman enjoyed a former, successful career in executive management, building his own companies from the ground up.
Success or not, Blake’s heart has always been in the written word, and the myriad ideas he spent much of his spare time jotting down in notebooks, Post-Its, and scraps of paper whenever the inspiration hit him.
Now a breakout author of five noir thriller novels – all to be published in 2023 – Blake’s destiny of becoming a writer of some renown is well under way.
When he’s not working diligently on his next novel, Blake spends quality time with his family and tropical fish.
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Adventures in Literature 
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