Review: Promise Me Darkness by Paige Weaver - 4.5 Wine Glasses

Promise Me Darkness 
(Promise Me #1)
by Paige Weaver
ebook, 401 pages
Published April 8th 2013
ISBN13 9780989269810
Purchased by Reviewer
Goodreads - Amazon Kindle - Amazon Paperback - Barnes & Noble

"He was my darkness and I was his light. We couldn't exist without each other."
For me, life was simple. I went to school and studied. I spent time with my friends and stayed out of trouble. I didn't drink or swear and I only dated gentlemen. I was the typical good girl with a bright future. My world seemed perfect. 
But that was about to change.
Ryder Delaney was the one imperfection in my life. He was the bad boy, the black sheep, the one your mother always warned you about. He had only one hard-and-fast rule - Don't fall in love. 
But some rules were meant to be broken.
We were best friends, inseparable since childhood despite our differences. I knew the real man hiding behind the tattoos and bad attitude. He knew all my secrets and dreams. But he didn't know there was one thing I wanted and couldn't have...him.
But sometimes Fate has a way of intervening. Soon our world collapsed. War erupted. Darkness prevailed. Alone and on the run, our only goal was to survive and to ignore the feelings we had for each other. But love is powerful...
and so is the darkness.

Crystal's Thoughts:
Maddie is away from home attending college with her friend Eva. Her best friend Ryder comes to visit them right before they head home for break with the shocking news that he is enlisting. Maddie is destroyed and begs him not to go. Despite Ryder's womanizing ways, she loves him and sees the real man under the bad boy persona that he shows the rest of the world. 
But then the world is turned to chaos. War and everything that goes along with it breaks out across the country. Maddie, Ryder and friends escape the city and head home where they know Ryder's dad is fully prepared and capable to handle what's to come. However, the journey home will not be an easy one. Desperate people are capable of anything and being without power, food or water has the tendency to turn normal people into animals, and criminals into monsters. 
Once they finally reach home though, their journey is far from over...it is just beginning....

Wow, Promise Me Darkness was a fantastic read that I couldn't put down! I was surprised that this was from a debut author, bravo! The editing was a little off, the over abundance of hyphenated words stalled the flow a bit. But overall, I absolutely loved this story and I cannot wait for the next book! 
Full of tragedy and heart break, love and passion, your heart will be pulled from all different directions in Promise Me Darkness! I loved the relationship between Maddie and Ryder, it was full of all those confused emotions that young adults (18-22 or so) seem to experience. With plenty of conflict and angst weaved into the romance. I would have liked Ryder's character to be a little more developed because I never fully understood why he felt that he did not deserve Maddie, he seemed to come from a pretty good family without the normal 'New Adult' issues. 
I was surprised again by the plot twist, it was something that I did not expect to like but worked really well and was well written too. There is a cliffhanger but it wasn't a bad one at all, just leaves you anticipating what will happen next. 
The beginning of the story will seem pretty stereotypical romance to readers but stick with it, I promise that you will not be disappointed. Promise Me Darkness was a truly compelling story!

Rating: 4.5 Wine Glasses!