[Lisa’s Review]: Welcome to the Dark Side by Giana Darling

I was a good girl.
I ate my vegetables, volunteered at the local autism centre and sat in the front pew of church every Sunday.
Then, I got cancer.
What the hell kind of reward was that for a boring life well lived?
I was a seventeen-year-old paradigm of virtue and I was tired of it.
So, when I finally ran into the man I'd been writing to since he saved my life as a little girl and he offered to show me the dark side of life before I left it for good, I said yes.
Only, I didn't know that Zeus Garro was the President of The Fallen MC and when you made a deal with a man who is worse than the devil, there was no going back...

I stumbled over Giana Darling’s Welcome to the Dark Side while hunting for a sweet quick forbidden romance read, and I have to say I was a bit skeptical going into this one, but it did not disappoint. 

The main characters meet in the middle of a full-blown shootout. Zeus is in his mid-twenties at the time, Lou is merely seven. Terrified, Lou tries to get to safety and ends up going for Zeus. The way the author described the scene, it was instinct guiding her to him, to, as she would later call him, her guardian monster. While I love the idea of someone instantly feeling such a strong connection to a stranger, their respective ages at the time left me feeling a bit uneasy about their apparent pull towards each other. But of course, I kept going, curious how they would eventually ‘find each other’. 

Zeus and Lou have a series of brief interactions in the hospital after the shooting, essentially building the foundation of what is to come. She seeks him out, worried and curious about her guardian monster, much to the dismay of her parents. I loved the innocence of their interactions, the abundance of questions she asks trying to understand a situation that goes way beyond her years, and her absolute certainty that she is safe with him, despite what the other adults say. Lou’s severe case of tragically disinterested parents, her cancer diagnosis, and his sense of responsibility towards her are how they end up keeping in touch via letters when he goes to prison, and she remains at the hospital starting chemo. From the outside, their exchanges might seem weird, but to my own surprise, I could totally relate to her feelings about him. Any worries I had about the two of them meeting so early in life vanished as the story progressed. He takes an interest in her when her parents never have, he asks about her day, and worries about her. She simply is someone to him and vice versa. 

Of course, once Lou gets older, her perspective and feelings towards Zeus change, which leads him to break off all contact, clearly recognizing the danger. Zeus re-enters her life later-on more or less by accident, but once they reconnect, there’s no going back. From here on out, this standalone in the Fallen Men Series is a thrilling, entertaining story that put the ‘forbidden’ in forbidden romance. At the same time, there are more serious topics woven into the plot, among others Lou’s illness and the dangers of MC life, that make this an absolutely awesome read. 

As for the characters: Lou has always been forced to be the good girl, the mayor’s daughter. The wild side she developed in her teens rarely sees the light of day. Her development and the self-acceptance she gains through being accepted by Zeus and his friends and family, wild side and all, are beautifully written. Her character was real and relatable – a teenage girl while at the same time, a mature young woman. Zeus is the typical alpha male: powerful, dominant, confident. He totally gave me Jax Teller vibes. He’s a bit of an ass in the beginning, trying his best to not go give into Lou’s attempts to seduce him, and yet there is a soft side to him when it comes to Lou, and I love that. She’s his salvation as much as he is hers. I know it’s cliché, but that’s what true love is supposed to look like, folks.

Long story short, it’s one of the best forbidden-romance books I read last year, and I’d definitely recommend it if the age gap isn’t an issue for you. 

Lisa

Hi! I’m Lisa. I’m twenty-three, a college student and a book lover. I spend every free minute, and most of my lectures, reading all kinds of books, which is how I ended up here. While I particularly enjoy books of the young and new adult variety, I also love historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal, all things romance, and one or the other classic as well. If I’m not reading, I’m either working, sleeping, binge-watching my newest obsession on Netflix, or on my way to Starbucks, to satisfy my slight caffeine addiction.