Lana Vargas is a Mexican American Romance Author who resides in California With her debut novel Summer in Phoenix landing her in the top 40 on followed by her Sopho novel The Darkness that Follows Us landing in the top 20 and winning Best Romance Novel in the Literary Romance category from Wolf Media Festival she is proof that anyone can make their dreams a reality She plans to continue to show women that we all deserve great love stories one book at a time. They were never supposed to fall for each other but every rule has an exception Andrew Cortes is the troubled playboy who s life has spiraled into a world of pills and secrecy after the recent passing of his younger brother To avoid his mom s pestering on settling down a life he swore to himself he d never accustom to he enters into a fake dating arrangement with his wildly beautiful free spirited friend Kat Harrison When they make a pact not to fall for each other he soon realizes that she s his biggest addiction of them all But can he save her from his destruction The Darkness that Follows UsThis book was so cute it was the perfect balance of realistic yet fluffy Fake dating will always be a fav trope The 90s references were spot on peak of romance films I love how the author included not one but two epilogues It gave the perfect closure to Andrew and Kat s story and it allowed us to see the lives of their close friends and of the characters in the first book 2 and 10yrs later After the ending of the first book I am glad there was a happy ending in the second Also there was a cookie recipe at the end of the book Romance Young Adult Chick Lit oh i liked this one a lot Romance Young Adult Chick Lit 4 5 I recieved an ARC in exchange for an honest review Although The Darkness That Follows Us could be read as a standalone if you haven t read Summer in Phoenix this is your sign to read it now The story picks up a few weeks after the conclusion of Summer in Phoenix Andrew is trying and failing to come to terms with the passing of his little brother Elliott Kat is working herself physically and mentally exhausted in order to keep her and her grandma from drowning in bills Before Elliot s passing Andrew and Kat were friends but he basically ghosted her since the funeral As they rekindle their friendship and come up with a fake dating scheme to keep Andrew s mom from badgering him about getting back out there their friendship gets messy feelings get hurt and trust gets broken Typical romance novel plot right Wrong I think one of my favorite things about Lana s writing is how real her stories are Some romance novels feel like hallmark movies and are just unrealistic But this book It feels like it could be someone s real life and real love story Throughout the book the character growth was fantastic especially with Andrew He went from a cold shell of a human to someone so full of love and understanding The pair Andrew and Kat went through so much individually and together and overall it was such a sweet story to read and a great way to wrap up lingering questions from SIP The only reason why I m rating it 4 stars and not 5 stars is because there are quite a few spelling grammatical errors all throughout the book I also felt as some of the chapters abruptly ended and left me feeling like that was it That was the whole chapter I would recommend this two book series to everyone Especially if you re in need of a good cry Romance Young Adult Chick Lit This was a cute read I found this author on Tiktok and I knew I needed to read her stories I LOVED the Hispanic representation particularly with the conversations surrounding mental health Ate this up on my flight Romance Young Adult Chick Lit She pulled me out of my darkness as if it wasn t even an obstacle and together we ve built a home filled with love laughter and of course music How many times did I need to pause cry my eyes out and stare at the ceiling while clutching my heart Too many to count My first ARC and another 5 star read by THE Lana Vargas This was the healing I needed after the gut wrenching and heart shattering read of Summer In Phoenix I thought I needed to reread SIP to have Elliot and Emory s story fresh in my head but I didn t need to Their story is so engraved in my heart now that any mention of them in this book will always have me tearing up Kat and Drew both have gone through so much individually and together The representations in this book from family to self struggles hit so hard and I felt very seen and heard. They have been connected since the start without them even realizing it And they both found each other at the right exact time Something was there from the beginning it just took some time for you both to notice it Lana thank you for blessing us with two beautiful stories and an eternal attachment to both of them Romance Young Adult Chick Lit
| The Darkness that Follows Us By Lana Vargas |
| 9798990104808 |
| English |
| 284 |
| Paperback |
I fell in love with these characters and so will everyone who reads this book I was given the honor of my first ARC read being this amazing book I m so glad it was my first I have waaaay too many favorite quotes from this book thats it s hard to choose one but I will She s her own genre of a person If a person said that about me I d probably fall to my knee s and cry tears of happiness I love the dynamic between Kat and Andrew but I also love how Andrew s friends were incorporated in it A lot of books don t showcase the fmc having a friendship with the mmc s friends This one shows it perfectly. Fake dating trope is my favorite and this one encapsulated it perfectly The way the trope is used in this book is different than most but I love that about it Thank you so much Lana for giving me the opportunity to be an ARC reader for this wonderful love story Romance Young Adult Chick Lit I liked it i would recommend reading at your own risk as this book discusses addiction death of a sibling and trauma It was a good read Romance Young Adult Chick Lit INFINITE STARS FOR DREW AND KAT 3 kat ate every second drew owns my heart I LOVE THIS WORLD AND FAMILY SO MUCH Romance Young Adult Chick Lit I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review and it was a sweet read Picking up a month after the events of Summer In Phoenix we see Andrew and Kat grappling with their own personal struggles Andrew is mourning the loss of his best friend while Kat is facing the challenges and pressures of everyday life As they rekindle their friendship they find comfort and solace in each other s company leading to a blossoming romance Their story is heartwarming and sweet a testament to the power of friendship and love While there were some nice moments in this book I found it to be a bit of a challenge to get through The story often felt drawn out and uninteresting I struggled to connect with the main characters and there were grammatical errors that confused me However I did appreciate the secondary characters and the heartfelt moments involving characters from SIP Overall I would give this book three stars because despite its flaws it did offer a sweet story and provided a glimpse into what happened after SIP Romance Young Adult Chick Lit I had the opportunity to be an ARC reader for this lovely book What can I say about this book I LOVED it so much I had already read Lana s first book so this wouldn t be the first time that I m diving into a book that she wrote If you have read Summer In Phoenix her debut book then you already know that I had to read the second book If you haven t read it I highly recommend that one too because I devoured that book in literally 3 days In this book We got to follow Kat and Andrew s story so it is dual POV which I instantly loved For me what I really liked about this book is how raw and real these two main characters felt I instantly empathized with Kat and Andrew and what they were going through because I felt like I could relate to these character s emotionally Like this quote If you always look happy people automatically assume you are so that s what I pretend to be I totally felt that. I also really liked that Lana incorporated a friend group where the male main character invited the female main character into their inner friend circle cause I didn t often see it in the books I read at least how it s done in this one I thought it was so cute and not only that but I loved Hero and Chance I thought they were a really good addition into the story and seeing them befriend Kat was the sweetest thing ever I also wanted to talk about Lana s writing because I don t know how she does it but I always feel like I can just binge her books Her writing is so easy and natural that it just makes you want to keep reading and not only that but she knows how to write tearjerker scenes in books Like the first book made me sob and this second book I also felt emotional but I felt like I got to heal and we got to see a happy ending from Kat and Andrew It was hard to choose a favorite quote because I have many but this one is up there on my top fav quotes in this book My mind reels thinking about why her face came to mind earlier and I come to the conclusion that Kat has just engraved herself in me so now I compare every girl I see to her Thank you Lana and congrats on your release of another amazing and lovely book Romance Young Adult Chick Lit.