Review: Black Mark's Secrets (Black Mark Series #2)

'' ''Ignore everyone else and trust your heart.'' ''

★★★☆☆

From Goodreads:

Mora Ellis has drawn the line. No more crossing the professional boundary with her boss, the glorious and powerful Mr. Rafal. But despite her best efforts, she can’t resist his familiar pull, and this time it’s more than just lust, it’s a need to be wanted. Darius has woken something inside of Mora she thought she’d buried long ago. She wanted him to love her.

With high walls built around her heart, can Darius convince Mora to risk everything to be with him? Or will the secrets she is keeping from those around her be the undoing of her own happiness?

Will they find their own happily ever after or will they drift apart? The second instalment in the Black Mark Series really gets into the background of the characters, explaining some of the reasons behind their actions.

Since this is the second book in the series, the review might contain some light SPOILERS from now on. I try to keep it as spoiler-free as possible.

I read the first book Black Mark's Resistance a few months ago and couldn't wait to dive into this one. The first book blew my mind off, I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks, and knowing that it would be hard to top that. So it didn't come as a surprise that I didn't love this book as much as the first one.

We finally get to know the meaning of the title. It was the only thing that bugged me after finishing the first book. There was no explanation whatsoever about where the Black Mark comes from. Or if there was, I totally missed it, but I am pretty sure it wasn't there. It's revealed

Mora tries to take her life into her hands. A task easier said than done, especially when she lives a life where she is constantly surrounded by influential and demanding men. All of them, who want to stake a claim of some sorts on her. You see her character's willpower crumbling almost to the point of extinction before she (in my opinion) comes to her senses.

The book is fairly short, only about 140 pages, which means that not a lot can happen, or at least not many huge events. There aren't monumental twists or turns in the middle of the book, the story more like builds up the anticipation towards the end. And then, bam, it dishes out a set, that you already knew, but in a way that makes you feel bad for the main duo.

In the first book, the cello played such an instrumental part in the plot. I loved the way it was presented. Unfortunately, it didn't play the same role in this book, it was barely even mentioned. As well as the cello, another element was missing, if you compare the books. The intensity. I know that the first book and the second book are separate works, but we are talking about the same set of characters, within the same setting. And since the intensity was missing, the story had an almost entirely different feel to it. It just flowed forward, as opposed when the first book's story was actively pushed.

And though this was a good book instead of a great one and at a point I wanted to chuck it out the window (which I didn't because I read it on my iPad), I still can't wait to read the third book. Luckily, I don't have to wait for long since I only have half a book to read before it.