Forbidden Darkness

The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles #1

by Alec John Belle

Being a sixteen year old Monster Hunter sucks.

That’s what Heather Hawkins learns just days before her sixteenth birthday. After dealing with her best friend, Kristen’s, attempted suicide, the last thing Heather wants is any more drama. When the realistic dreams of Heather being haunted by a guy named Kadin begin, she learns the truth. She is a Monster Hunter, and on her birthday, she will undergo a change that will make her stronger, more powerful, and nearly invincible to Monsters. Along with having a hot new trainer named Philip, she believes that this will be a new beginning for herself.

Unfortunately, Monsters aren’t the only thing Heather needs to worry about. With someone stalking her dreams, she realizes there may be more than just Monsters in the world, and that Kadin will do anything to stop her from helping the Monster Hunters. Even if that means unleashing an entity that was locked away by his people thousands of years ago.

In this all-new paranormal young adult series, romances will be formed, evil becomes unleashed, and everyone Heather loves will soon be at risk. Because in a world where Monsters walk the earth, anything is possible.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 9, 2015

About the author

Alec John Belle resides in Carson City, NV, where he is currently attending high school for his senior year. At the age of 16 he wrote his first novel, Before I Break. His hobbies include reading, writing, and obsessing over Pretty Little Liars. He writes about tough topics that many are too afraid to talk about like suicide, homosexuality, self harm, bullying, mental illness, among other teenage issues, and he often blends these ideas with the paranormal. Despite writing such topics, he is a very cheerful person who enjoys looking for the best in life, while trying to help others do the same.

Reviews

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original review

Forbidden Darkness is the first book in the Forbidden Darkness Chronicles by Alec Jonh Belle.

I got the opportunity to beta read Forbidden Darkness and I loved it!

Our protagonist is Heather. A few days before her sixteenth birthday strange things happens. At school she got dizzy and someone's been visiting her dreams. Nothing makes sense to Heather until she almost got killed in her dream. Her best friend Kristen and her mom had been hiding secrets for Heather : she's a Monster Hunter and her mom isn't her birth mom. Didn't see that coming.

After that horrible dream they had to explain what was happening to her and who that handsome guy, Philip, with them was. Philip will be her trainer when Heather turns sixteen. But will it only be her trainer or something more?

And Alec did it again. I love his writing, his characters and I cannot wait to read more!

-I want to thank Alec John Belle for the beta copy!

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heather Hawkins finds out she is a Monster Hunter and will become nearly invincible on her 16th birthday (with the help of a handsome trainer to boot).
I honestly didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I like YA fiction but I can be picky sometimes. It is a fast read but is enthralling and I was left wanting more after the book was done. Thank goodness it was book one so I can look forward to reading more in this series.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forbidden Darkness is the first book in the young adult series The Forbidden Darkness Chronicles by Alec John Belle. What a great beginning! I started reading it and by the third chapter I was obsessed with finishing it. I had so many questions and couldn't put it down. Many of my questions were answered, and just when I thought I knew where the story was going, he threw in some major twists that had me freaking out. I love when an author can catch me off guard and make the story more exciting than I had imagined it would be.

I have to admit I am 100% TEAM KADIN! He is an absolutely hot bad boy and he did quite a few nasty things in the story, but in my heart I feel there is more to him than we have beew shown so far. I could be completely wrong, so I will be continuing the series to find out if I am right. Alec John Belle has me totally hooked!

A great beginning to what I am sure will be an amazing series!!

[Kimberly Vanderbloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic!! I'm glad to know there are 7 more in this series because I am not done with these characters yet. I mean a book about Monster Hunters how cool is that. The story flowed very nicely. It gripped me by the prologue. Heather was a great character to have as the point of view. She goes through many things but gets stronger in each page turn. I also got the sense of a Scooby Gang forming for all on the Buffy fans out there. I would recommend this to anyone who likes young adult and sci fi.

[Alec John]

Well, seeing as I'm the author, I may be a little biased...

[Boundless Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very good. It was written very well and it was quick to grab my attention. While I'm no Monster Hunter, I feel like I can relate to Heather in many ways. She was adopted and so was I. She felt lied to and hurt when she found out that her friend knew of this and never told her, which is what happened in my situation as well. So I guess the book was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me. Which is always a good thing. It means the story speaks to you and makes you feel.

Heather is just a young girl who gets all these crazy truth bombs dropped on her about who she really is when she is just trying to be a normal teen girl. That im sure, is something many young adults can relate too. This story was packed with so much action and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I am definitely looking forward to reading the second book. I am totally Team Philip! :)

I want to say thank you for allowing me to read and review this book. I am looking forward to reading much more from such a promising writer...Stormi

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[Scott Colbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alec John Belle, author of Before I Break returns with the paranormal, young adult novel Forbidden Darkness. I was able to beta read this brisk upcoming book, and still impressed by Belle's abilities to create believable, likable characters.

Forbidden Darkness tells the story of 15 year old Heather who, after some frightening dreams, learns she will soon be a monster hunter. Filled with drama, suspense, romance and action, Forbidden Darkness is a great start to a series I'm very much looking forward to reading.

[Guylaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book its well writing and easy to read, I can't help but love the characters. I like to see how Heather grow as a Monster hunter and see the friendship between Heather, Kristen, Philip and Hayden. And how can you not like bad boy Kadin. I love the actions and the plots its a fast pace and when you think you can relax there is something else coming to you, it's keep me sitting on the edge of my sit. Left me we so many questions that I hope will be answered. I can't have enough of Hayden and Frosbite I want more them lol. Very good start on a Series I can't wait for book 2.

[Christianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird thing is that I really like the book... but since it past more than a week for this review, I forgot what is the book about...
So... If I like it, why can’t I remember that story?
I needed to go back again, reading some pages, so I could write if I lake it or not.
The book is simple, quickly read, with some good scenes. Up until the middle.
The end is a bit confusing, maybe because I expected more.

[Anna Lawler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great beginnings by an up and coming author

I love the idea of this story.
He shows great potential. A few typos and a couple places I would have loved more description but overall it was a geat read.

[Keith Bornmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book

I thought the story was pretty good. It was clean enough for any age. There were few profane words and fewer mentions of sex.

The story is about a teen girl coming into her powers as she approaches a certain age. Others are aware and are seeking after her.

[Isra Sravenheart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg 😲 this totally blew me away. It's a rich diverse world with darkness and light but the ending knocked me for six. Off to read part 2. Alec is a very talented writer and I definitely got sucked into the story that he conveys extremely well.

[Wally · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome read!!

You will get absorbed in this book and will not be able to put it down until you finish it! Great Book!!

[Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was ok. I liked the story, but the writing wasn’t the best, and I found some parts strange. Great experience as my first time reading in a kindle.

[Liz Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star for an interesting idea.

The book suffered significantly from a lack of editing. There were words like “sight” and “site” mixed up and small typos that should have been caught. The same words were used within a sentence or two of each other and sometimes the mistakes made me wonder if the author spoke English natively.

I have book two, but I’m not sure if I’m going to read it.

[Sheilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the author being only 17, I was not sure what to expect from this when I cracked it open the other night. But after having read The Duff, which was written by a 19 year old, I’m starting to ignore age.

I’m glad I did.

While it is a quick read (only taking an evening to complete), I have to say I was completely engaged with it the entire night. I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of Heather Hawkins Monster Hunter. Anything that can include monsters and romance and I usually will be likely to pick it up. It reminded me of Buffy The Vampire Slayer before I even started. And that is not a bad thing. But I was thrilled that by the end, I found it to be a completely original and creative work of fiction.

Something that I was surprised at was the depth of the story. It wasn’t just about monsters and fighting those said monsters, it was about friendship, pain, suicide, homosexuality, being rejected. It brought me back to my own days during high school, where all of these were very real themes. Emotions run raw in the young and I felt Belle was really able to capture that vulnerability and internal suffering that occurs.

And of course, there was the steamy romance lingering to explode on the sidelines. I mean, yes please.

I should note that I read the first edition of the story and it is being re-released today for the second time. More editing has gone into it. Beyond that, I am not sure if much has been changed.

If you are interested in monster slaying and some drama, I think you might enjoy this story.

Check out my other reviews at https://cellardoorbooks.wordpress.com

[Tonja Drecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is written by a teenager, and I don't think anyone could have hit the mark better than him. The characters are great, fitting to their age in every way possible. They're sympathetic, true to life, and simply right for this story and the intended audience. But it was the plot that really drew me in.

There are monsters. There's romance. And there's a ton of action, tension and danger. But even when one pushes all of this aside (not that one would want to because these things alone are fun to read), there's depth--friendship, rejection, suicide and homosexuality. This is a book which grabs and doesn't let go until the last page. And as an extra bonus, this isn't a long read. I was finished in a couple hours and could still get a half decent night's sleep.

I definitely recommend this for all vampire, monster and teen romance fans out there (in the upper end of the YA group due to some of the scenes), and am look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Mindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love paranormal books and finding new mythos to explore is great. In this story there are Monsters, with a capital M, and monster hunters....and maybe something else. This story introduces us to Heather the next monster hunter, but she is just a normal kid, right? Well that seems to be the question of the day.

In this story Heather finds out that her mom and her best friend have been keeping secrets and she is really angry. However that’s not all that happens. You seriously have to read it for yourslef. I cannot wait to find out what happens next, and I hate waiting for the next book to come out.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 clouds and eagery await book 2.


This product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.

[Samantha Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew me away. It is so well written and the story is very captivating. I am excited to read more from Alec John Belle. This book does have a cliffhanger, which has me anticipating book 2. You should definitely put him on your one click list! #teamphilip :)

[D. Dickens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to start by saying this book is out of my genre but I decided to take a chance. This book was so awesome. I'm so freaking glad I read it. I loved the characters. Heather was amazing to only be 16. This book was well written and has great character building. Looking forward to book 2.