Dark Truths

The Jade Murphy Diaries #3

by Sandra Barret

Jade Murphy thinks her undead life is going great until her ex-girlfriend and vampire maker barges back into her life with a simple heist in mind. Just like the old days, except in the old days, Jade didn’t have a human partner who doesn’t know she’s a vampire. She can keep Beth from learning her secret, keep her ex from learning about Beth, and keep them both from realizing Beth’s latent magical talent, no problem. But when the heist goes horribly wrong, all bets are off, and every secret is at risk.

Can Jade keep everyone happy and safe, or will her life turn into the vampire version of Humpty Dumpty when it all comes tumbling down?

Too many secrets make for a tangled fucking mess, Jade...

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, LGBT

99 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 14, 2023

About the author

Sandra Barret is a native New Englander who wanted to be an archaeologist. So of course she ended up a writer. She focuses her fiction writing on science fiction and fantasy stories where strong women save the day. Two of her books (Eye of the Damned and Face of the Enemy) were Goldie finalists. When not writing, she’s reading, gardening, and occasionally digging holes too deep in the back of her historic home in the hopes of finding something more archaeologically significant than coal slag. Dreams never die, they just adapt to life circumstances! You can find Sandra at https://sandrabarret.wordpress.com.

Reviews

[Della B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark Truths is the third book in the Jade Murphy Diaries Series. I suggest reading them in order for a better understanding but they can be read as a stand alone.

Vampire Jade Murphy is living as normal a “human” life as she can. She works the evening shift at a gas station and is dating Beth, who is human and a firefighter. What Jade didn’t need was her maker, who is also her ex girlfriend, asking for her help in a robbery or the possibility of her secret being revealed.

Jade is a fun character to follow as her life always seems to get ahead of her and drags her along. The action picks up quite a bit in this instalment and is thoroughly entertaining. There is a lightness to the writing that keeps the characters and storyline from sliding into the normal doom and gloom of most vampire stories. I cannot wait to see what happens next to Jade and Beth.

I received a free advance review copy from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jo reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is for all the vampire lovers out there! It's a good read, there are 2 other stories before this one, highly recommend reading them first. The books are called Racing the dawn and Blood memory.
You're usual typical vamp book, a dark thriller with blood and a bit of tension thrown in there. The story is entertaining, and I enjoyed the characters.

3.6 out of 5

[AnnMaree Of Oz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third installment in the series - first being; Racing the Dawn and second; Blood Memory.

These are fast-paced Novellas, a lot of action, and a continuation of the relationship between Jade, a 150 Year Old Vampire and Beth, a firefighter with their own gifts, who doesn't know the whole truth.

Jade's past comes back to haunt her in this installment, and the relationship is tested.

I do wish at times we could slow down some more, get more sweet moments between Beth and Jade. But they are fun romps overall.

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is the third installment in the Jade Murphy series. I would definitely recommend reading the first 2 before this one.

Jade’s maker comes to visit her and to enlist her in a heist to steal a relic. This woman is a total control freak and wants her own way. Beth of course doesn’t understand what’s happening and we end up with a grey moment.

This is a fun series and I enjoyed all 3 novellas. Jade is a very likable character and she and Beth have a great relationship.

ARC received from NetGalley for an honest and voluntary review.

[MaxDisaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
Good finish to the series (or at least what's written so far). I liked it. Short, but funny and there was enough plot and character development to keep me satisfied.

[Sky. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best so far, but come on i neeeeed more of Beth!!!!

[greyreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to netgalley for the arc!

Dark Truths is a lesbian vampire novella, with the plot centring around the main character Jade, and her relationship with her nonbinary partner, Beth, as well as a heist.
Honestly, while I liked this book, it suffered from a couple things:
1) it was far too short. I understand that it’s a novella, and part of a novella series, but the whole plot felt so rushed. Had this been a full length book the actual heist plot would’ve paid off. I felt like most of the book didn’t even centre around it. It was more like a side plot. I mean come on. Holy relics, and shadowy villain stealing all these relics to use for evil? Why was none of that expanded upon?
2)the Gabrielle problem. She was such a confusing character. The first half of the book she’s the villain, and then half way through she does a switch and is suddenly on the side of the main character? Not to mention the switch from bad to good was made way to easy and left me with whiplash. She faced no consequences for her actions at all. If I was Beth I would never have gotten over what Gabrielle did.
3) there was no character growth/arcs at all. All the characters just jumped from one thing to the next. Like it got frustrating to see such lack of character development.


Overall it was an alright novella, but boy do I wish it was longer. It was just too rushed and underdeveloped. I did, however find the romance cute despite the lack of development and I also liked the inclusion of nonbinary and trans rep in the side characters. 3/5 stars

[Sofie's Bookish Adventures · Rating 3 out of 5]

5.29/10 on CAWPILE -> 3 stars

I received an ARC copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't realize when I requested this that this was the third book in a novella series, but I actually had no problem following the story so you can read these out of order. The only thing I was missing was some more character background I'm guessing you get in the first two books.

That being said, this was a fun short read but ultimately a bit forgettable. I liked the queer representation and the relationship between Jade and Beth. Wanted a bit more from the heist story, but I guess that is hard to do in a novella format.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is a tutorial on 21st century vampirism. Jade, the main character, is in love with a human firefighter, Beth, but hasn’t told her she’s a vampire. What Jade doesn’t know is that Beth has a secret of her own. When Jade’s maker and former girlfriend shows up things go very wrong.

Barret’s characters are not well developed in this story perhaps because she expends too many words on lessons on vampirism. Jade comes across as being way too immature for a century-plus old vampire while Beth isn’t developed much at all. That being said, Barret gives her readers a character to truly dislike in Jade’s ex-girlfriend.

If you’d like to read a book about vampires that doesn’t have a lot of Gothic darkness to it, this book is for you. If you like your vampire books to have traditional vampires in it and enjoy all the bloodletting of the Victorian-era vampires, this book isn’t for you.

My thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an eARC.

[Dr E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly fun, in a dark way, this story has definite appeal to anyone that grew up watch Buffy. You can’t beat a vampire and witch combination, especially if this time, they are going to be in a relationship. I’d have liked more menace from the ex, but I’m hoping there will be more darkness to come. Also more baddies to up the action a bit. Lots of potential that needs a little bit more development. Although as this book is the third in the series, maybe it’s always going to be a lighter read than I would like for these characters.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars. Oh, how I despise ex girlfriend drama and this one was full of it with Jade’s ex girlfriend Gabrielle. I wasn’t too annoyed by her as she did help move the story along. Also, we got more of Beth’s powers which was really cool and I liked the liked the way Beth and Jade’s relationship is going. They definitely need to communicate better (moreso on Jade’s part. She’s such a lovable hot mess) but they are so cute together. Overall, not my favorite installment in the series but it was still a lot of fun.

[bookster · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars