Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams (Oracle #1) 
Available Now 
Urban Fantasy
Paperback, 328 Pages
Pocket

Why I read: Received for review

Favorite Quote: “Your radiation suit’s in the trunk. I brought extra duct tape.”

Five years ago, Tara was brutally attacked while working as a criminal profiler. She used tarot cards to help track those that committed crimes, but one time the bad guy almost won. Buried alive and cut brutally, after escape she vowed to stop tracking criminals. She also vowed to get away from the Delphi Daughters, a secret organization her mother belonged to. But Sophia, an old friend and member of the Delphi Daughters has come to ask for her help. A man named Lowell Magnusson has been working on hi-tech experiments containing dark matter and very ground breaking technology – which put into the wrong hands could mean World War Three, or much worse.The Delphi know he is important to the balance of power in the world. Now he has gone missing, and his lab has suffered a massive explosion. The Delphi Daughters don’t want his lab results to get into the wrong hands and ask Tara to pick up those tarot cards and get back in the game.

After some prodding, Tara finds herself at the scene of the explosion, and it is here she meets Harry Li. Harry works for the FBI and they soon form a friendship and bond as they work their way through the scene. Together, they realize many are out for Magusson’s findings – and the race is on.

Dark Oracle has an interesting premise – diving into the world of tarot cards and secret societies, however, the first 100 pages are very slow. When Tara actually uses the tarot cards, each one is described in detail over and over and it kind of makes the story start to drag. I never really felt these characters make it to that next level or give me that extra something special to get excited about. They kind of all coasted through the story, never quite breaking that surface. I didn’t quite believe Tara that she would give up her quiet life to go back to what she feared most. Her reason is that she knows Magnusson’s daughter is alone in the world like she is. I wanted her to fight going back more, make her return more worth it.

The romance that blooms between Tara and Harry is sweet. Harry isn’t alpha, and not quite a beta, just a solid, nice gentleman that falls for Tara. He is a facts and figures man and Tara becomes quite nervous for him to discover that most of her life is based around the spiritual tarot cards. When Harry finds out, he is a little upset, but it seemed like his character couldn’t really decide if he was truly upset. It plays into non-alpha role, but I thought the conflict needed more tension. That problem aside, they work well together in this book and it is a very quiet romance.

The villains at work are pretty bad dudes and give Tara and friends a hard time. A couple of things happen that were unexpected and the ending doesn’t necessarily tie up all ends. Tara’s future is very much undecided. I also enjoyed The Pythia, the leader of the Daughters of the Delphi. A very interesting character who is sly, unbalanced and you never know if you can trust her all the way. She brought a lot into the story.

Dark Oracle drags a bit and is not a “in your face” type of book. I think this world has promise, it is just not there yet.

Rating: 3/5

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Alayna Williams will be by later today with a guest blog!