Perfection of Suffering (The Shadows of Wildberry Lane Book 1)
by M. Sinclair
Blurb
The Southern Aristocracy brought together by one woman - Dahlia Aldridge.
I had lived here most of my life in a blissful state of ignorance, surrounded by a loving family and the other residents of Wildberry Lane. Specifically, their sons - the heirs to some of the largest fortunes in the country. I had grown used to them acting as my shadows, protecting me and surrounding me with enough affection that I never questioned if their words were in fact the truth.
Then the Brooks twins came to town. Suddenly, everything I had known about myself was being shattered as they dug up my worst insecurities and exploited them to the world. I began questioning everything.
Kingston Ross. Stratton Lee. Yates Carter. Lincoln & Sterling Gates.
They have been able to protect me from everything… but myself. My boys carry a darkness inside of them that has never scared me. The shadows of deeds done at night, away from the spotlight of being who we were in this societal hierarchy. They think I’m afraid of that, but they couldn’t be farther from the truth.
I wasn’t afraid of their darkness.
I wasn’t afraid of my feelings for them, ones that had grown from friendship into so much more.
I wasn’t even afraid of expressing that to them… eventually.
What I was afraid of? That I would hurt those around me with my shame and pain.
I would just have to perfect the art of suffering in silence.
Wildberry Lane - Home to the extremely wealthy and powerful Southern elite.
My Review
The female lead, Dahlia, was very very naive. The author does state this in her note but I wasn't expecting her to be that naive. She's lived a sheltered life encouraged and driven by the ones that love her. They want to protect her and keep her innocent. All this did was make her oblivious to the real world, unable to learn to defend and take care of herself, and gave her a child like quality. The boys seemed to like and want this quality in her. They wanted her to remain innocent to the outside world and let her live in a bubble. Which turned me off a bit. I like when the men are empowering to the female lead, especially in a reverse harem. With six men (one of them not listed in the blurb), you would think one of them would want her growth as a woman. But no, they want to keep her ignorant. With the second book, my hope is she has a lot of personal growth. I want to see the men encourage this.
I'd also love to see some of the repetitive narration cut down and more dialogue to progress the story in the next book. This book is told in 7 perspectives. Everyone tells their back story and what they think about the current situation. It became repetitive and dragged on.
Overall, I don't really know if I can recommend this series yet without reading the next one. I need to see a lot of growth in Dahlia.
Rating: 3 Stars
Recommend: No
Books in the Series
