Unfortunately, I couldn’t really connect with this book, the story or the characters, it just fell a bit flat for me I’m sure others will probably enjoy it. I just don’t think it was my cup of tea.

I thought this was a really great first read of mine from the author. I thought that as a character Aurora was so much more than just someone who was being prepared for the throne, and that the themes sprinkled throughout such as her struggle with identity and depression were really important and well done. I think as a whole this book had themes from other fantasy books that you know and love but it also felt like its own unique story. I am really interested to find out how the story further develops as I think the author has a really fresh, raw and witty writing style.

The cover of the book initially was what caught my eye as it is stunning and then when I read the synopsis, I was really intrigued. Unfortunately once I started reading, the book fell flat for me.

I don't mind at all that the book ended on a cliffhanger because being kept guessing is often part of the fun. My personal issues with the book were that the chapters move quickly and jump to different character perspectives but... not a lot actually happens.

My biggest gripe though was that there wasn't enough development and it very much felt like a case of telling rather than showing, there would be maybe a few sentences of actual dialogue and then we would be told that they had laughed together or had spent hours getting to know each other and talking about their childhoods (this is just examples). But as a reader, this is the stuff I want to read? I want to feel their connection and understand their attraction and everything else in between.

After about halfway, I just skimmed through the rest because I just wasn't enjoying it. The author is a good writer but I just wish they would show instead of tell. I don't think I'll be picking up the next book unfortunately.

2/5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Lance Dantzler Publishing and the author for the review copy, provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

This book was absolutely hilarious. I honestly don't remember reading a book like that in a very long time. Probably since I was a kid, who still believed in unicorns and princesses and that everything in life is good.
Princess Aurora is such a naive and sweet character that, when reading this story, I was thinking to myself that it cannot be real. That I'm just imagining this book and all of this is kind of a very strange dream. Well, it wasn't. Just don't get me wrong here - I truly enjoyed reading "The dark years". It was just so unusual that I wasn't entirely sure that I'm in the right age target for this book. The Princess is showered in unconditional love of her parents and virtually anybody who works for her and her family. Whatever she does, she's excellent at it without putting much of an effort. She wants to marry a commoner because that is what her heart is telling her? No problem at all! They all just want her to be happy. No matter the cost or if it's really doable or just simply makes sense. No, whatever Aurora wishes, Aurora gets. At the same time she has absolutely zero idea of how the real world goes on. ZERO. By the way, what real world? Her precious kingdom seems to consist only of some villages and the castle she lives in. What happened to like towns? Anything? How am I to believe in the realm created in this book, when there is none?! There are so many things missing in this whole story, I don't even know who it was put together.

Reading this book I couldn't escape the feeling that it was written by a teenage girl. This peculiar style, characters that are built as if straight from candy-land, plot which anybody could predict from just the blurb. This book is a definition of comfort read. You know the type: there is not much to get your brain working, everything is going to end well and even if there's something bad happening to the characters, it's nothing major. From time to time I really like to get my hands on this type of literature. But, to be very honest, I feel like "The dark years" was a little bit too much for my liking. Half the time I wasn't engaging in the plot because I was too busy laughing at what's going  on. Connecting with Aurora is absolutely impossible (unless you're 12 yo). In general, I don't mind this type of character at all. It's just in here it was too sweet. Too idealistic. It was so unbelievable at every single level that I couldn't treat this book seriously. It's a great exercise in writing (and reading) but nothing more than that.

I thought about continuing this adventure a little further as it's only book 1 out of four planned in this series, but I just can't. I can't do this to myself and to these books. I think it will be best for everybody to part our ways here.

I really enjoyed everything about this book from the stunning front cover to the goos storyline, the writing and the great character development. there were so many layers to this book and so many qualities that made this a great read. One of the main things that I liked about it was that Princess Aurora was not your typical princess demure and quiet and her parents were not the usual royal family that wanted a damsal in distress daughter. Aurora is fierce and learning how to rule like a future king in order to follow in her grandmothers footsteps. She is clever funny and I adored her.
The ending of this book just made me want more, I cannot wait for book 2 to come out and im chomping at the bit for book 3 and 4 too so i can see how her story plays out. A really good read.

The Dark Years is book 1 of 4 in The Guarded Heart series and opens on Princess Aurora’s 25th birthday. Right off the bat you gather that she is much more than meets the eye and feels very deeply. However she suffers from a form of depression that has stolen her enthusiasm for life and has left her longing for a piece of something missing from her life.

Not your average princess story, this book largely focuses on Aurora’s preparation for the throne which includes training consisting of less formal etiquette and more experience/confidence building tasks. It is during these training experiments that we reach the heart of what starts Aurora’s evolution from Princess to Queen, as she encounters a situation of domestic abuse and decides to take action by extending the defensive training classes she herself received to women in her kingdom. It’s here you really begin to get a picture of who she was, and who she still is under whatever weight she is carrying. I’m hoping we’re able to dive more into her past and what led to her depressive state in the upcoming books.

There are multiple love interests, however no prince catches her eye. Free to marry whoever she wants, she finds herself drawn to a new guard named Greene who also develops feelings for her. What wasn’t clear at first is why this was an issue if she IS free to marry whoever she wants. However our second main love interest comes in the form of Martin who is referred to as “The Captain”. Once I figured this out it was easier to follow the story so I’m going to help you out with this tidbit!

The interaction and budding relationship between Aurora and Martin is tender and sweetly slow and I cannot wait to see where it goes. The impression is given that the two of them do have some kind of history so I’m anxious to see if there’s more than meets the eye, or if they go nowhere and Aurora finds her way back to Greene who has never quite left her mind.

Throughout the book we get glimpses of two conspirators who are clearly out to cause harm and trouble for Aurora, and it gives the impression they have someone feeding them information from the inside so I anticipate there being more action and possibly more twists and turns as the series progresses.

Overall it was a solid start to the series and built the character of Aurora beautifully. A little difficult to follow at times, especially while switching character scenes/POV, it hits the right note for anyone looking for a modern, very female positive twist on a Disney Princess Classic-esque fantasy tale. The characters are supposed to be older (in their 20s), however they read much younger (as does the book as a whole) and I feel as though this book would be very well suited for the younger end of the YA spectrum.

TW: Depression, Domestic Violence, Abuse.

I would like to thank NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book free in exchange for my honest review!

For her twenty-fifth birthday, Princess Aurora of Archenland has only one wish: true love. Her parents, worried over how drastically the Princess has changed in the past seven years, are determined to bring back the strong, confident woman that they know is locked inside their sad daughter. But how?

Martin loves the Princess, but knows she can never marry a commoner like him, so he’s resigned to being nothing more to her than her protector, her Guard.

Then one day, the King says the Princess doesn’t have to marry a nobleman… and everything changes.

This is part 1 of 4 in a series so it does end of a cliffhanger. It's fast paced book and it feels way too short.. Princess Aurora is smart and very likable. Her parents are kind and actually cares about her happiness. The male interest is interesting. It's a great start to a series!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC.

I don’t like Cliff hanger endings, especially when they aren’t written like TV episodes where something dramatic happens like someone’s just fallen off a cliff and you have to tune in next week to find out if they survived etc, so I hated how this ended as it felt as though the author just split a normal length book into small novellas to make more money. Also the writing was a bit juvenile, in both language and style. as though the target audience was a young teenager (perhaps it is) so although I forced myself to finish it, I didn’t enjoy this story

I received a review copy for free courtesy of NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Dark Years is the first installment in the four-book series about Princess Aurora, Future Queen of Archenland. From the summary of the book, it is known that these books will be a love story between her and Martin, the guard Captain sworn to protect her, however, this book was much more than that.

What I liked about this book:
1. I like the feminist aspects of the book. Despite tradition, her father wishes to teach her everything a son/future king would learn, especially given her grandmother was a strong and independent queen. I love that she is required to train with the guards so she can understand their thought process as well as have some self-defense skills. I also appreciate that her parents don’t care who she marries (noble or commoner) as long as the love is great and makes her a better person/ruler, fully realizing that whoever she marries won’t be the true controller of the kingdom, it will remain in her hands.

2. I appreciated that this was a short novel with mostly short chapters. There was no real fluff to try to quickly read through to get to the good stuff, it was all captivating.

3. I like that Aurora is witty and smart, as well as can hold her own in combat against the guards. She is definitely a firecracker. However, she also is shown to be depressed, unconfident, and needing to learn various skills in this first book, so she is not made out to be a Mary Sue, which is fantastic. We need to be able to see her trials and tribulations, everything she goes through and overcomes to become the great ruler she is meant to be one day.

I love that we are able to see a comparison throughout the book between the situations Aurora is put in to help her confidence grow and train her for her future role as queen compared to the confidence of the women in the self-defense group before letting them flourish with their learned techniques.

4. Above all else, Aurora genuinely cares about people and will make a great queen someday, which makes me want to continue reading her story.

5. I really enjoyed the relationship growth between Aurora and the Captain. I really hope he doesn’t get killed off in one of the other books…

6. Finally, I like the idea that there are these characters in the background that are looking to bring Aurora down, but we don’t know or see much about them. It’s a mystery I’m sure will continue throughout the series and provide anticipation.

What caused the book to not have a 5-star rating for me:
1. The pacing can be a bit jarring at times. The third-person perspective will be lost in thought on something in the current and then the next paragraph there is a time jump to a week later that isn’t really eased into as well as it could be.

2. OKAY, until I was about 35% of the way through the SECOND book, I totally thought Martin was Greene's first name. I had no clue Martin was the Captain! Maybe this was just unclear to me and/or I majorly missed something, but that makes A LOT of difference. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't realize this in book 1 so I could enjoy it more.

3. The story is so short, that I feel some character development for others is skipped over. We should see more of Greene, know more of the Captain, and more of her parents. Hoping to get more of this in the next books.

4 stars!