Nightfall by Ellen Connor

Hey everyone,

Today I’m going to review Nightfall by Ellen Connor, an apocalyptic romance book that I’ve had on my to-be-read pile for far too long. I love dystopian romance books so I went in with high expectations, particularly as this one seemed to have an unusual twist on the sub-genre.

The book:

Growing up with an unstable, often absent father who preached about the end of the world, Jenna never thought in her wildest nightmares that his predictions would come true. Or that he would have a plan in place to save her--one that includes the strong, stoic man who kidnaps and takes her to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest.

The mysterious ex-soldier named Mason owes a life-debt to Jenna's father. Skilled and steadfast, he's ready for the prophesied Change, but Jenna proves tough to convince. Until the power grid collapses and mutant dogs attack--vicious things that reek of nature gone wrong.

When five strangers appear, desperate to escape the bloodthirsty packs, Jenna defies her protector and rescues them. As technology fails and the old world falls away, Jenna changes too, forever altered by supernatural forces. To fight for their future, she and Mason must learn to trust their instinctive passion--a flame that will see them through the bitter winter, the endless nights, and the violence of a new Dark Age.

My thoughts:

My feelings are divided over Nightfall because some aspects I loved and thought were amazing, but unfortunately other parts I couldn’t stand.

Starting with the positive, I loved the world building and the concept behind the world that Ellen Connor created. It was so atmospheric and spooky, particularly the dog/wolf/human creatures. Seriously they terrified me. The descriptions of these mutant creatures were seriously disturbing; this combined with their savage, animalistic yet oddly human behaviour was seriously creepy.

‘Edna wasn’t a person anymore. She looked inside out. And that wasn’t even the worst. New limbs protruded from her torso, covered in fine black hair. They all flailed in unison, and her round middle bloated further beneath his horrified gaze’

I also thought it was really clever how the whole world didn’t fall into chaos all at once, instead slowly spreading across the different continents. I felt this gradual spread into the ‘Dark Age’ worked really well with the type of apocalypse being described as it wasn’t based on a huge climatic shift. Instead the apocalypse was described as something that had been building for a while beneath the surface.

Another aspect of Nightfall that I really enjoyed was the character of Tru or Midnight. He’s a surly gothic teenager whose been neglected by his drug addict mother for most of his childhood. As such he’s use to looking after himself and even an apocalypse isn’t going to beat him. Yet at the same time he was vulnerable, scared and lost. He was by far my favourite character and I loved the time when we saw the world from his POV.

‘Were things going to be weird after that kiss? She didn’t want it to be. It shouldn’t be. Just a gut reaction, the whole affirmation-of-life thing’ 

Now onto what I didn’t like. Mason and Jenna. At the beginning I had no problem with them, I thought Mason was a little cold and Jenna slightly stubborn and selfish but not massively given the situation. Yet as the plot developed I found myself becoming completely disinterested in their relationship. I didn’t feel a connection between them and the constant bickering, back and forth just got boring.

I would have loved this book if it had a different hero and heroine, or perhaps if it haven’t included a romantic element at all. And a long-time lover of romance books that is saying something! Therefore I've given Nightfall two stars.

My rating:

Happy reading and see you next time!