My Thoughts On: Ethan by P.T. Michelle

Posted February 10, 2013 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 6 Comments

Ethan by P.T. Michelle
Series: Brightest Kind of Darkness #0.5
Publish Date: January 11, 2013
Source:  Author for review – Thank you!


Ethan Harris never thought monsters and darkness would consume his daily thoughts, but every night the same visions repeat in his dreams. He’s careful to project a semblance of normalcy, keeping the suffocating darkness locked inside. As much as he wishes he could focus on girls, sports, and cars like other seventeen-year-olds; nothing distracts him from his own demons or shines through.

Until Nara Collins crosses his path. The blonde fascinates and intrigues him, giving him a measure of peace he’s never felt before.


When Ethan discovers there’s more to Nara than she allows others to see, that she might have a unique secret of her own, suddenly his world comes into focus. (from Goodreads) 


Ethan by P.T. Michelle 



My Thoughts: I’ve enjoyed the Brightest Kind of Darkness series by P.T. Michelle with each installment that has been released so far. When I discovered that the author wrote a novella from Ethan Harris’ point-of-view, I was super excited to read it. Ethan’s story has been such so interesting and mysterious in the previous books, and up until this point, each of these books were from Nara Collins’ point of view. Hooray for having the chance to get inside of Ethan’s head for a short while!


******************************************************


If you have read Brightest Kind of Darkness, you will remember that



Ethan just transferred to his new school, after being expelled from his last one. A loner, Ethan keeps to himself and spends his time drawing and listening to music rather than interacting with other people. In school, this only serves to draw the other students’ attention in a negative way and fuel the gossip machine. Despite warnings from her friends, Nara Collins is drawn to Ethan and begins to spend time with him. She finds him to be a nice guy and she feels that he is different somehow – Nara can’t quite determine why she feels this way; she only knows that she does. Ethan begins to practice soccer with Nara after school and they volunteer together at a local animal shelter, so naturally over time they begin to form a great relationship. 

In both Brightest Kind of Darkness and its follow-up, Lucid, the story has been told from Nara’s point of view. Nara is a wonderful character and I like her very much – I believe that most people probably do – but it is certainly true that Ethan is intriguing and has some amazing qualities. After two books, I feel like we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what Ethan is capable of with all of his amazing and mysterious abilities as they reveal themselves one by one. BUT…it is really nice to be able to go backwards in time just a little bit and see what he was like just before Nara Collins came into his life. 

Before Brightest Kind of Darkness


Ethan Harris is plagued with dreams – not sweet, peaceful dreams. He’s haunted by awful nightmares, visions, and voices that won’t go away and feel frighteningly real to him. Ethan feels distanced from his old friends and has practically no relationship with his parents, as they cannot and do not even try to understand the things that their son has been going through. Heck, Ethan can’t even understand what he’s been going through! He keeps everyone a safe distance away – arms length, at least – except for his brother. Ethan came to live with his brother a while ago and although it isn’t the most common arrangement for a high school-aged young man, it seems to be working out well for Ethan. 


Despite all of the inner turmoil surrounding Ethan’s never-ending nightmares and the voices he hears, he is an incredibly loving and compassionate guy. One example of this is the way in which he has a soft spot for animals. When Ethan happens upon a dog that has been injured by some mischievous trouble-making young boys, he takes the dog to a nearby animal shelter and finds comfort there within minutes. The staff of the shelter recognizes his ease around the needy animals and quickly offers him a spot with the volunteer staff, and Ethan thrives in this environment. 


The author did a great job giving readers a feel for Ethan’s personality before he ever met Nara in her previous books, but she now does an equally great job of letting us know how much Nara makes an impact on Ethan when she walks into his life. After he sees her for the first time, Ethan is immediately attracted to her – not only to her looks but to her cheery disposition and her bright smile. His feelings run deeper than just attraction, though, because Ethan feels somehow drawn to her. He feels a sense of comfort around her. Ethan cannot seem to stop thinking about her, but it is never in a creepy way at all. It seems that just being in close proximity her – in class, down the hall – calms Ethan and makes him forget the awful stuff he is dealing with, the visions that plague him, the dreams that haunt him. She makes his day brighter and cancels out all of the unpleasant stuff he has to deal with. Nara makes Ethan feel better and he wants to know her more. 


At the end of this story, the transition into the first book is amazingly seamless. Once Ethan decides he wants to know her more and an opportunity presents itself, he takes it. From there, Ethan makes the easy move into the story that becomes Brightest Kind of Darkness

******************************************************

I’m excited to know a little more about Ethan Harris – like exactly what he’s seeing in his head, what he’s hearing. I am familiar with how he has told Nara this information before, but I loved hearing Ethan talk of the vivid nightmares and the voices that plague him from his own point-of-view. Even more than that, I loved the glimpse into his personality – getting to know the Ethan that feels compassion for people and animals that are in need and for people who are less fortunate than himself. This made Ethan feel even more fully developed as a character than he already did. There has been a lot of mystery surrounding Ethan thus far and knowing a little more about him makes me happy. I’m very excited to see where P.T. Michelle takes the series from this point. 

Ethan by P.T. Michelle is a great prequel to this series. Readers do not need the information contained in this novella before they begin this series – in fact, I personally read both Brightest Kind of Darkness and Lucid before reading Ethan. However, it is there for the reading and it is great for having more insight into Ethan’s thought processes and his reasons for some of his behaviors. I recommend Ethan to fans of novellas/prequels and anyone reading the Brightest Kind of Darkness series. 

Ethan will appeal to fans of
Paranormal Romance with Mystery
Prequels/Novellas
Leading Men with cool powers and tattoos!
Ethan by P.T. Michelle 
is currently available for purchase.
The Brightest Kind of Darkness Series by P.T. Michelle includes:
Ethan #0.5
Brightest Kind of Darkness #1
Lucid #2
Destiny #3, expected release date: March 31, 2013  



You can find my thoughts on Brightest Kind of Darkness HERE
You can find my thoughts on Lucid HERE



******************************************************


At the time this blog post:
Brightest Kind of Darkness (Book #1) is FREE on Amazon,
FREE on Smashwords, and 99 cents at Barnes & Noble.
Grab it and start this series! 



******************************************************


Have you ever read Brightest Kind of Darkness? 


Do you tend to read series prequels or novellas? 
They tend to be pretty popular these days! 



Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

Divider

6 responses to “My Thoughts On: Ethan by P.T. Michelle

  1. I agree, it was so great to finally get inside of Ethan's head and find out a little more about him. Poor guy is very tortured. But I also love how compassionate he is. After missing him for much of Lucid (and being skeptical about some of his explanations for where he was), this brought me back to how much I adore him, especially with all of his edginess.

    I think the author did a good job at keeping this novella spoiler free for BKoD. But I do remember Nara talking about how he didn't like to touch people, because he absorbed their nightmares. I was really curious about learning more about what that meant. However, that wasn't really addressed in this book. It looks like DESTINY will focus on what's been going on with him and I cannot wait for that!

    And I want to know exactly how/why he acquired his musical talent. Though, I like!

    • You know, my Lucid re-read was good for me because I feel like I'm in a much better place with the story and the characters after reading it a second time. I'm wondering if I will feel the need to re-read again before Destiny? It doesn't take that long to read but it has SO MUCH inside of it that I'm scared I may have forgotten something important.

      Yes, this is a great novella, I agree. I still have so many questions about Ethan in general and even Nara, and where this is all headed. Lucid kind of made my questions probably double. 🙂

      And the guitar things? I was wondering if I had maybe missed that entirely in the first two books so I'm glad to see that I didn't – but I really like it, that he can just randomly pick up talents or habits or whatever.

      If anything, I not only got a backstory but I am anticipating Destiny even more.

  2. It's funny – I've never read this series, but just seeing what you had to say about this novella has me intrigued about what this series is all about. Novellas are always a fun addition to a series you love, but in this case, the novella served as something intriguing enough to make me want to check out a new series!

    • I love this series. I loved it from the beginning when I read Brightest Kind of Darkness. It's so different and original, how PT Michelle uses fate as a character. I've enjoyed each installment and I'm excited for book #3 that is about to come out. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Want to include a link to one of your blog posts below your comment? Enter your URL in the website field, then click the button below to get started.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.