The Sweetest Dark Shana Abe Random House Publishing Group, Bantam YA fantasy, historical paranormal This book is totally gush-worthy, the best young adult fantasy I've read in a very long time, perhaps ever.  Why? Because it's heart-achingly beautiful. The prose is poetic, the words as ethereal as the girl who turns into smoke and then a dragon. The story is unique with a dreamy pace all of its own, and the characters are rich and endearing, particularly Jesse who as well as physical beauty has the beauty of a pure soul. It's a bittersweet tale, but oh, so sweet, and not the frivolous saccharine of some stories. The sweetness here is somehow soulful, the characters bearing witness to another layer of existence, not apart from our world, but hidden within, like a silken undergarment. Jesse, Lora and Armand  share an existence where stones have their own melody, boys can belong to the stars and connections between people can be so deep that they communicate without words as easily … [Read more...]