Thank you for providing me with a free audiobook version of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I liked the narrators and the twist at the end was great, but overall I felt like the story could have been done much better. Maybe it would have been better if I read the book instead of listening, but I doubt it.

Overdone story with not enough umph to make it stand apart.

This was a great dark, twisty read. Loved Madi and Theo's narration. While I guessed the plot twist very early, I still enjoyed the characters and unique story.

I really like this one. I liked the eerie spooky feel of the story. I found it to be a very interesting story. The plot twist at the end was a surprise to me to. I was like Whoa, what it going on. I did listen to the audio from net galley. I did not like what they did for the male voices. It sounded like a voice disguiser like from the movie Scream or something.

I unfortunately DNFed this book at 25%. I really struggled with the narration and the dramatic changes between each of the narrations within a single sentence. I think I will avoid audiobooks written like this in the future.

While this story did have an interesting twist at the end, the rest of the book felt rushed for basically everything.

I listened to this via audiobook and it might have a higher rating if I had read it instead. Madison Mitts' voicing of FMC Millie was weirdly breathy and had odd emphasis on certain words in sentences which made the entire book sound salacious and was horribly distracting. Theodore Zephyr's voicing of MMC Callum made him sound like an old man which made the spicy and romantic scenes pretty ick for me. Theodore also voiced some other characters in the book and they didn't sound nearly as bad, so it was a disappointment that the MMC sounded awful.

It felt like the paranormal scenes were blown through quickly and could have used more expansion so they actually felt creepier, but I did like what they had in there. Made it intriguing to discover what was happening. I definitely didn't expect some of the stuff that happened in the end.

Read if you love:
-Professor x assistant
-Gothic romance
-Mystery
-Spice
-Haunted house

Thank you to NetGalley for this free copy of the audiobook after the book had published. My thoughts are entirely my own.

Plot: A young woman takes a job as an assistant to a professor. She’s had a difficult past and is being haunted in her present in her new home where she works. She is given warnings to leave, but stays because of her attraction to her employer.
Themes: unclear
Characters: It felt hard to care very much about the characters. I don’t really feel like I got to know any of them.
Writing: The writing was pretty good. The book was atmospheric. The strength of the writing was in the descriptions of the places and observations of the characters rather than in their dialogue. The book was moody with some horror elements. I felt like it wasn’t very engaging until the last 15%
Audio: The quality of this audiobook was okay. It was a duet style audiobook and it was patchy in some places.

"The Cruel Dark"by Bea North is a gothic thriller. It is very atmospheric and spooky. I liked this book way more than I anticipated.

In 1928, in New England, the Willowfield Estate fell into disrepair after a tragedy befell the previous wife of Callum Hughes. Millicent was hired to be the assistant to Professor Hughes because of her knowledge of languages and mythology. She discovers a journal that belonged to the first wife, and she is concerned and intrigued. She also sees ghosts in the place. There are some super spicy scenes in this book.

The descriptions are extremely well written! I enjoyed the narration by Madison Mitts and Theodore Zephyr. His deep voice worked well for the voice of Callum.

Characters - 5/5
Writing - 5/5
Plot - 5/5
Pacing - 4/5
Unputdownability - 4/5
Enjoyment - 4/5
Narration - 5/5
Cover - 3/5
Overall - 35/8 = 4 3/8
Rounded down to 4 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op, and Bea North for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

A wonderfully dark and chilling gothic novell. Better than any scary movie you will ever watch.

The only negative I can say about it is the male narration. There was just something about the deepness of the voice that made it feel more like a caricature than a believable character

The Cruel Dark is a guilty pleasure if ever there was one. Chock full of all sorts of good things - a haunted house, ghostly moans and frightening apparitions, a tormented but deliciously handsome - and devilish - lord of the manor, and a pretty little thing who comes to work for said lord.

As it turns out she has a little more backbone than the average assistant, and the chemistry between them is rife. There are a few things I found puzzling, that could have been handled a little better, but all in all I enjoyed it.

Fair warning, it is NOT for the prudish or the very young, so if you are listening to the audio, as I did (good job, by the way!), keep little ears well away.

Three and a half stars!

4.5 stars!
This book was so so good! I finished it in one sitting! I loved how the book started and it was going well, but the middle was a tad confusing and I didn't fully understand a couple of things but continued to read because I liked the premise, the characters, and the suspense. It kept me positively hooked and was fast paced. But around the ending, I thought I had everything predicted but nope, in those last two chapters I was mind blown! Everything made sense then and the ending was amazing! Definitely worth a read!
The story follows Millie who begins to work as an assistant to a reclusive professor, Hughes to organise his notes and help with his research on folklore and mythical creatures. During this time, she comes across many strange and suspicious things surrounding his late wife's death. Inspite of this she can't help but be swayed by him.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

If you’re looking for a fun, dramatic and smutty read with Jane Eyre vibes, this is for you. Utterly compelling and very enjoyable. And I say this as someone who would not normally read this sort of book.

𝟺.𝟻 ⭐️
ᴀᴜᴅɪᴏ:𝟻⭐️

-ɢᴏᴛʜɪᴄ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ
-sʟᴏᴡ ʙᴜʀɴ
-sᴘɪᴄʏ
-sɪɴɪsᴛᴇʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛ
-ʜɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ

“𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈, 𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑒𝓉 𝒻𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓈𝓎 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝑒. 𝐸𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓀, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝓊𝑒𝓁 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀.”

ᴍʏsᴛᴇʀʏ. ᴅᴀʀᴋ sᴇᴄʀᴇᴛs. ʜᴀᴜɴᴛᴇᴅ ɢᴏᴛʜɪᴄ ᴍᴀɴᴏʀ. ᴄᴇʟᴛɪᴄ ғᴏʟᴋʟᴏʀᴇ. ᴍʏ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜɪs ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴀ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ ᴍᴏɴᴛʜs ᴀɢᴏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡs ᴀʀᴇ ᴏɴ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ! ᴛʜᴇ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀs ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ɪs ᴘʜᴇɴᴏᴍᴇɴᴀʟ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ sᴘᴏᴏᴋʏ ᴀᴛᴍᴏsᴘʜᴇʀᴇ . ɪ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴀɴ ɪᴅᴇᴀ ᴏғ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ɴᴏᴛ sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛᴡɪsᴛ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ!

ᴍᴀᴅɪsᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴏᴅᴏʀᴇ ᴅɪᴅ ᴀɴ ᴀᴍᴀᴢɪɴɢ ᴊᴏʙ ɴᴀʀʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʀɪɴɢɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴏ ʟɪғᴇ. ɪ ʜɪɢʜʟʏ ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅ ᴘɪᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ᴏɴᴇ ᴜᴘ !

This was a fun gothic romance read for someone who is in the mood for an atmospheric tale. Well performed as an audiobook, probably a more exciting read for myself in this format. If you're on the fence about the genre, for sure pick up the audio. A nice twist in the tale but no spoilers here.

I swear I am not great at guessing endings. I swear! But every time there's a book that tries to do a twist, I know it from like page 3. I don't know how, or why, but for some reason I can spot them in books a MILE away.

So, no, this did not shock me at the end.

THAT. BEING. SAID.

This was a blast. Weird, creepy, ghostly. It had big The Haunting of Bly Manor vibes to it and the whole time it's like, oh who do we trust, who do we not trust, can we trust ourselves??

Millie has taken a job at a creepy old mansion to assist a professor. It's like 1928, so she has to hide the fact that she previously was in a mental asylum and cannot remember like 4 years of her life. When she gets the the mansion, everyone is nice, but also not nice...it depends on the day really. And pretty quickly she starts to experience visions of ghosts. She thinks they're of the former lady of the house, but what is she trying to tell her?

She's trying to not lose her mind, or maybe it's already lost, all while slowly falling for the dashing, brooding, widower of a professor.

There's quite a bit of spice in this book, so get ready for that.

All in all, this was an interesting, fun, and quick listen.

So this book was so much more than I expected, but also I'm still processing everything and not sure what I just read, lol. That's what I get for going in blind for a gothic historical romance.

I liked the spooky, gothic, ghostie vibes, but just didn’t connect with the romance. It felt very rushed to me. Like at one point I was literally thinking “omg when the heck is the romance happening, idk if they have really interacted?!" Then like 0.5 seconds later, they started banging , and all the ‘drama’ with the ex-wife seemed so weird, like, why did Millie not really care about the professor and his wifes story at all?! They the side characters all were more interesting to me than the main couple.

But I did enjoy the ending! The last 35% of the book was so exciting and I couldn't stop listening because so much unraveled so quickly.

Reading the other reviews for this book, I may be the outcast by enjoying both of our narrators. I loved the accents used, and while Madison's bedroom voice could have been different for other points, I still really enjoyed her work.

Final Rating: 3.75⭐, 2.5🌶️

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editting Co-Op for an ALC/ eARC of Cruel Dark, by Bea Northwick (narrated by Madison Mitts and Theodore Zephyr). This is my honest and unpaid review!

The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick and narrated by Madison Mitts and Theodore Zephyr is a deliciously dark gothic novel based in 1928

Madison Mitt was a great choice for this novel and matched the era and writing flow perfectly. I had difficulty consolidating Theodore Zephyr's narration production settings with this particular title as although a competent performance, did not quite mesh for my taste.

The story follows Millicent Foxboro as she starts a new job in a manor where things are not as they seem. There was a lot more to this novel than I was expecting and as such, I will likely get the eBook to go through it again. The writing was awesome, the storytelling and character development was on point, there was just that one tiny aspect of the audiobook that didn't quite work for me in the landscape of a very good novel

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, Bea Northwick and the narrators for this ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

"The Cruel Dark" by Bea Northwick is a twisty gothic romance that totally hooked me! Set in 1928, it follows Millie, who moves to a creepy estate and uncovers dark secrets with her mysterious employer, Professor Hughes. The setting is eerie, and the plot has some surprising twists, even if it drags a bit in the middle. The romance is hot and adds a lot to the story. Overall, it's a fun, spooky read for gothic romance fans!

5/5 stars
Thank you to the author and netgalley for my ALC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

The story was a bit spicier than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the story. It took an amazing twist at the end. I would love to read more from this author. The narrators also did amazing with the characters.

I was bothered by the narrators voice so much that I couldn’t finish this. I will try rereading it as an ebook.

WHAT ON EARTH WAS THIS AUDIO BOOK

I can't get into the book itself before addressing my main issue here, even before the pseudo-gothic plot or the barely-researched historical setting: What what what happened to the male audio narrator? I listened to this until the very end to make sure I had not misunderstood, because for a good while I thought the female narrator used editing to deepen her voice and speak all of the available roles, but I checked and there is a male narrator. And his voice was artificially distorted in order to deepen it for almost every single role he took up, but especially for the MLI, to the point where I thought my audio file was damaged. For real, that didn't sound like a "sexy male voice" anymore, that sounded like a bug flying into my ear. Whose idea was that???

Not that the female narrator served up a brilliant performance, exactly... her breathy bedroom voice was used for every single scene. Even for descriptions of a cup of tea. I wanted to scream.

To keep the rest short: The historical setting is interchangeable, the writer pretends the automobile was an entirely new invention in 1928, the diaries of a dead woman are mostly ignored for the sake of fast-paced smut, no mansion looks like that, the romance is a case for HR, the villain has the flimsiest of motives, and only the little twist at the end could be called a saving grace for this plot, if at all.

But even ignoring all that... an average rating of 4,2 stars? Alright. I could be very generous and return my third star to the rating, but the audio mess just goes against all of my believes. Two stars, go home.