Review: DAYBREAK by Ellen Connor

Dark Age Dawning #3
Post-Apocalyptic / Sci-Fi / Paranormal / Romance
Berkley Sensation

Penelope “Pen” Sheehan was determined to stop General O'Malley and his followers from their tyrannical rule. When her latest mission is thwarted, she is startled by the realization that she knows her “rescuer”.

Tru Daugherty is a loner whose only goal is to disrupt O'Malley as much as possible. He takes pleasure when he can with no strings attached, and he is not above using a little hero worship as he trolls for gratification.

Pen and Tru survived the beginning of the new dark ages together with the guidance of Jenna and Mason who did their best to raise and protect them, until Tru decided it was time to strike out on his own. It's been years since they've seen one another, yet they both remember the connection they shared as kids.

In the years since they've last met, much has changed. Tru learned to embrace skinwalking in his lion form, and he loved and lost big. Pen is determined to ignore her powers, afraid that if she embraces them she may lose her mind. Both are leery of any attachment, scared of the pain caused by a loss, yet Pen takes the fear of commitment to a higher level, while Tru recognizes that love is not something to be wasted.

*****

I LOVE this series, so it should come to no great surprise that I was thrilled with Pen and Tru's story. Their intense chemistry, along with the energetic plot kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed their banter and their struggles as they learned that each other was a strong person with their own life goals. And their passions sizzled up the pages as they couldn't deny what their bodies wanted.


I love how I was able to not only be sucked into Pen and Tru's storyline, but I also connected with the other characters, who were all well fleshed-out. I liked meeting Finn and his island. It was cool to see that Pen's “imaginary” childhood friend was an actual person, one who could help change their new world with some nudges in the correct direction.

I would love to see Jenna, Mason, Chris, Rosa, Pen and Tru all able to meet up. I was concerned by a few comments Pen made as to Jenna and Mason's safety-- a few times she seemed to allude to them not surviving, yet in other places she talked about wanting to be closer to them, so I was a bit confused. I loved this series so much that I really hope that the writing team that makes up Ellen Connor (Ann Aguirre and Carrie Lofty) decides to continue in this world.

Rating: 4.5