Totally Hooked On: Nocte by Courtney Cole

Nocte (The Nocte Trilogy #1) 
By Courtney Cole 

Rating: 5+


'It wasn't the odd sketches of people with their eyes and faces and mouths scratched out, it wasn't the odd and dark poems, it was one phrase.

Put me out of my misery.

Scrawled over and over, filling up two complete pages. I've watched him like a hawk ever since. He smiles now, encouraging me to forget it, like it's just his outlet. He's fine now. 

He's fine.

If I had a journal, I'd scrawl that on the pages, over and over, to make it true.'


Sometimes two halves don't make a whole.

Eighteen year-old Calla Price is one half of the Price twins. Her other half, Finn, is crazy. 

In so many ways they're connected, practically the same person. But the worse Finn gets, the more their connection starts to become more like a noose for Calla. Calla's deep, abiding love for him is the only thing stopping her from telling their parents the whole truth. 

From showing them Finn's private journal and the terrible things scrawled between its pages.

She's his protector, his friend, his conscience. But can she save him from himself? Or will he drag her down with him?

Dare me. Love me. Break me.

Dare DuBray is Calla's lifeline. With him, she feels safer - like she's truly living, truly free for the first time in a long time. Being with him is easy. He as the ability to heal Calla, one day at a time. 

But he also has the ability to destroy her.

You can only run from your past for so long. And as Dare's past starts to catch up with him, Calla will be forced to decide between loving Dare, or saving Finn.

Secrets...everyone's got 'em. 

Laced with bitter truths and terrible secrets, Nocte is an addictive NA blend of thriller and mystery elements. Be prepared for a book that will lure you in, make you question everything, and then turn everything you think you know inside-out! 

My thoughts on the book:

First off, I just want to say this was definitely one of the stand-out reads of 2014. 

I finished it in one sitting and could not put it down! It had me hooked from the first page. And that is the mark of a truly well-written book.

And that twist...oh that twist!

For those of you who want to know what that twist was, I will offer a small hint. It was a darker version of the twist from Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park. And, funnily enough, just like Flat-Out Love I did not see it coming! I was all like:

As for the dark and handsome Dare DuBray...let's just say that all fangirls should be prepared to add Monsieur DuBray to their fictional crush list!

Not only is he totally smexy (and he knows it!) but Dare is also a massive sweetheart. Aaaaaand he's got a British accent *cue the squeals of a thousand fangirls*. 

My fave part, however, was not Mr. British Accent. It was Finn's story that he read in a book called Chicken Soup for the Grieving Soul. It's a tale about the afterlife, and it was just so beautiful that I thought I'd share it with all of you:

'Once upon a time, there was a colony of water bugs. They were a close colony, a family. Where one went, the others went. 

But every so often, one would straggle away on their own, crawl onto a lily pad, and never return. This was a great mystery to the family of water bugs. They couldn't figure out what was happening to their family members, of why they disappeared. They talked about it often, and worried about it, but they could never figure it out. 

Well, one day, another water bug climbed onto the lily pad, drawn there by invisible forces from within itself, forces it didn't understand and couldn't control. 

As it sat there in the sun, it transformed into a beautiful dragonfly. It shed its water bug skin, and sprouted iridescent wings that gleamed in the sunlight. Wings so large and strong, it was able to fly into the air, doing loops in the sky.

The new dragonfly was ecstatic with it's new body and thought to itself, 'I need to go back and tell the other. They need to know that this is what happens so they won't be scared.' So he dipped and dove through the air, directly at the water. 

But unfortunately, he couldn't dive below the surface to where the water-bugs were swimming. In his new form, the dragonfly was no longer able to communicate with his family. 

He felt at peace, though, because he knew that someday, his family would all transform too, and they'd all be together again.' 

This book was an amazing read. I'm so, so happy I made the decision to pick it up and give it a go. And I hope you all get the chance to read Nocte sometime soon and experience its magic for yourselves :)