Fantasia Reviews A Darling Secret (Strange Luck #3)

A Darling Secret by Amie Irene Winters

Genre YA Fantasy

Published 9/22/2017

Ages 14+

About the Book – A Darling Secret Is A Thrilling Conclusion To The Strange Luck Series

“Learn the fate of your favorite heroes and love-to-hate foes in the thrilling conclusion to Amie Irene Winters’ bestselling Strange Luck series.

Before the Theater of Secrets was formed, before the Nameless was built, before Daisy Darling learned of her magical bloodline, there was the Realm of the Shadow Gods—ruled by the most powerful and wicked creatures known.

For nearly two decades, Daisy’s twin sister, Rose, was held captive by the Shadow Gods and survived. Now Rose has come to find Daisy to stop their impending evil from spreading into the human world. But Rose bears a terrible secret that has the power to destroy everything.

In the devastating Realm of the Shadow Gods, dark magic holds no bounds. Daisy will risk everything to save those she loves, but will the truth finally break her?


A spine-tingling fantasy, A Darling Secret will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.” – Publisher Blurb

The Review – A Dark Horse

When we finished Strange Luck about a year ago, we could not have imagined that this was where Miss Winters was taking her series. By the end of The Nightmare Birds, we had some inklings, but still, A Darling Secret is a far cry from what we had anticipated, and we loved it. Holding nothing back, Miss Winters has become more imaginative and daring in her storytelling, building a world, slowly disarming us and allowing us to appreciate the boldness of the world that she has built. This marks the darkest entry in the series, though it is no less fantastic.

At the same time, this review is bittersweet. This is the end of the Strange Luck series, and while we may yet venture into the wonderful world again, we must say farewell for now. We have all of the usual praises, so let us get those out of the way. Miss Winters amazed us with her debut novel, Strange Luck, and while it was good, we always expect authors to improve over time. That being said, time and again, Miss Winters has exceeded expectations.

A Darling Secret Is A Darling Finale

We must admit, it is tough to write a review about a third book in a trilogy and avoid spoilers so we will keep our focus on critiquing the story from a technical and world-building perspective. In that, we have but two gripes.

First, it is the shortest book of the series, so for those who wanted to savor the final installment, it flies by much quicker than The Nightmare Birds. On top of this, the speed at which introductions are made and events unfold is sped up. Make no mistake, there is a lot going on in A Darling Secret, despite it being a shorter read. And second, this ends up creating something of a whirlwind of an experience. However, that is often the nature of final installments. Wrapping up a series can be a frenetic process, making sure loose ends are tied and that the reader is left satisfied. All in all, Miss Winters has done that here and we couldn’t be much happier.

The Rating – Solid A

We knew it would come down to this, and if you have read our reviews of the previous installments, then perhaps you did too. Though darker than its predecessors, we loved A Darling Secret. Miss Winters has always had a knack for setting a convincing stage, and this work is no exception. Then she takes it a step further, twisting the whole thing about and giving us something of a surprise, demonstrating more than just her world-building, but her ability to tell a darn good story. We said this review is bittersweet for us, and it is. But while we must say goodbye to Daisy, we know that Miss Winters will not be going anywhere. We look forward to seeing what she does next and reading the next amazing story she has to tell.

If you want to read A Darling Secret, and the rest of the books, you should pick up the entire series on Amazon. You can do that here.