Darkroom

Books, Coffee & Passion
Darkroom had a pretty standard romance trope, perceptible just by reading the synopsis. However, Hudson and Indi were much more than a jock and a virgin. These were complex, multi layered, loving characters. It was a very refreshing story that tackled so many important topics.

Hudson was a great character. At first I though he was just a typical hockey player but Hudson wasn't typical at all. His dad was a ex NHL player, recognized basically everywhere. His family had a long tradition of hockey players that played in the NHL, literally a hockey royalty family, and Hudson was under a lot of pressure. Pressure to play in the NHL in the future, pressure to get to captain this season... To say he was stressed is an understatement.

Indi was dealing with a lot more than Hudson and that's saying something. She was struggling with her self esteem and, as a Chinese-American adoptee, with her identity. I really liked how Ruby, Indi's roommate helped her with this part of her character growth and Indi's parents were super sweet too. Indi was a strong character. She went through a lot growing up and she had some issues and fears that she needed to work out and overcome. 

Their romance was very sweet and funny and I was really rooting for these two. It was an emotional romance that had steamy and funny moments. Unfortunately, even though this story tackled a lot of important and sensitive topics, it was just too much to deal with in a short read. I just felt that we didn't get much time following Indi and Hudson's relationship because they were constantly dealing with other stuff. Also, some of the topics were really well intertwined in the story but some were underdeveloped and didn't have a satisfying resolution. It was overwhelming. The ending was also rushed, probably because so much was happening with these characters.

Overall, I enjoyed Darkroom. It was an entertaining, emotional and sweet story with great characters. I just don't think the story fulfilled its full potential.