A Lisa Jewell novel is always a dead cert for me. This time, Lisa has teamed up with none other than Disney in order to write a crime novel based on a lesser known Marvel star, Jessica Jones. I'm not very big into the Marvel universe so I had to google to check out who the characters were. It also meant I was missing some of the backstory but none of that seemed to matter. I found the crime/paranormal mix a bit strange at first but at half way through this book becomes a typical Jewell, with a fast, exciting pace, plot twists and that incredible moment when it all comes together. That was when I struggled to put it down and just devoured the remainder of the book!
I'll be honest, I think if you're not a huge fan of Marvel and a big fan of Jewell, this book might be a bit hit or miss for you. However, if you love super heroes or you're really into Marvel then this book will be everything you want. I really enjoyed getting to know Jessica and seeing her character grow. I really loved the two stories, Jessica's mysterious case and the back story of a a seemingly random, weird family, and how they slowly blended together, revealing all those twists you wonder about. There was a great collection of side characters too.
I think Jewell was really brave coming out of her comfort zone in order to write this and I enjoyed it a lot. It's not my favourite by this author, but this a solid, exciting ride.
Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for providing an arc in return for an honest review.

Did I realise this book was about superheroes. Absolutely not but boy did I enjoy it. Unusual thrilling and completely absorbing. I had to force myself to put it down. Thank you netgalley for the advance copy

I am still unsure of what I think about this book if I am being honest! It took me quite a while to get into this book - I found it really slow compared to Lisa Jewell's usual writing style! I do think that if Marvel fans read this then they will definitely enjoy it more than I did but I just found the whole thing a little bizarre for me! 🙈 it did definitely pick up around 60% and the story did begin to make sense and I did enjoy it towards the end! I do think I would still recommend this but primarily to Marvel fans! 😊

On a side note - I had more issues with NetGalley and the formatting which I do also think is a contributing factor to this book as I had to move to a different device as the formatting did not transfer across AGAIN! 😔

Thank-you to NetGalley and @randomhouse for this book in exchange for an honest review 🥰

Lisa Jewell and Jessica Jones? Of course, I am reading it! And I loved it! Breaking the Dark is a suspenseful and immersive novel and it kept me on the edge until the end.

Still haunted by past events, Jessica Jones is getting on with her life, and trying to avoid alcohol, and her job as a private investigator, when a most unusual case lands on her lap. Amber Randall is the worried mother of two teenage twins. After spending a month in the summer in the UK with their father, they have returned to New York differently. Differently as in where once their skin was marked by spots is now flawless, perfect. Their tics are gone, their eyes seem vacant and their mind is often somewhere else. Amber is not sure who returned from the UK, but certainly not the children who had left a month before and she wants Jessica Jones to find out what happened.

Set between New York and the English countryside, Breaking the Dark is not the typical Lisa Jewell novels. Set in the Marvel world, here everything is possible: there are superheroes, vampires, and a villain so obsessed with perfection and popularity that would do anything to get what she wants, including kidnapping and murder. If you are not familiar with Jessica Jones, her past, which has left her emotional scars and at times vulnerable, is slowly revealed while her future promises a few unexpected surprises.

The plot is gripping, twisty, and intriguing and the author’s writing is, as usual, exceptional. Breaking the Dark is a brilliant read, even if you are not a Marvel fan, and I am already looking forward to reading the other two books in the series (Luke Cage and Daredevil)!

I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell, not so much Marvel but this book may well have changed my opinion. Jessica Jones has retired as a superhero following a traumatic incident in her past. Now working as a private detective in New York, she is asked to investigate the unexplained changes that occurred to teenage twins, Lark and Fox following their summer at their father’s home in England. As the story develops, Jessica travels to Essex and becomes the victim herself.
Lisa Jewell always creates riveting novels with fascinating characters that make reading her books completely immersive. This feels like the start of a series of books and I look forward to reading more.

I’m always happy to read a new Lisa Jewell book, and this was even more interesting. I know nothing of the world of Marvel Comics, and superheroes, but always enjoy a book with a magic/fantasy element.
Jessica Jones is a retired, failed, superhero fallen on hard times, and working as a private investigator in New York. She is also a fully-formed human, with her own problems.
She is asked to solve the case of twins who have recently returned from a small village in England, and are strangely changed. In England she encounters some truly odd people who seem to hold the key to the change in the twins.
The book addresses a lot of issues that teenagers face at the moment, social media pressure to look good, conform, but in a very accessible way.
Via flashbacks we find witches, vampires, and a genius scientist and a story that keeps you guessing to the end.
I wasn’t sure about the target audience, it felt a little too mature to be YA, but maybe that’s the Marvel universe. I certainly enjoyed it as a one-off, but it didn’t tempt me to delve further.

Thanks to Netgalley and Cornerstone Penguin Random House UK for the opportunity to read this book.

Having rediscovered Lisa Jewell's writing recently I was keen to read and review this one. So I come to this book as a Lisa Jewell fan rather than a Marvel enthusiast. I must say that I did rather like Jewell's take on Jessica Jones. The story does flit between a few different time periods and there are a few important characters that you need to keep track of. However it is an engrossing story.

It has a good dig at social media and the idea of being 'perfect'. I thought Jewell handled the topic with care. It was a book that I devoured and had trouble putting down.

I am not a Marvel fan particularly but as it was written by Lisa Jewell I wasn’t going to miss out. It took me a couple of chapters to get into but once I did I was reading at speed. This book is well written as always and I did enjoy the sci fi element. This isn’t Lisa’s usual book style but give it a chance it is well worth it.

I love Lisa Jewell, I have read about 90% of the books she has on offer and 100% of the thrillers she has written. So when I applied via netgally and got approved for the ARC of this book I literally screamed. Not only do love devour any Lisa Jewell thriller but I also think of myself as big Marvel fan. I realise now however that I was slightly hindered by being a fake Marvel fan and only watching the TV shows... as there was a lot to this that linked to the graphic novels. All that said, I loved this book once I got my head around the mix of the two genres. Lisa Jewell can do no wrong in my eyes and this was fast paced, funny, shocking and gripping. Feeling very lucky to have read it early but very sad it now means I have to wait for her next book!!!

Did I go into this book blind? Yep, I sure did.

Did I realise it had supernatural and Sci fi elements? Nope, I did not.

Do I like Marvel? No, not particularly.

Did I love this book? Oh yes!

I'm not a Marvel fan, and had I realised this was connected to Marvel, I probably wouldn't have requested it. Boy, would I have missed out on a great book though!

I couldn't put this book down, I needed to know what was happening to Lark and Fox. Now, I could be alone but I find Lisa Jewells books are sometimes slow burners so I was expecting this to be the same and I was pleasently surprised to find it wasn't. This book had my attention immediately, it was fast paced and so unique!

I loved that this wasn't just the book version of a Marvel movie. It was an imaginative Lisa Jewell book which just happened to be centred on a well loved Marvel character.

I would highly recommend this book.

I rated it 5 stars and it deserves every star - just fantastic!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

When I requested this book, I didn’t read the synopsis, just saw it was by one of my favourite authors. I’m not a Marvel fan, so came to the world of Jessica Jones all fresh and ready to learn. I have to be honest, it’s a great story and told really well. By the end, I would like to spend more time with the heroine, as, unlike some superheroes, she has many flaws.

Jessica Jones getting the spotlight she so thoroughly deserves in this new title from Lisa Jewell. Dark, mysterious and thrilling on every page.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

have to say i do struggle a bit with marvel and i was very unsure where this book was going... but its lisa jewell so its going to be well written its just its not my sort of thing...

well developed characters though...

Lisa Jewell contributes the first in what is a dark. fantastical mystery series set in the Marvel universe featuring traumatised retired crime super hero, Jessica Jones, with her incredible powers. I should state that I have never watched anything in the Marvel world, know nothing of Jones, nor seen the Netflix series starring Jones either. I am coming into this blind, aware this will require a huge suspension of disbelief, a leap of faith, but I am familiar with the author and her work which I hope will help and is what made me choose to read this.

In New York's Hell's Kitchen, Jones is struggling to get by on a day to day basis when she is approached by Amber Randall, a mother of teen twin boys, worried about the change in her boys after a visit to their father in Britain, they have oddly become physically flawless, creepily perfect in every way, having lost their distinctly different personality characteristics. Jones is drawn into this bizarre case, wanting to investigate, travelling to England, and the small place of Barton Wallop, meeting the strange Belle, who has a guardian, eventually we learn more about what is really happening. However, this is a chaotic and often abrupt narrative that challenges and confuses, although there are times when it engaged, becoming entertaining and fun with its well written prose.

What is the darkness that Jones must fight? Fans of the Marvel universe are likely to enjoy this, the first of a thriller series, it helps if you can easily drop your sense of disbelief. For me, this was a mixed bag, it frustrated but did have me fascinated in a world that was new to me. One of the writer's in this new series is SA Cosby, I cannot wait to read that! Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

Anything Lisa jewell writes I will read! Although this was definitely very different from her usual style, I still had fun.

It is a story about Jessica jones who is a big marvel character. I know nothing about marvel which I don’t think matters to read this book!

I found the first half to be a bit slow but then the action kicked off and I was gripped. Very good, but also very different from her other work.

The first 30% of this book, I wasn't sure. I struggled to connect with it and I think I was looking for Lisa Jewell's usual style which seemed to be missing. Once I got over that and kind of tried to see the book for what it was I loved it.

Was it a Lisa Jewell classic, no. Did I still have a great time, yes.

The premise of this book is what did it for me more so than the characters or the writing I think. It gave me Rouge by Mona Awad and Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang vibes without being pretentious or weird lit vibes.

That being said, I do think the premise will be hit or miss with a lot of Lisa Jewell's regular readers, especially her older readers however props to Lisa Jewell for stepping out of her comfort zone!!

Overall I would say read this book but don't RUN for it!

I was a little worried if I would enjoy this book as I’m not a huge Marvel fan. However, I love Lisa Jewell and her writing style still came through clearly in this book. I was quickly engrossed in the plot and characters. A great read and one that I’d highly recommend for true Marvel fans.

Initially hesitant after reading the description of "Breaking the Dark," I was uncertain about enjoying it since it diverged from my usual reading preferences. However, I decided to delve in, and to my delight, I found myself engrossed. The book boasts an engaging storyline that had me rapidly turning pages, alongside a cast of intriguing characters that piqued my curiosity - A great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my ARC.

I was unsure whether I’d like this, not because of the way it was written but because I’ve previously not got on with marvel/fantasy/superhero books or even the tv series. I thought I’d give this a go because it’s crime and investigation as well and that’s right up my street.

As always Lisa Jewell has absolutely perfected the writing, so easy to read and follow. The cues to what year you’re reading about helps half way through chapters.

Jessica jones is a private investigator with her own problems. She lives in a run down flat and employs a teenager to be her mini side kick. Is she in a relationship with Luke Cage or isn’t she? Is she pregnant? Is she a functioning alcoholic? Has she suffered that much trauma she’s broken? Jessica thought she was until she met Amber, who desperately needed Jessica and her investigation skills and super powers. Apprehensive about the case because there was little to no evidence to follow at first, but of course it was no match for Jessica. She soon follows trails and ends up in the UK. Posing as a journalist she investigates until she’s caught up and taken back to her traumatic experiences. She faces her demons and gets the case solved, as we know she would! Strong female essence!!

The story shows how despite Jessica’s own troubles and thoughts about being broken, she manages to help a mother in need whilst discovering she’s going to have her own child. She proves to herself that she’s good enough to be a mum and can do anything she sets her mind to. Lisa Jewell brings Jessica’s child into the story throughout in the disguise of a 5 year old who guides her and shows her that she’ll be okay. That this child is exactly what she needs.

I’m interested to carry on the series and see what else Jessica has to offer! Loving the crime investigation and fantasy mix!!

Thanks for letting me review on NetGalley!

Really enjoyed the combination of Lisa Jewell and Jessica Jones. I was worried I wouldn’t remember enough about Jessica Jones but the way Lisa has written it means you don’t have to know Jessica’s story already! Really action packed and had me dying to know the ending. Giving 4 stars as there weren’t enough shockers for me as I’d guessed what was coming up more than I’d like, but still really recommend.
Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy :)