Maybe a 3.5 
 I've never read anything by J.J. McAvoy before but this cover caught my attention and I was pulled even further in by the book blurb. 
 There's a lot that is typical about Black Rainbow in this kind of story. I was happy that there was a lot less angst in the relationship between Levi and Thea than what I expected. In fact, for every time something predictable happened within the story, there were at least equal (if not close to equal) number of times J.J. McAvoy took a path I didn't really expect but seemed very natural. I think that's why it was such a compulsion read. I wanted to find out where Thea and Levi ended up. 
 They both have complicated lives (past and present) and of course those things make way into their forming relationship but it doesn't seem to really influence the way they are with each other. Even, at first, when the obligatory "we can't see each other, you're my teacher" comes in to play neither Levi or Thea use that as an excuse to act vindictive towards the other. This had very few cringe-worthy scenes in it. 
 It is a book, however, where you will need to suspend your disbelief at a few parts. A good example that I keep thinking about is the complete surprise that Thea gets when it turns out Levi is her teacher. She learns his name during that initial week they spend together. At that point she knows she's going to law school and I would hope a week before classes start that she has her class list and I'm sure that class list has her teacher's name on it and with how Mr Levi Black has been teaching at said school for a number of years at this point, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be as surprising as all that. 
 That is one example and there are other minor ones as well that, like I said, could bring the book down, but I don't want to do that. Because when all is said and done Black Rainbow was an enjoyable read for me. I let go of any inaccuracies, and I'm ok with that. I really liked all the characters despite the flaws. There are not many books where at least one character doesn't get on my nerves, but Black Rainbow did a good job with it. 
 It's one of the things I love most about reading. You just never know how you'll react to the words on the page. I always love going into a book with little to no expectations and ending up really liking it.