Darker Still follows Natalie Stewart, a young woman stricken mute by the trauma of her mother's death at the age of 4. The novel is her diary, cataloguing the events that led up to and past her falling in love with a painting. Yes, I'm not being entirely fair here, there is a supersmokingdreamymegaawesomefoxyhot man imprisoned within the portrait and it's up to Natalie to save him! 
 I liked this novel, I really did, but I'm having difficulty finding reasons why upon reflection. The characters were alright, aside from Natalie I found most to be fairly one dimensional - despite all the time spent with Denbury all I know is he's hot and wants to be a doctor, and does Maggie even have a personality really? I did find Mrs. Northe quite well built and wish I got to see more from her outside of her role as "go to spiritualist." 
 Aside from some wonderfully written scenes I found the pacing rather slow. I think this is perhaps an issue with the journal style set up; it makes sense for the character but does really break up the action to have Natalie stop and reiterate it to us half an hour later, but have the action commence like an action scene rather than a retelling. And speaking of retelling, my largest gripe with this novel is repetition. So, Natalie and Denbury have a conversation, which we get to both the conversation and Natalie's reactions/reflections upon it. Then, she tells Mrs Northe about said conversation and we get to see this conversation and Natalie's reactions/reflections about that conversation and her reflections. And then she usually writes more reflectionary material on that conversation. 
 So, I liked the writing. I thought it worked the time period well (though I think a lot would've been lost on a reader who wasn't as familiar with the Victorian Era and their ideas on spiritualism). It's a good read in the moment and Natalie is an interesting narrator. 
 2.5/5