Title: Dark Kiss
Author: Michelle Rowen
Series: Nightwatchers, book 1
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: Review copy from publisher
Format: E-book
“I don't do dangerous.
Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha—that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me, something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing—and I don't know if I can get it back.
Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me.”
Dark Kiss is
the first installment in the
Nightwatchers series by Michelle Rowen.
Samantha
(Sam) is your normal teenager with some personal issues due to her parents’
divorce and feeling of abandonment as a result of the divorce.
Sam
couldn’t believe her luck the night Stephen Keyes, her crush of all her life
wanted to kiss her. Little did she know that that kiss would change her drastically,
Stephen not only made her dream come true, he also stole her soul with his
kiss, turning her into a Grey, a being who needs to steal souls by kissing
others to survive.
After
the serious amounts of new Greys in Trinity, New York, Heaven and Hell are
forced to unite their fronts to control this new threat, they send a team of
two angels and two demons to investigate who is behind the new creations of
Greys and to manage the situation. Bishop is the angel in charge of the
mission, next to Zach (angel), Kraven and Roth (demons) will have to control
the Greys and find their “maker” before it’s too late.
What
Bishop wasn’t expecting are the complications he is experiencing in Trinity,
nor the attraction he is feeling for Sam, a Grey that should be his enemy,
instead she is the only person that can help him with his mission.
While
I enjoyed reading Dark Kiss I had
some problems with it. The main problem was that I couldn’t connect or like the
main characters and when you don’t like the main characters you know you have a
problem.
Sam
(was very special) had a very wishy-washy personality and her decisions let too
much to be desired (even though she was special). The only thing I liked about
her was (apart for being special) that she didn’t panic when she learned she
had lost her soul but (as a special person) tried to look for answers and a
solution. The rest of the time (when she wasn’t special) I wanted to shake her
a little bit (to make her special). She was better (and special) by the end but
it was not enough for me to like her (despite being special).
You
may be thinking I lost my “special” mind but don’t worry, I’m still “sane”, I
just wanted you to feel what I felt while reading this book, I don’t know how
many times it was said that Sam was “special”, but I can guarantee you it was
many more times than what I used in that paragraph… Did I tell you she was
special?
Now
let’s talk about Bishop. He is dreamy and a tortured hero, we all love those
but… the problem I have with him is that I don’t know much about him, ok, I
know he is an angel with a turbulent past and issues in the present, but from
that past we don’t know much, just minor glimpses that didn’t help me to learn
who he was or to make a real connection to him.
Another
problem I had was their insta-love connection, apart from that there was not a
real connection between them, I didn’t see or feel why they like each other.
There was nothing that would have made me believe their relationship was real
and lasting.
From
the secondary characters I liked half of them the other half I could have done
without them. Sam’s best-friend Carly was annoying and stupid; she kind of
redeem herself at the end but it was a little too late. Roth was another one
that didn’t anything to the story. Zach was a nice character; he brought the
soft side of the angels and made me want to learn more about him.
Now
my favorite character, the one that stole the show was the demon Kraven, he was
the more complex and interesting of the characters and the one that made the
story a better one. He not only brought the laughs to the pages but also the
deep moments.
Don’t
take me wrong, despite of what I didn’t like I enjoyed Dark Kiss. If you don’t take in consideration the repetitiveness of
certain (small) things the writing was fluid and entangling.
The
ending was not a cliffhanger but one that ensures there is more to come and
what is coming won’t be easy or nice.
Dark Kiss reminded me a
lot of the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent and Vampire Diaries by L.J.
Smith, if you like those series you may like this one.
Due
to my inability to connect with its main characters I don’t think I’ll continue
with this series. I’m not sure Dark Kiss
would be appealing to adult audiences but I’m sure it’ll be to YA.
My Verdict: 3 Paws
Other books in this series
Dark
Kiss
Wicked
Kiss (TBA)