Review: Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen

  Title: Dark Kiss
  Author: Michelle Rowen
  Publisher: Harlequin
  Publication date: May 29th 2012
  Source: NetGalley
  My rating: 2 stars

 

After reading several glowing reviews for Dark Kiss, I decided spur of the moment to make a last minute request, I was hoping to find a fun adventurous read full with snarky and enigmatic characters. But unfortunately Dark Kiss fell a long way short from my expectations.

Out one night in the up and coming club Crave with her best friend Carly, Sam’s unexpectedly approached by Stephen, she’s had crush on him for as long as she can remember, she always knew she never had a chance with him, he was hot and hung round with the popular crowd, so it comes as a bit of a surprise when she spots him in the club when he should be away in college and he insists on talking to her in private. However what was meant to be a chat turns out into a full blown make out session. And then to top it off he just leaves her there referring her to as a kid and with no explanation what so ever.

The next few days get weirder by the minute; Sam finds guys are paying attention to her more than usual, even her best friend’s ex-boyfriend! She also finds that she’s constantly hungry all the time and nothing can quench her appetite. Then she bumps into Bishop, a guy so confused he has no idea what’s going on, just that he has to complete some sort of mission. Also when Sam touches him there’s this sort of spark between them. Sam can also see these “bright lights” that Bishop was meant to see. So they decide to help each other out, Sam will lead Bishop to each “bright light” she comes across and he will help her get down to the bottom of her problem.

What I enjoyed about Dark Kiss.

Kraven (Bishop’s brother) a demon badass and probably the funniest character in the entire book. He was a proper wind-up merchant, always had a witty, snarky come back, and knew how to get under your skin. Even though Kraven was meant to be the “bad guy” as he was a demon we didn’t get to see much of that side. I think I would have liked to see more of a darker side to him.

Bishop; he was so adorable, he fell down to earth all confused with no idea how to complete his mission. He was always dedicated even though he was completely weak most of the time. I also loved the banter between him and Kraven.

What I didn’t enjoy;

The forbidden relationship between Bishop and Sam felt like insta-love. As soon as Sam saw him she just knew he was the one. I understand that she couldn’t be apart from him as her touch helped Bishop clear his thoughts, but the constant brooding about him really began to irritate me.

The meant to be surprises didn’t feel like surprises at all, I was able to guess what was going to happen before it actually did and so Dark Kiss wasn’t really an enthralling read as I’d hoped it would be. By the second half of this book, I felt I was just reading for the sake of reading, the initial enjoyment I had started off with had quickly disappeared and it soon became a draining read.

The amount of times someone referred to Sam as “special” without any elaboration as to why she was special made me want to thump someone.

By the end of the book Kraven and Bishop hugely reminded me of Stefan and Damon from the Vampire Diaries.

So overall Dark Kiss was not my cup of tea, however I think I may be in the minority as most people I know thoroughly enjoyed this book. So don’t let my review put you off from reading it. I know dedicated fans of paranormal romance would love this.

 Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the opportunity to read this book.