Author: Michelle Rowen
Series: Nightwatchers Book 2
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, Romance, Aventure Teen and Young Adult
Length: 452 pages
Publisher: Harlequin
Date of Publication: 26th of February
***WARNING THIS POST MAY CONTAIN UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS***
MY KISS CAN KILL.
I used to be ordinary Samantha Day, but that's changed. Now, after one dark kiss from a dangerous boy, I can steal someone's soul...or their life. If I give in to the constant hunger inside me, I hurt anyone I kiss. If I don't...I hurt myself.Bishop is the one whose kiss I crave most, but if I kiss him, I'll kill him. Then there's another boy, one I can't hurt. One whose kiss seems to miraculously quell my hunger. They're both part of a team of angels and demons that's joined forces in my city to fight a mysterious rising darkness, an evil that threatens everyone I know and love. I just wonder if I'll be able to help Bishop-or if I'm just another part of the darkness he's sworn to destroy....
Review
Wicked Kiss by Michelle Rowen picks up shortly after the ending of Dark Kiss, therefore ensuring that nothing is missed and that the reader has little/no catching up to do.
Although it may appear to be a minor detail, and an underestimated one at that, I much appreciated Michelle Rowen's additional information about each character as a small reminder of who they are and hinting at what had previously happened. Given that I'd read Dark Kiss quite a while ago, it was rather nice to help jog my memory.
I had enjoyed Dark Kiss but in all honesty not as much as I'd hoped. The synopsis had sounded so enticing and the plot so clever that I ended up setting high expectations for it. Dark kiss revealed itself to be a good read, but without quite reaching the slightly higher bar I had set. But nevertheless I looked forward to its sequel and when it became available to request prior to publication I made sure to raise my hand along with everyone else.
Wicked Kiss proved itself to be different and better, as Michelle Rowen stepped up her game to deliver a very good sequel.
When I last left Sam and several others had literally become soul-sucking creatures: Gray. Unlike most though Sam withheld some control but also acquired a special craving for a soul that is even more beyond the limits than all the others. Why? Because it belongs to Bishop, an angel sent from heaven to lead a team of angels and demons to save the world from the Hollow. A black hole used as a dumping ground by both Heaven and Hell for unwanted underlings, that has begun to malfunction.
Now not only are Grays multiplying left right and centre but they're also getting stronger and impossible to defeat by even the powerful team of angels and demons. And as if that weren't enough of a problem teens are committing unexplained suicides. Bishop is increasingly losing control of his mind and can count less and less on Sam to cleanse his thoughts as her hunger for his soul grows exponentially. Not enough? Well add a new memeber, a secret mission and a demon brother who is still holding a hundred year old grudge, and what do you have? An absolute utter mess that our poor characters have to solve before the world ends up in a Hollow that isn't answering to the laws of the universe but is maybe answering to something else.
Wicked Kiss was fast like Dark Kiss, but unlike it's predecessor it was speedy but not excessively to the point that events felt too rushed. The short time frame that the characters were working with was well communicated through the almost desperate pace at which the sequence of events occurred.
When reading this sequel I really felt as though Michelle Rowen had taken it to a new level. The plot and twists were great, and the narration style and story outline allowed for an overall telling of Wicked Kiss that was subtle and clever, delivering all the information without me knowing it. For well over 3/4 of the novel Michelle Rowen had me and her characters completely going round in circles without a clue of what was going on and desperate for even the faintest flicker of the light of hope. It felt like all the clues were there and yet they weren't there. The conclusions we all kept coming to were logical and obvious but made no sense in the grand scheme of things but then again they also didn't. Hence the cleverness of Michelle Rowen's sequel.
Overall I definitely felt this was an improvement and a great sequel to Dark Kiss, delivering and touching on what Dark Kiss hadn't and more. I will most certainly be keeping an eye out for more from Michelle Rowen.
If you liked this and would like some more dark paranormal adventure and romance then I would suggest looking at Falling Under by Gwen Hayes, Existence by Abbi Glines and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. I would also recommend reading The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson and Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Although these are more of the mystery kind and are more complex reads then those mentioned earlier, they are absolutely great books I strongly advise reading.
When I last left Sam and several others had literally become soul-sucking creatures: Gray. Unlike most though Sam withheld some control but also acquired a special craving for a soul that is even more beyond the limits than all the others. Why? Because it belongs to Bishop, an angel sent from heaven to lead a team of angels and demons to save the world from the Hollow. A black hole used as a dumping ground by both Heaven and Hell for unwanted underlings, that has begun to malfunction.
Now not only are Grays multiplying left right and centre but they're also getting stronger and impossible to defeat by even the powerful team of angels and demons. And as if that weren't enough of a problem teens are committing unexplained suicides. Bishop is increasingly losing control of his mind and can count less and less on Sam to cleanse his thoughts as her hunger for his soul grows exponentially. Not enough? Well add a new memeber, a secret mission and a demon brother who is still holding a hundred year old grudge, and what do you have? An absolute utter mess that our poor characters have to solve before the world ends up in a Hollow that isn't answering to the laws of the universe but is maybe answering to something else.
Wicked Kiss was fast like Dark Kiss, but unlike it's predecessor it was speedy but not excessively to the point that events felt too rushed. The short time frame that the characters were working with was well communicated through the almost desperate pace at which the sequence of events occurred.
When reading this sequel I really felt as though Michelle Rowen had taken it to a new level. The plot and twists were great, and the narration style and story outline allowed for an overall telling of Wicked Kiss that was subtle and clever, delivering all the information without me knowing it. For well over 3/4 of the novel Michelle Rowen had me and her characters completely going round in circles without a clue of what was going on and desperate for even the faintest flicker of the light of hope. It felt like all the clues were there and yet they weren't there. The conclusions we all kept coming to were logical and obvious but made no sense in the grand scheme of things but then again they also didn't. Hence the cleverness of Michelle Rowen's sequel.
Overall I definitely felt this was an improvement and a great sequel to Dark Kiss, delivering and touching on what Dark Kiss hadn't and more. I will most certainly be keeping an eye out for more from Michelle Rowen.
If you liked this and would like some more dark paranormal adventure and romance then I would suggest looking at Falling Under by Gwen Hayes, Existence by Abbi Glines and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. I would also recommend reading The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson and Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Although these are more of the mystery kind and are more complex reads then those mentioned earlier, they are absolutely great books I strongly advise reading.
A big thank you to Harlequin/Mira Ink for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review