DARK KISS by Michelle Rowen

Book one in series

Harlequin Teen

May 22^nd, 2012

978-0373210473

Paranormal Young Adult

E-book ARC via Netgalley

Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)

Obtained by Publisher via Netgalley

Samantha isn’t into dangerous anything-be it guys or situations so when she finally gets the chance to kiss her secret crush, well let’s just say she throws caution to the wind and goes for it. Except something happened when he kissed her. Now she feels hungry all the time and something is missing inside her. Meeting Bishop, this mysterious guy has Samantha all confused. A guy with dark secrets, he calls to her on every level even as she knows he is trouble with a capital T. But for Samantha to get the answers she needs, she has to trust Bishop and let the darkness inside her come out for danger is looming around her. If she wants to survive it, she needs to do the unthinkable and let herself become the person she needs to be to beat back the darkness coming for her….

Michelle Rowen is one talented storyteller and in her debut young adult story, we get a story full of layers, angels and demons and more. DARK KISS is one intriguing ride from start to finish and frankly, I was enchanted from the moment I opened the book. The story is departure from the everyday vampires and centers on the world of angels and demons. Ms. Rowen gives it a breath of fresh air and keeps the reader glued to the pages until the very end, where the ending left me going “No!” repeatedly. This is an author who knows how to keep her readers spellbound with a storyline that are more of an internal struggles rather than action packed scenes. Samantha is a character who is fighting something inside her and the author does a good job in conveying that struggle within the pages of DARK KISS.

The one thing I had trouble with was the pairing of Bishop and Samantha. I like it when main characters slowly fall in love, trust one another and let nature take its course but by tossing Bishop and Samantha together so often romantically just annoyed me at times. Yes, they did great as a team but the sparks, for me anyways, were slow to come between them. I would have loved more scenes with them falling for one another and whatnot. The story is a bit choppy with it going at a nice fast pace then slowing down to the point of stagnating then speeding up again. I would have liked a more even pace but overall, it worked nicely in the end.

DARK KISS is overall a good interdiction to a young adult series for Ms. Rowen that left me looking forward to the next book, Wicked Kiss. I highly enjoyed in overall and the story was a perfect weekend read for me to enjoy. If you enjoy a different take on Angels and Demons, then give Ms. Rowen’s DARK KISS a try.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement