Wednesday 22 December 2010

Review: The Darkest Kiss - Keri Arthur

Dark secrets. Dangerous seduction. It all begins with a kiss...

With a werewolf's uncanny instinct for danger - and vampire blood coursing through her veins - Riley Jenson is an officer for the Directorate of Other Races, an organisation created to police supernatural beings. Now she's hunting for a killer who is targeting the rich and the powerful of Melbourne's society...

But for Riley the case takes a chilling turn when a second killer - a crazed young vamp - starts leaving a trail of mutilated bodies of his own. Riley knows she's got the skill and cunning to catch two serial killers at once, until one of them strikes inside her own tight-knit clan - and a sexy beast of a vampire re-enters her life to aid the hunt. His name is Quinn. He's lived forever, shed blood and shared pleasure - and he's the only man over whom Riley has absolutely no control...

Riley Jenson Guardian Series:
Full Moon Rising
Kissing Sin
Tempting Evil
Dangerous Games
Embraced by Darkness
The Darkest Kiss
Deadly Desire
Bound to Shadows
Moon Sworn

Dark Angel Series:
(This is a spin off from the Riley Jenson Guardian series)
Darkness Unbound
Darkness Rising
Darkness Devours
Darkness Hunts
Darkness Unmasked
Darkness Splintered
Darkness Falls

For more information visit Keri Arthur's website

Review:
Although this review won't contain spoilers for The Darkest Kiss as this is book 6 in the Riley Jenson series it will probably include spoilers for previous books. If you're new to the series or haven't read this far then I'd recommend checking out the reviews for book 1 Full Moon Rising. It is definitely an urban fantasy series that I'd recommend though.

This book picks up with Riley a couple of months after the ending of Embraced by Darkness and we find her still struggling to deal with a broken heart after her break up with Kellen. She is still working as a Guardian and when a politician is murdered she is called in to investigate. Soon she has a trail of bodies and realises she has a serial killer on her hands but before long it becomes clear that there is not just one killer on the loose. As if that wasn't enough to deal with Quinn is also back on the scene - can she capture the killers and protect her bruised heart at the same time?

This is a series I've enjoyed from the beginning but I have to say that I think it really is getting better with each new instalment. Riley has come a long way since Full Moon Rising and although I've always liked her I'm pleased to see the changes in her. She still has her snarky, kick ass attitude but whilst nursing her broken heart she has become less interested in casual sex and she seems to have grown up more. She will always enjoy flirting - and has more than a few men who are interested in that and more - but she wants to find a partner who she can actually care about. It was also nice to see more about the new abilities Riley has started to gain, although they didn't help her much in this book I'm curious to see what happens next.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the fact that Quinn would be making an appearance, I really liked him at first but then his attitude started to annoy me and I'd completely gone off him. However, I was really pleased to discover that he has also changed since the last time we saw him. With his attitude adjustment and Riley's new outlook I can actually see a future for them again and it was nice to be reminded of what attracted me to him in the first place. I'm now back to being interested in seeing how things play out with them over the rest of the series.

As I've come to expect from Keri Arthur the plot was well thought out and kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. I was on the edge of my seat at certain points mentally screaming "nooooooo please don't let this be happening" but I can't really say more about that without giving spoilers so you'll have to read the book to find out if I was happy at the end or not. If you're a fan of the series then I'm sure you'll enjoy this instalment. I'm looking forward to picking up Deadly Desire and finding out what happens next.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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