Coming Out of My Cage, I've Been Doing Just Fine

Expected Publication: February 26th, 2013
Wicked Kiss (Nightwatchers # 2)
By: Michelle Rowen
Harlequin Teen
ISBN-13: 9780373210640

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

 

     Samantha Day was an ordinary girl just a week ago, wanting nothing as much as to be kissed by the boy she'd been crushing on for a long time.  She didn't expect him to steal her soul when it finally happened.  Oh yeah, and Sam is also half angel and half demon, which makes things even more complicated.  Now with a constant hunger, Sam must fight and retrieve her soul before it's too late and she's gone for good.  With the help of a team of Angels and Demons assembled to keep the balance in the universe, (including fallen angel Bishop who Sam shares an attraction with and Kraven a demon, and Bishop's brother) Sam needs to find a way to get rid of the 'Grays' before the city is destroyed.  But when the dust settles who will still be alive?  I was kind of on the fence about the first book and am not really into the angels/demons YA trend that's still kind of floating around.  But this book ended up being kind of 'meh' for me like the first one.  The reason it gets as much accolade as it does from me, is mostly due to the supporting characters and not the leads.  For instance, mean girl Jordan grows and changes so much in this book, but manages to stay snarky and interesting even after becoming Sam's friend (a.k.a getting mixed up with the supernaturak shit in her life).  I also enjoyed the addition of Cassandra, the female angel sent down on a secret mission which might be at cross purposes with the rest of the group's aims.  The dynamic between Cass and the rest of the group was interesting, even if her self-righteous attitude did grate on my nerves somewhat.  The jealousy on the part of Sam got really annoying though and made me want to smack her.  As a reader I enjoyed the backstory given about Bishop and Kraven's tumultuous history and thought it was very well executed.  But the rest of the plot felt like it dragged, making me want to skip large chunks out of pure boredom.  There were a couple of plot twists that caught me off guard, which always impresses me.  I like it when an author's writing is good enough to keep me guessing.  Too bad that momentum didn't exist through the whole book.  Especially with the scene where Sam "died" and was no longer a Grey afterwards; it was so cheesy and predictable, with no real substance.  I'm glad I stuck with it and read this book, because it turns out this is the last one and it WON'T be a trilogy.  In a way that sucks, because the ending was extremely loose and even though the action plot got resolved, the romantic one definitely did not.  Overall, an unsatisfying book but a decent read.

VERDICT:  2.75/5  Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. No money or favors were exchanged for this review. This book's expected publication date is February 26th, 2013.*