Kara Reed is a supernatural failure. But where her magic falls short, her fists get the job done. The criminal element doesn’t stand a chance once she hits San Diego’s dark streets.
When two smoking-hot tenants move in next door, she thinks her love life might finally be heating up. Just being near Gavin and Julian is enough to make her want to offer her body on a platter.
Gavin and Julian know it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out. They’re fallen angels sent to watch over the king’s daughter, one of the last females of her kind. Trouble is, she doesn’t seem to think she needs watching-unless they’re watching her shimmy out of her clothes.
No matter how tempting her guardians, Kara’s not about to let anything stop her from tracking down a sadistic killer who carves into his victims and leaves them for dead. Even when she realizes her target may be the very scourge of heaven from which her angels swore to protect her…
First Impression: Slayer’s Kiss starts out strong with the heroine hunting down would-be rapists with her BFF. We know that she has some sort of supernatural abilities that enable her to track down evil-doers and her best friend, a witch, performs a spell that magically castrates the perpetrators. We have two women doing their part to keep the streets of San Diego safe and even injecting a little dark humor while they’re at it. Before they turn their latest bad guy loose, and while he is still under the effects of the magic:
“When you get to jail, you may have the urge to wink at the really big guys and say, ‘I’m your bitch, baby.’ Got it?”
The Heroine: Kara Reed works in a bar and manages an apartment building to make ends meet. She’s also a magical vigilante. She and her best friend stalk the streets at night tracking down criminals, specifically those who have a propensity for violence against women. But Kara is of a flop when it comes to magic. She hasn’t really come into her power, but can still get the job done. Soon they realize there is a sadistic serial killer stalking women, and Kara is determined to stop him.
The Heroes: [love triangle alert] Gavin and Julian are fallen angels sent to protect Kara who happens to be a princess, unbeknownst to her. Females of this race are coveted as there are so few of them. Both Gavin and Julian feel an overwhelmingly strong attraction to Kara, but they are forbidden to indulge. Once Gavin and Julian are forced to reveal who they are, they insist that Kara come with them for her own protection and to be among her own kind.
What worked: I liked the idea of a heroine who was not quite comfortable with who she was trying to be but who wasn’t completely misplaced because of it. I also liked the idea of the two crime fighting best friends. When Kara finds the black feather under her bed, it put a nice little mysterious twist into the plot and made me look forward to digging into the story further. At first Kara suspects her witchy BFF has cast a lust spell on her after she has some very erotic dreams involving a blacked-winged man. But we soon learn there are darker forces at work here than a simple witch’s spell.
What didn’t work: Some of the sex scenes. I say some, because there were a lot, and the earlier scenes were ok . But a lot of the scenes were over the top. I’m sure in my earlier days of reading PNR and erotic romance I would have been fascinated by the irresistible attraction between Kara and the two fallen angels. But, I suppose I’m jaded and I need a little bit more than unexplained, irresistible need to have sex and bond. I wish there would have been more time spent in emotional development between Kara and her suitors as I was never fully convinced of their feelings beyond the lust they felt for each other.
I really enjoyed this story in the urban setting, but once Kara was whisked away to the land of the fallen angels, (I’m not quite clear on exactly where they were), the story veered off seemed to lose it’s steam. Kara is introduced to an alternate world and we get a lot of history. She explores and learns about this culture but I felt like this really slowed the pacing of the book and found myself wishing the story would have remained in the urban setting, focusing more on the serial killings and mystery.
What worked: I’m using this heading again, because this is how this book read for me. I enjoyed the build up to the showdown and the final action scene. Although I had already figured out who the villain was, I still enjoyed the big reveal and the fight that takes place along with something quite unexpected that occurred.
Final Conclusion: I was up and down with this book many times. I thought it had a great start with an interesting premise, then sunk into a middle book slump and lost some of it’s edge, and then built up to a great final action scene. While the last chapter was sweet, it just didn’t work for me and I would have been happier without the implied, or hope of a HEA.
This is the first book in the series, and I look forward to seeing what direction the series will go from here.
Rating: C
Slayer’s Kiss by Cassi Carver
February 14th 2012 by Samhain
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Stop by later today for a fun Valentine’s Day guest post from author Cassi Carver and a chance to win a copy of Slayer’s Kiss.
About Sophia (FV)
I agree with everything you said. I really enjoyed the beginning of this one…but I think it loses focus towards the middle. And the sex became too much for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending either. But there were definite high moments.
Since this is billed as an UF I assume the next book will feature the same heroine. I’m curious to see where the story goes based on the ending.
Not sure this one is for me, I really dislike lots of sex just for sex.