His Wicked Kiss by Gaelen Foley ***
A good author, with such potential! Not really seen in this, though
I seem to be in the minority with my opinions regarding authors and series books. I've only read 3 of the Knight books, The Duke, Lord of Fire, and now His Wicked Kiss. I really liked Lord of Fire, which seems to be a least favorite among other reviewers, and I was NOT pleased with The Duke, which lots of people consider the better of the series. In each of the books, though, there's been one aspect that has been less enjoyable than the rest of the story -- the heroines. This had the potential of being a FANTASTIC heroine. And in the beginning? She was! By halfway through, though... she'd become shrewish, demanding, unable to trust Jack for a relatively minor "offense" for which he apologized ad nauseum and went to great lengths to make up for.
Eden was raised in the Amazon jungle by a grief-stricken and absent-mnded father. Her father's assistant, Connor, was a man who fancied himself in love with her, but had anger issues. In comes Jack, an apparent pirate, who denies any positive aspects of his personality, but is trying to help the war-torn area. Eden is immediately entranced by him. As is he with her, but he still leaves. She, seeing her only opportunity to flee her father before he goes on a dangerous trek through the Amazon, sneaks aboard Jack's ship, thus landing herself in all sorts of mayhem. When Jack decides he wants her and Eden decides she wants him, they get married. But The Big Misunderstanding ruins everything for a while, and Eden becomes a whiny, selfish, twit. Joy.
I think I could see the downward slope begin when Eden explained to Jack why she was unable to "make" herself love Connor. A romantic who "tried" to love him? She could definitely use his behavior as a reason for her dislike, but "distrust" was a mis-used word as far as I'm concerned. Connor's behavior was bad, sure, but given the circumstances, heck, that's a common reaction among the alpha-type heroes in most books. Possessive, violent jealousy, etc. It's just that he wasn't the hero. All in all, I thought the punishment for the villain was rather mild and tame!
The one single thing that ruined the heroine for me was the tantrum she threw that led to her kicking Jack out of her bed. I have a problem with using sex as a punishment in general, but in this case it REALLY went overboard. And it led to hurt for several people, all because she was unwilling to accept Jack's genuine and heart-felt apology for a minor mistake.
Jack... Hm... Jack was sexy, hard, sensitive, driven, and uncomplicated. You knew where he was coming from and why he was the way he was. He was devoted and genuine. In summary, Jack was great. But the story that he was given didn't let him shine. The whiplash from him deciding he wanted to marry Eden, to then deciding that he wasn't going to seduce her... it was just too strange a change.
And, just because it's my way, I have to include one of the most bizarre lines I've ever read.
"His body wept within her, her shuddering passage milking his seed, while orchids burst like fireworks and pink dolphins leaped through the sparkling cloud that had once been her mind."
HUH? Yes, there were references to orchids and pink dolphins in the early part of the book. But this sentence makes zero sense to me and made me literally laugh out loud.
Otherwise, this was a fairly sweet love story. It had a lot of well-written action, the dialogue and characters are fun and funny. The author's writing talent is highlighted quite well. I didn't get the same impression as some others, that the book was held together with sexual scenes or talk. In fact, I thought the sexual content was fairly mild, and that the attraction could have been worked on even more.
Ultimately what made this book a 3 star instead of a 2 is that Jack is an awesome character. Also, I must give credit to the quality of Eden's character for the first 1/3 of the book. Without those two boosts to the book, this would have been a clearly below average book. With those two qualities, it's an average book -- an acceptable read, but nothing that draws me to it, or leaves me with a pleasant or happy feeling at the end. The very end, the epilogue, left me wanting, actually.
Read this to finish the series, but otherwise this is not really a memorable book. Not a waste of time, but not the best way I've spent my time, either.
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