A Ghoul’s Kiss came to me through Goodreads’ book club Shut Up & Read; honestly I’m not a romance books lover so if it was not for that book club I’m sure I would never have read this book for my own.
The book is written from two points of view, Sarah and Eric, the main characters, and in present simple, which made it harder than usual because I’ve fell into the habit of reading in past participle, but even so I got used to it rapidly.
The characters reminded me of a soap opera. They’re not deep, they are simple and don’t evolve, their ideas and opinions go with the flow of the story, because they never represent a rupture in the story, what would give it a boost.
Apart from this, there’s a quote in Chapter five that made me laugh, because I still don’t know if it’s sarcasm or not. Sarah says: “I tried to get into romance novels, but I couldn’t deal with reading about guys being overly possessive and controlling. I don’t understand how women think that’s attractive.” And then, Sarah falls for a man that first of all makes her stay in his home to find a book Sarah doesn’t know anything about, also does what he wants, answer her or not whenever he wants and uses her. What’s the point of that quote? Period.
I also don’t like (or I don’t understand) how Sarah reacts to everything, like nothing abnormal is happening. Especially when she has to take off a bullet from a ghoul’s heart. If I was her I’d act like: “What the heck is happening here? Why has he been shot? And by who? And how the hell is he still alive?“. I think I would suffer from a syncope. But Sarah doesn’t, she just helps him and asks no questions. That’s what I can’t get into my head, my mind would blow away.
Also there’s a scene where the two main characters go to a travel to find a map so it would let them find the Book, and the only thing Sarah is thinking about is what will happen between her and Eric. She doesn’t know what’s going to happen on the journey, but she does not suffer for her physical integrity. Like Ron Weasley would say: she needs to sort out her priorities.
The whole book and the story are so fast that I couldn’t process all. I’ve missed a strong plot, the basic premise is interesting but not as exploited as it could be; it has more potential than it shows up. Plus the action starts in Chapter eleven, which makes the first ten chapters a little bit boring because it’s all about Eric and Sarah’s relationship and how they fall in love with each other. Anyway there’re some parts that made me laugh, because of its basic humour.
In a nutshell, I know it’s the first book in a series but however, I need more action not so much passion.
Genre: adult, romance, paranormal, urban fantasy.
