Psychomacologist's Reviews > Kissing Sin

I wasn't keen on this book for a number of reasons, but primarily because of all the sex. I mean, there is a lot of sex. I get that Urban Fantasy typically features sex scenes and that's fine, but I felt Kissing Sin veered too often and too enthusiastically into outright erotica. If you don't mind a lot of sex (at inappropriate times, in inappropriate places, and with implausibly well-hung horses) then this book is probably more to your taste than mine.

I find Keri Arthur's world fascinating in parts - she has a good concept here and much of it was intriguing and interesting. I did at least finish the book (which is more than can be said for some UF I've picked up) becaues the plot was engaging and the intrigue was strong enough to keep me reading. But the constant breaks for mind-blowing sex became tedious, especially as the same words and phrases were used to describe it in each case.

I had a few other niggles with the heroine (Riley) which spoiled my enjoyment somewhat. First off, her combination of half-werewolf, half-vampire means she has a power for every occasion. This shopping list of supernatural abilities sapped a lot of the danger because every time she got in trouble I found myself thinking "She'll just whip out a superpower and get out of this." And lo and behold, she did.

There were also moments when I felt her motivation and reasoning were completely off.

***SPOILER***
For half the book, Riley is going on about how much she wants kids and how hard it is to be infertile. When her doctor discovers that she has become fertile for a limited time, I expected her to leap at the chance of having her dream - a biological child of her own. Instead, she dithers, makes excuses and decides she can't go ahead with trying to get pregnant. I felt this was more in service of the author's desire to keep her young, single, sexy protag having lots of sex with no responsibilities, than in service of the character. It felt like a character betrayal; her legitimate desires and wishes sacrificed to keep the story in line with the author's wishes. It felt forced and unbelievable.
***END OF SPOILER***

This wasn't a bad book overall but I feel it wasn't for me. Aside from the constant erotica, there were some errors in the writing and plotting that jarred with me and spoiled my enjoyment of the book. I think UF fans would enjoy this more than I did.