Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A more engaging sequel, the heroine’s eyes are open to the truth of the vampires’ intentions.

Opening Sentence: I looked around my room for the last time.

The Review:

Veronica Wolff intrigued me so much that I had to pick up Vampire’s Kiss. There was something absolutely captivating about this series that I couldn’t stop reading about it. I was lucky that I was late to the game and that the following books were already released.

Drew’s first year as an Acari recruit wasn’t an easy one. After many tears, apprehensive nights, physical labor, she survived, but without sacrifices. Now Drew is determined to become a Watcher. But if she learned one thing after her first year, it is that nothing is what it seems. Vampires are sinister, recruits and deathly competitive, and she can only find solace in a select handful. Set to go on her first mission, Drew quickly learns that she is in much deeper than she can stand.

Drew has grown on me. Her tenacity has calmed down, but still lingers on the surface. She is still determined to do what she wants, but now she is a little weary. Her questions are slowly being answered, but not on purpose. It is sad how closed off she has become, but within reason. Drew’s life on the island has taken a turn for the worse, in more ways than one. And there is a creepy thing going on with the vampire Alcantara that really weirds me out. I mean, really, really weird.

The characters have evolved so much from Isle of Night to Vampire’s Kiss. Usually, I see characters evolve after the end of book two, but not for Wolff. She has placed each character into the perfect position to love or hate, depending on the scene. I began to understand each character and their thoughts, allowing for a perfect development and progression of growth.

Wolff’s world was built solely on an island. In Vampire’s Kiss, she is extending that world for the sake of the mission. I was a little hesitant to love the changes, but once I read the story, those changes were inevitable.

There are a lot of intriguing plots in Vampire’s Kiss, some action anxiety-causing scenes, as well as a cliffhanger that almost made me angry. The intensity of the plot is entertaining to read, and looking back I appreciate it a lot more now. There’s a good build-up in the story that will please fans of Wolff and The Watcher’s series.

Vampire’s Kiss and The Watcher’s series by Veronica Wolff is highly addictive and I urge you to read it.

Notable Scene:

I blinked the water out of my eyes. The gray sky was a fraction darker than before. How long had I been floating there? With a shake of my head, I righted myself and grabbed onto the side of the dory.

He gave me a knowing smile. Once again, he’d known I could do something, and once again he’d been right.

I glared, reluctant to give him another victory.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“You’re smiling.”

His eyes wrinkled, making him look perplexed. “And that’s bad?”

“It makes you look like a pirate.”

He laughed. “Just get in the boat.”

I wanted to coax one more laugh from him. I wanted to erase the discomfort of our earlier conversations. I wanted to make it all okay. “Does that mean you forgive me?”

His eyes rested on me for a long moment. “It means I knew you could do it.”

I took that as a yes.

FTC Advisory: NAL Trade/Penguin provided me with a copy of Vampire’s Kiss. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

VAMPIRE’S KISS is a cross between Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series and La Femme Nikita. Translation: It’s scary good! Even better than ISLE OF NIGHT.

There is something so refreshingly sinister about this book. The bullies in VAMPIRE’S KISS aren’t going to spread rumors or say hateful things, no, they are going to try and gut you in the cafeteria, set your hair on fire, or strip you naked and tied to a tree to freeze to death. No exaggeration. And that’s not including the vampire instructors who dispense corporal punishment the way other teachers hand out detention slips. It’s intense, it’s scary, but it’s so exhilarating to watch Drew fight back. She smart enough to know when to keep her mouth shut, and she’s stubborn enough to deal with the consequences when she slips up.

And if the title didn’t clue you in, there is plenty of romance to balance out all the terror. Whether it’s the ancient super sexy/super scary vampire that takes a special interest in Drew, the stoic Tracer who deceived Drew initially but now seems to be protecting her, the vampire-in-training whose playful flirtations may be more than playful, or the enigmatic angry vampire that Drew is sent to rescue. Any one of these guys could be the lead in their own story, but Veronica Wolff packs them all into one book. Be still my heart.

Overall, ISLE OF NIGHT was an amazing debut, but VAMPIRE’S KISS takes all the dangerous and romantic aspects from the debut and makes them even better. I don’t ever want to end up on the Isle of Night, but I can’t wait to read more about how Drew survives in the next Watcher book, BLOOD FEVER, due out in August 2012.

Sexual Content:
Kissing. References to sex ( )

Annelise Drew aka Acari Drew has won the Directorate Award competition and things return to “normal” on Eyja næturinnar or the Isle of Night after the competition. Annelise’s prize for winning is that she gets to accompany the vampire Alcántara on a mission off the island. She had been looking forward to this because she is planning on escaping the Isle of Night. That is her main focus. Alcántara shows greater interest in her and Annelise is sure that he has interfered with things in the past. She has to take these strange classes, including ballroom dancing, in order to prepare for their mission, which she has no details of. The one thing that makes her happy on the Isle of Night is Ronan. After her victory in the Directorate Award competition, he seems more distant than ever. Annelise, being a genius, likes to think things through. She wonders why Alcántara is showing favoritism toward her and what is going on with her and Ronan?

When Annelise finally finds out the details of the mission, she is happy that it is finally coming near and understands the reasoning for some of the classes she was forced to take. She learns that there are good and bad vampires and they are going to try to save one of the good ones. She is going undercover as a serving girl to ascertain the location of the vampire that they are rescuing. She plans to escape after helping rescue this vampire. Things don’t always go as planned. After this mission, the lines between good and bad guy are very hazy. The vampire she was saving, Carden McCloud, isn’t what she expected.

I thought this was a great sophomore book in the Watcher series. It was interesting to read. Wolff really draws you into the story. There was a few times where I would gasp because of what happened. A lot of my questions were answered from Isle of Night, but so many more were raised with this book. I am really looking forward to Blood Fever coming out in August 2012!

Cover:

On the cover is a male, who I’m presuming to be Carden McCloud and Annelise. There is also a monastery, and I’m presuming this to be where the mission will take placed. Again, I like the colors and found myself looking at the cover quite a few times while reading the book. I especially like that you can see their eyes so well.

I Liked:

•Annelise Drew. I like her attitude. She is a fighter. Has been through an abusive relationship with her father and ended up at the Isle of Night because of her IQ. She questions why she has to learn all the stuff that they make her do, but she does it because she wants out of there. She makes friends in Yasuo and Emma and that is unexpected for her. She doesn’t know how to be a friend.

•Yasuo and Emma. Annelise’s friends. Even though she is new at friendship and doesn’t always say or do the right thing, they are loyal to her.

•Josh. I wanted to talk about Josh in the Isle of Night review, but I thought I would save it for Vampire’s Kiss. He is Annelise’s German Etiquette tutor. He is from Australia and is training to become a vampire. He has good standards and is a gentleman. He helps Annelise in more ways than one. I am interested to see what happens to Josh further on in the Watchers series.

•Carden McCloud. He is the vampire that they are rescuing from the bad vampires. He makes snarky comments.

I Did Not Like:

• Alcántara. He is a vampire and is just creepy. Every time I would read about him, it would give me the chills.

•The Isle of Night. I do not like the things that happen there.

•The Bad Vampires. They are “bad.” ( )