Shadow Kiss by T.M Hart

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars 🌟

Blurb:

A violent storm. Unending night . . . Violet Archer is running through the darkness for her very life.

A single spark blazes, calling to her. It is her chance at salvation. It is a connection beyond any she could have ever imagined. And it leads her to a lonely cabin in the woods.

But when Violet wakes she has no memory of how she got there. She is disturbingly ill. And a chilling evil creeps through her veins. Worse still, her host, the tall and powerful Elijah Stone, is intent on killing her. Yet a cataclysmic bond, neither can deny, stays Elijah’s hand.

Radiants, immortals of the Light, have been warring with their enemies, the Shadows, for millennia. Now, twisted together by fate, the two adversaries must embark on a journey. One on which their very lives depend. Unfortunately for Violet, she does not know who she can trust, especially when it comes to her guide, Elijah.

But it turns out that Violet and Elijah are not alone on their quest. They soon realize they are being hunted along the way. It seems Violet has a dark debt to settle.

And someone very dark, indeed, is about to collect his due.

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Review/Reaction:

*Warning Spoilers Ahead*

“Just remember that the phoenix must succumb to the fire before she is able to rise from the ashes.”

Y'all I was so excited to read this! I’ve had it on my TBR list since August when I re-subscribed to Kindle Unlimited. The cover was gorgeous, the blurb was great and it was categorized as Adult Fantasy. I was like

Sadly, I was disappointed. This book did not meet my expectations 😢. Like seriously I almost did not finish it. And I almost NEVER do not finish a book even if I'm not enjoying it but I was struggling with this one A LOT.

I think that the author had a really good idea but the story lacked world building. I was really confused at the time setting or era (if any) that the book took place in. One minute we (aka the characters) were in a wooded area trekking through rain then jumping into a magical realm, then jumping onto a private jet to London. No. These things did not happen consecutively but the lack of world building and their transitions were not good making it super confusing. I will say that I did like the concept of Light vs. Dark and her being connected/bonded to two men on opposite sides. I think that it had a lot of potential, in my opinion it just wasn’t fleshed out well. ALSO there were a few spelling, grammar mistakes from the very beginning that made me cringe.

Secondly, the characters: The main character Violet, wakes up with no memory of who she is or where she is but she can tell the difference between designer clothes? I couldn't connect with her there was just not enough. All I got was that she was a good, brave person that often made stupid decisions LOL.

The male protagonist, Eli was absolutely terrible. The romance was an “ insta-love, destined-mates, enemies-to-lovers” kind of thing and I’m sorry but how Violet went from hating this man who loathes her and tries to kill her to having sex with him over a burning connection...

He was physically & verbally abusive and his reasoning at the end, didn’t justify it. I don’t know ya’ll, It just didn’t work for me. I think that there wasn’t enough character development between the two. Either that or I don’t understand how badly the connection the two of them had 🤷🏼‍♀️

I will say that the steamy scenes were in fact STEAMY AF, however, I would’ve enjoyed them more if the characters made sense 😩.We meet a bunch of other characters throughout the book but I wish the author had spent more time on the world building than the physical description of the characters. I am still shocked at the high praises for this book and when I finished I felt like I read a completely different book. Safe to say that this one was a blur.

🔹Would I recommend it? Nope

🔹Re-read it?: Definitely not.

🔹Scene Shout-Out: N/A