Bitter Black Kiss by Michelle Clay
I'm completely torn by this book. On the one hand, I really liked the concept for the storyline, but the narrative was so very fragment and disjointed that it was very difficult to read.
Nicole Riley, a reluctant werewolf, is just that! She has an issue with her ex, and then meets a new hunk of a man, who also happens to be a werewolf. Obviously, it goes a little deeper than that, but on surface level, it's a story about a woman becoming comfortable with her animal nature and allowing herself to trust a man again.
What I liked about this novel was that it wasn't a typical paranormal romance. The storyline rotates around murder and drug crime, so it had investigative intrigue in it; I liked this; however, what the novel achieved in originality, it lacked in flow, character background and much to my frustration was saturated with word omissions and punctuation errors.
There were however several points in the book that captured my interest. There were numerous scenes that were creative and well written. At these points, I became relieved; I really wanted to love this book, but alas, after a chapter of gripping, well crafted narrative, I would then feel a little let down by confusing plot developments, as well as conflicting and sometimes frustrating character interactions. There was also very little back story to the characters. There was some included, yet it almost felt rushed and thrown together. Again, this frustrated me, as there were times that I really like the characters, and wanted to cheer for them and follow their progress, but I would then immediately become bamboozled by the lack of progression and development. I did however managed to reach the end; the last few chapters picked up a little making it much easier to complete. Now, this is where I struggle with a star rating. It's going to have to be 2 1/2 stars. It was okay, with bits of I liked thrown in! - Becky