Review~Kiss of Death~Rachel Caine



3 stars

Title: Kiss of Death
Series: Morganville
Author: Rachel Caine
Published: April 2010
By: Allison & Busby

Goodreads says:~

Claire Danvers has a few things on her mind. First of all there is the laundry, which is now an unfortunate shade of pink. Then there is her boyfriend, Shane, who is never too far from her thoughts. Finally there is her best friend Eve’s relationship problems. As if life as a student wasn’t complicated enough, Claire just happens to be studying in Morganville. A town run by vampires. Trouble seems to follow Claire and her friends like a shadow and tonight is no exception to the rule. They must find the most difficult documents for a vampire to acquire; people passes that will allow ‘bad ass’ Morley and his friends to leave Morganville. But it’s proving incredibly difficult, and with the odds seemingly stacked against them, the biggest question of all is…Will they survive?

Minor spoilers, possibly, it is book eight:~

Opening line: The way the Glass House worked, on a practical level, was that there was a schedule for the stuff that has to be done - cooking, cleaning, fixing things, laundry.

Closing line: Afterward, going back to Morganville didn't seem so dark.

Favourite quote: 'You're just Little Miss Optimist, aren't you? Do you come with accessories, like a glass half full and lemons to make lemonade, too?'
~Eve~

After a break from the Morganville books I returned to them last week and I had forgotten just how much I love some of the characters. Although Kiss of Death isn't as good as the other books in the series Caine still offers her reads something new and with book 8 comes a road trip. Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve are granted passes out of Morganville for a short period of time while Michael embarks on his singing career. But of course things never run smoothly for this unlikely foursome.
The four friends along with Oliver, who is their escort, soon find themselves in all kinds of trouble, trouble for looking different, trouble for getting and little hot in the back of a car and most of all trouble with vampires of a different kind.

Not only do the group run into escapees from Morganville and find themselves kidnapped they also come across infected vampires left behind after Bishop was rather naughty! Now I’m not really sure how I feel about this!! I like the vampires I already know and I like when others come to Morganville and stir things up but this breed of vampires and this book as a whole felt a little bit like a story for the sake of it. There were many aspects of the book I enjoyed but I can’t help think the series would not miss it. That said, if you want a nice light read to break up the series a bit then this is the book. Like I said there are some nice elements to the book like the new people we meet along the way, especially the little old lady at the hotel and the uninfected people in the small town.

While I was reading Kiss of Death I realised how much I still love Shane. I love his relationship with Claire and I rather like how he knows she is pretty kick ass on her own when she needs to be and he seems to be being less protective of her but he’s still there, just in case. I rather liked the ring scene as so many other readers seemed to too, yes it was a little cheesy but not when you think about Shane and his family and what the ring really means to him.
I love the banter between the two and how easy their relationship seems to be. I’m looking forward to reading more and seeing just how much they develop as a couple.

Now, I love Eve, that girl is not afraid to speak her mind and reminds me of myself and some of my closest friends but sometimes the girl just needs to shut up! Her mouth always seems to get the group into trouble and the road trip is no different, you would think she would have learnt her lesson by now but apparently not! I do love Michael too and I can’t help think big things are going to happen regarding him as a vampire but I just wonder will him and Eve be able to go the distance?

Sadly there was no Myrnin which was disappointing as he’s the vampire we all have some kind of feelings for but we did see Amelie starting to show her true colours at the end of the book, I was staring at the pages, mouth open, thinking yeah, you tell them witch face but then also thinking, really!?! You witch! Haha!

So 3 out of 5 stars because I was happy to visit the world of Claire and her friends again but overall the story was a little weak this time around