The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 6) [Mass Market Paperback]

Keri Arthur (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 29, 2008

Danger turns her on.
Desire turns her dangerous...

Riley Jenson hunts evildoers—and does it with a style all her own. With vamp blood coursing her through her veins, and a werewolf’s uncanny instinct for danger, Riley wears snakeskin stilettos and pure, in-your-face attitude when she plunges into her latest case: hunting down a killer whose victims are high-society strumpets—and the rich and powerful men they’ve dated.

But for Riley, the case takes a chilling turn when a second killer starts trailing mutilated bodies of his own: a crazed young vamp choosing victims from a past marked by tragedy. Riley knows she’s got the skill and cunning to catch two serial killers at once…until one of them strikes inside her own tight-knit clan—and a sexy beast of a vampire reenters her life to aid in the hunt. His name is Quinn. He’s lived forever, shed blood, and shared pleasure…and he’s the only man over whom Riley has absolutely no control….

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vampire hunter Riley Jenson (Embraced by Darkness) returns to take on two serial killers: one kills high society women and the men in their lives; the other is kills seemingly unrelated people, gruesomely. Riley has her own problems: she can't sense the spirits of the dead at the murder scenes, and she's nursing a broken heart. The more investigating Riley does, the more she realizes that her brother's lover may be in danger, and the reappearance of Quinn O'Connor, a vampire that she loved and lost, complicates matters further. The paranormal Australia that Arthur concocts works perfectly, and the plot speeds along at a breakneck pace. Riley fans won't be disappointed. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“The paranormal Australia that Arthur concocts works perfectly, and the plot speeds along at a breakneck pace.”—Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dell (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553591142
• ISBN-13: 978-0553591149
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Keri Arthur has been nominated in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards, and recently won RT's Career Achievement Award for Urban Fantasy. She lives with her daughter in Melbourne, Australia.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars This action packed `Kiss' is more suspense focused as Riley's hunts two killers May 1, 2008

By melindeeloo TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Darkest Kiss starts out with half were half vamp Guardian Riley, exploring her newly discovered bird shifting ability. While she's throwing herself out of trees trying to learning to fly without a great deal of success -- her body as battered as the heart she's been guarding closely in the past months since her werewolf lover left her -- she's no longer leaping to act on her libidinous thoughts. In fact apart from a werewolf's prerequisite monthly `moon dances' she's been celibate. Small wonder, if Riley's life has been anywhere as busy as it is during the course of the story there is almost no way she's had time to squeeze in much in the way of extracurricular activity.

The action in Darkest Kiss is pretty much non-stop as Riley is assigned to track down the killer in a high profile murder of a shapeshifter politician and soon after Riley is asked by the hunky stripper werewolf shifter, Shadow, to look into the death of a friend that the authorities are writing off as an accidental death due to a BDSM gone wrong. But as additional bodies stack up, it is apparent to Riley that she's dealing with two serial killers. And while it doesn't take her long to figure out the identity of the killers, stopping them is not going to be anywhere near as easy, as both are powerful insane paranormal entities. Though Riley has really grown into the Guardian role she'd been resisting in previous books, it's going to take more than Riley's powers and a few old friends: seer Dia, horseshifter Kade, her brother Rhoan and a really `old' friend, her former vamp lover Quinn, to keep both Riley and a member of her `pack' from being the next victims.

I enjoyed Darkest Kiss, Arthur makes good use of the paranormal elements of her world and creates some formidable killers - for one, the bakenecko, she draws on Japanese lore to add complexity to the character. She also adds another flavor of vamp to her world, an emo vamp who feeds on emotion, the power hungry Vinnie promises to be a nemesis Riley is sure to encounter again in the future. With everything going on, Quinn who shows up just in time to identify the supernatural species and powers of the killers, didn't play as a big part in the story as the back cover suggests. Though his reconnection to Riley adds a bit of steam, his presence in the story appears to be mostly to set up for future books. For the overall story arc of the series, Darkest Kiss seems to be a transitional book for Riley because the pain and changes in Riley's life and attitudes along with Quinn's regrets look to offer a possibility that they will be able to move past the impasse that forced them apart in previous books.

Though I'm guessing that there will be probably be at least two more Riley Jensen books before Riley gets her happily ever after, there's no info on Arthur's website yet about when the next book will be out, and no title it's just Riley 7. So if you are looking for more Keri Arthur to tide you over, I recommend you hunt down a copy of one of her older romantic paranormal suspense books. One of my favorites, Circle of Desire (Damask Circle, Book 3), contains a beautiful scene with the werewolf "moon ceremony" between soul-mates that Riley refers to throughout the Guardian series and it was worth buying the book for that chapter alone. All three books in this Damask Circle series are stand-alone romantic suspense paranormals, though they are much shorter in length than her Riley Jensen books.

Athur's Riley Jensen series:
Full Moon Rising (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 1)
Kissing Sin (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 2)
Tempting Evil (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 3)
Dangerous Games (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 4)
Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 5)

Damask Circle (Shapeshifters)
Circle of Fire (Damask Circle, Book 1)
Circle of Death (Damask Circle, Book 2)
Circle of Desire (Damask Circle, Book 3)

Michael & Nikki (Vampire)
Dancing with the Devil (Nikki & Michael, Book 1)
Hearts in Darkness (Nikki & Michael, Book 2)
Chasing the Shadows (The Nikki and Michael Series, Book 3)
Kiss the Night Good-bye (The Nikki and Michael Series, Book 4)

Moon series (Werewolves)
Beneath a Rising Moon (Ripple Creek, Book 1)
Beneath a Darkening Moon (Ripple Creek, Book 2)

And coming soon a new series:
Destiny Kills (Myth and Magic, Book 1)

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I give up. May 10, 2008

By Sarina Carris Mitchirt

Format:Mass Market Paperback

The past week has been full of disappointment for me. Several new books came out over the past two weeks, and so far the eagerly anticipated books from authors I have held in such high esteem have failed me miserably.

Keri Arthur delivered mystery and action as usual-- I will give her props as due; but that's where the encouraging words end. Nothing really happened in this book.

We didn't move forward. Sure Rhoan isn't quite the relationship idiot he usually is; but he still chooses his addictions over his soulmate. And then there is our main wolf/gull Riley and her rampant romance dilemmas. I love Quinn, I do, but even his appearance 200+ pages in, wasn't able to save the book for me.

I am a reader who usually reads a book straight through when its as captivating and titillating as I expect Arthur's books to be; and I am sad to say I can't count the times I set this book down and struggled to finish. At times, sadly, I even had to skip a couple paragraphs of detail because I got too bored-- which is something I REALLY try not to do.

Arthur seemed to bring the Riley stories around full-circle with a still uncertain, non-commit-able Riley; and a Quinn-- who's character she has dragged out so long, that he doesn't hold that mysterious allure anymore.
Then there is the Cole character; which peeked my curiosity in the previous book-- and I hoped, really hoped she'd do something with it. I think she even hinted of something to come through their exchanges-- but NOTHING happened. If her input on Cole was meant to build suspense or wonder; it didn't work. I just felt let down.

Back to Quinn, don't get me wrong: I LOVE Quinn, but if you are going to draw a story out, you better make it interesting. My intrigue was lost in "The Darkest Kiss." I simply don't care about Riley's indecision, and needing to find her soulmate through sex with random wolves on the night of the full moon; even though she already has this phenomenal connection with Quinn that she doesn't fully understand. Her inward struggle just isn't interesting anymore. I am simply bored into not caring.

Intense action, but a "blah" end result. I really wanted to like this book. I really tried to get into it... but I'm officially through with the series. I just don't find motionless romance bearable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sixth in Riley Jenson, Guardian, series June 24, 2008

By Helen Hancox

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Riley Jenson is an unusual character. She's part-wolf, part-vampire, working (initially against her will but perhaps not so now) as a Guardian, an enforcer for law in the supernatural world. She lives with her twin brother Rhoan and is still trying to come to terms with the fact her lover Kellen walked away from her some months before.

It probably helps to have read the previous books in this series, "Full Moon Rising", "Kissing Sin", "Tempting Evil", "Dangerous Games" and "Embraced by Darkness" as the backstory isn't always completely explained. This story sees the welcome return of Quinn, the Old Vampire who couldn't cope with Riley sharing her attentions with other men (and I don't blame him). Riley seems to be settling down, however, so that when Quinn walks back into her life there's possible some kind of a future for them.

The romance part of this book, however, is downplayed compared to the plot as Riley tries to uncover a serial killer with some strange powers. When various women get shredded by a strange animal claw, high-society men are left dead in public places and then more people start to die with a rather different footprint, it seems that Riley has her work cut out for her. Might the killer or killers strike closer to home? Are they in fact some monsters she's never previously heard of?

Riley's a great character with her forthright but loyal nature. The interactions with her boss's PA, Salliane, are fun as usual although with a rather different tone than the previous books. Her relationship with Quinn was nicely written and not overdone. This was an enjoyable episode in this series although the world of things-that-go-bump-in-the-night seems to be increasing rather rapidly and that sometimes feels, to this reader at least, rather lazy plotting. This book will appeal to those who have read the previous books and I did enjoy it, particularly the Australian rather than American/British/Irish setting.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008