Kissed (The Thorn Chronicles #1) by Kimberly Loth

Blurb: Trapped in a dark cult, sixteen-year-old Naomi Aren has lived a quiet, albeit unhappy, life nestled deep in the hills of the Ozarks. With uncut hair, denim skirts, and only roses for friends, Naomi seldom questions why her life is different from other kids at school. Until the day her abusive father, who is also the cult’s leader, announces her wedding. Naomi must marry Dwayne Yerdin, a bully who reeks of sweat and manure and is the only one person who scares her worse than her father.

Then she meets Kai, the mysterious boy who brings her exotic new roses and stolen midnight kisses. Kisses that bring her a supernatural strength she never knew she had. As the big day approaches, Naomi unearths more secrets of about her father’s cult. She learns she has power of her own and while Kai may have awakened that power, Naomi must find a way to use it to escape Dwayne and her father—without destroying herself.

3 stars

This book started out so odd.  The roses and the kisses were intriguing but I think the author lost me after that.  I mean, I finished the book so it wasn’t terrible but so many things could have been tightened up.  It was a bit all over the place.

First off, the kissing.  I didn’t get it.  The reasoning behind it didn’t make sense to me. Too me it seemed like the author wanted her to kiss a bunch of guys to show her interest but it could have been done in a more subtle way.

Second, there was soooo much telling in this book.  I didn’t really connect with any of the characters because of it.  Things happened ‘to’ them but we didn’t really get a chance to ‘see’ them if that makes sense.  I felt like I was listening to someone tell me what they did last weekend.  No connection.

Third, there was so much going on that the main plot got kinda lost.  It seems that the story has potential, otherwise I would have never finished it, but there was a lot of ‘fluff’ added to the story and its seemed it was for shock value.  A lot could have been taken out and it still would have made sense.  And if a little more depth would have been added to some main scenes, I probably would have identified with the characters more and cared more about what happened to them.

I feel this book could have benefited from some really good beta’s readers and a developmental editor. But I’m no expert.  I may read the next one but I’m leary.