Yeah I gave up. This is one of very, VERY few books that I could not finish. The problem for me was that this book barely focused on King Henry's court, the vampires, the war between the Druids and the vampires, or the vampire defender-folk. The number one focus of Kiss of the Rose was who the hell was going to take Rose's virginity and how forcefully they were going to do so. Now don't get me wrong, I am down like four flat tires for some steamy scenes and sexy times, but this was just too much. The love triangle between Rose, Christopher, and Rhys was just... painful. The interaction between Christopher and Rhys was immature at best, and foul at worst. And Rose... I went back and forth between feeling sorry for her (she was basically a piece of meat and sleeping with her was everyone's objective) and being really frustrated with her (she pranced off, swirled around, or walked away in anger/exasperation with Christopher and Rhys more times than I could count). What frustrated me the most was that I did *not* see any of this coming from the sample I downloaded. The first chapter was super intriguing, as the story started with Henry VII's deal with the Druids to win control of England from King Richard. That was awesome and I bought Kiss the Rose expecting to head into vampire and Druid lore, juicy details of Henry VIII's court, and a kickass lady vampire hunter. Sadly, that was just not the case. This story had potential, the theory is cool, but the focus on nailin' Rose was just too much. This one was not to my taste. It had alot going for it...historical fiction during the Tudor period, star-crossed lovers between vampire-hunters/druids and human servants of the vampires who protected the vampires, mysterious prophecy, etc.It didn't work for me. First of all, we have a girl from a vampire-hunting lineage who is supposedly so kick-ass and who is repeatedly mentioned as indignant because these two men are looking after her...and really she hardly does anything but mope and sigh (and smell vampires all around.)Then we have the hero, all alpha hot-head (she must be bedded often and well) kind of guy who is not my most favorite kind of alpha male. And supposedly he's part of a group of humans who have been hunting down and killing druids all these years for the vampires...but he and heroine totally hang out.And the heroine's protector, despite his love for her, pretty much allows this...with the druid hunter. And then it turns out the druid hunter alpha male is supposed to go after a vampire that the rest of the vampire council can't find or control?It didn't make sense. Suspension of disbelief was not achieved.I loved the descriptions of court, Queen Katherine, and Tudor/druid historical details, didn't like the plot, didn't like the hero (hard one to get over for me.)I actually kept wishing that the heroine's protector, fellow druid Rhys, would just kill the hero and ride off into the sunset.This Book's Snack Designation: A can of bbq pringles for the slightly acrid left over taste of a plot gone wrong, but still munchable historical details.
What do You think about Kiss Of The Rose (2010)?
I enjoyed this book but did not think the two sequels were as good.
—Shtwells
