Kissing Sin

The second book in [author:Keri Arthur]'s Riley Jenson, Guardian series, [book:Kissing Sin] continues to build the mystery surrounding Riley. She wakes naked in a strange place with no memory of the past week, and quickly discovers that she's been kept in breeding pens for supernatural people. With the help of a stallion shapeshifter, she escapes and dives headfirst into the dangerous game of cat and mouse that is the only way she can find the person responsible for the horrible crossbreeding program and her own abuses.In this book, we have lots of angst thanks to Quinn (who is quickly gaining the nickname of "Whiny Vampire"), some fun with Kade, the horse shifter, and some nice development of Riley's relationship with her twin, Rhoan. show more There is, of course, a lot of sex, and the sex in this book might put off fans of more traditional romance. The werewolves are very casual about sex; sex does not always require emotion for them. Riley has lots of sex with multiple partners, even sleeping with her perceived enemies in order to get information. I don't mind this, though the utter nonchalance with which sex of questionable consent is very hard to get used to. Riley is more angry about being used for breeding purposes than the rape itself. This might make some readers uncomfortable.Overall, I think this series is a great twist on the typical supernatural urban fantasy. Riley is a reluctant hero who does possess special powers, but she's not annoyingly powerful in the way Anita Blake has become a giant Mary Sue. I hope that in the next books, Arthur keeps Riley as likeable as she is now. show less

Wow, I just finished the book and I'm stunned. So many twists and turns, you really don't know what's going to happen, who's a bad guy or who isn't.... amazing writing.

World-building is great, scenes and environments are well described, very detailed and diverse. Moving back to familiar haunts from the first book, building up our view of the world and the people and species living there.

Character development is excellent. We follow our main heroine Riley throughout different ordeals, throughout tough decisions and here thoughts and feelings concerning her life, work and her lovers.
The rest of our cast have a lot to say, layers of lies, deceit, feelings, love, honour,... all mixed up making a very rich and entertaining story.

Pacing and show more flow were great, a hell of a lot action, just enough downtime to catch your breath and be bewildered about the last turn of events.

The book in itself was well written, no major errors found, the small ones (while sometimes a tad annoying) didn't pull me out of the story. And yes, there is sex described in this book... a lot of is, though not over the top.

All in all, a hell of a book, loving this series!!! Very much looking forward to the next instalment. show less

This story opens with the 'oh-so-familiar-it-hurts-scene-of' the protagonist waking up in a strange place with no idea how they got there. There were foreshadowings of it in the previous book so it wasn't too forced and it did work quite well to get the action moving pretty much immediately.

Riley's hormones are running wild again and we meet a hot new partner for her. I don't actually have a problem with her sexual escapades as Keri Arthur's set it up so it makes sense in context.. it also helps lead to some really yummy tension between Riley & Quinn (yes he's still around) and as I've read some of the Dark Angels series which is set later in time I'm aware of the shape of her life at that time so it's interesting indeed to 'watch' the show more seeds.

This particular book is mainly set in and around Melbourne again (despite commencing waaay out of town) but things are being set up nicely for another 'excursion' in the next book. Yeah... I liked this. show less

Non male anche questo secondo capitolo della saga Riley Jenson Guardian (in Italia Black Moon).
Anche in questo caso gli intrighi sono al centro della trama e Keri Arthur non ci sta certamente rendendo le cose semplici, dipanare il mistero è assolutamente impossibile!

Abbiamo molti indizi, spesso contrastanti tra loro, che ci aiutano capitolo per capitolo a scoprire chi è il Lui che sta muovendo i fili di questa continua caccia alla nostra mezzasangue Riley. O quantomeno sembrano aiutarci.

Ovviamente, giusto per andare sul sicuro, il nostro Lui potrebbe essere perfettamente una Lei. Oppure tutti e due. Un bel grattacapo insomma!

Nel frattempo Riley si riscopre innamorata di Quinn che a sua volta, dopo averla ripetutamente scacciata, si show more trova a desiderare da lei un rapporto unico ed esclusivo. E’ un vampiro, e i vampiri non dividono ciò che è loro.

Riley, però, non può accettare questo comportamento, per molti motivi. Primo fra tutti è la sua natura di lupa. Per i lupi il sesso è qualcosa di molto impersonale ed è decisamente lontano dalle definizioni umane. I lupi, senza il sesso, soprattutto quando la Luna canta per loro, non possono sopravvivere senza impazzire; e un unico compagno non è proprio considerabile. Soprattutto quando questo non può generare figli o non è la loro anima gemella.

Nel frattempo entra nella vita della nostra quasi-guardiana-ma-no-ancora-non-ho-accettato un nuovo mutante, uno stallone nello specifico, che finirà con il contendersi le sue attenzioni.

Come se un lupo che la vuole ingravidare, un capo che la vuole assoldare contro la sua volontà e un innamorato vampiro iper possessivo non fossero abbastanza.

Sinceramente posso comprendere il desiderio della scrittrice di disincantare il “sesso” e renderlo più o meno al livello di merce di scambio per i Lupi, ma in questo capitolo sono rimasta un po’ infastidita da questo continuo “ribadire” il concetto, ha finito per diventare una scusa o, meglio, a furia di ripetere “Non sono una puttana, è nella mia natura” è proprio a quello a cui si pensa maggiormente. Sarà davvero la sua natura oppure è una stupida scusa? Dopotutto lei stessa parla di “anima gemella”, quindi un rapporto monogamo tra lupi è verosimile, o no?

Riley desidera che Quinn non la valuti alla stregua di una puttana perchè è un modo di vedere il sesso molto “umano” e non desidera un rapporto unico con lui perchè lei è in cerca della sua anima gemella fra i lupi. Senza contare che vuole dei cuccioli, e un vampiro non potrebbe comunque dargliene (anche se la sua stessa esistenza smentisce parzialmente questa asserzione).

Quindi, riassumendo, vuole Quinn, vuole fare sesso quando e con chi vuole, e si infuria se Lui (che Lupo non è) non vuole imbarcarsi in questa “storia” benchè sia attratto da lei. Aiuto, pretende di essere compresa ma non si degna minimamente di “comprendere”, mi pare!

Se non altro non abbiamo a che fare con i soliti problemi fra umana e vampiro che non possono stare insieme perchè… Il sesso potrebbe uccidere l’umana!

Non vedo l’ora di vedere come andrà avanti questa situazione. Sia l’aspetto personale e amoroso della protagonista, sia l’aspetto investigativo… Chissà!

Capitolo leggermente inferiore al precedente ed un tantino confusionario ma sempre bello. show less

I'm constantly on edge reading these books, every time Riley goes out, turns a corner, or just wakes up, I'm expecting things to attack her. These things are literally walking out of the woodwork. Riley continues to search for the man behind all the cloning and crossbreeding and have been after her DNA for the past three years causing all the turmoil in her life. She hopes to uncover the truth and have a "normal" life.

Riley drives me bonkers most of the time, probably because I can't completely put myself in her shoes. I don't believe or agree with most of her ideas or thoughts. I understand she is who or what she is but as she so firmly describes Quinn's human sensibilities keeping him from accepting who she is, I guess my human show more sensibilities aren't helping much either. (He wants he to be in a monogamous relationship with him.) Sometimes I think Quinn would be better off without her in his life but with that psi connection between them there seems to be no hope for that. At the same time Riley's character does a great job carrying the series, she is an interesting flawed character with a lot of depth.

It certainly seems that as the series continues I will have to deal with more creepy icky things. Ugh. Can't wait to read the next installment and see where Riley's story goes. show less

Listened to audio narrated by Angela Dawe, a different narrated from the previous book in the series. Riley wakes up disoriented, being hunted and realizes she had been taken to another lab. She releases a horse shifter and they escape together. Shifter's need and celebration of life leads to a lot of sex, with various partners. Quinn is back and still struggling with Riley being a werewolf and all it entails. The bad guys are hunting hard to either capture or kill Riley, and Riley is forced to have sex with Misha to get the information they all need. This story is packed with not only the current drama, but personal topics, from past abuse, fertility, relationships, acceptance of who and what characters are, hang ups, and more! You show more cannot be bored and the ending will make you grateful the next book has already been published so you don't have to wait. show less

Originally I was going to review this second book in the Riley Jenson series along with the 3rd book all in one review because I read both books back to back making it hard to separate them. I ultimately decided to just go ahead with separate reviews. So.....

Spoiler Warning: While writing my review I decided that I was going to give away a spoiler. It does not effect the balance of the book. I will not give away anything like Col. Mustard in the Library with the Candlestick but this spoiler is necessary to know for many readers.

What Worked: The opening sequence was straight up thrilling. Reminded me of a mystery/thriller which was totally an awesome beginning. Also through the course of the book the lines between friends and enemies are show more crossed which makes for some really interesting situations. Riley, herself, is proving to be a strong stand up woman who takes no grief from anyone, even her boss. Although still struggling with her path towards becoming a guardian she is finding that it might just be inevitable.

What Didn't Work: Once again we are bombarded with the werewolf needing sex thing. Arthur's werewolves are sensual creatures who have no sexual hang ups what-so-ever. Meaning what we, as humans, might deem morally wrong (like sleeping with a man you just met 15 minutes ago or having sex with a different man every night) werewolves wouldn't. They are all about free love and sex is just sex. No emotional attachment except to their soul mate once they meet them at which point they would become monogamous. To tell the truth I thought about quitting this book 50 pages into it when I'd already read 2 sex scenes, one of which was with a stranger. Speaking of sex, a deal breaker for many readers would be rape. More specifically in this book Riley finds out she has been date raped. Although Arthur never came out and labeled it, when a woman is drugged and unconscious and a man has sex with her anyway (or purposely I should say) this is rape. The only reason I was able to just gloss over this while reading was because Riley didn't seem to be effected overly much other than to be pissed off. I chalked it up to her being a werewolf but it nagged at me anyway. Speaking of the sex if you're looking for some sort of meaningful sex this book isn't it. (especially after a date rape...right?) Since Arthur's werewolves have sex whenever and with whomever without an emotional attachment the sex is just unsexy. Nothing about any of the sex scenes could be considered sensual IMHO.

One more thing that I thought didn't work was the continuing storyline from book 1 to this one. That storyline still had no closure and will continue into book 3. I prefer books with full and complete story lines only because many people don't read books in order. I actually prefer to read in order but I like the option of doing just the opposite. Continuing story lines make this not an option even though most authors do a decent job of recapping.

In A Nutshell: Despite some really negative points the awesome sauce of a heroine that I believe Riley to be outweighs the bad. I basically had to ignore all the sex and focus on the rest which really made this book a winner for me. Will I read it again? Eh...maybe. Will I read the next...already did. These books are compelling and addicting. Reader beware though on what I've outlined in the What Didn't Work area. show less