Book: Darkstorm: Kiss of Obsession by J.S. Rodriguez
Reviewed by Suzy Wickedly Good Reads
Rating: 3.5/5
This one was okay for me. I really liked the premise, but ultimately I think I wanted more development than the story gave me, especially toward the end.
Arelia is half-dragon, half-siren and a seriously capable fighter. When her sister ends up indebted to dragon prince Draven because of someone else's gambling debts, Arelia goes to rescue her. She even arrives with the money to pay the debt. Draven takes the money...and then insists Arelia stay and take her sister's place anyway. (Sir. That's not how paying off a debt works). 😂
There's immediate attraction between them, but Draven has another motive for keeping Arelia close. He believes Arelia's mother killed his mother, so his plan is to make Arelia fall for him, use her, and then discard her. Naturally, actually getting to know her complicates things. Meanwhile, the Dragon King is also searching for Arelia for reasons that aren't revealed until later, adding another mystery to the story.
There were things I enjoyed here. I liked having a heroine who was both dragon AND siren, and the overall premise had plenty of potential. Unfortunately, some of the later twists were fairly predictable for me, and one in particular felt more like a way to introduce a taboo element than something the story really needed.
My biggest issue, though, was the ending. I specifically picked this up knowing it was a standalone with a completed story, but ironically, I think this is one that could have benefited from being a series or simply being longer. There is significant conflict introduced, but everything goes from confrontation to acceptance so quickly that it felt like all the storylines were being tied into a very neat bow because the book needed to end. I wanted more fallout. More complicated reactions. More time for these characters to actually deal with everything that had been revealed. The bones of the story were interesting; I just wanted more room for them to develop.