Review: Kissed by Kimberly Loth

Bookish Details:
Series: The Thorn Chronicles #1

Pages: 250, Kindle Edition

Release Date: April 21st 2014

Source: Provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

Buy it From: Amazon UK - Amazon.com

Synopsis:

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.

My Review:

Within the first few pages of this book, I was completely intrigued by Naomi and her story. Although it appeared her parents were some sort of religious fanatics, I knew there was so much more to it than that. I found the scenes with her father very disturbing and, at times, difficult to read. I desperately wanted her to find an escape from the nightmare she was living. It was quite confusing at first, and I didn’t really understand what was going on, or why her home life was the way it was, but it compelled me to continue reading and find out.

Kai was an interesting aspect of the first few chapters of the story. I figured that he was going to be a love interest, and I liked how he was helping Naomi, but I just didn’t know what to think of him. I also didn’t know whether or not to fully trust him, even when he was helping Naomi get to safety.

The story really took off for me when Naomi went to Vegas and met up with Ginny. I loved the setting and all of the exciting new characters that were introduced. It was entertaining to read Naomi entering this brand new world, and begin to experience ‘normal’ things that she’d never been able to do before, like going to a party or getting her hair done. 

I absolutely adored meeting Puck. I have to admit, I like Puck more than Kai. I didn’t expect to love him as much as I did! I found myself looking forward to the scenes he shared with Naomi. I wanted to know more about him than I did Kai. There is a certain little plot twist in the book that really got me excited, but I’m not going to say anything, of course. No spoilers here! But it really added to the story and made me think ‘oooooh this is going to cause some drama!’ I’m definitely looking forward to how this part of the story plays out in the next book.

I was really intrigued by the whole idea of Guardians and Destroyers, and the powers that they each have. It’s quite fascinating and I’m keen to read more about what they can do. However, I definitely don’t blame Naomi for being more than a little annoyed when she discovered how Guardians replenished their energy!

The final couple of chapters were thrilling to read. I was not expecting the story to take the turn that it did. I was reading it whilst traveling on a train at the time and I was just like this for the entire journey:

I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next in the series. I’d love to see Naomi kick a little more ass in future, which I totally think she will. Also, I’m looking forward to finding out more about the characters. I want to know all about Alejandro, Puck, and the mysterious Kai, who I still can’t quite figure out. Bring on the second book!

Royal Rating: