Poisoned Kisses

Poisoned Kisses
Stephanie Draven
Mass Market Paperback, 288 pages
Published October 1st 2010 by Harlequin
First published September 17th 2010
ISBN 9780373618453

Daughter of the war god Ares, Kyra had been born into darkness—a darkness she'd vowed to annihilate. Just as she'd destroy the notorious Greek arms dealer Marco Kaisiris for feeding the bloodlust she despised. She'd use her nymph's carnal powers to seduce him, then slay him. But Kyra wasn't prepared for Marco's secret weapon.

For millennia Kyra had avoided mortal men, but she couldn't resist Marco's magnetism, his raw sexuality. Time and again his sculpted body took her to heights to which only the gods soared. That he was a shape-shifting hydra she could forgive, but not his one fatal flaw—his poisoned blood could kill her. Kyra had fallen for the only being who could destroy her…. Yet how could she spend eternity without him?

I'm typically a sucker for a book packed with Greek mythology but Poisoned Kisses by Stephanie Draven fell short of my loving. I think it was Marco who put the tainted apple in the barrel. And it had started out so good, too, with promising, vigorous characters such as Ares and Kyra. Then Marco happened. A confused, brooding mortal in a bar.

One familiar with myself would think a broken soul like our leading man would do it for me. The same might also think that a guy who could assume the form of anyone who had ever hurt him would be more... threatening. Or dangerous. Or just exciting. But alas, Marco was just a whiny, little bitch with a hypersensitive conscience. Years ago, he was a soldier deployed to Africa where his unit was tasked with a peacekeeper role. But after thousands of innocents lost their lives, he decided the role was bullshit and turned "crusader" as an arms dealer for the people so they would have a way of fighting back.

Alright. Giving credit where credit's due and all, I'll admit he had a pretty good back story. Kyra's daddy issues weren't so bad either and Draven's writing talent proves itself in both style and technique. So many quotable lines. Oh my damn, the woman can write! I'd definitely return to read more of this world of hers, minus one Marco, of course. 4 out of 5 stars. Great ending. I only wish I had liked Marco more.

Damn him. “Aren’t you ever going to let that go?”

“What? That you tried to kill me?” He gave an incredulous snort, lifting his hand to show off the jagged scar she’d left him that night in Naples. “No, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to let it go. Even if I could get past it, there’s still the fact that last night I slept with a woman who looked like my ex-fiancée, but who turned out to be a homicidal maniac with Daddy issues, relationship baggage and a penchant for locking people in cages.”

Equal to my dislike of Marco, I loved Kyra. She was one tough cookie, but she wore her feelings very, very well.

“Kyra, you said you hated me.”

“I lied!” Kyra cried bitterly. “Isn’t that why you’re always so angry at me? Because I lie and I lie and I lie. But you lied, too, you hypocrite.” She pounded her fist against his chest. “Tell me you were lying!”

“Ow! Damn it.”

“Don’t you hear the war raging up there, Marco? The bloodlust vibrates beneath my skin because I’m the daughter of Ares. But if I can turn my back on it, so can you. Tell me you didn’t mean what you said in front of Ogun. All those horrible, horrible things you said. Tell me you lied.”

“Of course I lied!” Marco barked, pulling her against him as if he couldn’t decide whether to hug or throttle her. “You said you could look right into my eyes and see my soul—that you’d always know me, always see the truth!”

Kyra took a sharp breath. “But I didn’t have the strength. He’d been torturing me, and I was using everything I had left to heal my wounds. I couldn’t use my inner torch…and I couldn’t understand why you came back.”

His fingers locked around her wrists. “I came back for you, you witless nymph!”

“Oh, Marco—”

“Shut up,” Marco said. Then he kissed her lying lips as if they were the most precious things to him in the world. She wanted to stay here, just like this. His hair in her hands. Her heart slamming in her chest alongside his. She wanted to savor and explore the emotions that swirled within her at the realization that he’d come back for her. That once—just once—a man came back for a nymph.