Review of Kiss of Fire By Rebecca Ethington

Kiss of Fire By Rebecca Ethington

4 stars
Review by Char Webster

Kiss of Fire starts off with Joclyn, a shy, standoffish teenage girl that hides from the world. She is self-conscious of an ugly scar she received from a bug bite when she was five. She doesn't like attention and wants to hide the scar, so she wears hoodies and baggy clothes. She does not have any friends at school and is also the target of bullying. Her father left her and her mother shortly after the bite and never returned. Her mother works as a cook at a large wealthy estate and Joclyn hangs out there a lot with the son of the house, Ryland. Ryland is a great guy and friend to Joclyn. She also has a huge crush on him.

Ryland is a rich kid who attends prep school, plays rugby and drives a hot car. He tries to please his father in everything he does except one thing. He refuses to stop hanging out with Joclyn even though his father forbids him. Throughout the book, it is clear that Ryland cares deeply for Joclyn.

On her birthday, she receives a letter and marble from her father who she had not seen or heard from in more than 10 years. Strange things happen and Joclyn gets a new friend at school who has a “brother” who seems to be stalking Joclyn.

Suddenly she is thrust into a world she didn’t know she belongs to and doesn’t understand. She is now dealing with magic and immortals and a ton of trouble with evil men after her.

Joclyn’s character had to go through major transformation in this book. She was fun and daring and loved to find adventure. She was also a little bit restrained. She had a lot going on in her life and so it is understandable that she was timid. She cowered a few times when I think she should have shown more strength. I loved her relationship with Ryland and her loyalty to him. When her life changed, she rolled with it and that was great. She also became dedicated to saving Ryland when he was in trouble, as shown in her quest to learn as much magic as she could in a very short time.

Ryland was awesome. I loved his attitude and personality. He is a great lead character and I loved that he was is willing to leave his family and everything to be with her. I would have liked to know more about him. Ryland and Joclyn’s relationship grew as they aged and both had feelings for each other that they were unsure about and afraid to act upon.

The book moves a little slow at the beginning but then speeds up, almost feeling a little rushed at the end. There were a lot of questions I had while reading that might be explained in later books in the series, especially about their races and magic. There were some dialogue and words that were in a different language and were not explained. I felt like I was missing something when that happened. The story left off at a cliffhanger so be warned!

I liked the story-line and am interested in finding out more about the characters and what will happen next.

Four stars * * * *

Late Night Books Reviewer Char