Kiss in the Dark: Scarlett Wakefield, #3 -- Lauren Henderson
After solving Dan McAndrew's murder, one would think that Scarlett Wakefield's problems would be over.
Yeah, not so much.
For one, Plum Saybourne, mega-bitch of the year and Scarlett's nemesis, is now enrolled at Wakefield Hall, and she's wasting no time in turning Everyone Who Is Anyone against Scarlett. Which is something that, at this point, Scarlett wouldn't care all that much about -- after all, she's been through much worse -- but Plum is trying to get at her through Taylor, her best friend, and through Jase, her boyfriend.
Speaking of her boyfriend, for no apparent reason, his father doesn't want them dating. And has no problem making his mind known about it. Especially when he's rip-roaring drunk. So that's difficult.
And then a death occurs on campus...
As a huge, HUGE fan of the two previous books in this series, I was really, REALLY looking forward to this new installment in Scarlett's story.
But there's no other way to put this: Man, I was disappointed. I'll get a bit more specific in a moment, but overall, Kiss in the Dark suffered from the This Book Serves As An Opportunity For Through-Plot And A Way To Set Up Future Stories Rather Than Stand Up On Its Own syndrome, rather like Book Three in Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series.
Kiss in the Dark still had (some of) the snappy dialogue, Scarlett is still a likable heroine and I still love that the series is pro-girls-with-muscle-power (I do enjoy that Scarlett rolls her eyes at Plum's obsession with looking like a pipe cleaner, that she and Taylor WORK at their athleticism/ability to be physically capable of DOING STUFF, and that scenes that involve something like climbing down a drainpipe are really well described and kind of thrilling in that GUESS WHAT, climbing down a drainpipe would probably be KIND OF HAIR-RAISING), but it didn't have the suspense, romance, or tension of the first two books.
It also didn't feature multiple mysteries that I didn't A) predict or B) solve before they happened. I mean, really. The death? DUH. And the culprit? DOUBLE DUH. And, unless I'm very much mistaken and there are some HUGE twists coming later in the series, the mysteries that were introduced in this book (the ones that remain unsolved, I mean), seem pretty straightforward.
At the moment, I'm kind of wishing that I hadn't read it at all. Then again, the secret that Plum was holding over Taylor's head has its possibilities... so, yes, despite my disappointment, I'll give the next book a go when it comes out.
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Previously:
1. Kiss Me Kill Me
2. Kisses and Lies
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Book source: Review copy from the publisher.
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