Felicity Heaton - Kissed by a Dark Prince

Olivia thinks it’s her lucky night when a dangerously handsome unconscious fae ends up on her inspection table. He’s her chance to redeem herself with her employer, the demon-hunting organisation, Archangel. But when the tall, dark and deadly immortal warrior awakes, she gets much more than she bargained for…
Attacked by his enemy in the elf kingdom, the last thing Prince Loren expects when he comes around is a beautiful angel watching over him and medical technology of the mortal realm. Hazy from his injuries, all he can focus on is the pulse ticking in her throat and the sweet allure of her blood.
One single bite reveals she is his eternal mate, triggering a bond between them that will leave him weakened until it is complete… or broken, and pulling Olivia into the crossfire of his ancient feud.
To protect his people and his mate from the machinations of a madman, Loren must risk everything by working with Olivia at Archangel to find a way to break the bond blossoming between them.
But will Loren be strong enough to place duty before desire and give up the one thing he has waited millennia for and craves above all others—his eternal mate? And will Olivia be able to resist the incredible heat that burns between them and the temptation of her dark prince’s kiss?

Comment: This book was published ten years ago but I still can't remember when I got and why. I probably saw yet another positive review or comment somewhere and the possibilities were enough to make me want to try for myself. even though PNR isn't my favorite type of book nowadays.

In this story we are introduced to a fantasy world where many types of paranormal beings exist and interact with humans, whether that is seen as a good or as a bad thing.

Olivia is a scientist and she is about to study Loren, a fae she has not seen before, since his body was delivered to the institution where she works at, a place where humans have organized themselves in several fields, from science to battle and their goal is to have an upper hand on all the beings out there who could be enemies. As soon as Olivia is about to start, the stranger wakes up and being weak, bites her. Although he isn't a vampire, this action marks the beginning of a process neither can't fight, namely the fact Olivia is Loren's fated mate. However, things cannot be easy, there is a lot neither knows about one another and Loren also has to worry about his evil brother wanting him dead. Is there any chance they can truly have a good relationship despite their differences?

I certainly had expectations for this book. Besides the opinion that influenced me positively at the time I've decided to add this book to my TBR, there was also my enjoyment of other PNR books and it's one of those things, sometimes we have good experiences, sometimes not so much but the potential for an exciting story is always there, has to be, otherwise why would anyone read any book?

It's the true the premise is not new but nevertheless captivating, humans and other beings part of the same world and interacting in a way that isn't simply about humans being good and others being evil, as often happened in the past. I was looking for to have something similar to my favorite PNR series, where the lives of characters are complex but there's still room for relationships, learning about the cultures of one another, perhaps even some focus on domestic lives (instead of just fighting a villain for instance) and, of course, romance!

In a way, these things are part of this story, but I would have to make a very big effort to see the happier or the appealing side of these things, which is what I look for and prefer to read about in any novel where romance is important for the story. Olivia and Loren enter a relationship but we don't really have any development of their personalities and inner layers, because it felt as if the goal was to only focus on why they are mates and what struggles they face when battling the villain. The narrative has this feeling of being quite contained in itself, without many details to explore regarding secondary issues.

This lack of elements doesn't have to be a bad thing but it is true that when the story focuses on several things, and if it's well done, the reading experience can be better. Olivia and Loren have goals - she wants to study other beings and Loren wants to defeat his evil brother and keep his mate but their thoughts, their development as characters didn't have enough depth to me, making the rest feel a little redundant. At some point these things seem to gain momentum, especially after they realize they are mates but, sadly, the romance is very cheesy and boring from then on.

In fact, the whole book is a little boring because for a third of the book we only have the characters knowing about one another and where does that leave them in terms of how could anything between them work out if they are from different realities and such? There is a lot of plot spent on not enough development and even the secondary characters, who could provide interest  -there are so many books in the series following this first one - felt they only suited certain plot moves and weren't that intrinsically necessary for whatever was really happening.

Another issue I had is that I wish we had more details on the world, more about how everything works or how it came to be. In my ideal projection, this would be a world with all these beings working together and the plot more concerned about the usual things we might find in any contemporary, but with the addition of many characters being of different species... To me that would have enhanced this into something so much more enjoyable. Since the focus is on small and specific details (the fated mates thing, battling bad guys), everything was a little too bland.

As the story reaches its end, certain plot situations seem to be used to set up future installments but I confess I don't feel the appeal of trying them. Some of the premises are intriguing, but to think the execution would be like in this one.... my taste has definitely evolved when it comes to PNR and I find myself so much more choosy nowadays. However, I'd say this is a good story for those only new discovering PNR.

Grade: 4/10