Kissed (The Thorn Chronicles)

I absolutely loved this book! I was as indecisive about Kai and Puck as Naomi was. The love triangle actually intrigued me, unlike most other clique love triangles. I was thoroughly surprised by the twist ending and loved the dynamic changes Naomi's personality went through. Lovely book but I would recommend it.

Initially I thought it was a little slow and seemed to be without direction, but how wrong I was. The twists and turns continue until the lasr page. Every little thing that happens has reason or meaning. Even the Roses have an important place in the story. An excellent novel of suspense that can still include a little love story.

I haven’t stopped thinking about Kissed since I was grabbed at the start and pulled into Naomi’s isolated world. Kissed quickly transformed into an unexpected, fast-paced story that had me guessing at each turn, and left me wanting to find out what happens next. Great read!

I have read few books recently and nothing had grabbed me until I started Kissed. Once I started,I couldn't put it down! Can't wait to start the next in the series!
On a side note, I rented the author's home a few summers ago and thoroughly enjoyed tending to her roses!

When Naomi was eight, her father changed. They’d had a wonderfully close relationship, but now they belong to a very different church. Naomi now must keep herself covered, her hair long, and at sixteen, is forced into a marriage she doesn’t want. Her only friends are her roses, given to her by her deceased grandmother, and the only thing which brings her pleasure. Naomi meets Kai – he comes into her room and kisses her, along with leaving special roses for her when she wakes. Even though Kai promises to help her – Naomi must find a way to escape her father and her future husband even sooner. What Naomi learns over time about Guardians, Destroyers, and Shades will change her life forever. Will she be able to make the right choices when it comes to her heart and her future? KISSED has an interesting premise and I got caught up in the story, even staying up late to finish it. While I liked the story overall, there were certain aspects I loved more than others. The lore of the roses is amazing and each rose came to life like they were another character in the book. I wasn’t a fan of the love triangle between Naomi, Kai, and Puck – I’m just tired of love triangles. Naomi seemed to evolve quickly, much more so than I’d think a girl who had lived very sheltered for half of her life. I wasn’t very surprised by who the villain turned out to be, so I would have enjoyed more suspense or twists there. I did love the paranormal elements and I’d be interested in seeing where the author takes Naomi if there were a sequel. KISSED is a good debut novel from an author with definite talent.

I really enjoyed how this story built up slowly from Naomi's crazy whacked out families cult type religion then slowly slipping Kai into her dreams when she needed him. The marriage that they were trying to force her into at such a young age really had me chomping at the bit especially who they were trying to hand her over to. It was interesting watching Naomi make a new friend and to see when it dawned on her that not all families treat their I that way. I about wanted to jump through the pages and p put a buying on her dad the Night Kai healed her. When she went to stay with her aunt ginny and met Alejandro, puck and the rest of the guardiansI was a little surprised at how the story turned. I really liked Kai in the beginning but I liked watching her get to know puck also and after the showdown with her parents and finding out about her grandmother I'm a little worried about her state of mind and her decisions now. I cannot wait to see what happens next.

This book is well-written and characterized. The look at fundamentalist/quiverfull groups was very accurate, but that said...

SPOILERS BELOW

I'm soooo tired of the concept of "women not being able to be trained as x supernatural warrior because they're TOO powerful, so that's why men are in charge."

Really? This again?

Ordinarily I'd just take one star off for that, buuuut then we get into the whole concept of how the so-called "good guys" get their powers: by sexually assaulting women in their sleep. Sure, it's just a kiss, but the guys refer to the women as "their girls" and "their harems" and it's just really cringey and gross. I'm hoping the author undoes this in the next book. If she does, I'll up it to four stars. If she doesn't, it's going down to two. She seems to have feminist sensibilities so I'm hopeful that this will all be inverted, but we'll see!

Kissed by Kimberly Roth

*****

I would like to thank the group We love YA Books and the author for gifting
me this book for an honest review!!!!
Oh My Dear Kaiser Wilhelm Roses!!! PHEW! I surely hope I
spelled that right!!!*giggles* I enjoyed reading this book so much, like a lot,
I was concern about the kissing part thought!
I do not like boy’s cooties or any germs(*herpes, “cold
sores”), well I was thinking of a product placement in between, Chap stick, or
the new lip balm in shape of an egg(I do not own one! L, *whispering*- ”I think they look weird”)… Well, where can I find a
guy that comes in the middle of the night, keeps me safe and kisses me like we
are about to sink down with the Titanic? And no I am referring about Jack or
Leonardo Di Caprio, I am talking about the only and mysterious Kai, that boy is
like an ice cream in the middle of the Mojave Dessert…..
Poor Naomi! I was so sad for her, I was worried that something horrible was
about to happen to that girl, I cannot comprehend how parents treat their “ONLY
CHILD” like they treated her, she only knew love and caring and nurturing until
she was 8 from her grandma and the father she knew back them but suddenly she
lost her grandma then her dad turned fanatic and secluded them from the rest of
the world, Naomi’s mom was like a zombie, like really woman, this is the 21st
century, do something!!! Nope that woman truly irritated the hell out of me, I
wanted to slap her….
Naomi meets a new girl at school, Ruth, finally someone that Naomi could
talk to, at least she had a friend, but of course the Crusaders of God, and by
that I mean, good-for-nothing Dwayne Yerdin had to keep tabs on his propriety,
and by propriety I mean Naomi. (For God sake’s, who arranges marriages
nowadays?) Well Dwayne according to Naomi’s Father is her fiancée… Really! Can
THAT girl get a break!!!
Nope, after she befriended Ruth and an Ax scare, they only talk during their
time in the school bus, then the boy that kisses at night found letters from
her aunt, finally I get a taste of hope in this story, even thought I was
thirsty enough to accept a kiss from my beloved Kai!!
The wedding date gets pushed to an early date, the parents found that the
letters from aunt Ginny are missing, then the punishment and then surprise,
surprise “the cops”, so Naomi’s parents pull out a Bonnie and Clyde deal minus
the bank robbery and more of the killing part….. SHOCKING!! Of course, Child
Protective Services made an appearance so I was like about time that poor girl
gets rescue, but who I am kidding it’s Child Protective Services, they are just
going to dumped her in a foster home, maybe Ruth’s, naaaaaw, not even close…..
The Yerdin’s……..
I am like Hell NOOOOOO, TO THE NOOOOOOOO! Oh well, Naomi’s
scape and Kai, came to the rescue. *sigh*
Well Naomi gets to scape and seek refuge at Aunt Ginny’s but of course this
girl, comes from the bunnies, like literally has not clue of the real danger in
the real world, like come on didn’t you eavesdrop at school…. Well who am I to
judge…. So we finally met Aunt Ginny and then Ricky, which I did not like her
at the beginning but later on the story she grew on me, anyways there were some
new characters introduce, Alejandro, he was funny and I could see him as an
uncle figure for Naomi, then Jason was like a cousin and then not so much a
nice relative, so at last Puck, but for some reason his name reminds me of a mischievous
fairy in Avalon, oh well, he is very mature and then he completely turns
bipolar and then…..
Yeah sorry Puck, I like you but it just did not work for
me, those mood changes were hard to keep up with.
Well I truly liked the story, it had a love triangle which was not so much
of a triangle and the paranormal side of the story was enough to keep my
attention into the development of the story, I love anything that has angels
and the divine, so I am kind of bias! Kissed kept me absorbed into the
narrative of the story, I felt confused with Puck and Kai, those two are
similar but so different, and Naomi completely shocked me with her decision
after hell broke loose with her parents, and I felt like watching the Bachelor
and giving the final rose to the wrong person, but at the last minute Naomi
chose who I thought was perfect from kiss #1…..

Naomi Aren is turning 16. Her father has prepared a special present for her birthday – one that will change Naomi’s already depressing life in even worse ways. For eight years, since the death of Naomi’s grandmother, Dr. Aren has been in thrall to a cult that believes in the superiority of certain races over others and of men over women. He is, therefore, giving her in marriage to the repugnant Dwayne Yerdin. Naomi sees no way out until she meets Ruth, a classmate at her high school.
Kissed by Kimberly Loth, which I received a review copy of, is a hard novel to categorize. In some ways it’s a coming of age story, but on another level it’s a bit of social commentary that in its treatment of radical fundamentalism and cultism is right on the mark. It also has some elements of thriller that keep you reading as you follow Naomi in her perilous journey to escape her father’s insane clutches. This is fiction that reads very much like it was ripped from the pages of some tabloid – Loth might not live in the U.S., but she’s got the number of the cultish groups that infect this country like a creeping fungal itch.
This is Loth’s first novel, but she has shown herself to be a master of her craft. This is a book that I put in the must-read category, and even though it was billed in being a YA novel, adult readers will find it fascinating.

[...]

I absolutely had a great time reading Kissed by Kinberly Loth! It earned each of the 5 stars that Mousehead and Tales is giving it, along with a ton if recommendations to just about anyone who crosses my path.
This book grabs you from the first moments and draws you into a horror story if a life that belongs to 15, going on 16 yr. old Naomi.
With her parents involved in a patririchal , extremist, racist , church she is subjected to punishments and humiliations that are just disgusting.
The only bright side to her life is her greenhouse where she goes to get away from it all and tend her roses.
After a particularly awful 16th birthday Naomi realizes that she has to find away out if this life. A mysterious boy starts entering her in the dreaming and leaving proof that while she may have thought he was just a dream, he was real!
Naomi breaks a cardinal rule and becomes friends with a girl that she meets at school. After confiding about an Aunt she just found out she had she dreams of leaking her awful life in Arkansas along with the radical church , her disgusting future husband and going to stay with her Aunt Ginny in Las Vegas.
I don't want to ruin the whole review with spoilers but I will tell you that once Naomi gets to Vegas it's not just the scenery that changes.
Enter the twists and turns that will have you wondering where the book is going to lead you next . There are dreamy boys , evil treacherous characters that pop out of nowhere . To top it all of there's Naomi. A very likeable leading character who is drawn to two completely delicious boys who have more than just wanting her as their own in common.
The author made Naomi and her beloved grandmother ( R.I.P.) lovers of roses. Throughout the book you are taught about a ton of breeds and hybrids that really suit the story and it seems when you look into it you really could find a rise to describe any person, feeling, or emotion you're looking for.
This book is a bouquet of fantastic storytelling , lovely imagery , and exciting turn paging moments that leave you no choice but to keep on reading ! I highly reccomend "Kissed" by Kimberly Loth and would suggest you hop into goodreads, the store, or wherever you get your books and pick this one up ASAP :) check back I'm hoping to get Kimberly Loth to do a feature soon and I'll keep you posted with links to find her with just a tap!
If you have any intrest in checking out her Goodreads profile you can do so just by typing in Kissed or Kimberly Loth.
As always thanks for checking in and be sure to check back cause we have to s of virtual tours, cover reveals, sneak peaks and more coming up... A ton of swag included:) be well and keep those noses where they belong... In a book!- Mousehead & tales :)

This is the story of an abused, and controlled girl, living in a cult, who finally gets the courage and hope to leave when she is kissed by a stranger. There's paranormal stuff, mystery and equal parts violence and kissing! I give it 4 stars for making such completely odd concepts feel so real and make sense. It was up there with *sparkling vampires in sunlight* half the time, and I was still like, "I can totally picture that." That has to count for a decent amount of writing talent.

However, even though I was completely enthralled in the tale, I didn't like this book. There were 2 reasons.

1. Love triangles: I absolutely, completely, utterly hate them. If I had any inkling from the synopsis that this book contained a love triangle, I wouldn't have bought it. I specifically hate love triangles between best friends or brothers. It usually lowers my opinion of the heroine in general, which automatically makes me enjoy the book less. It is hard for me to root for someone, when the entire time I'm thinking, "I'll start caring about what happens to you, when you start caring how your indecisive personality is hurting everyone else". This wasn't completely how this love triangle went, but her careless "I don't care that you're brothers I want to kiss you anyway/ I'm going to lie to you cause I don't want you to know I've been kissing your brother" attitude annoyed me. It should have been hinted about in the description. After reading it, I still would have preferred to skip it.

2: small town to big city: I didn't like how she transitioned between her old cult life to her big city one. At first I was enjoying reading about the conflicts of adjusting. I figured it was going to get emotional and touching pretty soon, maybe therapy...idk but once the paranormal stuff popped up again, it was like the author suddenly stopped caring about it. Her aunt all of a sudden loved her to death, the pool side didn't bother her anymore, she broke crazy rules, etc blah. I felt the whole plot point of her living post cult life was thrown away to make space for the mystery, and yes I do understand that maybe there was too much going on in this story, and some things had to be shortened or cut. Because of this point , however, I personally agree with another commenter who said the story would have been more enjoyable if it was just about the cult without the paranormal.

I loved the roses though. I started looking then up as I read, trying to see what Naomi saw, and I want a green rose Bush now! It was added perfectly, and written beautifully, and suddenly something that should have been weird in this story, made it unique and memorable. Which, is another reason why, despite disliking most of the story, I enjoyed reading it and thought it deserved at least 4 stars.

I'm also in the great great minority of team Kai...

Kissed begins like a modern day fairy tale; a girl who needs rescuing from her unhappy life meets the her ideal young man in her dreams. The novel also has the traditional good versus evil plot line with added romance, but to say Kissed is only these things is to simplify a beautifully formed and articulately written story. Kimberly Loth's novel is made more compelling and unique through the added fantasy story-line.
Despite the dire situation Naomi is in, she is a tenacious character who the reader immediately feels an empathetic connection with. The reader wills her to escape from the abusive cult she is forced to live in by her parents. Naomi clings to the hope given her by the roses she grows; they are a strong motif in the story, each flower representing certain characters and the emotions of our heroine.
Although Kissed has a love-triangle it is essential to the development of the story; the relationships between Naomi, Kai and Puck are the means by which significant traits about the secret race of The Guardians are revealed. Naomi suffers much angst about the romance in her life and I confess that around halfway through the novel I had to look at the final pages to see what her decision would be. Although at that point I did not react, by the time I reached the end I was ready to slap Naomi, disappointed in her choice!
Kissed is a wonderful book, it's story able to appeal to readers of different genres. I am very excited to see how Kimberly Loth evolves the plot in The Thorn Chronicles sequel.
I received this as a complimentary review copy, but this has had no influence on my opinion.

Firstly I'd like to thank Kimberly Loth for giving me this book in exchange for a honest review

Naomi doesn't lead an ordinary life. She has no friends, her parents are cruel and on her 16th birthday they tell her she is to marry an equally cruel boy from their church in just 3 weeks. Her only refuge is her roses.

Her roses are the only thing worth living for, that is until a mysterious boy begins to visit her nightly and give her kisses. At first she thinks she is dreaming because for some reason she is unable to open her eyes when he comes to her.
There is something different about this boy who visits her.

After her parents are accused of murder she runs away from the cruel life she has lead and the people who wouldn't think twice about killing her. And so she finds herself on a bus and heading to Vegas to an Aunt up until recently she had no idea existed.

I loved most everything about this book. It has mystery, romance, supernatural elements, was well written and kept me up until all hours reading because I couldn't put it down. I also loved how the author incorporated Naomi's love of roses at the beginning of every chapter especially since roses were a very big part of her life. However I did find that Naomi got a little annoying in the end because she kept changing her mind on who she loved. But highly recommend this book

Kissed was on my recommended list, I clicked read the blurb and couldn’t wait to check it out. How I have never read a Kimberly Loth book until now blows my mind. Kissed is an amazing spinning of a story that leaves you gripped in its claws until you run out of pages. A creative original spin in a genre that seems to have books blending together. Highly suggest for anybody who loves YA paranormal:

I recieved this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. And an honest review ye shall get. Haha.

Okay... I just need a second to breathe...

Alrighty, down to business.

I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK! HARDLY ANOTHER BOOK CAN COMPARE!

The whole storyline was captivating and made me not want to put it down. There were so many twists and turns that I was fully invested and needed to uncover.

And the brothers... let me tell you, totally swoon worthy! Oh my gosh!

By the way, I'm team Puck all the way.

I also loved the fact of which the author kept us (the readers) totally ignorant to what was going to happen next. Everything was a surprise pretty much. This book is one of the first books I've read where I wasn't able to figure out what's going to happen.

And oh man... let me just talk about the visuals the author gives, completely chrystal clear. Nothing was confusing.

I could go on and on about how rant worthy and fandom worthy this book is but I think you get the point. This book is a sensational, swoon worthy, whirlwind that keeps you guessing till the very end.

Highly recommended.

Kissed has some fantastical features about it but it's really a story of hope. I loved the mystery behind Naomi's background. The story kept me guessing and utterly absorbed in what would happen next. Naomi's acclimation to society and what was "normal" for kids her age brought about my compassion for her, as well as my anger directed at bullies like Ricki. Somewhere in all that mix Loth intertwined the thorny path with beautiful roses. Any references to gardening brought me back to my own backyard solace, giving me a connection with Naomi.

There are a few situations with profanity in the book, but they're mild enough that I wouldn't hesitate to give this book to my nieces. There are some scary situations involving serious abuse, as well as mentions of sexual situations, that might be disturbing to younger readers. For that reason, I would suggest this book for mature teens. Kissed is a great read and I can't wait for the next one! I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

*I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review*

So, I've been reading lots of books on how to write better novels. The first thing all of them say is that you must create a very compelling and engaging situation in the first pages. You must make the reader care about the main character no matter if he/she is a hero or a villain.

Kimberly Loth nailed that in her debut novel Kissed. From the first page I was completely hooked to the story. I felt for Naomi, a sweet girl who was trapped in a abusive life. Despite all the injustice she suffered, she still held on to hope that things would get better.

The paranormal aspect of the story was one I've never seen before, very original. There's plenty of romance and cute boys.

In the love triangle matter I'm totally team Puck. Due to the way the plot went, we don't know much about Kai so I'm looking forward to get to know him. But I think I'll always be team Puck.

Overall, I recommend Kissed to anyone looking for a new kind of paranormal series.