Kiss of Death, by Lauren Henderson, was a wonderfully written book with its own twist on a traditional type of story line. Having failed to realize it was the last book in a series when I chose this book, I would hardly have figured out that it happened to be a sequel if I hadn’t checked. Noted, I did wonder why it left so much unexplained. This book is about the adventures of Scarlett Wakefield while on a school trip to Edinburgh. This school trip turns out to be no pleasure retreat however, for someone’s out to get Scarlett. When Scarlett is faced with a rather unpleasant blast from the past at a Celtic Connections concert, she falls into a void of memories, which include a few boys, and a couple near death experiences. To the avid readers of this series it will make perfect sense, and I even grasped more than just the general idea of the happening between Scarlett and her ex-best friends, Luce and Alison, who appeared with noted contempt for Scarlett. Plus, an old murder rears its ugly head in the appearance of the victim’s twin brother. After a prank goes wrong, which nearly ends in Scarlett’s death, Scarlett must find out who’s behind this mystery before it’s too late.
I hugely enjoyed this book. I liked that it showed individuality when there are a million or so teen mystery romances. As a boy, I will never understand fully the emotional trip that Scarlett is tumbling head over heels through, however, I marvel at how the character is flushed out. On the down side, I felt she was just a little dependent on others. For instance, she spent a good portion of the book bemoaning the fact that her boyfriend wasn’t right by her side. Still she almost seemed to be a real person. One of the most amusing and logic based characters in this novel was Scarlett’s best friend, Taylor. In fact, she had me chuckling throughout most of the book. Taylor seemed like the anchor of sense through the pages of this novel. The obvious bully in this tale was Plum; the rich, self-absorbed and domineering bully who has it in for every other girl in Wakefield Hall. I was cringing as she tormented Scarlett with her sideways comments, snide remarks, and other general unpleasantness she displayed towards the heroine. I am looking forward to reading the previous books in this series, and advise anyone who’ll listen to give it a go. It’s quite worth it.
Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Monrovia, MD USA
