AWESOME! Six Spartan warriors and their King were turned into immortal warriors fighting for mankind by Ares, God of war. Ares has now turned on them and in the first book tried to have Ajax killed. In this installment, Ares turns on River Kassandros, the weapons-shifter. This is River's story. At the end of [book:Red Fire|3145228], River is trapped in his weapons form and tossed into the ocean by Ares demon minion. [book:Red Kiss|5282692] starts with Emma on the beach hearing a very sexy and alluring voice asking for help. River is found and all hell breaks loose.

Emma proves to be a medium (among other things) and is the only one who can bring River back from his imprisonment in the dagger. It is love at first sight for both of them but extenuating circumstances converge to keep them apart. This is terribly romantic and just plain fun. These warriors are rather amusing. The in-fighting and the interaction between the warriors and the humans is amazing. Six warriors, six books? I can only hope.

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Slow started for me, It didn't really catch my attention until the second half of the book and then it took off. I don't really know what to say about this book. It was good, not great, a cute read for an afternoon. River & Emma's romance is cute in that "first love" kind of way. I was way more interested in Niko's story, it looks like it could be promising. Ari seems to have a path going into a future book based on the ending of this one. And I really would have liked to see River & Emma make a different decision at the end. A lot changes in this book and I like the series as a whole a lot more. Its not one I would rush out to buy or get on pre-order. But it is definitely on my wish list to keep reading.

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I really enjoyed Emma and River. At times I was annoyed by River with his "woe is me, the poor slave" routine. But he got over that. I really liked Emma as she didn't have any of the qualities of the heroine that drive me nuts.

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I liked this book alot. It continues the series about Spartan warriors serving mankind.

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NOT impressed. I give Deidre Knight kudos for coming up with an intriguing premise, but she utterly fails at execution. The plot lacked a finished quality. There is a lot of agonizing and pontification (one presumes to catch people up on what has transpired in the previous book) but then suddenly whatever was agonized over is inexplicably over. For instance, the author spends a couple of chapters showing us how Aristos has spent 4 months trying to find his best friend, River, who is trapped in a dagger form somewhere out to sea. The author makes it clear he and the rest of the Spartans have no idea where River is nor where to look. At the end of the next chapter Aristos suddenly shows up out of nowhere to try to take River (in dagger form) away from Emma who, though not knowing this guy from Adam, just goes along with things. I feel like a step was missed--like how the hell Aristos knew where River was. Even a couple of sentences showing Aristos recognizing the dagger as he flew over Emma in hawk form or maybe sensing the disturbance of the demonic battle that introduced Emma to River would have made this scene flow better for me. Instead its just jarring. I felt that most of the scenes didn't flow very well into each other.

But my biggest pet peeve with this novel is how everyone talks like sullen ten year olds. The Spartans bicker amongst each other by calling each other by the feminine form of their names (like calling River Kassandros, Kassandra) or taunting each other in a neener neener voice. Seriously, for 2500 + year olds, the Spartans have a rather limited and juvenile vocabulary. Ares, a GOD, doesn't fare much better. He's like a cartoon villain--all pompous airs, evil exposition, and leaving everything up to inept minions. But the heroine of the story, Emma, is by far the worse offender. It's like Knight took every stereotype there is for a plucky romance novel heroine and put them in Emma. She is a complete nitwit who shows she means business when she starts calling people "Bub" or "Pal." (I probably missed a "Buster" in there somewhere.) She says such intelligent things like, "Duh!" and "No flipping way!" It's amusing to me that Emma is mentioned as liking the tv show Lost because she annoys me as much as Shannon did from the first season. She runs around freaking out and saying the most inane things. I really can't stand her or this story.

It's really too bad as I liked the ancient Greek concept. But the author needs to learn how to better distinguish her characterization and work on making her scenes flow more fluidly.

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Just because the gods decree it, doesnt make it right or just.

River Kassandros is an honorable man but a servant, and will always do what he is told, even if he doesnt truly believe it is so. River is an immortal Spartan and has the ability to transform into any weapon. He rounds out the seven warriors who bow down before the God of War, Ares, to protect mankind. River is not a full Spartan though. He is a servant, and before Ares tossed River into the River Styx to complete his immortality, Ares declared that River would remain a servant. He would be called upon in his weapon form to the side of Ajax, another warrior, in battles.

River has accepted his lot in life, but has always desired to wear the crimson Spartan cape. He desires to stand among his Spartan brothers as a free man. However, when a djinn demon tosses River into the Atlantic, while in dagger form, during a battle, River only desires to live. If he is in dagger form too long without anyone finding him, he will lose his immortal soul, and die.

Emma Lowery is a Daughter of the Delphi, an oracle of the gods, but she doesnt know it. She just knows that she hears voices from the beyond, and has tried to shut them out for years. She is also deathly afraid of water. Emma watched her twin sister drown years ago and she has never been able to move beyond the tragedy. When she breaches her kayak on a deserted island, she is stunned to see the dark waves tunneling toward her. But what shocks her to her core is the voice whispering on the wind asking for help. She braves her fear to help someone in need and is stunned when she finds herself talking to a silver dagger.

Only Emma can free River from the dagger, but her thoughts are erased by a seemingly helpful Spartan, one of Rivers brothers. When she does get her memory back, she races against time to free River before he dies. Emma and River are attracted to one another, and although they are steaming hot together, River backs away from Emma. He doesnt feel he deserves a woman of her station, as he is a lowly servant. But they must put their differences aside to join the other Spartans to fight Ares, the War God. Dark forces are at work, and it will take all of them to overcome them.

This is a sensual, action-packed, steaming hot romance! Filled with demons, Gods, immortal warriors, and unique world building, Red Kiss will leave you begging for more. Compelling characters, a plot filled with suspenseful twists and turns, myth and magic and more will have you up late turning the pages. Absolutely loved it!!

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