BLISS by Renee Field        

Review by Kristal

Book Blurb:
A plague threatens his kingdom but one kiss could rule his heart…

Kassandra grew up with myths of Titans and Sirens thanks to her father, but never did she imagine one of these mythological creatures would pop out of an ancient book she discovered in the library. Darius is unlike any man she’s known. He’s commanding but loyal to his family and he shows her a secret power she never knew she possessed. When he claims to need her help, Kassandra vows to use her special talents to help.

Darius is a Titan of the sea, trapped inside a book for a decade when he left his home on a mission to save his world. He’s on a deadly time crunch and fears the plague, which had been destroying his undersea kingdom has spread in his absence, and is forced to bring along Kassandra, knowing it could very well put her life in jeopardy.

Forced to find magic relics that could end the plague, Darius comes face-to-face with the decision of a lifetime. Let Kassandra drown or give her the kiss of life which will turn her into a Siren and bound her to him for eternity.

But one kiss can’t change the woman. Darius must learn to trust in Kassandra’s abilities if he’s going to find a cure for his undersea kingdom, all the while trying to avoid being captured and leading them both into a fate worse than death.

 Here’s what I thought:  When Darius first  discovers an unconscious Kassandra, he proceeds to have oral and digital sex with her. This is troublesome for me because the sex is in no way consensual. She’s unconscious. She can’t give consent. She’s passed out, in her own bed, in her apartment when a stranger comes in and performs sex acts on her. Once they do meet, he doesn’t tell her what he has done. In fact, he lies. I won’t get on a soapbox, but that isn’t how I want heroes to act or to be portrayed.

Putting that contention aside, BLISS is a passingly pleasant story, except for the editing. Misspelled words, wrong word usage, repetitive wording with in the same sentence, POV slips, incongruencies within the story’s own myth lore—my Kindle is full of highlights and notes on every time I had to stop to figure out what the author intended.

Something about the tone and plot reminded me of another merman romance that I read years ago, so I didn’t find the story particularly original. Having said that, the adventure plot in BLISS is what kept me reading. The descriptions of the merworld were intriguing,  as was the tie-in to Greek mythology.

BLISS contains a darling secondary character, Rylan, nephew of Zeus. A bumbling and mischievous demi-god, Rylan has a heart of gold and a bit of bad luck. The more he tries to “fix” something, the less it gets fixed. This added some whimsy to an otherwise heavy tale.  Out of the plethora of characters, he is the one  I would follow through the series.

There are a couple of secondary plots that hijack the story at times, but the author does manage to tie them all together in the end. The epilogue, however, isn’t a true epilogue. It has nothing to do with Darius and Kassandra’s story. More than likely, this is an attempt to gain reader interest in a future book in the series.

Second in the Titan series, BLISS is reportedly an Amazon best-seller, which speaks to the author’s ability to weave a magical tale and captivate readers. A good, solid story will always be championed, even when it has a few flaws.

Genre:  Paranormal/Fantasy Romance

Length: 208 pages/4039 KB

Book Format:   eBook

Publisher & Imprint:  Self-published

Blush Quotient: Red

SG rating:  3 stars

Grab your copy @                Amazon         

Author Scoop: For more information on the author, visit  www.reneefield.com

This book was provided by the author via Net Galley for an honest review. No other compensation was offered or received.