Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies's Reviews > White Hot Kiss

"Not everyone is created equal.”
I pursed my lips. “I don’t think I’m special.”
Roth looked at me again. “But you are. You’re a half demon that is also half Warden."

This is standard Armentrout. Fans of her books will love it, people who wants something a little less...formulaic, like me, will be disappointed. I keep reading her books, hoping that something will change for the better. So far, nothing had.

This book is about gargoyles and demons. But don't get the wrong impression. It's less this:



And more this:



This is standard Armentrout in that:

1. The main heroine is the star of the show, there is no doubt about it, the universe revolves around her and only her

2. There is slut-shaming. There is an ample shortage of meaningful female friendship, there is plenty of slutty girls around, including her best friend, all designed to make the heroine seem virginal, chaste, and pure in contrast

3. The heroine is special, different, one of a kind, due to only the fact that she was born to an extraordinary heritage; she does nothing to earn our respect

4. There is a love triangle, and further than that, almost every eligible person with a penis around her age range wants her milkshake

5. There is more flirting than plot

6. The heroine is supposed to be kick-ass, but she is rescued all the fucking time

The good:

1. The writing is enjoyable, the book itself is a light, quick read

2. The setting is a predictable, light, traditional Urban Fantasy with characters we don't see too often---gargoyes (but the book still needs more garrgoyles and less hot-men-outside-of-stone-form)

The Summary: Gargoyles exist. They are called Wardens. 10 years ago, they came out in public. The world knows that gargoyles exist now, and there's surprisingly little hullabaloo about it. Miley Cyrus twerkin' on Robin Thicke's crotch got a more shocked reaction than we were shown in this book.

...the Wardens went public ten years ago. The Alphas had ordered the Wardens to come out of the shadows. To humans, Wardens had come out of their stone shells. After all, the gargoyles adorning many churches and buildings had been carved to resemble a Warden in his true skin.

Huh, gargoyles exist. Ok.

Layla is 17 years old. She is beautiful, but doesn't really consider herself that pretty. I mean, Layla only looks like an elf-princess. What's so special about that?

Zayne said I looked like the long-lost sister of the elf in Lord of the Rings. That was a huge confidence booster. Sigh.

Sigh, indeed. Fuck, it must be so horrible to go through life all blonde and elfin, looking like Legolas' sister. Tough existence, man. To top it off, she's in love with a gorgeous Warden guy (Zayne) who only sees her as a sister. A really hot sister with whom he loves going on coffee dates.

Layla is special. She is half-Demon, half-Warden. She looks like a human and she cannot shift into a monster-like stone gargoyle form because she is a half-blood. Therefore, Layla is half-blood, all beautiful. Special without the ugly side effects of being a gargoyle-like Guardian.

Layla is an orphan (oh hello there, trope). She has amnesia (trope). She doesn't know anything about her birth or her parents (trope). Her Warden guardians keep everything a secret from her (trope). One day, while stupidly chasing down a minor demon into a dark alley, Layla nearly gets killed. She is rescued by a dark, handsome, sexy Upper Level Demon. His name is Roth. He has a snake named Bambi. I don't mean to say his penis is named Bambi, I mean he has a snake tattoo that comes to life whose name is Bambi.

No—not a mass, but a huge freaking snake at least ten feet long and as wide as I was.
The thing spun toward me, rising halfway up. Its eyes burned an unholy red.
“Don’t be scared of Bambi,” the demon said. “She’s only curious and maybe a little bit hungry.”
The thing was named Bambi?

Sexy Demon Roth starts showing up everyfuckingwhere Layla goes. She goes to school. He's there. He shows up whenever she needs help, like a demonic guardian angel.

Where I'm from, we call that a fucking stalker. Layla knows that. She trusts him anyway.

“You don’t? I was following you.”
“Oh, so you’re a demon and a stalker?” I swallowed hard. “Because that’s not creepy or anything.”

Oh, he's not just a stalker, he's a pervert, too.

He leaned in again, his lips brushing the curve of my cheek. “Let me suggest more appropriate places. I have this piercing—”

Oh, wait, there's a reason he's following her. Layla is special. She was born to a special destiny, and he was meant to protect her.

Roth let out a low breath. “Your mother was known by many names...And because of that, you’re on Hell’s Most Wanted List.”

Naturally, Layla is inclined to believe the stranger she just met over the people who have raised her for the past 10 years. Roth and Layla kiss, they flirt, they go out on dates. They spend nights together, staring longingly into each other's eyes. They go to bed together---but they just talk, because demons are such gentlemen that way.

What is The Lesser Key of Solomon? More importantly, will the two hot, gorgeous men in her life ever stop fighting over Layla?

Zayne’s grip relaxed. “Shut up.”
Roth came to his feet fluidly. “I don’t think I like your tone.”
“And I don’t like your face,” Zayne returned.
The amount of testosterone the two were throwing off was ridiculous.

The Girl-Hate: There's room for only one good girl in this book, and that girl is Layla. Layla is virginal, pure. Layla and her best friend Stacey tease each other by calling each other names. Stacey is, of course, presented as the slut, the hobag, while innocent Layla is the virgin.

Stacey only blinked, looking like she was coming out of some kind of bizarre trance. I scribbled hobag across her notes. She laughed and wrote virgin ice princess across mine.

Even an insult, a tease, is designed to make Layla look good against her slutty best friend Stacey.

Stacey is sex on wheels.

Stacey started to tug her shirt up as a shield, but must’ve realized there wasn’t enough material there.

She dresses sexily, and the book presents it to us as a bad thing.

Stacey was saying as she threw herself into her seat. “I didn’t sneak out of the house dressed like this for no good reason.”
“No doubt.” I eyed her short skirt and then her cleavage. “We wouldn’t want your boobs to go to waste.”

Stacey constantly makes sexual jokes and gestures.

“Great!” Stacey chirped, backing off and gesturing wildly behind Roth. She was doing something with her hand and mouth that I knew Roth would be oh so down for.

She is presented as a good friend, but so completely hypersexualized compared to Layla. Her character is insiduously presented as not as good, due to her sexualization.

The other female characters in the book are either stupid sluts (Eva, the glammed up hobag Mean Girl classmate) or a scared female Warden (never mind that she's also a badass warrior herself), or a nice, beautiful Warden girl who's meant to be hated because of her interest in Layla's first love, Zayne. Danika is nice, but everything she does is seem as mean, an attack on Layla when all she wants to do is be helpful.

I dumped the stuff in the garbage can, shoulders stiff. “I’m not going to jump on you and suck out your soul, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Danika gasped. “That’s not what I meant—not at all. It’s just that you look like you need something and I want to help.”

Everytime a female character outside of Layla does something remotely normal and nice, Layla snaps at her. There is no room in this book for a positive female figure besides Layla.

The Setting: It's your traditional Urban Fantasy, with Angels, Demons, all that good stuff. This book breaks no molds in the setting. It is completely predictable in this sense, and that's just fine. We have Fiends, we have Posers (demons, heh), we have Zombies. Nothing out of the ordinary.

What I do not like: The setting in this book is anticlimactic. There are gargoyles, humans know they exist...and there's an odd sense of "so what?" about it. People aren't exactly freaking out. There's a church rallying against Wardens...

Every so often the Church of God’s Children held a rally against the Wardens and then made headlines. They’d been doing it ever since the public had found out about the Wardens’ existence.

And that's the last we hear about it. The book is so centered around Layla and Layla only, so much that the outside world becomes completely secondary and almost gathers no mention in the book.

The setting itself has gaps. There are Wardens...gargoyles...but almost no instance of actual gargoyles in the book. We rarely see the Wardens in action. It's more internal politics and living with the Wardens in human form than anything else.

There's also the unbelievable case of "OH HUMANS KNOW ABOUT WARDENS BUT LET'S HIDE THE FACT THAT DEMONS EXIST!"

Wut?

The world would descend into chaos if humans knew demons were ordering their morning coffee right alongside them.

Ok, so you're telling me that the world is ok with the existence of gargoyles, that stone men can come to life, but they'd completely freak out if they knew about the existence of demons?

Wut?

Layla, you've got me on my knees: *lyric from Eric Clapton*

Everyone with a dick loves Layla. From hot, protective brother-figure Zayne. Zayne, who always wants to reassure Layla that she is good, despite what Layla thinks of herself.

Zayne’s eyes flicked up. They seemed brighter than usual. “You’re...perfect just the way you are.”

To schoolboy Gareth.

“Wow, he is so checking you out.”
“Huh?” I looked at Stacey. “Who?”
She glanced over her shoulder as she pulled me closer. “The guy you almost plowed into—Gareth Richmond. He’s still checking you out."

To evil pervert Petr who wants her body.

The line of his jaw hardened. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong? I told you to stop and you wouldn’t—”
“You were being a tease.” His voice dropped low. “And since when do demons really get a say in anything?”

To Roth. Roth, who only has eyes for Layla.

Oh, the love triangle...

“I...” I didn’t know. I loved Zayne, but I didn’t know what kind of love that was, and Roth... I thought I could be in love with him, if given time. Or maybe I already was, in a little way. “I don’t know.”

It's enjoyable, but only as brain candy. If you're looking for more plot, more substance, I wouldn't recommend this. The character development and plausibility of the plot is absolutely lacking.