REVIEW: Sunkissed by Carys Jones

Title: Sunkissed
Author: Carys Jones
Publisher: Kellan Publishing
Date of Release: August 25th 2013
Pages:276
Source: *Received from author in exchange for an honest review*

Dawn Summers is dying. It’s 1853 and as the seventeen year old continues to fade away she has visions of the father she never knew, urging her to fight for her life.

In the small village of Fandova the only medical care is in the form of the mysterious Dr. Moralus who has a known penchant for bloodletting. Thomas, Dawn's fiancé, is warned against inviting his intervention, but feels he has no choice, he pleads with the doctor to save Dawn’s life…whatever it takes.

Whatever it ‘takes’ has some consequences neither of them expected. Now, it’s a hunt to the death, with both Dawn and Thomas determined to win.

The cover has a lot of fire themed colours, maybe symbolising the sun and the danger it can cause a vampire, whether they are able to withstand it or not.

In 1853, 17-year-old Dawn Summers is dying, with her mother unwilling to help her she must slowly die in pain and suffering. Until her fiancé, Thomas, sends for Dr. Moralus... who only awakens and comes to help the weak in the hours of night, no matter how desperate someone gets during the day he will never expose himself to the daylight. However, when Dawn's father's past gets in the way giving Dr. Moralus no choice, her life, and the ones around her, change forever.

Our first protagonist was Dawn. I found her very compassionate and loved the way that she had refused her hunger and to live the traditional life (I loved the idea of black pudding!), even if it meant she became weaker than others trying to find another way of life. However, I did find her very weak but also very winey at times. Furthermore, I particularly disliked our second protagonist Thomas, Dawn's fiancé. He was the complete opposite of Dawn, being greedy and wanting to be changed 'just so they could live together forever'. He just wanted the power. He was also very strange, wanting to help his fiancé but in the next instance wanting to turn her in. He had no compassion what-so-ever and did what he liked when he liked, acting very immature on occasions. However, it did give us an insight into how much such a large transformation can truly change someone, but you are also able to see the truth about them and in many cases, the beast that is lurking inside them.

I did enjoy the way we were able to see the story from both points of view, how they saw the same situation but you had two completely different opinions, this gave a real insight into the characters and their partners. Nonetheless, I did find that the story progressed very slowly with no real action, in my opinion, coming in until three quarters of the way through the plot. I did enjoy the idea of the plot as I found it very engaging, but sadly the progression was just very slow.

As you can see, there were areas of this story that I did enjoy and other areas I found less enjoyable.