Kiss

"Is dying for the truth really better than living with a lie?"Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin HealyShauna awakes from dreams of drowning and finds herself on a hospital bed. She doesn't remember what happened to put her there. In fact, she can't remember the past 6 months. She is welcomed back from her six week coma by an angry stepmother, a concerned uncle and a caring boyfriend... whom she does not recognize. Her overriding concern is the whereabouts of her brother Rudy. But her questions concerning him are met with avoidance, anger and accusations that she is responsible for the tragic accident, having driven under the influence of illegal drugs.Told she awoke from the coma because of a successful trial drug regimen, Shauna leaves the hospital with bottles of pills, her boyfriend Wayne and a lot of unanswered questions. Taken to her father's residence, she faces rejection from both her father, a presidential candidate, and her step mother. Rejection she has endured for many years. Shauna accepts she is forever separated from her father's love, though exactly why remains a mystery to her. But she will not accept the forced separation from her brother.Determined to rebuild her missing memories, especially of the accident, Shauna seeks answers and succeeds in regaining memories. But are they hers? Events continue to spiral until Shauna is faced with the choice to die for truth or to live with lies.I found Kiss to be an engaging thriller, a blend of romantic, detective and political agendas. This is my second read through. There is very little Christian truth, not the usual Dekker style. But that main Christian truth concerned how we handle our past, our memories, especially painful ones, since we are each a product of our past, our memories.Do we focus on the pain and allow it to ruin our lives, or do we gain perspective from it by remembering how God saved or rescued us through the pain, and experience godly growth as a result? A pertinent question and one we can each apply to our own lives.Love and forgiveness or hatred and self-centeredness. You choose.

After awakening from a six week coma, Shauna McAllister discovered she's lost six months of memories. She can remember she has a rocky relationship with her dad, a powerful senator and presidential frontrunner. She can remember how and when her mother died, the disdain she holds for her step mother, but not the man they say is her boyfriend. Worst of all, she can't remember what happened that caused her to be in a coma. Oddly enough, though, she can take other people's memory, and what she's discovering lets her know one important fact--trust no one.Kiss was better than I anticipated. With a title of Kiss, the cover art, and the tag line (where heart pounding meets heart warming), the whole book reeked of romance. I'm not a romance reader. If the name Ted Dekker had not been on the cover, I would have passed it by without another thought. But, it was co-authored by Ted Dekker, so of course I had to read it.I do wonder how much of the book was actually written by Dekker though. The style was fairly different. There were moments when the book really came to life and I felt like I had hit a Dekker portion. Those tended to be action scenes. For the most part, the book lacked that spark and energy that Dekker's solo works have. It was overly detailed, with an abundance of dialogue, that bogged the story down and keep the book feeling circular.Additionally, the plot was given away by the end of chapter one. It was painfully obvious to me who the bad guys were and exactly what their scheme was. I love suspense and surprises. There were no surprises and very few suspenseful moments. The story didn't progress well because everything was given away within the opening chapters. So I pretty much read 300 pages just to figure out if I was right.Kiss does have some good points and they're well worth thinking about. However, I don't think the story really fit the ideas. I would have preferred something grittier. I lacked the sympathy I needed for Shauna to really make a connection with the major themes.I'm all for tying up loose ends, but the conclusion was a little too wrapped up, to the point of falling into the sappy and unrealistic category.

I thought this book was good for science fiction. But I did find some of the plot (even for sci-fi) to be reaching. It was an interesting story for the most part and one I think most people would enjoy. Would they remember it? Not sure. I just finished it a month ago, and I have trouble remembering all of the plot. I gave it 4 stars for being above average. I really wanted to give it 3.5 stars, but since I can't I rounded up.My reasoning for rating it less than 5 stars:1) The sci-fi in it is mostly implausible2) Character development is a little shallow3) Novel is less than memorable4) I wouldn't re-read the novel5) I might recommend to a friend if it was free (like how I got it)

I have fallen in Love with Ted Dekker since first reading Three and I have not stopped since. He can tell a story like only one other author I have ever read, who used to be my favorite, and make your emotions flow like no other. If you have read him I encourage you to try it, you might just like it! :)Dont give "Christian fiction" a shrug of the shoulder and think its all religion this and religion that. Its the fight between good and evil that each and everyone of us face every day! Like it or not we do, we all have faith in something, and Teds stories thrill me to the bone.I own everyone that has been published to date and will read them now on my Kindle but will also purchase the hard backs for my collection. Now that is what I call love of a story teller!

Like always a good book with lots to think about!