A Kiss of Venom (Araneae Nation, #3.5)

by Hailey Edwards

I adore this series. I originally picked up the first book, A Hint of Frost back in 2013 when it was free on Amazon. At the time the books were being published by Samhain which had put out a number of winners and had started to become my go to for must buy books. It had a cool cover, the blurb sounded interesting and it was free - it was an all round winner. 

And then I read it. And I was very impressed. It was brilliant. The world building in incredible, the romance is adorable and the action is intense. There's an over-arcing mystery throughout the entire series which is riveting and comes to a fantastic conclusion. Each book focuses on a different couple but builds upon the mystery with characters and places slotting altogether. 

My favourite book of the series would have to be A Feast of Souls - because I LOVE Vaughn! - but all the books are amazing. Hailey Edwards is a very talented writer who knows how to deliver great fantasy. 


A Kiss of Venom

The third novella in the series, A Kiss of Venom, expands on the Salticidae clan's laws - their belief that sex before marriage is a sin. When one breaks the One Law or disgraces themselves in another way (murder, thieving, etc) they are expelled from the Clan. But rather than exist alone, those outcasts have banned together to form their own clan of sorts, the Maratus.

The novella opens with Nicolette and her sister (who is really her daughter) Maisy arriving in Erania where Maisy - a virtuoso - is set to compose and perform an original song in honour of Lourdes and Rhys and their bonding. Unfortunately for them, Nicolette has ulterior motives, having been hired to assassinate Pascale by the Theridiidae Maven under threat of killing Maisy. Unfortunately for Nicolette she's the fall guy.

The assassination attempt is complicated by the absence of Pascale and also Nicolette's history with the second heir to the Araneidae clan, Armand. I found Armand to be fine in the previous books but he's a complete jerk in this one. I didn't really get why Nicolette was enamoured with him to start with (back in the day), let alone why she was interested now. I get the whole soulmate thing but...he was still a jerk. I really didn't feel sympathetic to him at all. I always hate second chance romances. He abandoned her to start with sorry just isn't good enough. I also wasn't that keen on Lourdes or her parents in this one. Nicolette/Astrid is literally betrayed by everyone. I mean Lourdes turns Astrid and Armand in and not only do they put a stop to it, they kick the entire family out of the clan? That's ridiculously harsh and unfair. I really felt for Astrid. She's suffered so much.

This is easily my least favourite book in the series. I could've done without it. It's well written and that but second chance romances suck. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because the series itself is amazing - even if I didn't like this one much plot wise.