This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska conjured up warm, hazy feelings of when I was an unburdened teenager with an entire summer of opportunities unfolding before me. I may not be a magical being or dutiful exorcist like this story’s characters, but I did go on adventures, discover new things about myself, and create friendships just like they did. It was beautiful to relive that small moment in time once again through this story.
Gisela’s watery grave is a crystal palace ruled by the water goblin, Wojciech. As a water nymph, she’s created a life for herself underneath the river’s surface ever since she died a year ago, but the magical realm and her spirited friends are not enough to keep her there. Gisela is desperate to regain her humanity and return home to the family that she lost, but the only way to do that is to convince a mortal to kiss her. The task seems easy enough…if it weren’t for the fact that Gisela looks like a drowned dead girl. She begins to wreak havoc on the town of Leśna Woda, hoping to earn a kiss from someone, anyone. But her pestering earns the ire of the local exorcist, Kazik, who is hell-bent on removing her from this world.
This Fatal Kiss is a story about young love and finding acceptance. It perfectly captures the innocence of developing a crush and earning that first kiss. Jasinska does this without the story or relationships coming off as juvenile. It’s like she captured the glow of those sweet feelings and weaved them in sporadically against the backdrop of a water nymph and exorcist going on side quests together. It was incredibly heartwarming and fun. Through it all, Gisela is learning more about herself and the role she was forced to play when she was alive, while Kazik grapples with his beliefs against the hard and fast rules his grandmother instilled in him. The story doesn’t explore these feelings and themes deeply, but it does encourage us to dip our toes in and test the water enough to satisfy our curiosity.
Gisela brings so much life to the story with her flirtatious and mischievous personality. She may be a water nymph, but I pictured the earth blooming underneath her bare feet because she breathed life into every place she went. Her personality was a great juxtaposition to her being a dead person cursed to walk the earth. If she was the sun, Kazik was the moon. He is a brooding and seemingly unfriendly person, but it’s only because he’s carrying some heavy burdens. Kazik must protect Leśna Woda and carry on his grandmother’s legacy, while also struggling to create relationships and accept his sexuality. This grumpy and sunshine character duo created so much magic together, and I loved seeing how they both annoyed each other while also wearing down the walls they put up.
There are two weird parts that need to be addressed in This Fatal Kiss. The first one is Wojciech’s role. He mostly serves as a father figure to Gisela, but the story also (halfheartedly) portrays him as a potential suitor. Even though Wojciech does take brides or lovers, the story doesn’t need to open up that weird incest-y door for Gisela. He was a great character to stand in for Gisela’s real and absent father, and it should have been left at that, even if the allusions to a relationship were mostly jokes. The good news is that this opportunity was presented, but the story doesn’t give in to the older, immortal being the love interest and luckily our teenage protagonist won’t even entertain the idea. Secondly, the story wraps up one big arc but totally leaves us hanging on another huge plot. I read an ARC, so I don’t know if the abrupt ending and loose threads can be attributed to that, but that ending doused me with a bucket of cold water. There is some serious unfinished business in this story, and I desperately want it to continue because I was denied the culmination of a huge secret being revealed and what I anticipate would be a very heated conversation between some characters.
This Fatal Kiss was a book that I stumbled upon by accident, and I am delighted by the story it turned out to be. It was like drinking a cool lemonade on a warm summer day: refreshing, sweet, and a little tart to keep things interesting.
Rating: This Fatal Kiss – 7.0/10
-Brandee
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. The thoughts on this story are my own.
