A kiss in the Dark - Cat Clarke

A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



'When Alex meets Kate the attraction is instant.

Alex is funny, good-looking, and a little shy – everything that Kate wants in a boyfriend.


Alex can’t help falling for Kate, who is pretty, charming and maybe just a little naive…


But one of them is hiding a secret, and as their love blossoms, it threatens to ruin not just their relationship, but their lives.'




I found out about this book through Twitter, I had never read any books by Cat Clarke before and other than the fact she writes YA books I knew nothing about this.

From looking at the front cover and reading the blurb I had got a completely different impression of this book and it was not what I expected! A classic - don't judge a book by it's cover!

I read the blurb and I must say it tells you very little and left me feeling intrigued. Due to the vague blurb (and now I know why) I am going to be finding it very difficult to review this book without giving the plot away.

This is a love story, about Alex and Kate, not in the conventional way, one that goes wrong and the struggle of teenagers dealing with this as a 'first love' The book takes you through a range of emotions, love, hate, betrayal and revenge.

When reading the book, you find out about what one of them is hiding right from the off set and from that moment on you know it is not going to be ending well for the two characters.

I really liked Alex in the story, I felt that the character was developed very well and emotions were raw in it, I also took a shine to Jamie as I thought he was especially caring towards Alex and tried to help the best way he felt he could. As the story goes on Alex's problem gets worse and the hole gets bigger. Alex believes that the relationship with Kate can work and they can both be happy, they are after all soul mates...

Alex and Kate gradually fall in love, but this makes it even worse when the truth is going to be coming out.

The first part of the book is written from the preservative of Alex, and I enjoyed reading this part, more than the second part of the book, which is written from Kate's POV, I found this a little harder to connect with, I am not quite sure why. I began to have sympathy for Kate but not in the beginning. Her friends played an important part in my sympathy for her and it reminded me how cruel kids can be. By splitting the book in two and reading from both main characters perspective's it allows the reader to get a whole picture of the the story.

A kiss in the dark was a really interesting book, like nothing I had read before. Current and challenging issues are brought to light in this book and I feel Clarke addressed them well. I feel that this is a good book for YA audience and I would recommend others to read this.