Dark Goddess: A Devil's Kiss Novel by Sarwat Chadda

Once again it was the cover that drew my eye, a beautiful girl holding a sword...unfortunately not a common cover.  I had already read Devil's Kiss, which was terrific and written-well.  I finished this book in two days and never had to go back to remember the events of the book-it was memorable by itself. 

The novel opens with Billi sorrowful over the death of her friend aka her believed-to-be-soul mate.  Immediately the reader is drawn into a world where a young girl is trained to chase after werewolves and fight Baba Yaga.  The events are fast-paced and not long after the first chapter the reader is introduced to the "Spring Child", a girl who has the power to end the world.  The Knights Templar must protect or kill the Spring Child to prevent this from occurring, her falling into the wrong hands (the Polenitsy) would be deadly.  The Polenitsy are a group of ancient warrior women of Eastern Europe who are known as Man-Killers.  They, too, want the Spring Child; their purposes are much more devious than the Knights Templar, they want to feed the Spring Child to Baba Yaga so that she would renew her power and "start over" the world, removing the evil humans. 

Billi quickly rubs shoulders with several other powerful societies of the world, including the son of a past leader.  Ivan Romanov trusts no one, yet Billi must work with him to ensure the continuing survival of Earth and humans.  He becomes the potential love interest of the novel. 

The reader is never disappointed with Sarwat Chadda, the novel contains action, intrigue, horror, and a bit of romance.  The atmosphere is magical, the descriptions are vivid, and the dialogue contains enough foreshadowing to keep the reader guessing.  I would recommend this book to young adults who enjoy reading about ancient societies and action-packed novels.