Daughter of the Blood

I just finished reading Anne Bishop's Daughter of the Blood, book 1 of the Black Jewels Trilogy and found it a somewhat interesting read though not exactly my cup of tea.
This debut novel by Anne Bishop is quite popular and paved the way for the rest of the series which is comprised not only of the initial trilogy but additional novels and stories set in the Black Jewels world.
For a debut novel Bishop avoids most if not all of the fantasy clichés like the magic sword/ring/whatever and the quest for said magical object. Also mising are elves, trolls or goblins leaving the story centered around more or less human characters, which in this case is a good thing, believe me.
The story centers around a 12 year old girl who shows signs of becoming the most powerful witch ever and the power struggles of those around her as they strive to sway her one way or another knowing what she will be when she grows up.
The one big problem I had with this book is that it reads too much like a romance novel with prose that tries to evoke a lot of ardous longing and sensous feelings as is the case (I suppose, since I've never read a romance novel) in romanctic fiction. The very fact that this book is praised highly over at Romantic SF & Fantasy Novels should prove my point.
Many have described this novel as dark fantasy or even fantasy horror, but quite frankly I don't see it. Sure, there a couple of grisly scenes here and there but I found it quite tame as a whole. Also, three of the main characters are called Saetan, Daemon and Lucivar (I kid you not), though they are nowhere near as evil as their namesakes.
The book is quite well written as a whole and I suppose if you like a lot of romance mixed in with your fantasy this may be the book for you.
The edition I read was the mass market paperback version (cover shown above) but a newer trade paperback version was published this year with a much cooler cover (at right).