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jenna_bookworm_5822's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ⭐
Not great but decent enough to go onto the 2nd in the series
Not great but decent enough to go onto the 2nd in the series
athene_sionnach's review against another edition
4.0
A quick, fun read. Keeps you engaged and entertained enough to make you want to keep reading. Like most single book fantasy romances, the romance moves along quickly but that's something you should expect when opening the book. The cover is of a man's abs, this is designed to be pure brain candy.
onespaceymother's review against another edition
3.0
Cheesy, trashy, violent. Just how I like it! This series has a majorly fun setting (post apocalyptic Seattle) but this installment is light on the witchcraft and witch lore. Lots of cliché romance lines, but that's ok. Reading this for fun.
romancejunkie1025's review against another edition
4.0
a very clever and interesting new story line. Apocalypse blamed on witches, church rule leading humanity into senseless (and historically repetitive) witch hunts and the possibility for one man to learn that not is always as it seems. This is a great new series showing that human nature and free will will always shape the way men interact more than any cataclysmic reshaping of the physical world by nature. Which will you choose in the end: INcrimination or reconstruction?
bookloverchelle's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful debut from Karina Cooper. She's got a wonderful world built in post-apocalyptic Seattle. The chemistry between Silas and Jessie is explosive and heats the pages. They both try so hard to fight what they've been taught and open their hearts to each other. I loved not only they fight they went through with themselves, I loved how they responded to conflict from all sides. This was a fast paced story that sucked me in and I couldn't put down. I know there will be great things coming in the next book in the series!
shannon_cocktailsandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I'm going to make a confession. I bought this book partially to piss my husband off. He was nosing around reading an open email I had from Harper Collins and opened a blurb for this book. He looked at me while I was cooking dinner and asked "Is this the kind of crap that you're reading?"
I immediately took issue with this classifying my book selections as crap and ordered the book that he was so offended about. Really....if he thinks this is bad, I shouldn't let any of the erotica lay around.
On to the book.....
I'm still on the fence about this one. I know this is the first book of the series, so the stage was being set, but I just didn't like the way we got left hanging.
Jessie Leigh has been hiding for her entire life. A witch who has lived under the radar, she keeps to the lower levels of New Seattle in hopes of staying out of the reach of the Holy Order (which has deemed witches the root of all evil which must be eradicated). She realizes her luck has run out when Agent Silas Smith walks in the strip club she bar tends at asking about her brother.
Seems Jessie's brother Caleb is now running around with a coven that is practicing dark magic and killing humans. The Holy Order has decided to use Jessie to get to Caleb. Jessie figures they'll kill them both, so she decides to go along with their plan in hopes of saving her brother and herself. What she doesn't expect is Silas breaching her barriers.
Silas is a broken soul, who's watch too many innocent people hurt or killed by witches. At the same time, he has a problem with following the orders of a Holy Order that is bent on killing in the name of all that's holy. Despite years of being in their service, he's become jaded and doesn't believe the propaganda any longer.
He reluctantly agrees to use Jessie (still believing her to be an innocent human) but vows to keep her safe. But keeping both of them safe turns out to be a lot harder than one would expect when you've got witches chasing them (instead of the other way around) and the order breathing down their necks.
The book seemed to alternate between being very fast paced to unnecessarily slow. And then when we got to the big fight scene, things happened so fast I needed to go back to try and figure out just what had happened.
I did really enjoy Jessie and Silas (even though Silas is a horrible name for a man with a body as hot as what's on the cover). Both worn down by the lives they've lead, it was nice to see them both decide there was more to life than what they had.
I could take or leave this one.
3 Cocktails.
I immediately took issue with this classifying my book selections as crap and ordered the book that he was so offended about. Really....if he thinks this is bad, I shouldn't let any of the erotica lay around.
On to the book.....
I'm still on the fence about this one. I know this is the first book of the series, so the stage was being set, but I just didn't like the way we got left hanging.
Jessie Leigh has been hiding for her entire life. A witch who has lived under the radar, she keeps to the lower levels of New Seattle in hopes of staying out of the reach of the Holy Order (which has deemed witches the root of all evil which must be eradicated). She realizes her luck has run out when Agent Silas Smith walks in the strip club she bar tends at asking about her brother.
Seems Jessie's brother Caleb is now running around with a coven that is practicing dark magic and killing humans. The Holy Order has decided to use Jessie to get to Caleb. Jessie figures they'll kill them both, so she decides to go along with their plan in hopes of saving her brother and herself. What she doesn't expect is Silas breaching her barriers.
Silas is a broken soul, who's watch too many innocent people hurt or killed by witches. At the same time, he has a problem with following the orders of a Holy Order that is bent on killing in the name of all that's holy. Despite years of being in their service, he's become jaded and doesn't believe the propaganda any longer.
He reluctantly agrees to use Jessie (still believing her to be an innocent human) but vows to keep her safe. But keeping both of them safe turns out to be a lot harder than one would expect when you've got witches chasing them (instead of the other way around) and the order breathing down their necks.
The book seemed to alternate between being very fast paced to unnecessarily slow. And then when we got to the big fight scene, things happened so fast I needed to go back to try and figure out just what had happened.
I did really enjoy Jessie and Silas (even though Silas is a horrible name for a man with a body as hot as what's on the cover). Both worn down by the lives they've lead, it was nice to see them both decide there was more to life than what they had.
I could take or leave this one.
3 Cocktails.
chelseavbc's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.
Those who read this blog regularly know I flit back-and-forth between obsessions with urban fantasy titles and paranormal romances. I like darkness and grit. I love sizzling chemistry. And, above all else, I love seeing realistic characters, especially realistic relationships. And — damn — Karina Cooper hits all of the above and more with her first Dark Mission novel, Blood of the Wicked.
In the strictest sense, Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance novel, but I was impressed by the urban fantasy elements. The novel is set in New Seattle. Magic caused a great chasm to take much of the original city into the ocean. Instead of moving in-land, they’ve build on top of the ruins (again). What has been created is a physical manifestation of the social class structure. A layer cake where the poor and seedy elements live far underground where light can’t reach, middle class have the center levels (high enough to get a greyish natural light), and the most wealthy live topside in a world of glass and metal. She’s also maintained the ruins of Old Seattle, and diving into that catacomb is dark, nasty and dangerous.
Because witches’ magic is blamed for collapses all over the world, The Mission hunters seek out and kill all witches. Their belief is the magic always corrupts, always leads to evil. And magic is in the blood, so as soon as anyone — man, woman or child — is identified by blood he or she is executed. So, it’s not surprising that Jessie has been on the run her whole life. She does her best to keep the magic locked in, and skips from one strip club bartender gig to another. Her main goal is avoiding attention, but she also has spent years trying to find her little brother Caleb. While Jessie’s gift is to see the present, her brother inherited her mother’s ability to see the future. He gave her premonitions about her death, then left telling her to never look for him.
That was until Silas finds her. He’s a member of the Mission sent to New Seattle to find Caleb. The witch and his coven are killing people. Lots of people, and Silas knows for sure Caleb has killed five already in torturous rituals. His goal is to find Jessie and get her to help him bring in Caleb. He has no idea Jessie is a witch, too. She’ll come along, but only so she can save her brother before the missionaries take him in.
Silas and Jessie have instant attraction to one another, but they both know just how bad of an idea it would be to get together. Jessie knows what he is and that Silas would kill her if he found out she was a witch. She hates his kind and, hell, the bastard wants to kill her brother. Silas, on the other hand, sees Jessie as an innocent girl. He doesn’t want her involved in this and doesn’t want to be putting her in danger. He also doesn’t particularly like lying to her. He knows he’s going to kill Caleb, but paints on the lies to try and keep her help.
These two give into each other physically while still tangled in all the lies. When feelings start to arise they have to make some big decisions. Should they admit the truth? When the truth comes out about them both, will they be able to overcome it? Will Silas kill her if he finds out she’s a witch?
Oddly, the relationship built on lies feels real to me. It’s easy to go into something assuming it’s frivolous. Neither one thought they’d have feelings. Sex wasn’t supposed to matter between them. Just a little fun and then moving on to another city. But once that spark is lit, one has to decide if they want to back up and give themselves fully — including admitting early lies — or cut their losses. Choosing to make yourself vulernable to rejection is hard enough, what happens when that rejection will come with a death sentence?
A beautiful blend of darkness, love and acceptance, Blood of the Wicked goes to the top of my paranormal romance recommendations list. The writing is bone-deep with honesty and the action scenes crackle with tension and fury. Urban fantasy fans, if you’ve been avoiding paranormal romance, now’s the time to put a toe in. You will love this book.
Sexual content: Graphic sex scenes.
Those who read this blog regularly know I flit back-and-forth between obsessions with urban fantasy titles and paranormal romances. I like darkness and grit. I love sizzling chemistry. And, above all else, I love seeing realistic characters, especially realistic relationships. And — damn — Karina Cooper hits all of the above and more with her first Dark Mission novel, Blood of the Wicked.
In the strictest sense, Blood of the Wicked is a paranormal romance novel, but I was impressed by the urban fantasy elements. The novel is set in New Seattle. Magic caused a great chasm to take much of the original city into the ocean. Instead of moving in-land, they’ve build on top of the ruins (again). What has been created is a physical manifestation of the social class structure. A layer cake where the poor and seedy elements live far underground where light can’t reach, middle class have the center levels (high enough to get a greyish natural light), and the most wealthy live topside in a world of glass and metal. She’s also maintained the ruins of Old Seattle, and diving into that catacomb is dark, nasty and dangerous.
Because witches’ magic is blamed for collapses all over the world, The Mission hunters seek out and kill all witches. Their belief is the magic always corrupts, always leads to evil. And magic is in the blood, so as soon as anyone — man, woman or child — is identified by blood he or she is executed. So, it’s not surprising that Jessie has been on the run her whole life. She does her best to keep the magic locked in, and skips from one strip club bartender gig to another. Her main goal is avoiding attention, but she also has spent years trying to find her little brother Caleb. While Jessie’s gift is to see the present, her brother inherited her mother’s ability to see the future. He gave her premonitions about her death, then left telling her to never look for him.
That was until Silas finds her. He’s a member of the Mission sent to New Seattle to find Caleb. The witch and his coven are killing people. Lots of people, and Silas knows for sure Caleb has killed five already in torturous rituals. His goal is to find Jessie and get her to help him bring in Caleb. He has no idea Jessie is a witch, too. She’ll come along, but only so she can save her brother before the missionaries take him in.
Silas and Jessie have instant attraction to one another, but they both know just how bad of an idea it would be to get together. Jessie knows what he is and that Silas would kill her if he found out she was a witch. She hates his kind and, hell, the bastard wants to kill her brother. Silas, on the other hand, sees Jessie as an innocent girl. He doesn’t want her involved in this and doesn’t want to be putting her in danger. He also doesn’t particularly like lying to her. He knows he’s going to kill Caleb, but paints on the lies to try and keep her help.
These two give into each other physically while still tangled in all the lies. When feelings start to arise they have to make some big decisions. Should they admit the truth? When the truth comes out about them both, will they be able to overcome it? Will Silas kill her if he finds out she’s a witch?
Oddly, the relationship built on lies feels real to me. It’s easy to go into something assuming it’s frivolous. Neither one thought they’d have feelings. Sex wasn’t supposed to matter between them. Just a little fun and then moving on to another city. But once that spark is lit, one has to decide if they want to back up and give themselves fully — including admitting early lies — or cut their losses. Choosing to make yourself vulernable to rejection is hard enough, what happens when that rejection will come with a death sentence?
A beautiful blend of darkness, love and acceptance, Blood of the Wicked goes to the top of my paranormal romance recommendations list. The writing is bone-deep with honesty and the action scenes crackle with tension and fury. Urban fantasy fans, if you’ve been avoiding paranormal romance, now’s the time to put a toe in. You will love this book.
Sexual content: Graphic sex scenes.
kblincoln's review against another edition
3.0
Paranormal Romance set in an alternate "New Seattle" where a cataclysmic earthquake as well as the "outing" of witches has changed society forever and caused a Spanish Inquisition-esque agency to hunt down the witches with extreme prejudice not quite to my taste.
Maybe its the constant, tough, fierceness and swearing of the alpha hero, Silas? The way the heroine, Jessie, just is taken care of all the time, and then blamed by Silas for keeping secrets when he, too, is keeping secrets?
I found myself skimming just to find out what happens, but not enjoying the process. The writing is fine, New Seattle itself very interesting, but I found myself wishing Jessie were in it all by herself and this was more Urban Fantasy with Silas a minor romance-potential character rather than a main voice.
Maybe its the constant, tough, fierceness and swearing of the alpha hero, Silas? The way the heroine, Jessie, just is taken care of all the time, and then blamed by Silas for keeping secrets when he, too, is keeping secrets?
I found myself skimming just to find out what happens, but not enjoying the process. The writing is fine, New Seattle itself very interesting, but I found myself wishing Jessie were in it all by herself and this was more Urban Fantasy with Silas a minor romance-potential character rather than a main voice.
crystalballer83's review against another edition
1.0
I thought it was confusing and full of cliches.
moviemavengal's review against another edition
2.0
This was a free book I got at the RT convention. It's just not for me. It had nonstop action, but not much development of the romance. The author has created an interesting world with witches in a post-modern setting.
I felt the hero had Contempt for the heroine just because she worked as a bartender at a strip club she must be a slut. And he was t
Racist/ bigoted against all witches, and of course she was one.
For others who want more action, this series might be just the thing, but I almost didn't finish the book. Back to my Regencies and contemporaries.
I felt the hero had Contempt for the heroine just because she worked as a bartender at a strip club she must be a slut. And he was t
Racist/ bigoted against all witches, and of course she was one.
For others who want more action, this series might be just the thing, but I almost didn't finish the book. Back to my Regencies and contemporaries.