Otherworld Assassin #1: Last Kiss Goodnight Review

Title: Otherworld Assassin #1: Last Kiss Goodnight

Author: Gena Showalter

Date of Publication: December 26, 2012

Formats Available: Paperback, E-Book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: The breathtaking first novel in New York Times best-selling author Gena Showalter’s new paranormal romance series, Otherworld Assassins, featuring a black ops agent who is captured and enslaved…and the beautiful deaf girl who holds the key to his salvation…

THE SWEETEST TEMPTATION…

Black ops agent Solomon Judah awakens caged and bound in a twisted zoo where otherworlders are the main attraction. Vika Lukas, the owner’s daughter, is tasked with Solo’s care and feeding. The monster inside him yearns to kill her on sight, even though she holds the key to his escape. But the human side of him realizes the beautiful deaf girl is more than she seems—she’s his.

THE ULTIMATE PRICE…

Vika endures the captives’ taunts and loathing, hoping to keep them alive even if she can’t free them. Only, Solo is different—he protects her. But as hostility turns to forbidden romance, his feelings for her will be used against him…and he’ll be put to a killer test.

My Review:

I have always been a big fan of Gena Showalter so when I saw that she had a new series coming out I was thrilled to read it. Last Kiss Goodnight was good, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting from Showalter. The plot felt a little too calm and relaxed for me to really get into the story and even though I blew through this book in only a day or two I finished not quite sure how I felt about it.

Vika was an interesting character, especially because of her deafness. She wasn't necessarily the strongest character I've ever read about but considering the circumstances, including her abusive father, I thought she was strong for still wanting to be kind despite what had happened to her. I honestly wasn't that big of a fan of Solo, constantly contradicting himself I never quite understood his character or what made him act the way he did.

From the very start Solo is attracted to Vika, however he constantly goes from thinking about how much he wants her to telling her about how he's going to kill her when he gets out, especially in the beginning. Even though their romance escalates and he eventually stops I felt that it was a bit strange that he thought one thing and then said another. Another thing I didn't fully understand was the vows and the binding power they seemed to have when it came to Solo. I wanted to know more about how that worked but maybe that's for a later novel in the series.

There is only so much action that can take place with one of the main characters in a cage and I thought Showalter did an excellent job putting as much excitement as she possibly could into what she had to work with. I did think the novel was a little slow at times but the duller times were evenly balanced out with more exciting ones so the novel was by no means a pain to read. On a bit of a unrelated note one thing I really didn't understand was the Bible verses at the beginning of each chapter, Last Kiss Goodnight didn't even have a hint of religious under-tones so I didn't quite understand what they were doing there.

Overall I'm not quite sure how I feel about Last Kiss Goodnight. I thought it was an interesting idea and Showalter did an excellent job writing it, but there were quite a few things that I wasn't quite sure about as well. I'm invested enough to read the next one in the series but I'm still one the fence about this one.

3/5