By Gena Showalter
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: December 26, 2012
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: PurchasedTHE 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.
Goodreads Summary
Gena Showalter is one of the small numbers of authors on my auto-buy list and it doesn’t even matter what genre or category. I love her Alien Huntress series and thought there were so many possibilities within the world, I was happy to see she was doing a spin-off series. This first book has to be the most un-Gena book I’ve read – I put it down more than a few times and checked the cover once to see if I missed a collaborator’s name.
I don’t think you need to have read any of the other Alien Huntress books to be able to pick this right up. There’s really not anything mentioned in here that Showalter expects you to already know and honestly, there are so many species packed in, it’d probably be all Greek anyway unless you’d kept notes.
Evil circus-master Jecis Lukas has created a terrible money-making attraction by kidnapping different alien races and putting them in cages on display for the viewing public. His daughter Vika tries to take special care of the captives, but for each kindness she shows them, her father beats her. His newest capture is a giant beast of a man named Solo who doesn’t want to go along with the program and follow directions. He learns the hard way about all of the ways Jecis has to punish and torture him, along with seeing Vika do whatever she can to protect and comfort him.
It pains me a great deal to say that Gena Showalter has written a Mary Sue of a main character. Vika is pretty and sweet, but she’s also fairly clueless and doesn’t really do anything interesting but wring her hands and kiss Solo when he’s sleeping. Nearly all of her other female characters are empowered or at least pretty damn sassy, but Vika felt like a comforting bowl of Cream of Wheat. I love Cream of Wheat sometimes, but it’s not exciting and I don’t want to eat it for several hours. When the hero’s big impetus to be with his heroine is that he has to take care of her, I immediately think they ought to start booking the couples’ therapy sessions.
There was more to like about Solo because he was on the page longer and had a past with friends and a job. He’s definitely a he-man Alpha but even he’s a little bit vague and hazy, sort of a generic alien hero from Central Casting. I don’t really have a clear idea of what he looks like physically beyond that other people think he’s ugly and menacing and when he gets angry, he gets redder and his teeth and nails get long. Emotionally, he hits all of the right hero high notes: he’s all gruff and angry at first, then attracted to our Mary Sue, then protective and finally madly in love, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. It’s not a horrible pattern, it works in so many books (including lots of Showalter’s), but it just felt off here.
There’s not a lot I can say about the plot because there wasn’t much there. Most of it was spent at the circus while Solo was caged and he and Vika were getting to know each other and the romance is about 85% sweet/15% hot. The beginning was good – I liked the way the story was set up with both Vika and her father and the potential for some truly evil goings-on. Bits and pieces in the middle felt like old Showalter, with some nice gory action scenes, and some things close to the end felt like they would go in a good direction before they fizzled. I was left with some hope for what I think will be three more books, because those guys were interesting and hopefully will have some better stories to work with.
Would I recommend this one? I’m a die-hard Showalter fan and I’m not even sure. I bought it and I think I could have waited and checked it out from the library and not felt so bad about it. It’s not a horrible book, it’s not a great book and it’s definitely not Showalter’s best book. When I finished, there wasn’t much that I read that would be necessary to know for book two in the series.
My Rating: C
This was totally NOT what I was expecting. I HATE Cream Of Wheat–lol so I’m not sure I would enjoy this book–great reference to why I won’t enjoy this book, huh? But, this review threw me for a loop. I mean a girl who is sweet is great and all, but in this sort of book I need a stronger protag. I mean she is dealing with what seems to be a crazed father and locked up men, would of thought she would have a stronger backbone. Great review, I may just have to pass on this one, sounds like it’s not as HOT as it could’ve been.
The guy on the cover does not look beastly–he looks HOT!
It’s the total opposite of the cover!!! Vika dresses in old, plain clothes and Solo is considered terrifyingly ugly. He’s 6’6″ and basically turns into a freakish, red monster with claws when he gets mad. I think in the beginning the one descriptive thing I remember is one of his friends remarked that he hacked off his own hair so it was always a mess.
The cover really misled me too – this was not the Gena I know and loved.
You know I still haven’t read a Showalter book, I know I hear you gasping. I was dying to read Alice in Zombieland and then my ARC fell through and then I started reading not so hot reviews and well long story short still a Showalter virgin. This obviously is not the book I want to read it sounds like it missed the mark. I think I will pass and pick one of her more prominent series to start with. What is your fav?
Ugh, no you don’t want to start with this one!
It depends a lot on what style you like, which series you start with. My favorite series is her Lords of the Underworld, but they started off with a Black Dagger Brotherhood feel to them and it bothered a lot of people. There are a lot of books in it, each Lord gets one and they’re getting up there. The basic plot is, when Pandora’s box was opened by these men, they each were hit with one of the curses inside. Like Rage, Promiscuity, Disease, Melancholy, etc.
Her Alien Huntress series is a good sci-fi/paranormal blend, with lots of different species co-existing. It sort of revolves around their version of the police, called AIR.
The Atlantis series is pretty much pure, classic PNR (not my favorite though).
I like all of her YA stuff (excluding Alice). The Intertwined series was good.
Not good! I hate books where you get to the end and think ‘what was the point?’ i love that cover though! Will skip this one I think though. Thanks so much!
I was sucked in by that cover too – it’s very sultry, isn’t it? Too bad there’s almost no smexy time, wah! lol
Really great review Barb, and I too like Showalter but her books are hit and miss with me, I can tell I am not going to connect with the characters.
This was such a weird one! I can’t believe she put out such a clunker, maybe she went in too many directions this year after Alice. If you’re a fan, avoid this one, it’s too un-Gena to waste any money on. Maybe the next one will be up to scratch for the AH universe.
I love cream of wheat!
Well, now I know not to start with this book when I finally read something by Showalter. I think I have the 1st Alien Huntress book on my wishlist.
Did you recently add glasses to your girl on the header or has she always been wearing them?
Hehehe. I like sneaking stuff in! I gave her a big set of false eyelashes, put glasses on her, changed the color of her earrings, put a book in her hands and down in the footer, added a girl with ponytails and a tiara peeking up.
Every so often I’ll mess with things again – whenever I get stressed out about anything, I start playing with graphics and just slide little odds and ends in here and there on different pages.
You can still see what the original girl looked like in the button, I haven’t touched her.
That’s funny. After I left the 1st comment it took me to the top of the blog, and when I looked at your girl I was almost positive she did NOT have glasses before. lol
Weeell, not unless you have a time machine. I changed it New Year’s day.
I’m semi-addicted to the Cinnabon Cream of Wheat.
It’s either that or Malt-O-Meal, yummm. My mom freaks out because she can’t get hers without lumps, I don’t know what her deal is. lol
Aaaaaanyway. The regular Alien Huntress series is good! This just seemed very random and the one thing that joined it to the AH series (the AIR connection) was fleeting, at best. So, I didn’t know what to make of it as a connected book and as a new series, it fell flat. You’re safe starting the regular AH series though.
Ooh shame! I am a big Showalter fan but this one sounds like a big let down & bummer about the MS main heroine & lack of a plot.
A fab review but I might give this one a miss.
It was the most weirdly boring Showalter! I can barely believe I used “boring” and “Showalter” in the same sentence. lol I really am hoping the next few in the series are better, this seemed to set up the other 3 guys (*crosses my fingers*).
Aw, sorry it wasn’t all you’d hoped. I actually haven’t read anything by Showalter.
Happy reading,
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
She’s normally really good! I guess they can’t all be winners.