Book Spotlight for One For the Wicked by Karina Cooper (Review)

On April 30th, 2013, Karina Cooper’s Dark Mission paranormal romance series comes to an explosively epic conclusion in One for the Wicked. Life, love, and death hang in the balance as our heroes Shawn Lowe and Kayleigh Lauderdale go head to head—and unintentionally end up heart-to-heart.  Karina’s writing grabs you from the very beginning, and whether or not you’ve read the series, it hooks you in right from the start!

This urban fantasy is rife with everything readers love: high-stakes drama, edge-of-your-seat action, killer twists, evil conspiracy—and steamy romances between the witches and missionaries of post-apocalyptic New Seattle!

Dr. Kayleigh Lauderdale is a brilliant woman: young, beautiful, and possibly the only person in all of New Seattle smart enough to find the cure for what’s killing the city’s witches. But her father is the evil mastermind behind the corrupt organization that is trying to take over the city—and destroy all witches and so-called “heretics” in the process. Kayleigh is only now beginning to realize that everything isn’t as it seems—and then she meets Shawn Lowe, who throws her world into chaos.

Shawn vowed to kill the man who murdered his parents—and now his chance is finally here. But instead of using Kayleigh as he had planned, Shawn finds himself intoxicated by the brilliant scientist he should hate. And in the midst of the lies and the lust flying between Shawn and Kayleigh, a threat hovers over New Seattle, and it could be more than anyone can handle. When the world turns upside down, it will take everything Kayleigh and Shawn have to hold on... to life, to hope, to each other.

BUY LINKS:  AMAZON (PRINT)  |  AMAZON (KINDLE)  |  BN

MY IMPRESSIONS OF THIS STORY:

Karina Cooper's Dark Mission series comes to an end with One for the Wicked, a fast-paced and emotionally conflicted paranormal story.  The world is still on the edge of oblivion as the Church is still waging war against witches and Mother Nature is about ready to shake things up even further.  It's up to the underground resistance to make things right and they need the intelligent Dr. Kayleigh Lauderdale to fix what's gone wrong.  She doesn't come willingly though as she's been taught that the resistance is the villain by her father.  Like any good daughter she trusts in her father even as it becomes clear that he's a major player in the conspiracy.  It takes a lot of proof before she sees the light, which is both admirable yet exhausting.  Once she finally realized the truth she climbed on board wholeheartedly and was an important asset in saving the witches and the world.

Shawn has been focused solely on revenge against Kayleigh's father for years, but since he can't get to him he'll use Kayleigh...at least that's his plan.  Once he actually meets her though he knows he can't go through with it.  The sparks between them are too strong too ignore and it leads to conflicted feelings as he hates who she represents as much as he's attracted to her.  Their relationship doesn't go smoothly though as trust issues run rampant and the fate of the world rests in their hands.  The push and pull of their relationship makes their journey to a HEA one that is hard-fought but well worth it.

The worldbuilding in this story/series is well presented.  It's a dark and gritty world and it's only these relationships that allow a bit of happiness to surface.  Characters from the previous books show up to tie up loose ends and it's a nice reward to those who have followed the series from the start to see how these characters fare today.  

The intricate emotional ups and downs make for an entertaining story, as does the storytelling where the villains are not always clear. Each story in this series builds on the other so to get the full enjoyment of this book/series it's best to read them in order.  I've only read a few of the books and felt a bit lost at times.  Ms. Cooper has created a fast-paced, action-packed story that flows along nicely courtesy of two strong protagonists.  It's sad when a series comes to an end but I look forward to what Ms. Cooper has planned next.

My rating for this is a B.

*I received this book from Eldeweiss and Harper Collins in exchange for my honest opinion.

AUTHOR INFO:

Born from the genetic mash-up of lesser royalty, storytellers, wanderers and dreamers, KARINA COOPER was destined to be a creative genius. As a child, she moved all over the country like some kind of waifish blonde gypsy and thrived in the new cultures her family settled in. When she (finally) grew up, she skipped the whole genius part and fell in love with writing because, really, who doesn’t love making things up for a living?

One part romance fanatic, one part total dork, and all imagination, she writes dark and sexy paranormal romance and urban fantasy. When she isn’t writing, Karina is an airship captain’s wife and Steampunkfashionista. She lives in the beautiful and rainy Pacific Northwest with a husband, four cats, two rabbits, the fantasy of a dog, and a passel of adopted gamer geeks. www.karinacooper.com.