Last Kiss Goodnight
Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Otherworld Assassin #1
Genre: Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Publisher: Pocket Books
My Rating:
Summary:
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.
First Sentence: Fourteen-year-old Viktorija Lukas raced between the circus tents, her throat and lungs burning as she gasped for breath.
My Review:
After reading Alice in Zombieland and fairly enjoying it, I decided to give one of Gena Showalter’s adult books a try since she was so famous for her adult novels. I finally decided on reading Gena’s Last Kiss Goodnight, eager to see if her adult books were as good as people say, only to be badly disappointed by the outcome. There were so many problems in Last Kiss Goodnight that I’m not even sure where to start.
First, there was absolutely no worldbuilding. It was mentioned where Vika lived and that there was a place between worlds where people can hide, but that’s it. Now starts my million questions that were never answered: does that mean there were other worlds then? (I’ll think so since paranormal creatures are called otherworlders.) How many worlds are out there? When do we human beings discover those worlds? Why can’t human beings and otherworlders coexist? And my questions go on and on and on.
Also, in the beginning of each chapter, there was a quote from the Christian Bible. I don’t have any problems with that except for the fact that the Bible excerpts had absolutely nothing to do with the book itself. So why put a Bible verse in the beginning of each chapter? In the end, I just skipped them, knowing the Bible quotes had nothing to do with the story.
Last Kiss Goodnight was also very preachy. It constantly talked about good vs. evil, the good angel vs. the devil, some sort of karma, and evil shadows lurking. Last Kiss Goodnight talked about them so much that I’m just like enough already! I get the point.
To make matters worse, at least a hundred to two hundred pages could have been easily cut out of the book. The pacing was pretty horrible too.
Oh, and did I mention the fact that Solo was stuck in the cage for 70% of the book? Last Kiss Goodnight consisted of 40% Vika constantly thinking I need to let them go! and 30% sexual tension. I was so tired of reading Last Kiss Goodnight by that point.
The funny thing is, I read other reviews of Last Kiss Goodnight and so many people were complaining about the huge non-existent lack of explicit sex scenes.
Overall, if you were interested in Last Kiss Goodnight like I was, skip this book. I particularly wasted a day reading it and all I got out of it was this: Solo is trapped in a cage. Vika wants to let him go but can’t. Okay, some sexual tension happens. Solo gets released, big fight happens, and Solo and Vika lives happily ever after. The end. Honestly, I’m afraid to try Gena Showalter’s other adult books now.
I really like it when authors or publishers or whoever does it and that is were at the begining of chapters there is a quote from something. I really like that, but I can see myself gettting annyoed with it if it had nothing to do with the plot or the book itself. Like in Delirium it had excerpts from the law book or something and that is connect with the book, but not the plot. But if it had nothing to do with anything from the book, then I would also get annyoed.
Great review, I had my eye on this one, but with no worldbuiding and the pacing horrible I’m just going to skip it.
Yeah, the quotes thing got me confused and in the end, all it did was make me mad.
Thank you Kimberly & too bad about this book. I was hoping for a lot more. :l
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Favorite Beginnings/Endings In Books
I have this one waiting on my shelf. I am looking forward to it but your review has me very worried. :( To bad a lot of the things didn’t work out for you. I guess I’ll have to judge it myself.
Great honest review! :D
~ Maida
Literary Love Affair
Maida @ Literary Love Affair recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday (33)
Good luck reading it Maida! I hope you will like it better than me! :D
Thank you! ;D
Kelly recently posted…Top Ten Favorite Beginnings/Endings In Books
I want to first commend you on an excellent review. I really like reviews that tell me briefly, with no spoilers, a bit about the story, then tell me what is good or bad about the story and why the reviewer either likes or dislikes the book. And you did all of those things and more.
Wow. I have so looked forward to reading this author. Like you (at least prior to this novel), I haven’t read any of her work. I have really, really wanted to read her books. Another of the bloggers had a box of about 20 or so of her books to give away, but had the comments section set up to take only an older form of software, thus I couldn’t respond or even email to explain that there was a problem with the rafflecopter. Now, (sadly) I feel better. If all her books are this shallow or poorly built, I will not be satisfied with her work. I wish every review I read was as well-written as this one.
Michelle Willms recently posted…Hers to Command Blog Tour. Spotlight
Yay! I’m glad you like my review Michelle! :D
I heard that Gena Showalter’s first books were really good, but as she continued to write, her books lack more and more. I’m not really sure about that though, but most fans of hers feel that way.
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [47]
Thanks for the honest review. I like the way you made it clear what is missing from the book. I was going to put this on my TBR but I think I’ll skip it now.
Yeah, I rather you skip this one. There are a lot of better Gena Showalter books out there, like Alice in Zombieland.
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [52]
great review!! i was a little iffy about if i would like this book or not.. i would probably check it out at the library (if my library has it) if i plan to read it.. great review!!
Thanks Sarah! (:
Yeah, borrowing it from the library is definitely a safe bet. I hope you’ll like this one more than I did though!
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [53]
I can’t believe I never knew Gena Showalter had written other books. I only knew about Through the Zombie Glass, which I still need to read. But maybe it makes sense since this one’s an Adult book. I think I’m just going to stick to her YA series though. Not too much of a big fan of Adult.
Ha ha, before I’ve even heard of Through the Zombie Glass, I already knew that Gena Showalter wrote adults books. In fact, she’s FAMOUS for them.
I’m not a fan of her adult books either. Her adult books are full of sex and lacks tons of things plot-wise.
Kelly recently posted…Spooktacular Giveaway Hop
The choice to use Bible verses is interesting considering her books are known for their sex scenes! Strange!
I know! Maybe it’s because Gena Showalter found God again or something while she was going through a hard time in real life? I’m not sure, but I’ve heard about something like that from fellow book bloggers.
Kelly recently posted…Spooktacular Giveaway Hop
Good review! i didn’t know she writes adult books. The cover looks very interesting. There is a guy in a cage and I wonder why, I will have to read it to find out. <3
Thanks Cali! :D
Ha ha, I tried one other one of Gena Showalter’s books and it was HORRIBLE. Like, ugh horrible.
Hint: It involves a circus. ;D
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