Potential, But Fell Short

I love Gena Showalter, but this book was "meh" - average and slow. The hero, Solomon, had a lot of potential - a big, strong, unusual assassin, with a tortured but good soul. The heroine, Vika, put up with an abusive father her whole life, yet she remains kind and sweet. I kept waiting for the chemistry, but the book just never "took off." It was very slow - I actually speed up the book to 1.25x to get through it. I kept waiting for the book to really capture my attention, but it never did. I had to force myself to finish it. Showalter's books have so much potential, but when they fall short, it is frustrating, as the story lines and characters always have potential. Despite my disappointment, I'll listen to the next book in the series, as the other potential heroes have real potential, and when Showalter is good, she is great.

10 people found this helpful

always... YES! Just yes...

I love Gena Showalter! She has a fantastic mind that can create worlds so amazing and complete... It's amazing. In this first book you don't know where you lay though
.. what year, what's happened, but this is a series based off her other series Alien Huntress... which is also superb. The Lead male role is captured and put on display for a circus which specializes in otherhuman/ other worldly like creatures (people) in which he falls for the daughter of the owner of the circus. She's severely abused by her father and yearns to help the captives but really can't. They form a bond and it does take awhile for the escape to happen but it does. *spoiler alert*. Lol... The emotions are strong, personalities strong, and connection between hero and heroine are beautifully strong. It has action, the feels, depth of characters and the "feel goods" and "what will happen next" emotions we love and crave. Worth a credit... But beware, there's only two books in this series for audible. I also recommend to listen to Alien Huntreas first... And everythijng else by Gena Showalter.... She's just that Amazing

2 people found this helpful

Gena Showalter is amazing!

I've always loved Gena Showalter's books. This new series is just as amazing as her Atlantis series and her LOTU series. The narrator is great and has a voice made for reading!

2 people found this helpful

Good listen after reading it three times

If you could sum up Last Kiss Goodnight in three words, what would they be?

amazing fun exciting!

What did you like best about this story?

the paranormal aspect with real life emotions and the circus and aliens!(otherworlders!)

Have you listened to any of George Newbern’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I have to say listening to his voice was soothing, and you could depict "voices" from certain characters, easy to follow along with.

2 people found this helpful

Don't bother.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I read Gena's dark lords series and a lot of her other stuff. This is book is not her typical good read. It's boring slow and predictable. This book was trite and I'm sorry I wasted my time and credit on it.

8 people found this helpful

So glad it’s over

It sounded so promising. An otherworlder (Solomon) captured and imprisoned in an evil circus with a beautiful deaf woman (Vika) taking care of him. I just knew sparks would fly, battles would rage, and they would overcome all types of obstacles as their passions raged.

Meanwhile……..I find myself looking at the time left in the book to see if it’s about over. I usually love Gena’s books. I liked some of it but mainly I want something to happen. Make love, maybe a laugh, a touch of suspense, wild sex, a fierce battle; just quit being so tortured and over thinking things. It’s my personal preference for a book in this genre to have more “chemistry”. Well actually that’s in any book. It’s just one of those books that you are just waiting for it to sweep you into that world and take you away for a while. I never got swept in to anything even though the last hour is pretty good.

I don’t recommend this one. If you follow my reviews and you somewhat agree with them then I believe you’re not going to like this one. This book does contain some mild sexual content at the end but it’s nothing to graphic. Based on this first book I do not think I will get any others in this series. I know this is a first in a series and sometimes they usually explain allot of details about the series but this one didn’t even do that. I really don’t know much about the otherworld race after listening for 10+ hours.

17 people found this helpful

Buck Rogers starring Hellboy paranormal rom-rom?

I have so many questions.

I didn’t find the adult, campy alien rom-com thriller I was looking for (try Dark Star Mercenaries for sexier, action-ier, grown-up good times). But, this was a strange, hot mess of a book that I ultimately enjoyed in a takes-me-back-to highschool-in-the-80s, juvenile comic-book pulp kinda way.

Part of the issue may be that this ties to the author’s other series, which I haven’t read (something about otherworldly assassins and earth). I feel like the author assumes we already know about this alternate earth…and therefore doesn’t bother to explain the setting, otherworld-dynamic, or magic systems. Apparently, this is modern day or slightly future Earth, with phones, trackers, gate codes and electronic weapons. Only, magic also exists along with beings from all sorts of other worlds. Some countries allow these beings to freely mingle, but the US hunts them…or parts of the US. And, parts of the world are dystopian dead zones (or no man’s lands)? Connectivity between worlds (or dimensions?) happens through magic portals powered by solar flares or eclipses (maybe connected to the present state of Earth/existence of aliens?). So, yeah, I just had to go with the flow and try to enjoy the magic carpet ride.

The story itself follows alien Solo (short for Solomon), who morphs into a huge, clawed, red skinned beast (the Hellboy feel) with devilish aspects like having good vs evil beings (that only he can see) trying to guide his actions, biblical quotes starting chapters (because, why?), and him being torn from his home (a peaceful alien heaven?) and ultimately raised to fight evil beings with his fatherly protector Michael in an otherworldly Special Ops team (again, the Hellboy feel). Solo gets trapped in a twisted circus and thus begins a love story with sheltered, but plucky, Vikas.

Here’s where the Buck Rogers vibes really kicked in, with “future” society viewed through an 80s TV lense and Solo/Buck is the dashing, experienced man saving the abused, timid-but-wanting-to-help delicate damsel who, despite living in a modern world, seems to have zero modern-day knowledge/skill. In fact, the Buck Rogers episode featuring the deaf girl mistreated by her evil parent is an on-point match.

The romance proceeds only slightly farther than 80sTV level with nothing but kisses and a single, not very smexy scene 8hrs in. Part of the fizzle for me is that Vikas is innocent and there’s a lot of “I’ll go slow and make your first time good for you” cringe. My high school, 80s self would have eaten it up.

If you can roll with random quirks (like a lot of internal “that’s what she said” comedic monologue), clunky plots contrived to get these two kids alone (zombie hordes when trapped in another dimension, because okay), over reliance on plots about female victimization (parental, partner, and sexual abuse), and embrace the almost Saturday morning feel, this can be fun. But you will be left with so many questions (never did understand the trading of magical abilities thing). Embrace the strange brew!

Fun!

A fun listen by an author I've enjoyed reading before. I didn't enjoy this one as much as some of her other works, but I was still entertained.

Loved It

Loved this first story in a new series. As always, Gena Showalter created an intricate detailed world full of magic and miracles. It looks like the story will continue in a couple other future stories. Solo is an assassin that gets kidnapped and put into a circus cage. Vica is deaf and is put in charge of his care. Escaping that situation turned out to be a lot harder than Solo had anticipated. The adventure they shared on the way to their HEA was dangerous and exciting. The narrator was also wonderful. He helped the story come alive. Loved his voice. It was easy to distinguish the dialogue from each character. Great performance. Looking forward to the next story in the series.

painful and too dramatic

The love portions are so overdone and dramatic it's hard to get into the story.