Review: 4 Kisses, TwoLips Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2013
Reviewed for TwoLips Reviews, LLC4 Kisses, 1 Pepper (M/F, graphic sex)As an empath, Ella Walsh is no stranger to things that go bump in the night. She works for the Supernatural Branch of Law Enforcement, or SBLE, and is a first responder whenever a regular citizen sees or experiences some weird supernatural occurrence. That monster under your bed? Yeah, it's not just your imagination.Ella is almost twenty-seven years old, which means she's almost at the end of her career as an empath for SBLE. Much longer and it will be more than her psyche can handle without losing it. For most empaths, as they approach their twenty-seventh birthday, they have to choose between accepting a mate that the government selects for them, or going crazy. For an independent woman like Ella, that choice is not as easy as it would appear.Our hero, Vadim Morosov, is a shifter sent from Russia to help Ella's team catch a serial killer. He's had a bad experience with an empath, so he's reluctant to trust Ella. He's also not very keen on divulging much information about himself, so he doesn't immediately inspire her trust either. This adds a nice sense of mystery to the story, as readers and characters alike wait to learn just who and what he is.Ella is headstrong, independent, prickly, accustomed to keeping everyone at arm's length, impulsive and somewhat reckless because she resists accepting help from anyone, often preferring to go off on her own. She was ripped from a normal life at a very young age, so she has trouble trusting people. The fact thather job has filled her brain with other people's nightmares has had a negative effect on her interpersonal skills. Fortunately, Vadim lends her the strength and stability she needs, and gives her balance.This was an interesting book, and I'd like to see a sequel or maybe a series coming from this. At times, it kind of has a Men In Black feel, which definitely appeals to me. When the human government realized they couldn't keep Otherworld beings from entering the human dimension, they decided it would be best to try and regulate it. It's sort of an immigration policy for creepy creatures. Overall, Soul Sucker was a captivating read written with Kate Pearce's brilliant flair for storytelling.