Last Kiss Goodnight

An Otherworld Assassins Novel, Book 1

By: Gena Showalter

Narrated by: George Newbern

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Gena Showalter ignites a thrilling new paranormal series with this breathtaking tale of a warrior enslaved by desire, and the woman who frees his soul.

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 seem - 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.

©2012 Gena Showalter (P)2013 Simon & Schuster Audio

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.

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!

Just ok

You know what is weird?  I love Showalter’s Lord of the Underworld series, and you would think knowing how much I love books with aliens I would be all over this series.  Sadly no.  I have only read the first Alien Huntress book, which this is a spin-off from and I am not sure if I will delve back in. 

In the Last Kiss Goodnight, I sympathized with Vika and her plight, yet much like the otherworlders, I didn’t care for her.  She did what she could for them, but fear and what I saw as selfishness held her back from helping them.  Instead of going to the authorities she continued to wait until she felt like she had enough saved to make it on her own, so I guess it was more of self-preservation.  But there comes a point where you have to put others needs before your own.  Especially when they are being tortured and killed.  So I wasn’t a fan.   

I liked Solo, I would have liked his guardians explained a little more, I am still not sure how that worked, but I also feel like I may have missed something.  

I am going to return to the Alien Huntress series before I try any more of this series.  I am giving it 3 Boundless stars, it could be a bit brutal at times, but the relationship and banter between Vika and Solo were sweet, and I did enjoy that.   

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

painful and too dramatic

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

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.