Customer Reviews

When Wicked Craves

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Petra Lang has been sentenced to die by the Shadow Alliance because a centuries old family curse. If anyone comes in contact with her skin, even the slightest touch, will cause them to turn into a horrible murderous creature. A last minute rescue by her vampire attorney Nicholas Montegue has them both running for their lives. Petra knows the reason for Nick saving her is not because of an unfair ruling but because he needs Petra to save a friend. Yet she can't stop herself from the desire that is building in her for a man she could never touch. Nick's friend was turned into a beast by Petra's touch and he will do anything he can to bring him back. He will use Petra in whatever way is necessary to come up with a cure but things get complicated when Nick starts to care for the smart and crafty Petra. When a way to end the curse comes to light Nicholas may have to choose between the woman he loves and a friend who could mean the end of the Alliance.

Petra has lived her entire life without contact because of her curse but she still holds her head high and she should not be taken lightly. She is smart, savvy and and resourceful. Yes, she swoons over Nick a bit (who wouldn't?) but at the same time she keeps him on his toes and is a constant surprise to him. She has her stubborn 'I don't need him to take care of me' moments but she knows he is her only chance to end her curse. Nick has a way with women. He has lived hundreds of years but is still manages to be surprised by Petra. Aside from being a lawyer, Nick is also heavily into science and alchemy. Petra is able to keep up with him and they can have meaningful conversations which is a rarity with him and women. He too has his moments of doubt regarding his feelings because of a past betrayal that left his heart broken. Their feelings for each other are real and they learn to get past hesitations. Its both lust and love for these two plus an understanding and deep bond that make them my favorite couple so far in this series.

What happens when Petra touches some one's skin is she brings out a near unstoppable force that gets stronger each moment it lives. The Shadow Alliance, powerful organization that over sees the paranormal world, was told of a prophecy that would be their end. An end that would be brought by a being Petra would create. They claim to give her a fare trail but she was considered guilty in their eyes the moment she was captured. There is nothing nice about those who govern the Alliance. It is made up of vampires, weres, wraiths and other creatures of the night who are only out for their own well being. I was tempted to cheer for the monster to rip them to shreds. Aside from having to run from the Alliance, Nick and Petra need to find a cure to turn Serge back into himself and do it before the monster he has become gets loose and leaves a path of death and destruction.

When Wicked Craves is the third book in J.K. Beck's Shadow Keepers series and at this point is my favorite. The action takes off right away and doesn't let up till the end. There's a sweet and at times heart tugging romance between Petra and Nick that balances out the story. The ending was both interesting and surprising with a finale worthy of this awesome read. We also get a better look into Shadow Alliance and learn where their priorities really are. Not even friends are safe from their wrath. I felt like everything is taken up a notch in this book and is a hard to put down read. Fans who like their paranormal romance darker than normal will like this series.

*Spoiler alert* i guess if I cared that much to write the review Id say that too.

I think what made this book so darn dissapointing is that it is NOTHING like what i had expected. Now I understand that it can be difficult to write something new for vampires but still this was a total let down. Because of the type of reader I am I will often wait til all three books in a three month series are released to read them. Oh how I wished I would not have waited. This book frustrated me more than any romance novel should... And here is why:

Despite trying to suspend or heighten the romance and create a connection between protagoninsts, I really didn't give a damn about either one. Luke/Lucious (a point to be brought up later) was yes a mercenary with a good heart but he murdered his ten year old daughter and that just never sat well. Sara was just so incredibly boring and though she was lauded for her conviction and ambition as a lawyer I didn't see it... at all.

The author spends alot of time introducing characters (Nick, Luke, Serge, Hasik, Tariq, Caris, Doyle, Severin, Bosch, Martella who were all in repeated scenes to name a few) and names (at which time you never knew which nickname or which of the characters first or last name the author was going to use) and situations (without a hell of a lot of introduction or background). All of which is confusing for a reader just starting out, I mean don't dumb it down but for craps sake calm it down a bit. I spent so much time having to pause and remember just who, what and where was going on, it was ridiculous.

This is not new for vampires, alot of terminonlogy is borrowed from other paranormal romance authors. There is a ton of poorly described trolls, ogres, poltergeists and pretty much all characters in general. It may not matter to some but I could not tell you the color of Sara Constantines hair or eyes. It's just somewhat ambiguous which isn't what I wanted to read.

I DID NOT like the fairly gruesome and slighly more descript scenes about the young girls getting killed.

And as for the sex? It was boring predictable and formulaic... alot of begging by the women and heart tripping creepy sex smiling being done by the men. Alot of obnoxious describing of being bitten as getting a "special kiss" by the vampire which cheezes me out.

So heres what happened; I dropped this book on page 317 of 388 and then skipped book two (When Pleasure Rules) because it was about two people and I hadn't the foggiest who they were with less than 70pgs left in the first book in the series. I began reading book three (when wicked craves) and then just gave up after skipping through a bit of it, just more of the same it felt like.

The final nail in the coffin to this series is it looks like the fourth installation to this series (when passion lies) is about a really HORRIBLE character in the first book named Caris who basically enables a child serial killer/rapist to keep killing... Now surely there is more to be explained about this if I had bothered to read the series but seriously I don't want to read an entire book about someone who had anything to do with that, regardless of the excuses or reasons the author gives for the behavior later.

Okay first of all I read ALOT of romance for a working Mom and I don't want to waste my time on crap. So let me just go ahead and relay the message to those of you out there like me; stick to the Black Dagger brothers and the Breed, hell even Showalters Alien Huntress & Atlantis series have far more interesting and original vampire situations going on. There is just too much and yet at the same time entirely too little going on in these books. I read romance so I can enjoy a few hours with some drama and then a happy ending. I don't want to feel this annoyed to read in my spare time. Second of all my husband is a lawyer and the whole premise that the author wanted to relay her love for the lawyering field through this series is crap. She may mean what she says about her love for that stuff but it is way poorly executed. For someone who is also inundated with the life a lawyer leads the legal side of it all seemed a bit trite in comparison.

Take my advise if you are unsure of these books but are fairly certain there are other titles you know you would like to read out there then just go ahead and read them. Put these in the "sell to Half price books bag" you keep in the corner of your room and I assure you, you won't even miss them.

Cheers- Gilly

Petra Lang can never know the warm touch of another person whether it would be a lover or a friend. A hug is something she should never feel as one touch turns the nicest person into a snarling demonic beast. The Shadow Alliance leadership fears her curse will be used against them as she apparently has caused the prophecy of their deaths to begin. She must die before they die.

Vampire Nicholas Montegue rescues her from death as he needs her to save his friend Serge who she turned. However, her hero is turned into a beast. While the Alliance assassins chase them, the pair goes to his former mentor, an alchemist he betrayed centuries ago as their only hope. When she learns her death will save his friend, she willingly wants to die. However, he can no longer kill the woman he loves but can't touch.

When J.K. Beck writes a romantic fantasy readers know the tale will prove great as affirmed by When Blood Calls and When Pleasure Rules. Her latest tale is a tense twisting thriller that comes across as a paranormal Gift of the Magi starring an adult Kitty Pryde of X-women fame and a fascinating frustrated hero. Sub-genre fans will crave impatiently for when the next visit to the Beckian universe occurs.

Harriet Klausner

"When Wicked Craves" by J.K. Beck:

"When Wicked Craves" is the best book I have read in a long time. I simply
could not put the book down. One element which stood out to me from page one was
J.K. Beck's gift of choosing just the right words, formulating the appropriate sequence of
them to create not only an image but a mood, a setting, the depth of a character, grabbing
the reader and holding on tight until the final page is turned. The simple act of recalling a
touch, Beck described as "the hint of sensation upon the breath of memory." That phrase
within the context of the chapter sent shivers down my spine. I fell helplessly into this
author's world.

The paranormal elements had enough familiarity to easily allow the genius of
Beck's differences. The intricacies of her shadow world, the way the characters were
intricately intertwined, lead to new and complex complications in the relationships. I
am not only speaking of the tangled labyrinth of the alliances and the discord between
creatures within it such as vampires and weren, succubus and sorcerers, but of the sexual
tension and romantic entanglements between them as well. It was this edge to the book
which had me hook, line and sinker devouring the book rather than merely reading it.
The best thing about this book, hyped up by the constant turmoil created for the
characters, was the erotic intimacy between Petra and Nicholas, their passion and the
anticipation of such even when sex, not even touch, was involved. Beck is a creative
genius, an entrepreneur of romance and a wizard of plot. The whole book took my breath
away. I can't wait now to read the stories of Lissa and Rand, Sara and Lu. I'd like to
thank Suspense Magazine for introducing this author to me. Guess I'm her newest fan!

Reviewed by Kiki Howell, author of "Torn Asunder" for Suspense Magazine

not my favorite paranormal romance series when compared to j.r. ward's black dagger brotherhood series or lara adrian's midnight breed series.

If you haven't read the first two books, you most definitely should before diving into this one. Each book has its own focus, but there's an continuing storyline and and returning characters, and background info is essential to really getting the story. In fact, this book picks the story almost directly up from where When Pleasure Rules left it. Our band of heroes have escaped another adventure of danger and romance, but Petra Lang must now face the consequences of exposing her curse. The Alliance, governing body of the shadow world, has decided that Petra is too dangerous to live, and the story opens with her government-sanctioned execution.

I gotta say, absolutely love how this book kicks off -- I was instantly hooked and emotionally invested in Petra and her troubles. Which is great considering that we don't get a whole lot of intro to her character in WPR. Within just a couple of pages, the author totally convinces you to not just like Petra but to actually care about her.

The other quick hook here is Nick Montegue. Introduced from the very beginning in When Blood Calls, Nick has been a great asset to this series -- a nice change of pace from the supermacho toughness found in Luke and Rand. I like supermacho, I really do, but variety is pleasant, especially in manflesh. Of course, don't think that Nick is a prancing lightweight. As is nicely depicted in the book, he's a renaissance man (sort of literally, since he's a centuries-old vampire) who thinks as well as he fights. He and Petra are an excellent match, and I give the author all kinds of kudos for successfully creating believable -- and sexy, mustn't forget -- chemistry between characters.

As for the action-y bits, I enjoyed the pace of things. I was well-entertained the entire time I read this, never found a moment when I was bored or impatient with the plot. I wasn't all too impressed by the villain-esque characters, though. The primary bad guys are pretty interesting but ultimately didn't work for me. There was a certain amount of depth missing from them, which did decrease the overall urgency of the conflict. With some books, even though you know there's going to be a Happily Ever After at the end, you experience a moment or two of doubt. That, just maybe, this time the bad guys will win. That wasn't the case, here. Still, everything was quite lively from start to finish, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with a relatively angst-free story every now and then.

One thing I particularly enjoy about this series is how the characters from previous books maintain a significant presence and continue to develop as the series progresses. It was a nice surprise to find the tension between Nick and Lissa had continued from the second book, and that Luke and Sara aren't down for the count now that they're happily mated. This is a fully-fledged series with plenty of thought put into making each book flow smoothly from the next. I will absolutely pick up the next book when it hits the shelves -- bringing back Caris, the vampire-werewolf hybrid with a tough-as-nails attitude.

Petra has lived a cursed life literally. Her family had been cursed long ago to have the cursed touch; if she touches any one it will change that person into an uncontrollable monster. She is destined to live a life without the touch of another.

Now she is about to be put to death by the alliance for that curse. She had changed her friend serge into this monster to save herself and her friends but in the end the alliance fears what they cannot control or what could possibly control them and so she was sentenced to death to illuminate that threat.

Nicholas had other ideas, he knew he must save Petra she may be his only key to finding a cure for his friend. Nicholas staged a rescue and took Petra before she was killed. Now they must work together to find a cure for serge. But Nicholas finds himself wanting to cure Petra as much if not more than his need to help serge.

Now they are on a race to find the cure before the alliance finds them. But what they find in the meantime is something the both never expected. A connection that in spite of the distance they are forced to keep because of the curse, they feel closer to each other than anyone ever in their life. But can the love withstand once Nicholas finds out the way to save his friend is to kill the woman he loves?

Petra is very strong and spunky I loved her. I felt for her brother and would like to have seen more of him. Nicholas is a very strong sexy man he is a no nonsense take charge guy. He may be more of a lover than a fighter but that does not mean he can't hold his own. I loved seeing Luc again and Rand. The story just takes on a life of its own and its every easy to get so wrapped up in it you lose track of time. I thought this was a great addition to the series and can't wait to see what JK Beck has in store for us next.

Petra Lang is a human private investigator with a huge secret. She is cursed in such a way that she can never have a relationship because the minute she touches anyone skin to skin they become a horrible demon. Petra got into her profession while trying to find seeking answers, as well as a cure for her problem. Now she straddles both the human and shadow worlds. However, right now it's only the shadow world that plans on killing her for no other reason than her curse.

Nicholas Montegue is a vampire and an advocate who tried his hardest to prove that Petra was innocent in her sad excuse of a trial. Now he is blocked from her, as her execution is about to begin. However, Nicholas has no intention of Petra dying anytime soon, for a very selfish reason. When his rescue doesn't quite go off as planned, both Nicholas and Petra are running for their lives from the shadow law enforcement and the Alliance.

Petra was beyond happy to discover that Nicholas staged her rescue even when she discovered why. Knowing that they have to keep at least two steps ahead of those searching for them, danger seems to be at their heels. Petra knows one way to solve Nicholas' problem but she would rather that one wasn't used and keeps mum about it for the time being. Nicholas learns more about the curse, which only serves to feed the passion building between the pair. Just how do you have sex with someone you can't touch? The answer is just around the corner, but also around that corner is even more danger for the couple. Time is truly running out when Nicholas and Petra go for broke and discover the answer, and their deaths, could lie with the same person. Can love find a way to keep Nicholas and Petra alive and together or has the time truly run out for them?

Who says you need the sense of touch for passion to rage? Petra and Nicholas face this in When Wicked Craves. I was so happy to see that Nicholas and Petra was the couple in this last book of the triad. I thought I knew what to expect but as I turned the pages, I found out just how off I was in some cases. The desperation I felt between Nicholas and Petra came from more than one angle and that had me reading this story in one sitting. I really loved how they found love and humor in situations that should have crushed them. I also loved how the other couples were here as secondary but important characters. Nicholas and Petra weren't about to let anything take away the passion at their fingertips. The final showdown had me cheering for them and at the same time sadly saying `awww'. The passion, twists and turns in When Wicked Craves will keep you entranced from the first page until the last. One of the excellent reasons I have made Nicholas and Petra's story Joyfully Recommended.
Actually I recommend the entire series as one you won't want to miss any of the stories and will re-read this triad many times over. My suggestion is that you read them in order to gain the vision of their world and the power plays that go on in. I know this series was only supposed to be a triad, but I do hope more books in this world are written.

Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed