Review: Karina Cooper – Blood of the Wicked

Dark Mission Series:
 Book 1:
Blood of the Wicked: Silas Smith and Jessie Leigh
 
 

Summary:
Jessie is a witch in a new world that fears and destroys witches. Jessie and her brother have been running from the Holy Order all their lives. Approximately a year ago Jessie’s brother disappeared, despite all her efforts (her specialty is the present) to locate him she has been unable to. To remain under the radar Jessie has been bartending in the crustiest of dive bars and strip clubs, she switches up appearances, jobs and locations often. Silas has been tasked with finding Jessie, the Holy Order needs her to find her brother who is wanted in a series of murders. Silas finally catches up with her in a strip club, but doesn’t realize it’s her until she’s already on the run again. When Jessie first see’s Silas her first reaction is one of lust and then she sees his tattoo and she knows the Order has caught up with her. She needs to get out of there and get out of there fast. Regrettably she is attacked outside the club and of all luck Silas is the one to rescue her. After rescuing Jessie, Silas takes her into custody, he needs her. After an escape attempt gone wrong Jessie realizes three things: first, Silas doesn’t know what she is, two; she also needs Silas because she needs to find her brother and third and the worst realization; she is inexplicably and dangerously attracted to Silas. Silas and Jessie embark to find her brother who is hiding out in a powerful coven of witches. At every turn things get more and more dangerous and it quickly becomes clear the coven is also after Jessie and is willing to do anything to get their hands on her.

Review:
This is Karina Cooper debut full length novel and it is a doozy! I picked up this book because the cover is sexy and ending up loving it. K. Cooper creates an intriguing world after a series natural disasters that basically wipes out most of the world’s population and all of its major cities. The people of this new world look to find a scape goat for what had happened and find it in witches. This new world is quite interesting; I totally bought the concept especially with 2012 looming in our near future lol. I actually would have liked a map in the beginning of the book kind of to show the layout of the city, at times I did have a hard time visualizing the layout. I really like Jessie as a character, she is an extremely loyal person, and always tried to do right by her brother. She is also a survivor, she does what she has to do to survive within her circumstances and I can totally get down with that. Silas is an alpha male that is what the Order made him. He has dedicated his life to the Order and hunting down witches. He is a good man and thinks he is doing right but starts to realize that maybe things are not always what they seem. Like an human he has some setbacks but he works his way through them. The attraction between Jessie and Silas is quick and intense. They really steam up the pages. They try to fight it at first but soon are swept up in violence and love! There is nothing like a lot of violence to bring two people together quicker. I would have liked to have seen more of Jessie’s magic, since I am a sucker for a witch, but based on the context of the story I understand why there was not more of it from Jessie. She is trying to survive after all. I can’t wait to read the next book in this installment, which is releasing next month. This is a great story and an exciting new world!

Rating: