Virna dePaul - Chosen By Sin

The longest life isn’t always the happiest one…
For now, werebeast Dex Hunt serves on the Para-Ops team, but his true purpose is to kill the werewolf leader he blames for his mother’s death. Biding his time, Dex keeps his emotional distance from his team members and anyone else he might care for, including a mysterious vampire he met in L.A.
As a doctor, vampire Jesmina Martin has dedicated her immortal life to healing others. As a scientific researcher, she’s trying to prolong life spans, in particular those of her adoptive dragon-shifter family and the werewolf who saved her as a child. Her greatest hope lies with Dex, a werebeast she believes can gift immortality to others.
Only Dex knows nothing about his gift or the fact Jesmina wants to harness it. After a passionate night together neither expects to see the other again. Weeks later, they are reunited in France and forced to acknowledge a fragile miracle—a new life struggling to survive. At the same time, they must stop a group of rebel shape-shifters hoping to unleash every demon in hell. But before Dex and Jesmina can save their child or the world, they must relinquish their secrets, face their fears, and open themselves to love.

Comment: This is the last installment in the Para Ops trilogy by ms dePaul. My enjoyment of the books has been decreasing, so I wasn't very confidant in this one, although we always hope it's good. But in this case I'm afraid my suspicion was met.

This book tells the story of Dex Hunter, one of the members of the Para Ops team and how he is sent to France to look for clues about a case they're investigating and at the same time he gets involved with Jesmina, a vampire.
Jes is a doctor and wants to find a cure to help the race that raised her because they have a very short life span. Knowing about a prophecy and meeting Dex will give her hope and will to go after him but the attraction and the surprises after they meet just make everything different than what he imagined.

First of all, this story was boring. I didn't pay attention to everything, especially when it was about the mission, because I knew it would be solved and it wasn't that amazing. Honestly, this part was really annoying. They keep talking about a mission but it was more like random things while the characters dealt with their romances. This isn't like one of these tv shows where teams investigate and solve things. I was really disappointed by how that wasn't captivating enough because it's the base for the whole plot. This part of the book felt more like something that was there so let's add some scenes about it to make it look more serious than what, in fact, it was. 
Then there were scenes here and there with other characters, things related to the main plot ad the mission that were an attempt to explain some further actions and why something was happening that way. At least I think it was this. It made the story feel very disjointed and focused on things that in the end didn't have any kind of closure.

This last thing was also a bit annoying. There are several course of actions taken throughout the book, things about other characters not the protagonists, that when the book ends, aren't explained or solved and pretty much left hanging. Was it on purpose, to make the reader think or was it lack of focus because sometimes things just take time to be done? Who knows.
One of the team's members doesn't even have a end to her personal story.
By the end of the book there isn't even a team, in fact they only worked ALL together in the first book. Really disappointing.

The romance was the best part and even so, not the very best ever done. Dex and Jesmina start being together because of attraction but then something happens, Jesmina thinks Dex is the cure for her problems and eventually they deal with the obstacles in their way and get their HEA.
I kind of enjoyed some parts in their story but I can't really say I was surprised to see so many things without real balance between them. It just didn't feel believable when they said they were in love.

In the end, I graded this with the minimum positive, almost didn't make it, simply because overall the idea was good, some parts here and there were too and this is the final book. But too many things annoyed me to make me want to read more by the author.
Grade: 5/10

Virna dePaul - Chosen by Fate

Although he keeps company with a vampire and a were, human Shaman Caleb O'Flare can definitely hold his own. But neither his psychic ability nor his healing powers can help his sexy-as-hell teammate, Wraith-a ghost with no memory of her human existence, who cannot experience touch without pain. No wraith has managed to exist past its tenth year, so her time is about to run out. She wants only two things before accepting her fate: to learn her human identity, and experience one night with Caleb...

Comment: This is the second installment in the Para Ops trilogy by the author and as I'm determined to finish it, I started this one and there's the last one to be read in June.

The book continues the adventures of the Para Ops team we've met and saw in the previous book but this time Knox and Felicia aren't on stage as much because they're newlyweds. The focus turns to Caleb and Wraith and how they keep playing the cat and mouse game throughout the story. There's a mission but its resolution isn't on the same level of the inconsistencies I've read until then...

I haven't felt this book was as interesting as the previous one, although I said at the time the other one had its flaws. The thing is, this story felt badly constructed, like the things to be worked within the plot were there but I had the sensation they weren't glued together the right way. Too many random things happening but the conducting line wasn't easily understood.
There's the main romance, the vampire scenes, the secondary plot line with Dex, the mission, the goddess parts... I can't say if it was a case of too much happening or author's lack of control over her elements, or an edition that seemed good...for me this didn't work very well. 

I'm glad that things worked out for the characters, that eventually we could see where things were going, but the lacking of connection with all the things happening ruined the story a bit for me and I wasn't always interested. In the end, we've seen everything explained, especially the action parts but it looked like the path towards that wasn't the right one. I keep thinking something was missing and the overall feeling the story gave wasn't solid, wasn't captivating. There wasn't really much interest for me in following things and I confess I've read some parts rather fast, without paying real attention just to move forward.

The romance was OK, apart from the fact they weren't really sure of what they wanted. They played games with their intentions and their words and I didn't feel the connection between them that much. Despite the romance being the weakest part in the book before this one, I still consider this weaker, which says a lot. They worked better before we saw them individually. Of course, I was happy they got a HEA, that Wraith accepted her past and her present, but I wasn't feeling very motivated to want them working things out.

The mission they take on in this book is interesting and amazingly has a deeper explanation we, as readers, wouldn't expect. This kind of saved the story for me in a way, because after all the boredom and misunderstandings and walking around the issue between other even more uninteresting things, in the end, the main reason behind what was happening as quite interesting and provided an interesting element to all this.

There's also the preparation to the final book, whose couple we know and which might prove to be very interesting..I hope it's done well.

In the end, this installment was weak, not as well worked as I imagined and expected, and it was hard to find interest to go on. The final explanations and my own personal will to finish a book kind of saved it, but it was close...
Grade: 5/10

Virna dePaul - Chosen By Blood

Leader of an Otherborn clan, half-breed vampire Knox Devereaux would do anything to find a cure for the anti-vamp vaccine slowly starving his people into extinction. When the FBI contacts him about leading a team of hand-selected Others on a mission to reclaim the stolen antidote, Knox accepts. His new assignment places him in direct contact with Special Agent Felicia Locke, the beautiful human he’s craved since their very first meeting.

Comment: I got this book mostly because in this trilogy there would be were characters, meaning shape shifters. I was very curious to see how that aspect of a paranormal would play out, since shape shifters are my favorite type of paranormal creatures and a world with shape shifters is always one to consider at some point.

This is the story of Knox Devereaux, he's the leader of vampires in a world were vampires and Other creatures are out to the human world but humans have created a vaccine that render their blood unsuitable for vampires, meaning vampires are slowly dying with proper nourishment. Knox wants the cure that was created in a lab and joins a team of six beings to search for it. And part of that team is the human he have loved forever, even though he was married to a vampire and knows he will do so gain in the future...but this time he wants love too. Will he get it?

Well, this story doesn't focus on shape shifters but they are part of the story because the team Knox joins has a werewolf. I was quite glad over this but of course he (Hunt) not being the protagonist didn't played that much into focus. I'm still curious about him despite the fact his story will be the third and I still have one to go before that.

As for this one, all the scenes with the team felt like movie scripts, namely, it had scenes with them distrusting each other, getting to know each other, playing their strengths, getting to trust each other, etc. Not a bad thing but I feel conflicted over it, I don't know if I should feel annoyed it wasn't developed more and that this could turn into a sort of paranormal series focused on the character's mission in which case it wasn't successful, or if I should feel irritated it didn't focus properly on the vampires' cure and the world building, in which case it wasn't a success either.
I'll summarize the issues that should be addressed differently, in my personal opinion:
- the romance sucked, I'll explain after;
- the world building felt very minimalist because it didn't offer anything besides the action center necessary to the story. I don't like this that much because if looks like the world is narrow...a bit more effort would be interesting, I think. Maybe we can see more in the next stories;
- the series is focused on Knox and his love on sights Felicia, but there are other characters that matter. There are clever ways to make them more substantial than what they seem, but I don't think that happened here. Still, the little clues we had were intriguing and I have hopes for more in the next books;
- the pace was OK. The overall plot line about the cure for the vampires and the starting of the plots for the next stories were nicely fit together and the story didn't feel heavy or useless. I liked this sense of always moving forward somehow. But, I still believe it would have been even better if the author could have given more dimension to the whole thing.

The romance sucked to me. Why? Because in the beginning Felicia is known to have kept away from Knox for a long time despite having feelings for him. He pursued her but she never said no for the best reasons, I think! But eventually she gives in and to be honest it was so stupid. How could her reasoning fall so easily after years of god sense? I get it that it helped for the plot purposes, but is someone that weak to be influenced to change a way of thinking that lasted years in such a short time? I know it seem it lasted longer because of all those "no" years, but the reasons were still the same when they got intimate! She still thought the same about him, herself and the whole situation. Well, maybe it's me that wants to stick to some sort of moral conduct but this is something I really must feel is respected in character's behavior. If they are said to be a certain way then I only accept change without good reason. This didn't feel like it. It's hard to explain without giving spoilers, but let's just say if you respect someone and yourself, you wouldn't act against the two. I think.

In the end, good supports and interesting, promising bases, but still a lot to be worked out, in my POV. I gave this a better grade due to the possibilities. Let's see it it matches up in the future.
Grade: 7/10

Virna DePaul - Shades of Temptation

Carrie Ward understands dangerous men, and she's got the scars to prove it. These days, the Special Investigations Group detective saves her risk taking for the job. But when she's asked to pursue a high-profile serial killer, she'll have to join forces with the last man she wants to depend on--Jase Tyler, an ace senior detective who's as reckless as she is cautious. And despite her best intentions, the sparks begin to fly.
As Carrie and Jase race to try to save the next victim, the passion that simmers between them ignites. But a cunning killer at the top of his game is challenging Carrie to play to the very end. Now all she can count on are her instincts-and Jase, the one man daring enough to keep her safe....

Comment: This book was offered to me last Christmas. A friend told me she gave it to me as an experience, if I liked it, she might read it herself. I also use some people as my guinea pigs of reading...lol, said like this sounds pretty awful, but it's not, really. Just a way to read things with an excuse - like we needed one.

Anyway, my friend saw wrong and this is actually the 2nd book of a series but it's OK because I got the feeling it's all distinct although focusing on the same group of characters.

This book tells us the story of Carrie and Jase, they're part of a group of detectives in a police force and they feel attracted to each other although only recently having admitted it. After Carrie's crash with a young man she killed, she feels more vulnerable because she hesitated and now she's back to conduct her first solo case with a serial killer. Jase is asked to help because it's too much work for Carrie, although she doesn't see it exactly like that. They both have to deal with the case and their personal feelings for each other while things happen around them...but will they figure things on time?

This wasn't a bad book. It wasn't that great either but I can't say I had a bad time with it. It surely shows the author's knowledge of police procedures, as she has a past around it.

My issues aren't about the story itself or the details, it's more about the way things moved along. 

First, I didn't think the romance was that well done. Sure, it went through the motions and the author explored relatively well the issues between the pair and their individual problems. It took time since they admitted their feelings but Carrie was reluctant to give in and Jase didn't pressure her that much, so it wasn't unbalanced, but...despite their talk about attraction and feelings I can't help thinking it lacked some passion, at least I wasn't very convinced of their attraction even when they were kissing or talking about it. Carrie liked Jase a lot but she wanted to take her time so I don't get why almost in the end she suddenly already loved him...I think it would have been more believable if she went to thinking she was or if we had known she was in love before...this way it felt extremely rushed. Jase himself looked better and his "transition" from attraction to love felt smoother, so...unbalanced in my opinion.

Then there's the crime and the plot around it. We know the killer's identity from the start but not his motivations so that part was interesting but...the killer was always talking about the clues he was leaving for the police and then the police would find them and speak of what it meant and they always guessed the killer's steps...it was very annoying to read things twice, the reader didn't have to guess anything and was even told twice! When we finally understand why this is happening, I was left a bit meh. It wasn't that amazing to be honest. But it offered an interesting take on the motivations and how the killer would express his tastes...in a way it was interesting, but it wasn't developed in the most fascinating way the way I see it...

The book wasn't that bad like I said, but as usual it's a bit easier to focus on what didn't work.

Still, I was curious over the other characters and some investigations segments were interesting to follow. But this isn't no Karen Rose or Tess Gerritsen, my favorites in the crime and romance genre.It was a good attempt tough, and I'm thinking about the next book, which I hope it's good.

I don't think I need to read the first because we know hat is happening to the protagonist couple and that information is enough.