Dark Taste of Rapture by Gena ShowaltDark Taste of Rapture by Gena Showalter
Series: Alien Huntress #6
Published by Pocket Star on August 23, 2011
Genres: PNR
Pages: 451
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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four-half-stars

New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter captivates with a dark, tantalizing world of humans, otherworlders, and a powerful AIR agent consumed by his desire for a woman he can never have. . . .

With one caress, he can give unforgettable pleasure . . . or unending pain. . . .

Hector Dean is shaved, tattooed, and totally ripped—and he has a deadly secret. He is a walking weapon, capable of killing with a single brush of his fingertips. Little wonder he’s determined to remain on his own. But Noelle Tremain is a temptation like no other. She is beautiful and rich, with a party girl smile that hides a shocking vulnerability, and from the beginning his sizzling attraction to her is undeniable. For the first time, his stone-cold resistance is tested. But to be with her, he risks destroying her.

When a wealthy businessman is murdered in New Chicago’s seediest district, the two are partnered, and there’s no escaping what they both want: each other. Yet neither Hector nor Noelle knows what to fear more—the killer case, or their own lethal desires. . . .

It was recently brought to my attention that I hadn’t finished up the Alien Huntress series! One book short! Obviously I had to rectify that. This book isn’t the last of the series though. I mean, it doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but it feels as if certain plot threads aren’t tied up.

That being said, this is a fantastic series-one of my favorites, to be honest. Ms. Showalter has created a really cool world, without having to bury us with world-building.

So this book starts before the last one, but picks up to run around the same time. In the last book, we had two new AIR agents join the team, and this one starts when they went into Basic Training. Hector is the agent in charge/drill sergeant, and Noelle is basically an heiress who plays to the stereotype. She acts the airhead, and spoiled brat, but really she’s smart, interesting, and a wee bit vicious. The two of them are instantly attracted to each other, which just pisses Hector off, so he rides her harder.

He has a secret. His arms actually atomize and can burn through anything. He doesn’t know why, but he thinks he’s a freak, and since his parents were awful excuses for human beings, he’s on his own. After a horrible incident with a girl he was into once, he’s since refused to touch anyone.

Noelle has her own secrets. She was kidnapped as a child, and her father’s solution after he got her back was to have her nerve endings fried so she couldn’t feel pain. But it was more painful than any torture. And when Hector has her working and running harder, farther, and she’s “interrogated” by another agent, her secret is that she can’t feel it.

But because Hector is so afraid of touching Noelle, he distances himself. And he isn’t nice about it.

After about a year, they end up working together, and Hector can’t take being so close to Noelle but not having her. In the meantime, an old case is rising up again. When Noelle is finally able to make Hector see everything will be fine between them, things aren’t fine anymore. They have more to get through than just the case, and it’s a sexy, smokin’ hot ride.

The only thing about it that I had trouble with was the vision Dallas had. He had two, and if one came true he was fine, if the other came true, he was doomed. But I never understood why, and I never saw more of the Schon queen from the last book. If I recall, she’s a big part of what’s going on with Dallas. Also, Dare, and the sex slave ring, and a couple other things. It just felt unfinished.

I wish Gena Showalter would write another book in this series. Finish Dallas’ storyline! sigh. Maybe one day, right? But since this book lacks the Schon queen storyline, it actually can be read as a standalone.

I highly recommend this series, even if you don’t typically like aliens or futuristic stuff.

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four-half-stars