Title: Piper’s Fury (Passion of the Soul #1)Author: Rachel Firasek
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Publication Date: May, 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
Rating: 7/10
Description: It's an empath thing...
Using your "powers" to help the Dark Hills Police Department hunt down serial killers doesn't leave much time for dating. Not that Piper Anast is complaining. The last thing she needs is some guy brushing up against her and pumping his pornographic thoughts into her head.
When she meets Bennett Slade, a sexy, tormented vampire, Piper stumbles headlong into a telepathic connection with his missing daughter. She can't leave the kid to the evil surrounding her unwanted visions, nor can she resist her draw to Slade. He's the first guy she's been able to touch vision-free in, well, forever. As she and Slade close in on the evil creature holding his daughter, Piper's powers morph into a deadly fury. To save Slade's daughter-and herself, Piper must face down demons she never knew she had and trust the one thing she keeps from everyone.
Her heart…
My Thoughts: New to me author Rachel Firasek delivers an entertaining and enjoyable story about a woman who doesn’t play well with others but is in the business of helping others. When we first meet Piper, she is a child who has been suddenly orphaned. Fast forward to the present and the woman Piper has become is someone who shields herself from others. The touch of other people brings visions she would rather not see. The opposite sex is drawn to Piper in a sexual nature and though Piper is used to it, she does not appreciate it.
Piper works with the Dark Hills Police Department helping her friend Tally look for missing people. As an empath, Piper is able to draw images of someone’s memory from an item they own in the hopes that it will provide enough clues to lead the police to finding them. When Piper meets Bennett Slade, she is shocked that his touch doesn’t result in crude visions and instead of making her trust him, her guard goes up even higher. Slade’s wife was murdered years ago and his daughter was kidnapped. He asks for Piper’s assistance in locating her and Piper refuses. Initially, I was a little annoyed at Piper’s attitude. She’s got a huge chip on her shoulder and when she gets angry, she can be quite mean. Piper relents and agrees to help Slade, only after having a dream about his daughter. She suspects Slade is not being honest with her and thinks he might have had something to do with his wife’s murder and daughter’s disappearance.
I liked Slade immediately, though his existence as a vampire was not revealed soon enough for me. I got a quick sense that Slade is drawn to Piper and is desperate for her help. Unfortunately, he doesn’t tell Piper what he is and when she finds out, she’s less than happy. I enjoyed the author’s take on Slade’s breed of vampire. He can walk in daylight and doesn’t sleep in a coffin like the vampires we are used to. Instead, Slade is part of a race of people who have to consume blood as a medical necessity. Though Piper is upset when she learns the truth, she has to trust Slade because the evil being responsible is not like anything Piper has come face to face with before.
I eventually warmed up to Piper once I realized her attitude and apathy towards people shielded a woman who has seen unspeakable horror and endured pain nobody should have to experience. I also admired how she connects to Slade’s daughter and the lengths she is willing to go through to rescue her. Though she is easily annoyed at the woman who raises her, she risks everything to ensure her safety as well.
Overall, this was a good start to a series that looks to be intriguing and I am very curious what Piper will do with what she has discovered at the end of Piper’s Fury.
No comments:
Post a Comment