Sins of the Flesh: Paranormal Romantic Suspense (Sin Hunters Book 1)
This recent release had me entertained. While it did not involve any characters from her other vampire series that I love, it did have an interesting paranormal twist.
World renowned cellist “Caterina Shaw” had gone blind, and was suffering terrible pain due to a dangerous tumor. While her death was imminent, she wanted to live out the rest of her days without the pain that has caused her to quit her music altogether. After agreeing to an experimental gene therapy, that could ease her pain and potentially give her sight back, she realized (after it is too late) that she has signed on for more then she bargained for.
In a drug induced haze, she comprehends that she is being held captive for excruciating experimentation, and manages to escape. She discovers that, along with her renewed sight, she now has powers that defy human capabilities. She is incredibly strong (she’s able to sink her fingers into solid cement), she can see auras and she can perfectly camouflage herself into her surroundings.
Having a distorted and fragmented recollection of a gruesome attack and murder (for which she is the number one suspect), she is also being hunted by the very men who have created her.
Easily captured by Mick Carrera (a known assassin that has been hired by the scientists), he quickly begins to suspect that there is more to this story then what they have let on. Mick, having moral boundaries, struggles with what he was hired to do, as he becomes cognizant of the fact that Cat appears to have been severely abused. While caring for Cat, he enlists his sister (a doctor) to help her heal, and recover the memories that could shed light on the truth.
She released him and held up her hands. Held them before her and examined them while her skin slowly faded back to normal.
“What am I?” she asked, puzzlement in the stormy blue of her eyes when her gaze skipped to his.
He could have lied. Tempered his words with tenderness, but he had a limited quantity of that and holding her had expended most of it.
“A science experiment,” he said, then released her and returned to his spot in the chair.
Her eyes narrowed as she considered the statement. The soft curls of her hair bobbed back and forth with the motion of her head as she said, “They were supposed to help me.”
“You’re not blind anymore,” he reminded her, although he wasn’t sure she would consider that a worthwhile trade-off to becoming someone’s lab rat.
He wouldn’t.
She leaned back against the headboard, raised slender elegant fingers to her temples, and rubbed tiny circles there. “Toward the end, when I was sick, I couldn’t see. But it was the pain…”
Meeting his gaze directly, she said, “It was the pain that stole the music.” Tapping a spot above her heart with one hand, she added, “My music.”
The passion in her words was unmistakable.
He understood it. Admired it.
But he couldn’t allow those sentiments to change what he had to do.
I also connected easily to Mick’s sister and her own dangerous predicament. While I did enjoy the mystery (the murder, the experiments, the deadly battles her body wages on itself, and the secret to the organization behind the lies), I specifically enjoyed the slowly developing connection between Mick and Cat (slow…but tantalizingly so…their quiet moments together were always so tender, and well worth the tentative pace)
She couldn’t move, overwhelmed by the sense of unity in his arms. With her possession of him.
She sucked in another rough breath and trembled in his arms, but his body echoed the movement with a sympathetic shudder.
“When I’m with you…it’s like my soul is filled with music,” she said. He cradled her face in his hands and tenderly brushed his lips across hers before moving then to her cheeks and then to her forehead.
‘It’s special for me too,” he whispered, the words so soft she thought she might have imagined them until she met his gaze and it confirmed his sentiment.
Very sweet! I am anxious for the next book in the series (and there WILL be more!)
4 stars