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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...
Chosen By Fate
Virna DePaul
Berkley, Oct 4 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425243992
Wraith is a ghost who when touched feels extreme pain. Her ghostly time is soon to expire as wraiths never survive more than a decade. However, she could deal with whatever occurs if she knew who she was and if that person ever felt love when she was alive.
Para-Ops mortal Shaman healer Caleb O'Flare is attracted to Wraith. He understands her agonies as he shares one of them; a deep need to touch and make love with her though he knows that will never happen. As they work an Otherborn case together, she prays for just one night with Caleb so that when she moves on she does so in bliss.
The latest Para-Ops urban romantic fantasy (see Chosen By Blood) is a terrific thriller that nicely deploys on two fronts. First there is the exciting case that the Wraith and the Shaman work. Then there is the growing but impossible star-crossed love between the pair. Fast-paced, filled with action and loaded with angst, readers will appreciate this superb tale, which will be on short lists for sub-genre book of the year.
Harriet Klausner
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Wraith has a secret. She was about to die. It was a closely guarded
secret that no wraith had ever lived until it's 11th birthday and her
10th had already passed. Her time was running out. There was only a few
things that she wanted before she died. She wanted to know who she was
and Caleb O'Flare. Caleb O'Flare had joined the Para-Op's team in order
to clear his name. It was thought that he was responsible for killing
his friend and he was bound and determined to find out who was really
behind it. When the Felines - he's friend's race - started being
attacked he knew that solving the issue would lead to some of the
answers that he was looking for. In Chosen by Fate the relationship
between Caleb and Wraith heats up. Because Virna Depaul is a great
author, she had laid the groundwork for their relationship in Chosen by
Blood and I was anxious to see how she was going to work it out. I mean,
how were they supposed to get together if the simplest of touches caused
Wraith pain? Not to worry though because Virna found a way around it by
throwing us a few of her trademark curve balls to keep us on our toes.
Caleb and Wrath gave off some mega sparks but those sparks never really
created a fire for me. I consider that both a good thing and a... less
than good thing. It was good because DePaul stuck to her guns about
touch causing Wraith pain. That lead us down a BDSM path which was an
idea that I really liked. It was based in "reality" and worked
amazingly well within both the world that she created as well as the
storyline. It was less good because I wanted more sex LOL! Virna can
write one hell of a love scene when she sets her mind to it! I'm not
too happy with who the Biggest Bad is. I like the Quorum as the
villains. The Quorum are impersonal. They're just a bunch of bigots.
This new puppet master however has the ability to devastate one of the
team members. All that I can say (without spoilers) is that Virna has
created a villain that I already HATE WITH A PASSION. I love it when an
author evokes such a response from me. All in All this was a great
addition to the series. I was happy to see Caleb and Wraith get closure
to their issues as well as their HEA. I hope to see more of them in
future books. On a different note... Dex!!!!!! OMG the scenes that had
Dex in they have me sooooo wanting more of him. I can't wait to read his
book! HOT DAMN! This book ended with a real cliffhanger!
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 25, 2012
This was as good as the first book in this series. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.My Review:
This book was much more romance based than the first book. While I loved that in the aspect that this is a gorgeous romance, I really missed the full team aspect of the first book. In fact, Knox & Felicia hardly even make an appearance in this book and the overall feel of the book suffered because of that, in my opinion.
What did work for this book, though, was the incredible romance between Wraith & Caleb...wow, it was sizzling!!
As a wraith, Wraith cannot be touched without pain, which makes a relationship really difficult, if not impossible. Add to that, Caleb is a healer. His whole goal in life is to help, NOT hurt. He mentally cannot handle the anguish of knowing that any touch he shares with Wraith hurts her, even if there is some pleasure too. Oh, and yes, there is the added difficulty that wraiths never live to see their 11th year, which means that Wraith is really dying. She is seeing all the signs that this is happening sooner rather than later so she is looking at her last chance to enjoy some time with Caleb.
Wraith is not an easy person. She has built up these walls around her over the last 10 years of her life that are incredibly hard to penetrate, but Caleb is just the guy for the job. He is so persistent and caring with her. It's really gorgeous the way that he handles her, both physically and mentally. He is such an amazing guy. I definitely fell in love with his character!! It's a beautiful, emotional love story and I really truly enjoyed it!
In this book, the team is dealing with a threat towards the felines where the females are being drugged and raped. Because Knox & Felicia just got married, they are not participating in this mission. That leaves the other four: Wraith, Caleb, Dex, & Lucy to carry out the mission. The nature of the mission means that they aren't really working as a group much. As a reader, what you see instead is a lot of alone time between Wraith & Caleb and then to a lesser degree, Dex & Lucy. I enjoyed those moments, but missed the team dynamic in this book. There is a really interesting side story between Dex & Lucy and it will be interesting to see how much that story comes into play in the next book which is about Dex.
While I missed some of the aspects that were so good about the first novel, this is still an amazing read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!! It absolutely would have scored a solid "A" for me (instead of the A- that I gave it) until the final 10 pages of the book, when the conclusion just seemed a little lacking or too easy and there was a clue that this team is dissolving even further...such a disappointment to me.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.mrsgodiva
Posted October 19, 2011
Caleb and Wraith rock as a couple. I liked and enjoyed reading Chosen By Blood, the first in the Para-Ops series, but I loved Chosen By Fate. Can't wait for the next book in the series.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted August 4, 2011
Loved the characters and the plot! This story is action-packed while still being very emotional.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 6, 2011
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Posted October 27, 2011
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Posted December 16, 2011
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Posted July 25, 2012
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Overview
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 ...