Chosen By Fate (Para-Ops Novel) [Mass Market Paperback]

Chosen by Fate, Para-ops #2, by Virna DePaul
Grade: B+

"He made her want things. Silly things. Things that could never be hers. A little house with a vegetable garden in the back. Nights cuddled up close to a fire drinking wine and playing strip poker."

We are introduced to Wraith and Caleb O'Flare in Chosen by Blood, the first book in Virna DePaul's Para-ops series, and like most people I immediately fell in love with them both and couldn't wait for this book to come out. Wraith has been dead for ten years now and as a wraith she has no memory of her past, is immortal and feels pain when touched. Now that she has past her tenth dead year like all wraiths she is slowly gaining back her humanity and this is causing her to slowly die. With her impending death looming over her and no chance of finding out who she was before she died Wraith starts to take chances and one of those chances is acting on the red hot sexual chemistry she has with Caleb.

Caleb is determined finally act on his feelings with Wraith but he fears causing her any pain. As the two work on a case together regarding feline females and sex clubs they find themselves opening up and truly discovering who the other person is both inside and out. As they become closer Caleb finds his obsession with Wraith turning into so much more and her refuses to let her die now that they have finally acted on their feelings. Caleb must now convience Wraith to not only fight for her own future but also the future they might have together.

Wraith is one of the most heartbreaking characters that I have ever read. She has so much pain and loneliness surrounding her that I just found myself becoming obsessed with her getting a happy ending. I mostly wanted her to find some peace because she tried so hard to be a good person but was so broken that when she tried it never worked out. Wraith is by far one of my all time favorite female characters because she has been through so much and she so afraid of being hurt but she still manages to let people in and care for her.

The only problem that I had with this book was the first one hundred and fifty pages are Wraith and Caleb going back and forth about acting on their attraction or not. They constantly are fighting and getting so close and then one of them opens their mouth and pisses off the other. After a while it's gets annoying especially because they have been doing this for two books now. When they finally do act on their feelings and get to their mission over half the book is gone. I think this part could have been sped up and not dragged out for so long.

When we finally get around to the very important mission the group is working on the book gets even better. I found that I couldn't put the book down for the last one hundred pages because it go so good. If the whole book had been like this it would have been amazing and I'm hoping the next book focuses more on the mission aspect and not so much on the romance. I'm not sure who's book is next but the lead up possibilities are endless. I really want to get Lucy's story next after reading about her and seeing more of her personality.

Chosen by Fate was better for me personally then Chosen by Blood and both were really good. I would read Chosen by Blood before this book or else you will be very confused and miss key pieces to Wraith and Caleb's relationship. I think this is going to be an excellent must read
series and I can't wait to see what Mrs. DePaul has in store for us next.

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.

When I read Virna's first book I knew Wraith was going to be different. I was right. She doesn't remember how she became a wraith or even her name. All she knows is she can't be touched. It causes extreme pain. Enter Caleb. Shaman and coworker. I loved this book. Virna does not disappoint. Can't wait for Dex next!!