When Wicked Craves by J.K. Beck
Shadow Keepers, Book 3
Bantam Books
Contemporary, Paranormal
ISBN: 978-0440245787
Reviewed by Jo




Petra Lang is a human private investigator with a huge secret. She is cursed in such a way that she can never have a relationship because the minute she touches anyone skin to skin they become a horrible demon. Petra got into her profession while trying to find seeking answers, as well as a cure for her problem.  Now she straddles both the human and shadow worlds. However, right now it’s only the shadow world that plans on killing her for no other reason than her curse.

Nicholas Montegue is a vampire and an advocate who tried his hardest to prove that Petra was innocent in her sad excuse of a trial. Now he is blocked from her, as her execution is about to begin. However, Nicholas has no intention of Petra dying anytime soon, for a very selfish reason. When his rescue doesn’t quite go off as planned, both Nicholas and Petra are running for their lives from the shadow law enforcement and the Alliance.

Petra was beyond happy to discover that Nicholas staged her rescue even when she discovered why. Knowing that they have to keep at least two steps ahead of those searching for them, danger seems to be at their heels. Petra knows one way to solve Nicholas’ problem but she would rather that one wasn’t used and keeps mum about it for the time being. Nicholas learns more about the curse, which only serves to feed the passion building between the pair. Just how do you have sex with someone you can’t touch? The answer is just around the corner, but also around that corner is even more danger for the couple. Time is truly running out when Nicholas and Petra go for broke and discover the answer, and their deaths, could lie with the same person. Can love find a way to keep Nicholas and Petra alive and together or has the time truly run out for them?

Who says you need the sense of touch for passion to rage?  Petra and Nicholas face this in When Wicked Craves. I was so happy to see that Nicholas and Petra was the couple in this last book of the triad. I thought I knew what to expect but as I turned the pages, I found out just how off I was in some cases. The desperation I felt between Nicholas and Petra came from more than one angle and that had me reading this story in one sitting. I really loved how they found love and humor in situations that should have crushed them. I also loved how the other couples were here as secondary but important characters. Nicholas and Petra weren’t about to let anything take away the passion at their fingertips. The final showdown had me cheering for them and at the same time sadly saying ‘awww’. The passion, twists and turns in When Wicked Craves will keep you entranced from the first page until the last. One of the excellent reasons I have made Nicholas and Petra’s story Joyfully Recommended.

Actually I recommend the entire series as one you won’t want to miss any of the stories and will re-read this triad many times over. My suggestion is that you read them in order to gain the vision of their world and the power plays that go on in. I know this series was only supposed to be a triad, but I do hope more books in this world are written.