AUTHOR: Gabrina Garza
PUBLISHER: Amber Quill Press (Amber Heat)
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 13k)
GENRE: Sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $4.00
When Sara Anderson’s husband dies, she gets the chance to allow his memories and personality to live on in the body of a donor. What she doesn’t expect is for this hybrid of husband and stranger to attract her far more than the man she supposedly loved ever did.
I’m not sure if it was my mood or something else, but this short story really got to me. Sara has been mourning her husband’s death, though it’s as much about being lonely as it is missing him specifically. When it looks like the entire process might be delayed, she forsakes having to start over in favor of taking her new man home, even though he both doesn’t have all his memories yet and isn’t exactly the clean slate she’d been promised. There’s a definite melancholy throughout the first two-thirds of the story that is poignant and moving. It sucked me in and made me ache for both Sara and Dace, the Marine who now houses her husband’s memories.
The author has a simple style, which works well in a short story setting. There’s nothing fancy about her prose, so it makes it easy to read and follow. If anything, though, I would have liked to see a little more explanation for some of the sci-fi stuff. It comes across sometimes as merely a plot device to have this sweet romance. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since it is a short story. I guess my main quibble is that I just wanted the story longer.
That being said, this was a very sweet, romantic tale. It occasionally borders on the simple, but you know, sometimes that’s a welcome change. I fell for Dace and Sara’s romance head over heels, in spite of some of my other misgivings. Maybe it was just what the doctor ordered.
| Readability | 8/10 – Easy to read, though at times bordered on the simplistic |
| Hero | 7/10 – Sweet and hot, though the brevity of the story means characterization suffers |
| Heroine | 7/10 – Likable, but I wanted some of her motivations better explained |
| Entertainment value | 8/10 – I got sucked into the melancholy air of the story, but just wanted it longer |
| World building | 8/10 – A sci-fi futuristic world built competently |
| TOTAL: | 38/50 |
3 comments:
Hi Utopia!
Thanks for reading and giving a review of my book. I really appreciate the extra exposure and hope you'll check out my backlist for some other titles. :) Or, heck, just enter my contest for a copy of a free read. As a former stay at home mom, I know freebies are divine!
Thanks again! You're a reading maniac!
Gabrina
I've got "Hot Phoenix Nights" bookmarked to buy on a week when new releases don't catch my eye. :)
And yes, I read far too much, lol. Though I suppose I could have worse addictions. ;)
I can't wait for your review of it whenever you get to it. I'll keep checking back to see what's new here. You've given me some reading ideas too.
Gabrina
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