Fractured by Sandra Sookoo

TITLE: Fractured
AUTHOR: Sandra Sookoo
PUBLISHER: Liquid Silver Books
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 35k)
GENRE: Futuristic sci-fi erotic romance
COST: $5.25

Major Rick Keenan is on his way back to Earth from his very last mission before getting stuck in a desk job when his shuttle is trapped by a tractor beam on one of Saturn’s moons. When one of his crewmen is captured while in search of crystals they need, he sets off on a rescue, only to discover he’s been taking prisoner to be food by an alien female who needs his blood to survive. Rick agrees to trade places with his crewman, in hopes that he can broker some kind of relationship between their species, but he quickly finds out it might not go as he intends…

My son is in love with Once Upon a Time, which means I’ve been exposed to a lot of fairytales recently. When I saw this was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, while the premise is interesting, the characters don’t live up to their potential.

All of his life, Rick has wanted to explore the stars and meet alien races. With the space program about to be dismantled, however, he’s on his very last mission. At least until he and his shuttle are trapped on one of Saturn’s moons. One of his crew goes out in search of items they need to take off again, but when he calls in a distress signal, Rick does what he has to and goes off to rescue him. He finds him prisoner of an alien female, one with fangs and bloodthirst, who needs the man for food. Rick barters a trade – his life for his crewman’s – and ends up in the unique position to try and find some sort of peace between humans and this strange alien. Marin hates humans, since they’re responsible for the Cleansing and the scattering of her species, but Rick seems different. Her lonely existence is eating her up, and though she won’t admit it, she is desperate for a change. Rick seems like the perfect opportunity for that.

The fact that the fairy tale has been reversed, with the heroine as the Beast, was a great starting point for this story, but for me, it never really got off the ground. Part of it came with some early proofing mistakes (She'd been taught that only members of her own race could make her feels thus, for instance) that jerked me out of the reading experience. It’s a peeve, it really is, but I wanted to like this so much that I stuck with it. Though the rest of the prose is certainly competent enough, the spark I needed from either one of the two leads never managed to materialize. Marin had the potential to be interesting, but her erratic moods wore on me quickly. Rick, on the other hand, bored me. His reactions throughout the beginning and most of his imprisonment were rational and realistic, but that was about it. I never really got what was so special about him, other than being told Marin was attracted to him.

Other awkward aspects that hindered the reading experience included a couple flashbacks that were meant to give some history about Rick, but jolted me out of the moment with frantic searches back in the story to determine what the year header meant in terms of the continuity. It was clumsy, and with the passages so short, felt pointless. I couldn’t help but wonder if the information they were meant to convey couldn’t have been passed along in some other way. An epilogue that happens when there isn’t really a resolution to the story yet (except for declarations) felt even odder, especially since it was divided into two sections, one taking place three months later. The first half of it was actually the real resolution of the story, which for me means it should be part of the story, not part of the epilogue. The epilogue would’ve had much more of an impact had it just been contained to the three months later segment.

One bright spot was the care taken in creating Marin’s species. I could see her clearly, and felt like I understood how her kind had reached the point it had. It would’ve been nice to see the same care taken with the rest of the world-building, but with so much of the story contained to the confinement, this isn’t so much a flaw as it is an annoyance.

I can’t recommend this book except to fans of the author or those who might fare better than I did with the two leads.

Readability	7/10 – Early errors in proofreading almost made me stop, though the rest of the prose is fairly innocuous
Hero	5/10 – Realistic reactions, though he didn’t charm me at all
Heroine	5/10 – Liked the reverse on the Beast angle, but she otherwise felt flat
Entertainment value	3/10 – Though I liked the premise and twist on the fairy tale, I never felt any chemistry between the two which made the story fall flat
World building	7/10 – Some good details, though the concentration on her as an alien species ends up meaning less time on other aspects
TOTAL:	27/50

Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep by Michael Merriam

TITLE: Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep
AUTHOR: Michael Merriam
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 18k)
GENRE: Futuristic fantasy
COST: $2.69

Crippled as a teenager, Grace survives in her post-apocalyptic world as best she can, but time is beginning to weaken her defenses against those who see her as a burden. While she sleeps, she hears the mysterious loons whose magic governs human’s new way of life. Nobody else can, and the annual meeting to sacrifice one of their own to them is upon them…

One of my resolutions this year is to be pickier about which books I read, and by read, I mean actually finish and review. I started two before settling on this short novella, one that was DNF and one that left too little to talk about to waste time on a review. My hopes are that it’ll give me a lot more to be excited about this year than I was last.

This short futuristic fantasy from Carina is a solid entry into those ranks. It’s the story of Grace Kriske, a young woman in her twenties who has been stuck in a wheelchair since she was a rebellious thirteen. She’s still rebellious, hating to be waited on, but she is slowly losing her strength to beat against those odds. Sometimes, she dreams that she can hear the mysterious loons that reputedly populate a nearby lake. These same loons are the focus of an annual ritual whereby locals and traders meet up at the lakeside, conduct a lottery amongst the citizens, and send the chosen one to the loons. Supposedly, it’s to give something back to the community, but those who are chosen don’t seem to benefit from it. At the meet-up, Grace gets to see her once a year lover David, but it’s there, too, she discovers something that will change her life forever.

Because of the story’s brevity, to give away too much of the details would spoil what happens. That’s a shame, because it’s those plot twists, even in such a short space, that add to its compelling nature. What I can say is that the authorial voice is by far the strongest aspect of it. The tone is ethereal and melancholy, very much matching Grace’s mood and emotions, with haunting details that seep from every page. It sucked me in, even when I had lingering questions about what was going on and what the loons part in it all was. It definitely makes me want to seek out more of this author’s work, since a unique voice is often so hard to find.

What I wish worked better was the exposition side of the story. Some details are skimmed over or simply not given at all, and the resolution, while a natural progression from the plot, occurs too abruptly and with little emotional arc. I imagine a good number of these weaker aspects are due to the story’s short length. I don’t think it should’ve been a novel by any means, but perhaps just a thousand or two more words might have answered enough of my questions to anchor me more securely within its world. It would have enriched some of the secondary characterizations as well, giving David a bit more depth for me to understand Grace’s complex feelings for him, or to help differentiate the various elders amongst the others.

Still, it made a welcome change to read something that takes more risks than typical genre fiction. I’ve also found a new author to check out, which is always a bonus.

Readability	8/10 – An ethereal, melancholy voice only hampered by not quite enough exposition
Characterization	7/10 – Grace has the best job of this, since she’s the protagonist, but some of the more important secondary characters tend to blur
Plot	7/10 – Not as clear as it could’ve been, and the resolution was a little abrupt
Entertainment value	8/10 – I enjoyed this more for the mood and authorial voice than the story
World building	7/10 – The background wasn’t quite clear enough to provide the clearest picture of the present, but the details provided were evocative and lovely
TOTAL:	37/50

Iodine by C.L. Hilbert

TITLE: Iodine
AUTHOR: C.L. Hilbert
PUBLISHER: Drollerie Press
LENGTH: Short story/novella
GENRE: Futuristic fantasy
COST: $2.99

Wolf has one mission in life – to find Red. In a world gone wrong, where humans have been driven underground, where mutations are common and life is dark, it’s the only thing that keeps him going. Even as he realizes, she’s hunting him in return…

Though I often start with a plot summary, it’s almost pointless in this case. This is a reworking of the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood, set in an apocalyptic future where humans are barely surviving underground. Wolf is a bounty hunter of sorts, and Red a technical genius, armed and dangerous. He’s been on the hunt for her for years, but she eludes him at every pass. Things start turning around for him, though, until he realizes that she is deliberately leading him down an unknown path, one littered with the tortured memories of their mingled pasts. He could give it up, but what’s the point? She’s become the sole reason for his existence, and he’ll die before he lets her get away for real.

I can’t give an exact word count on this to help judge the length, but it’s not long, short-story length or at most, a short novella. But there is a lot crammed into so few words – an apocalyptic world that bleeds and glows with descriptions that I could practically taste, a broken protagonist more tortured and twisted than I’ve read in a long time. It paints a future both grim and terrifying, and does so with razor-like precision. In fact, it’s the prose that is really the biggest selling point of this short. Phrasing like, …the terminal cynicism carved in the lines of his face could crush cities, and ...the silk whispered over his skin like acid through rock, soothing and searing, catching sweet kisses on his calluses, stole my breath away, keeping me enraptured with what was going on even when I had absolutely no idea what was happening. Questions upon questions tumbled together, though not all of them got answered. I didn’t care. Even when I sat staring at the ending, wondering how I was going to interpret it, I didn’t care.

But that’s the story’s primary weakness. As interesting as this reworking is, there are so many loose ends left dangling that a reader who doesn’t like them will finish feeling unfulfilled. Even the ending has the problem, because I could see it being interpreted in more than one way. This lack of definitive answers was annoying, that’s for sure, but I loved Wolf’s complexity and the author’s voice so much, I was willing to let it go. Do I wish this was longer and better explained? Oh, yes. At the same time, I wonder if I would have overloaded on the world’s darkness. It might have reached a saturation point that made it intolerable; it’s that grim. Lucky for me, the story is short enough not to outstay its welcome. This will be one I’m thinking about for a long time to come.

Readability	9/10 – Love this author’s gritty, visceral voice
Characterization	8/10 – Wolf is utterly fascinating, broken and driven, though I have an abundance of questions by the end
Plot	7/10 – It’s a simplistic chase sequence, but with enough twists to keep me guessing all the way to the end
Entertainment value	9/10 – In spite of the holes in the world building and my multitude of questions, I was absorbed by this all the way to the end
World building	7/10 – The nihilism of this futuristic world is an excellent backdrop, aided by the fantastic prose, but there are too many aspects left unexplained to really satisfy me completely
TOTAL:	40/50

Blue Galaxy by Diane Dooley

TITLE: Blue Galaxy
AUTHOR: Diane Dooley
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 22k)
GENRE: Sci-fi futuristic romance
COST: $2.69

It’s a job that will guarantee Javan Rhodes economic freedom. All he has to do is transport someone without asking any questions. When that someone turns out to be a beautiful aristocrat off to make a marriage alliance, however, his resolve to get the pay-off begins to waver…

This one’s my own fault. I need to pay better attention to red flags when they show up instead of giving the author the benefit of the doubt.

Captain Javan Rhodes is a cargo ship owner/pilot/businessman, who agrees to take on a special passenger for an exorbitant amount of money if he promises to keep his mouth shut and not ask questions. He has no problems with that until he meets the cargo in question. Her name is Sola, and she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. From the very first look, he fears he’s fallen in love with her. He has to transport her to an as yet unknown destination to satisfy a marriage alliance, but almost as soon as they’re in the air, he’s broken the agreement by pressing for details. She doesn’t give many, but she intrigues him, and when he finally does start discovering things about her, it’s a little too late to do him much good.

Within just the first thousand or so words, I got fed a line that should have made me put the story down. Javan meets Sola, and gazing on what had to be the most exquisite face in the entire universe, felt his heart twist as he fell instantly, irrevocably and most definitely in love. I stopped reading. I thought, “Seriously? Insta-love? Why wasn’t that in the blurb?” But then I thought, “He’s a hardcore space captain. He wouldn’t fall instantly in love. He’s too cynical. Maybe this is just indicative of a sense of humor or grandiose statement or something.” So I went on, putting my faith into the author. Big mistake. It might not have quite been instant love, but it came pretty darn close. He acts like an idiot around her from the start, allowing her to manipulate him in such a blatant way, I lost all respect for any sense of intelligence he might have had. It might not have been so bad if I’d had the opportunity to get to know the man and see that he wasn’t actually an idiot prior to her arrival, but I didn’t. I only got to see him after she came onto the scene, and frankly, I wish I hadn’t.

Sola is the worst heroine I’ve read in a very long time. She lies, she manipulates, she uses sex to get him to do what she wants. And when sex fails, she uses violence and death threats. Unrepentingly. I have absolutely no idea why Javan falls for her. He claims she’s funny and smart and curious, but I only saw evidence of the intelligence (and that was later in the story, long after I’d lost any sympathy for her whatsoever). She’s so flat in the first half of the story that I wondered what I was missing. Even if her actions weren’t so appallingly awful, her characterization suffers a lot from the fact that the entire story is told from Javan’s POV. This is done to maintain the suspense of who she is and what she’s doing, but ultimately, it doesn’t work because by the time I did find out, I hated her so much I didn’t care.

The prose doesn’t help it. This is not an erotic romance, but these two spend a surprising amount of time having sex…off-screen. And during that sex, important things happen and get discovered. Things we are told about rather than shown. It weakens an already floundering story, crippling the pace and stifling the suspense. Ultimately, it becomes a pedantic exercise in reading, with the only emotions getting generated those of anger and frustration. I have zero interest in following on in this world, since it’s clear from the very open ending that this isn’t it. And if for some reason it’s not meant to be continued? Then all of those hanging plot lines that were left are just more proof that it just wasn’t a very good story at all.

Readability	6/10 – Prose that’s more tell than show, with soft POV sometimes
Hero	4/10 – A gullible idiot
Heroine	1/10 – When she’s not flat and boring, her blatant and unremorseful manipulation of a man who loves her makes her the most unlikeable heroine I’ve read in a very long time
Entertainment value	2/10 – Hating the heroine with all the telling problems made this a complete waste of my time
World building	6/10 – There’s some attempt at doing something interesting but it’s never clearly explained or well delineated
TOTAL:	19/50

Cold Victory by Fiona Jayde

TITLE: Cold Victory
AUTHOR: Fiona Jayde
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 33k)
GENRE: Sci-fi futuristic erotic romance
COST: $4.99

Zoya Scott has specifically been assigned to the battleship Victory, though nobody but her knows why. All her commander Galen Stark knows is that he’s got a convicted thief on board, and that every time he touches her, all he can think about is taking her to bed…

After so many ho-hums lately, I decided to go with an author I’ve had better luck with in the past and opted for this space erotic novella. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely a cut above the rest of the stories I’ve read recently.

Galen Stark is the commander in mankind’s latest battleship, preparing to continue the war with an enigmatic species they’ve been fighting for years. Resources are stretched thin. Personnel is short. He’s forced to take on pilots with no battle experience, trained exclusively in holofights. Not all of them are so inexperienced, though. One in particular has flown extensively before, but Zoya Scott is a convicted thief who was caught stealing supplies from the military. He doesn’t want her around. When he confronts her on her first day, however, he’s shocked at the intense physical reaction both of them have to each other. Zoya is equally dismayed at the reaction, though for different reasons. She has ulterior motives being on the ship. One of the few survivors of a planet that was sacrificed in the war, she has been tasked with a suicide mission that will hopefully put an end to the war, once and for all. Nobody onboard knows about it, especially Stark. But she can’t keep her physical response to him under control and quickly discovers, neither can he.

Something about the way this author writes gets to me. Her stories aren’t perfect. She often sacrifices world-building for expediency, and keeping choreography straight – either of action scenes or ensemble dialogue scenes – isn’t her strong suit. But her lush hand in evoking emotion compels me to ignore a lot of my normally critical assessments in favor of getting lost in what she describes. This novella is no exception. In all the more intimate scenes, I was completely and utterly enraptured. For instance, there’s a scene midway, after one of their pilots has died in an attack, where Stark and Zoya come together. For her, it’s meant to obliterate her grief. For him, it’s meant to help him forget. It ends up being so seductively sensual I was breathless by the time it ended. Every time he whispered, “Will you come for me?”, it ratcheted the heat up another twenty degrees. It sold me on Stark as a romantic hero far more than any of his macho posing prior to that (especially since Zoya keeps describing him as too muscled from all his implants, for too much of the book I kept picturing over pumped weight lifters which did not work for me at all). It’s the push/pull of their attraction and mistrust of the other that fuels the first third of the story, but it’s all so much hotter and better once they indulge in it and start letting the other one in. It’s an honest emotional core to an otherwise vague sci-fi story and helps it overcome its other shortcomings.

The action driving these two toward their goals is vaguely formed. Zoya is working with another survivor on this suicide mission, but the details about it and her physical well-being aren’t clearly delineated until far too late into the story. Without that solid basis, it feels very nebulous. I understand it was probably a deliberate choice to create tension, but its ultimate effect was to dilute it since I never really understood the risks that were being undertaken. I can’t appreciate the sacrifice if I don’t see what the potential loss might be. The ending itself, too, is incredibly anticlimactic. There’s a sense of fatality that pervades the last quarter of the story, but then the resolution ends up coming so abruptly and so…cleanly that I didn’t buy it. I felt cheated, in fact. Especially since Zoya and Stark get one more page of post-climax time together, and then poof, the story’s over. It dragged down my overall enjoyment of the story, because even in spite of my other niggles, I was committed emotionally to what was going on and to the characters. After the disappointing climax, that commitment was lessened.

Still, I can’t say it puts me off this author, because in the end, even with its flaws, this was a superior read to much of what I’ve consumed lately. The emotional truths she roots out with her characters call to me. For any romance reader, that’s worth it’s weight in gold.

Readability	8/10 – I love this author’s lush prose, though the space battles probably required a bit clearer pacing and verbiage to make them visual and understandable
Hero	8/10 – He won me completely over in the scene where they’re grieving together
Heroine	7/10 – I understood all her reasons for what she was doing, but her tight rein on her emotions distanced me from her as well
Entertainment value	8/10 – This probably would’ve been higher if it weren’t for the very abrupt ending
World building	6/10 – Air battles were confusing, enemies deliberately unclear, and the delineations between political/military divisions too indistinct to really make an impace
TOTAL:	37/50

Metal Reign by Nathalie Gray

TITLE: Metal Reign
AUTHOR: Nathalie Gray
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 23k)
GENRE: Sci-fi romance
COST: $3.50

Earth has been lost to humanity for centuries, invaded and taken over by an alien race of living metal. Men and women have scattered to the stars, but their resources are slowly dying out, their future as a race dim. Commander Frankie Beaumont has a plan to take back the planet, but it’s a suicide mission, one that she’s keeping secret from even her best friend. As the ship’s cook, John O’Shaughnessy has stood by Frankie for years, and loved her just as long, but the last thing he would ever do is jeopardize their friendship by making a move. That is, until she tries to leave him behind…

After reading the first story by this author, I went out and bought a lot of her backlist, both in e and in print. More and more, I’m finding myself drawn to her work, because I’ve yet to be disappointed.

The story starts with John and Frankie in one of their poker games, private times they spend together. John isn’t pleased with Frankie’s plan to bomb the pipeline the Imbers – the invading force that’s taken over Earth – have to the planet, but he’s doing what he can to be supportive because he knows she’s going to do it anyway. Frankie hasn’t told him that the aircraft can’t be flown remotely, which means she’s going to have to fly it herself, and probably die in the process. When her initial craft is destroyed, John provides her with an alternative, then realizes at the last moment about the lack of remote flying. He goes to confront her, and ends up joining her onboard, ready to stand at her side to help her mission succeed.

There’s so much to love about this short, action-packed novella, it’s tough to know where to start. The pace is relentless, hurtling from one plot point to the next at a breathless speed. The writing is very visual as well, making it easy to imagine what is going on without getting caught up in the prose. This type of cinematic writing seems to typify this author’s style, and though some romance readers might not be as interested in such a driven, event-oriented story, I love it. The vast majority of the conflict in this is external, providing a vivid backdrop for the characters to come to their senses about each other.

Which brings me to John and Frankie. Frankie is the commander of the fleet, widely respected and fiercely independent. She wears a firm mask for everyone but John, who provides the anchor she needs to let loose every once in a while, and though she’s a strong woman, she doesn’t come across as bitchy or over the top. I completely believed this was a woman who had trained for the career she wanted, and succeeded based on her own abilities rather than attitude or stepping on others. She had just enough flaws to highlight her strengths and make her human without weakening her character or making her unlikeable.

In many ways, John is the beta to Frankie’s alpha. Instead of being military, he’s a civilian who’s opted to take this post on Frankie’s ship, simply so he can be closer to her. He recognizes her strength and power and loves her all the more for it, but while he might acquiesce to many of her superior traits, he makes her fight for that lead. His dedication to both her command and her private side doesn’t make him a lesser man. In fact, it endears him to me all the more, because he is neither weak nor simpering. The simple truth of his admiration for Frankie when he himself is such a strong character only makes him all that much stronger.

If I have any complaints about this novella, it’s that I would’ve loved to see more of it. The characters leap off the page, even secondary characters like Womack, the world-building is fascinating, and the action is crisp and continuous. I can easily get lost in books like this and relish the chance to do so with other of this author’s works. Because even when they’re short, they’re still worth all the time and money I invest in them.

Readability	9/10 – Swift, clean, and action-packed
Hero	8/10 – Adored his dedication, smarts, and admiration for a strong woman
Heroine	8/10 – I can almost always count on this author to provide me with a heroine I feels earns and deserves her power
Entertainment value	9/10 – A breathless, action-packed read, I only wish it was longer
World building	8/10 – Believable and vivid
TOTAL:	42/50

New Canterbury Affair by Frances Pauli

TITLE: New Canterbury Affair
AUTHOR: Frances Pauli
PUBLISHER: Devine Destinies
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 30k)
GENRE: Futuristic romance
COST: $4.99

Lierra is returning to her home planet with her fiancé in tow, a union that will help bring prosperity to her uncle, the Governor. She’s hoping for an escape. What she finds is a world she no longer recognizes, and a man she’s admired for years. Forrest Ecks was one of the premier artists of his time until his ruined left hand stopped his career. He finds in Lierra a refreshing honesty and intelligence. Offering to give her lessons is just a means to ensure she refines her skills. Or is it merely the means to get to spend more time with her…?

I was fascinated by the potential set-up of this futuristic world, where the heroine travels to her home planet where time has been halted and modern conveniences are nowhere to be found. But like Lierra, I didn’t get exactly what I was expecting.

The story is simple. Lierra is engaged to Trent, a man she isn’t really attracted to but who is a good prospect. She’s getting past marriageable age, and doesn’t have a lot of options, and Trent seems like a good match, especially financially. The one thing she has is her art, and though she recognizes that she’s not very good, she knows what she likes in others. And she loves the work of Forrest Ecks. When she discovers that Mr. Ecks is now living on her home planet, and is actually a very good friend of her uncle’s, she’s both excited and terrified about the possibility of meeting him. But Forrest isn’t what she anticipated, younger and more attractive than she’d ever imagined him. Forrest has given up his art after an injury destroyed his left hand, but he recognizes a kindred spirit in Lierra and offers to give her lessons. It’s an offer she can’t refuse.

The futuristic world sets itself apart by having this haven against modern conveniences, completely with old-fashioned values and expectations. Lierra is upset when she finds that the planet is breaking away from those, and without even that anchor to hold onto, she escapes even more into her art. Generally speaking, she’s a strong woman, but it often feels like the emotions got glossed over. The events of the story unfold rather rapidly, and sometimes there are jumps in time so that what should have been meaningful interactions are told rather than shown. I kept waiting for deeper insight into her, but it just never came.

Lierra fares better than Forrest, though. I’m a sucker for a damaged artist archetype, but that’s really all he is in this. Ultimately, he lacks personality, and I failed to see the progression of his feelings for Lierra, primarily because of the aforementioned glossing of events. There was promise in the first third of the book, but really, once he started their lessons, things jumped quickly, with little depth to the time they spent together. This was where it should have gotten meaty and really made me fall in love with them, but instead, I got vignettes and time jumps and an awful lot of time spent with Trent, the fiancé. Too much time. The ending gets telegraphed from the second chapter, too, leaving no surprise about how it will all work out, and my final thought was, “Such a wasted opportunity.”

Readability	7/10 – Clean and unremarkable
Hero	5/10 – So much potential feels ultimately skimmed over
Heroine	6/10 – Stronger than the hero, but I lacked an emotional connection to her or her journey
Entertainment value	5/10 – I loved the idea, but in many ways this felt like an outline of a story rather than a full one
World building	6/10 – Some intriguing ideas that never really get explained or explored
TOTAL:	27/50

Angel 1089 by C.C. Bridges

TITLE: Angel 1089
AUTHOR: C.C. Bridges
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 62k)
GENRE: Gay futuristic erotic romance
COST: $5.50

Catching two demon burglars is routine for Gabriel 1089, who’s one cog in an army of cybernetically modified humans protecting the sky city of Heaven. Until two turns into a twenty-demon ambush. When he wakes up, he’s missing his network-enabled halo—and one of his metal wings.

The down-level junk dealer tending Gabe’s wounds has hands that spark nerve endings he never knew he possessed. But for an angel cut off from Heaven, an attic in Old Trent feels more like a trap than a sanctuary.

Demons on his doorstep are nothing new for Jeff Werth. Ever since they saved his daughter’s legs, they’ve been calling in their marker. In exchange for his services—nursing Gabe back to health so they can use him as a pawn in their war with Heaven—they’ll consider the debt paid in full. Except having a powerless angel at his mercy feeds a rising desire that has him rethinking the deal.

Then the de-haloed Gabe begins having dreams that become visions…then memories. Until he’s not sure whose side he’s on. Heaven, or the simple family man who healed his broken wings…and made his heart whole.

Note: This review was originally published at Three Dollar Bill Reviews.

The story starts out with a bang, with angel Gabriel 1089 answering a call of a warehouse being attacked by demons. A routine attack turns into an ambush, and he’s captured and taken downside, dropped in the lap of ex-hacker Jeff. Jeff owes a large debt to the demon who watches over the territory he lives in. He has no choice but to do as they say, removing the halo that connects Gabriel to the rest of the angels and keeping him in pseudo-custody until the demons tell him otherwise. Gabriel wakes up with one wing and cut off from everything he knew. He has no choice but to rely on Jeff and his daughter Kayla for survival, and slowly begins to integrate with Old Trent and its inhabitants. Not everything is as it seems, however, and soon enough, Jeff and Gabe learn more than is safe for them.

The author introduces the reader to a fascinating cyberpunk world, with a war happening between demons that roam the planet and the corporations that have taken over the skies. Heaven Corp. is at the top of the echelon with its army of angels to fight the demons, but those who are downside have to rely on what can get smuggled out to them and what they can scavenge in order to survive. Gabriel is a soldier with a single cause – to fight demons. When his halo gets stripped away from him, he’s literally cut off from everything he knows. All angels are plugged into Metatron and each other, and in turn to the God AI. He has to struggle to create a new identity while fighting to understand what exactly happened to him.

Crucial to this fight is ex-hacker Jeff. Jeff owes the demons a lot. When his daughter lost her legs at age five, they were responsible for getting her modded out with artificial limbs. She is the only family he has left, and he’s willing to do anything to protect her, even take in an ex-angel and lie to him about his involvement. He’s a tech genius, and the guilt he feels at hurting the angel manifests in trying to help the guy as much as he possibly can.

Though there’s a lot of potential with all of this, it never really came to life for me. My primary difficulty rested on the dense world-building. This dystopian future is drastically different, and thus, requires clear explanations or descriptions to be clear. It wasn’t. It started almost from the start as I struggled to come to grips with the hierarchy of everything. Using such iconographic terminology like angels and heaven means I’m coming into this with preset notions. If the story’s reality is different, then I need that clearly defined early on. It wasn’t, and because of that, I struggled connecting to any of the characters. I was too busy trying to get the world straight.

Part of that stems from the slow pacing. Though the opening chapter is swift and gripping, it quickly falls into a lull, shifting from the promise of thrills and drama to a slower, character-driven piece. It plods along as Gabriel and Jeff dance around each other, and Gabriel begins to learn what life is like in Old Trent. It would seem like the perfect opportunity for a better picture of the world to be painted, but it comes in drips and drabs, unsatisfying and unclear. The climax of the story picks up the pace again, mirroring the breathlessness of the opening chapter, but it’s too little, too late. It seemed to take forever to get to that point.

Because of my constant struggle to understand the world in which they lived, I never felt like I got a good grasp of the characters, both primary and secondary. Gabe is pretty much an empty shell to be filled, and while Jeff shows potential in his history, it’s glossed over throughout most of the story and only truly comes into play in the last quarter – again, too late to really do much good. The same holds true of the secondary characters. I could never keep Hank and Ian (friends of Jeff) straight, and until the last third (sensing a trend here?), the same held true for Ronnie and Mattie (more friends). Only Kayla, Jeff’s daughter, felt real and unique. With such a slew of personalities dotting the pages, that isn’t a great percentage.

One thing I did enjoy about this was how normal the relationship between Gabe and Jeff felt. Though a big deal is made of the BDSM relationship Hank and Ian have, there never felt like there was any sort of stigma on Gabe and Jeff’s budding romance. Their coming together felt both natural and inevitable, with little fanfare from anybody around them to make it seem so deviant. It was refreshing, even if I didn’t really invest in the romance by the end of the book.

This book marks the first of a series. While I did have some of my answers about the world resolved by the time I reached the end, I doubt I will continue onto the second book. I’m not sure this author is for me as the bulk of my reading time was spent trying to see the world she wanted me to. I lost out on the romance as a result. In such a dense world, that imbalance is enough to deter me from further explorations into an author’s work.

Readability	6/10 – Slow pacing and dense, incomplete world building really made this a slog
Hero #1	5/10 – A blank slate at the beginning, but I still didn’t feel like I knew him at the end
Hero #2	6/10 – More interesting than Gabe, but still not as fully fleshed as I thought he could have been
Entertainment value	5/10 – In spite of an intriguing premise and glimmers of story, I was too bogged by questions and slow pacing to enjoy it much
World building	7/10 – Some truly fascinating ideas going on, and while some of it gets adequately answered by story’s end, not enough of it does
TOTAL:	29/50

With a Touch by Rhiannon Leith

TITLE: With a Touch
AUTHOR: Rhiannon Leith
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 40k)
GENRE: Futuristic paranormal menage erotic romance
COST: $4.50

As a psychic, Eva is a powerful tool for the Guild in maintaining order, but when she gets a new assignment to get information from a known terrorist, all hell breaks loose. Rafael Dante is as powerful a psychic as she is, and with the inside help of Aidan Valetti, a Security officer, manages to break free of his captivity and kidnap her away from the Guild’s protection. The story he weaves is incredible. Eva wouldn’t believe it if she couldn’t see it in his mind. What he and Aidan offer overwhelms her, but both men are determined to free her of the Guild’s control…

The single word that comes to mind in regards to this long novella is tasteful. It has a lot going for it, and while it’s definitely better than some of the stories I’ve read recently, it still has at least one major flaw to keep it from being anything memorable.

In a futuristic society, Eva is a psychic with the Guild, the organization responsible for bringing order to a world on the brink of disaster. The Guild “hires” psychic children from families, to utilize their skills in every possible way, most often in extracting necessary information from others who are reluctant to give it. Powerful in her own right, Eva is surprised when she gets a change in assignment, to a Security detail in one of the sublevels. She accepts, and is shocked when one of the officers there is the same one she’d collided with when she first arrived for work. Then, she’d felt his desire for her, a fantasy she’d plucked from his mind at the physical contact, and it rattles her a little as she approaches her duty. What rattles her further is the man they want her to question is the most notorious Hedonist, a group of terrorists intent on destroying the Guild. His name is Rafael Dante, and he has powers as strong as – if not greater – than hers. She can’t get through his defenses without touching him, but as soon as she does, she discovers he’s been tortured and maligned, and while he hates the Guild, he’s not the violent man she was led to believe. She confronts the commander in charge of the investigation, but immediately, hell breaks loose. The guard she’d bumped into – Aidan – takes down the others in the room, and together with Rafael, try to get Eva out of there. They manage to escape to their stronghold, and have to work to convince her they never meant to kidnap her. They wanted her to come of her own free will, because getting her free of the Guild’s control was her dying father’s last wish.

The prose in this is by far its greatest strength. There’s sensuality in every word, even in the midst of action scenes. It’s not, however, over the top. In fact, it’s got an understated elegance that reminds me of a really good white wine. It warms without overwhelming, with a slight tart edge to keep me on my toes. When it was meant to race forward, it did so, just as it became sensual for the erotic scenes. The entire story has a tasteful feel to it, with everybody and everything treated with respect.

Characterization is solid, if not unique, but I do believe the men fare a lot better than Eva does. Once she’s kidnapped, she becomes much more of a shell – because really, that’s what Guild psychics are – and she seems to take on the personality of whoever she is with. This chameleon-like quality mirrors her search for her own identity, but I can’t say that it actually worked for me. I was left wondering who this woman really was, even when it got to the rather predictable ending. Her spotty characterization seeps into my commitment to the ménage, as well. This is an m/m/f ménage, which means the men are as involved with each other as they are with the woman, but I never understood why they wanted her. She is brought to the compound to fulfill the promise Rafael made to her father. Rafael has had premonitions that she is meant for Aidan, too. Aidan has accepted this as his due, but in all honesty, it felt like he was in love with her the moment he met her. If it was meant to be fated, it felt sloppy, and if it wasn’t, there was never any understanding why Aidan or Rafael would/should/could love her. It made it impossible to believe in their romantic feelings for her (though the erotic ones are more understandable), and since she’s an integral point in this triangle, it weakens the entire structure.

This is sold as the first book in the Guild Chronicles. I’m curious enough about the world the author has created, and impressed enough by the prose, to try the second book when it comes out. This one might not have worked as a ménage for me, but it had enough strong qualities to encourage me to try another.

Readability	8/10 – Sensual and tasteful
Menage	6/10 – I believed they wanted each other – the men especially – but I never understood why they were so enamored with Eva from the start
Characterization	7/10 – The men fare better than the woman in this, with the villain rather cardboard
Entertainment value	7/10 – For the action and sensuality, not because I believed the ménage
World building	7/10 – Some interesting ideas, though not always fully realized
TOTAL:	35/50

Breaking Chance by Kim Knox

TITLE: Breaking Chance
AUTHOR: Kim Knox
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 33k)
GENRE: Futuristic erotic romance
COST: $3.50

Thief Chance has been caught one too many times. No longer will she be sent to an ice prison for rehabilitation. Now, she’s been condemned to death, along with mass murderer John Ramius, known across the galaxy as The Butcher. They need each other to escape, but their goals beyond don’t necessarily mesh. It’ll take both of them to succeed, and both of them to break free of the bonds of their past…

I really like how this author writes action scenes. She’s got a natural sense of pace, and knows how to choreograph fights. But there’s a downside to having so much going on. It forces the romance to get shoehorned in, in any way possible.

The story starts with Chance facing judgment for her latest arrest. She’s been in and out of the system for years, a natural thief since her implant – something everybody under Jovian law has – is not under governmental control. In fact, she can use it to manipulate other tech, a skill that has proven valuable in her crimes. She’s sentenced after a mass murderer who has been given death, a man known as the Butcher, and finds out that they’re all being made an example of. She’s condemned to death, too. When they’re sequestered to await execution, she frees her hands, at which point John (the Butcher) realizes she has the tech savvy to get them free. They agree to team up to escape, since he has the physical augmentation to get past the guards. Once free, though, he has only one goal – to kill the outer governor.

The pace is relentless, much of what I’ve come to expect with this author. Both Chance and John are driven and highly motivated to save their own skin, and their initial attraction is both believable and understated. Even though it’s an entirely foreign world – Earth seems like some utopia to Chance, a far off place of freedom from the corruption and influence of the outer governor – I was able to follow along well enough to stick with the action. People are implanted with chips that allows the outer governor to completely control them, and only a few manage to escape that. Chance is one of them, and like most, has turned to a life of crime. She has the ability to use her implant to control tech around her, while John is physically augmented (with his own psychic powers) from Earth where it’s not outlawed. They make a formidable action team, complementing each other perfectly. While the story is allowed to focus on the action, it’s a very good one.

It flounders when it comes to the romance. Chance has nymphomaniac tendencies. She sees a pretty guy, she wants him regardless. John is no exception. It always felt like a shallow excuse to push them together, honestly, especially when John counters with his own compulsion – to satisfy whatever his partner needs. And as far as he can tell, Chance doesn’t need it hard and fast. She needs to be savored and controlled, so that’s what he provides. Though the sex was hot, I stopped believing it when Chance revealed she’d never had oral sex before. Her excuse, of course, is that it’s too intimate, but honestly, I just can’t believe that someone who’s had as much sex as she’s had, and has been distracted over and over again by a pretty face and a hard body, hasn’t had it at least once. Their relationship falters even more after that, as I’m expected to believe that within a matter of hours these hardened criminals fall head over heels for each other. I didn’t. There’s just too much other stuff going on for it to have room to develop.

I was really surprised when I realized how long this was. I’d initially thought it was much shorter, because it both read so swiftly and because I was so convinced it wasn’t long enough for the romance. I still don’t think it was, but this could have easily been twice as long without sacrificing the pace at all. Then, there might have been space for these two intriguing characters to have space to grow, and for their feelings to blossom. Sadly, that just wasn’t the case for me in the story I actually got.

Readability	8/10 – Reads incredibly fast, with a ton of action
Hero	6/10 – Though I love the idea of the psychopath and his compulsive needs, I wasn’t convinced by his growth or the ending
Heroine	6/10 – Her sex compulsion is a shallow attempt to refocus her pain, but otherwise I liked her smarts and surprising empathy
Entertainment value	5/10 – I was really into the action a lot, but the attempt to shoehorn the romance in let the entire thing down
World building	8/10 – It could have used more clarification on how things worked, but there’s enough intriguing detail to fascinate me
TOTAL:	33/50

Impedimenta by Ann Somerville

TITLE: Impedimenta
AUTHOR: Ann Somerville
PUBLISHER: Smashwords
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 47k)
GENRE: Gay futuristic sci-fi
COST: $3.99

Two years after their narrow escape from the Karhal, Jati, Seb, and North are reunited again, this time on a transport mission that will leave them confined with each other and their crew of sixteen for months. Seb is convinced North needs a younger man, and thus keeps pushing him – none too discreetly – into their paths, while Jati isn’t in a relationship at all. A ship malfunction forces them to make an emergency landing, but the planet that welcomes them in seems too perfect to be true…

Sequels are such funny beasts. On one hand, they’re fantastic to get to follow up with characters you already know and love. I have a real weak spot for series once I get hooked. On the other, what you loved in the first (or previous) stories might not even be present in the latest installment, so there’s always the possibility of disappointment. Not to mention the lapse of time that might fall between stories. I rarely have the patience to go back and re-read previous books just to gear up for reading a sequel.

Impedimenta showed the potential into falling into the latter trap, though I was glad to see that it eventually played into what I thought was the first story’s greatest strength. Seb, North, and Jati are reunited for the first time since their scant survival of the Karhal attacks, on a quiet transport mission that should be more elemental than terrifying. Seb and North have hit a rough patch in their relationship, as Seb has finally decided that he’s holding North back from true happiness – by being older when North deserves a partner his own age, by holding North back on a promotion track on his career just so they can be together. North is frustrated by Seb’s lack of faith in what they have, and the fact that Seb keeps throwing him in the path of other eligible singles – including this particular mission – is driving him insane. Jati, on the other hand, isn’t in a relationship, and finds herself becoming friends with one of the new crewmates, a widower named Jorge. When their ship malfunctions, they are forced to make an emergency landing on a planet called Kefarno. There, they are kept together in their individual holiday groups, secluded from anybody else on the planet, constantly monitored even though it is driving them crazy.

I’ll say it flat out. Seb annoyed the crap out of me. North had to tell him how many times he wasn’t interested in anybody else? Yet, Seb presumed to know what was best for North, even knowing North didn’t like it. It’s funny, because in the first book, North was probably my least favorite of the three, and yet, here, Seb easily holds that position. Yes, North is still a tad on the earnest and immature side, but he’s come a long way, and honestly, in this instance, it’s better than being so frustratingly presumptive. It’s a very good thing their scenes are balanced out with Jati’s budding relationship with Jorge, because my opinion of the story would have taken a severe downward turn if I’d had to deal with their pigheadedness the entire book.

As it stands, I only have to really deal with it for half. Once the situation on Kefarno escalates, the focus becomes less on North and Seb’s tumultuous relationship and more on the circumstances surrounding them and their crewmates. The action reverts to the same tight, tense design that typified the first book, albeit in (what feel like) longer scenes. It also provides the means for Seb and North to finally learn the lessons they need to, a vastly important step in the progress of their relationship, so ultimately, I’m more forgiving of my earlier annoyance than I might otherwise have been.

A lot of that is credit to Jati. I love her. I loved her in the first book, and I loved her even more in this one. She’s no-nonsense, smart, resourceful, and exactly the kind of person I want in my corner. The fact that she gets to discover Jorge – who I also loved, more than North and Seb, even – was an absolute treat.

I’m reluctant to label this a romance, since it’s more of an ensemble action story with abundant relationship issues to explore. This is as much about North learning to be a part of a crew as it is about Jati getting a grasp on her future. I’m also hesitant to label it a gay story, too. Heterosexual relationships are just as important in this, and some readers who aren’t interested in those dynamics might be turned off by it. I hate having to put that warning in. I would love for readers to pick up a story and judge it on its individual merits, rather than say they won’t read something because it has het interactions (or vice versa for those readers who refuse to read gay interactions). Because stories like this deserve to be read by as many as possible, for the people involved, not for their genders. Because in the end, even with my early issues with Seb, this was worth both my time and my investment. The author’s skill lies as much with making these people come to life as it does making the action pop. I would never have been so wrapped up in Seb's attitude if I didn't completely accept him as a fully rounded character. If you read the first – and I think even if you didn’t – you’ll want to read this one.

Readability	9/10 – Tightly written, especially once the action kicks in
Characterization	8/10 – The secondary characters aren’t as fully fleshed as the primaries, but that’s a minor quibble
Plot	8/10 – Seb’s personal quest annoyed me, but it all picked up once they had to land
Entertainment value	8/10 – My annoyance with Seb aside, the levels of growth in all the relationships combined with the action makes this a worthy, enjoyable read
World building	8/10 – I’m left with a lot of questions about Kefarno, but otherwise, spectacular and believable
TOTAL:	41/50

Agent Provocateur by Nathalie Gray

TITLE: Agent Provocateur
AUTHOR: Nathalie Gray
PUBLISHER: Red Sage
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 25k)
GENRE: Futuristic erotic romance
COST: $3.50

Stuck in a long-term prison sentence, Misborn Troy doesn’t expect to get out, until someone gives him an offer he can’t refuse. Mercury is tasked as his partner in an escapade that promises him parole, but their adventures – and attraction – are only starting to explode…

I’m not even going to try and summarize this story. Go read the blurb on the website for a better idea. Because honestly, things start happening so quickly and go off in such unexpected – and fun – directions, that almost anything I say would be a spoiler.

What I can tell you is this was a fantastic read on a whole lot of levels. Both leads are unapologetically arrogant and bitchy, toward each other, toward everybody else, but that’s because they both see themselves as separate from everybody else. They also have the skills to back up their arrogance, and the fact that neither makes horribly stupid mistakes gives them a lot of leeway for their attitudes in my book. In Mercury’s case, she so unequivocally claims her identity and needs that she becomes one of the best heroines I’ve read in a while. She’s smart, ruthless, and sasses with the best of them. I loved her to pieces.

Her chemistry with Troy is off the charts. Their sex scenes are explosive and feral, and it never feels gratuitous or cringeworthy. This same pacing is matched in the action scenes, and creates a frenzied, charged atmosphere that’s impossible to look away from. The leads careen from scene to scene, twisting the plot in a new direction each time. There’s no chance to take a breath, or relax from the incessant action.

The story’s biggest flaw is just how dense the world is. Though some detail is provided, the meaty explanations don’t come until late in the story, leaving questions in their wake. The exposition, too, isn’t always handled in the most deft ways. More than once, I felt mired in an information dump, as the author got out a few necessary details before sucking me into another action scene. Those slowed down my reading, and left a vague sense of unease undercoating my entire experience. As much as I really, really enjoyed this, it could have been more, and it’s the loss of that more that lowers my overall score.

Still, don’t let that stand in your way. If you like action-packed, gritty erotic stories, this one will be a standout.

Readability	9/10 – Dense and action-packed, it left me breathless
Hero	8/10 – An arrogant self-described asshole…and a breath of fresh air for being unapologetic about it.
Heroine	9/10 – Ruthless and unabashedly on her own side, I loved that she remained strong when she could have been wimped out
Entertainment value	8/10 – Wonderful to read something packed with so much goodness
World building	8/10 – The dystopian society that gets presented has some great potential, but it doesn’t get explained in enough detail nor does it offer what it does very elegantly.
TOTAL:	42/50