Tag Archive | sci fi

Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 #scifiromance #romance #herodogs

The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors brings you a dozen original stories written just for you!

Join in the fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author, Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King, for stories that will take you out of this world!

Join New York Times, USA TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard, Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!

10% of the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence.

Buy link for all stores: https://books2read.com/u/3L9aYM

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Embrace-Romance-Pets-Space-2-ebook/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073W5WQBH/
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073W5WQBH/
Amazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B073W5WQBH/
Amazon FR https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B073W5WQBH/
Amazon DE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073W5WQBH/
Amazon JP https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B073W5WQBH/

iBooks http://bit.ly/EmbraceTheRomanceiBooks

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/embrace-the-romance-se-smith/1126723852?

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/embrace-the-romance-pets-in-space-2

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/S_E_Smith_Embrace_the_Romance_Pets_in_Space_2?id=Jp8rDwAAQBAJ

Rescued by the Cyborg (A Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance) by Cara Bristol

A cyborg’s haunted past and a Faria’s clouded future entwine…

Hostage and sole survivor Solia waits for death at the hands of vicious predatory aliens when Cy-Ops agent Guy Roarke disobeys orders and charges in. A former medic, he initiates emergency medical procedures before rushing her to Cybermed.

Guy is taken with Solia, but the guilt of a past mistake won’t allow him to plan for a future with the delicate, brave beauty. Life is so uncertain, he can’t even keep Mittzi, the kitten his niece gave him. What he can do is see to it Solia gets the help she needs for a full recovery. But when best intentions place her in greater danger, it’s up to a little kitten to make everything all right again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt

Guy pushed into his cabin. Next to his bags was the gift—a box tied with a big red bow. The carton was moving. And mewing. “Oh, Jessamine, what did you do?”
The box bumped into his foot. Atop the lid his niece had written: LIVE ANAMUL. OPEN IMED IMID SOON!
He ripped off the bow and peeled back the top. Inside, an angry, frightened kitten hissed. Jessamine’s cat had birthed a litter, and he recognized this baby by its gray coat, four white feet, and a blotch shaped like a star on its button nose.

Sighing, he reached into the carton.

The kitten growled and swiped its claws across his skin.

“Ow!” Guy yanked his hand back. The kitten leaped out and dove under the berth.

Great. Just great. How could his niece have done such a thing? She shouldn’t have boxed up a live animal—even if she did punch air holes in the carton. If she hadn’t contacted him and insisted he open the present, the kitten might have remained inside for quite a while.

In the corner of the container, he spotted a slip of paper, partially shredded. He unfolded it.

Dear Uncle Guy,

I know you are sad, and I want you to be happy. I am giving you one of Fluffy’s kittens so you won’t be lonely. I named her Mittzi becuz she has four wite white mittens. Pleez come home again, soon.

Jessamine

XOXO

His sister worried about him, but Carter, too, and now Jessamine? He hadn’t hidden his feelings well enough if his seven-year-old niece could pick up on them.

His fiancée’s defection had devastated him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Cara Bristol
USA Today bestselling author Cara Bristol writes steamy science fiction romance with an emphasis on the characters and their romance, with a little humor, heat, and danger added for fun. She is the author of three science fiction romance series: sexy cyborg Cy-Ops Scifi Romance series, the dark erotic Breeder series, and the new humorous Alien Mate series. She likes to say that she writes science fiction for readers who don’t like sci-fi. Cara lives in Missouri with her alpha hero, her husband, and Hannah, her cat, aka her writing supervisor.

Website: http://www.carabristol.com
Newsletter: http://carabristol.com/get-your-free-book/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cara.bristol.3

-Letter F – Barbarian #scifiromance #alienromance @AprilAtoZ #atozchallenge

Apr7

F is for Fox (Kim Fox)

Barbarian

Synopsis
Avery and her friend go to the movies. They get abducted by aliens. Knowing that they will most likely die in the near future, they hijack the spaceship and crash land on a planet called Zandipor.

Turic finds Avery in forest and is convinced that she is the answer from the gods to save his people from the dinosaurs that also inhabit the planet.

Opinion
This book was not for me, but the story was okay.

First of all, let me say that I am not a fan of first person POV. I will read it and if the story line and voice of the character is okay, I can deal. I need for the person speaking to be halfway logical enough for me to tolerate their voice. Otherwise, I get very irritated. It’s like hearing an annoying person speaking. The more they talk, the more I want them to shut it.

In Avery’s case, I thought she did not have much common sense. She knows what she should do, but does she do it? Nooooo. I was rooting for the dinosaur at one point. I needed something shut her up.

Image result for not sorry meme

Plus, I’m guessing that TinTom the robot was supposed add humor to the story. I wanted to drop kick that stupid robot across the terrain and hope a dinosaur stepped on him as he rolled in the river.

Image result for picard meme so much win

With all of that negative emotion, I could not even focus on Turic and his barbaric ways. He was okay, if a little too frisky in my opinion.

To be fair, despite my obvious issues with their personalities, I repeat, the story was okay. For me, I could not focus on the plot because I had a dislike for some of the characters.

TOW Final Word: Buy, Borrow, Pass?
I say BORROW but if you like alien abduction or corny humor in your sci-fi alien romance, you might want to BUY. Just be prepared to probably exclaim “OMG she is so annoying!”

Book details
Series: Alien Barbarians of Zandipor Book 1
Heat Level: 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥

Weird Sci-Fi stories challenging notions of what is #Romance #sciencefiction

Jun5

Weird Sci-Fi stories challenging notions of what is romance ♥♥♥

I go through phases at times where I want to read a particular genre. I was in a science fiction mood and searched Amazon for books that I thought might be interesting. It started because I read a book about 3 years ago and I cannot remember the title or any of the main character names. I think I got it from the library. All I can remember is that it was a sci-fi and the main characters had a lot of conflict with each other but end up falling in love. Then she gets kidnapped and he saves her. I want to capture the emotion when I read that story but my search is has been fruitless. I wish I could get that book back. In the meantime, I read sci-fi romances trying to evoke similar feelings.

As the saying goes:

And I have been reading a lot of “frog” like books trying to find the book of my dreams.

Trek Mi Q’an series ♥♥♥

The Empress’ New Clothes (Trek Mi Q’an, Book One) – Zor & Kyra
No Fear (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Five) – Jek & Brenda
No Escape (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Four) – Cam & Kara
Devilish Dot Trek Mi Q’an, Book 6.5 – Vaidd & Dot ( Included in the book collection Manaconda)
Seized (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Six) – Dak & Geris

One Thousand Brides (Star Brides) & Bride’s Holiday Gift ♥♥♥

Planet Mail ♥♥

Suddenly a Bride (Across the Stars Book 1) ♥♥♥

One thing that I realized was that if a book is published by Ellora Cave, it probably is more about graphic, explicit love scenes than romance. I mean how romantic is the aliens-need-human-women trope?

Of all the books I read, Suddenly a Bride (Across the Stars Book 1) was my favorite. Yes, she was “married” without her consent, but her alien guy really tried to make sure she fell in love with him.

The books One Thousand Brides (Star Brides) & Bride’s Holiday Gift were freebies at the time because of a promotion. Even though the women were in effect kidnapped, I think I liked this story because (1) these aliens valued larger sized women (2) the heroine developed and embraced what she thought was important in order to fight for the male she wanted. I skipped over the excessively graphic scenes because it becomes redundant after a while.

In Planet Mail, while the heroine was not kidnapped, she was supposed to feel that it was a privilege that the king was going to try to get her pregnant. He is doing his duty with all women to try to get an heir. Because she is not tripping over herself to try to get preggers, he is intrigued. In the end, he is forced to choose between duty and love. Everyone has a happy ending in more ways than one **wink wink**. I skipped the multiple-parties-involved love scenes in this too because I am traditional one male-one female type of girl.

A common theme in Jaid Black’s books is that the female (even when forcibly snatched from the life she knew) is supposed to acquiesce because she is the soul mate of the alien. Plus, monogamy is a tenuous concept with a lot of grey area. It may seem that since I read a lot of the Jaid Black books that I must have enjoyed her series. I am confused myself why I read all of them.

The first book I read was No Fear (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Five). It was okay but a lot of it did not make sense because (1) some of the character names were similar (2) I had no idea about the back story of the worlds and (3) everyone seemed to have no problem with any weird-looking alien bring them pleasure. Not my idea of a party.

I read mostly a mixture out of curiosity as to what the author could imagine next and slight interest into the worlds that she created. I think of all the heroines, I liked Brenda (No Fear (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Five) the most and Geris (Seized (Trek Mi Q’an, Book Six) the least. Brenda’s easy acceptance was because her life on earth was not getting any better than being kidnapped by an alien swearing to love her forever. It seems that Geris was written with the stereotypical ghetto girl in mind. While I guess I supposed to be glad women of color were getting kidnapped too (at least she was being made a queen and not a slave…but I digress) I still did not like how she was portrayed. Kara was also annoying, but she was immature as well, which that had a lot to do with her decision-making. Dot was okay and the most realistic (as possibly could be when being kidnapped by aliens).

I did not buy the books on Amazon, but borrowed the series from a friend. I think the Jaid Black books are overpriced considering they are novella length. If I had bought for 99cents each, I would say it was worth checking out. However, the $3- 6 range for each book is way overpriced in my opinion, especially when a book is 100 pages or less. If my friend had not already had this books, I doubt that I would have bought any of them on my own.

My suggestion to Jaid Black: Think about lowering the price of your books

Should you buy? Go for the freebies if you want something different, but be prepared for gratuitous love scenes and possibly some explicit language.

Adrift – Sci-Fi action thriller cheepie

Jun15

Adrift (Callisto Series – Book 1) ♥ ♥♥

Synopsis:

In this science fiction romance action novel, Jasmine is a journalist running from some military types that want her dead. After the bad guys killed most of the passengers on the aircraft on which she was travelling, Norik, a half-Lyrissian, half-human male, saved her. He is a commanding office of a Space Corp ship and is on leave.

There is some chemistry between the two of them that they explore in between trying to figure out how to resolve their situation without dying.

Opinion:

This story was entertaining but there were some points that annoyed me.

Considering that Jasmine was on the run, she did little to keep a low profile while in transit.

Norik was trying to mind his own business and Jasmine kept bothering him. And she kept provoking him to the point he lost control.

I do not mind interspecies-human romances, but the Lyrissians were not a particularly amorous race or tender in their affections. The one love scene was borderline violent and painful sounding. Norik tried to warn Jasmine off, but she would not be deterred. She wanted him to lose control and he did.

Despite those issues, the action in the plot-line gave the story promise and by the end I was looking forward to reading more books in the series. When I looked on Amazon and found other books, the next book in the series was a prequel. No matter how great that story might be, in Adrift, the reader finds out what happens to Norik’s parents and it is not a happy ending. For the one book that is supposed to be after the time period in Adrift, I was disappointed that it appears that Norik and Jasmine were no longer together. That was a letdown for me.

Note to Author Erica Conroy if you are reading this: Once the book ends, there is a supposition of a “happy ever after” ending if the main characters are together. It is not a good idea for those same characters not to be together in future books. That cheapens the ending of the original book because that means their love did not last. It is a warm, fuzzy feeling to read sequels where the I know the history of the secondary characters, how they got together, and their quest to find love.

Overall, Adrift (Callisto Series – Book 1) is a great story on its own. I think it is a one-hit wonder for this series. As long as you remember that it is mostly sci-fi action than romance, you will enjoy the story.

Gyaros – Book Zero – Cry Wolf

Jul26

Gyaros Book Zero: Cry Wolf (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) – ♥♥♥♥

On the surface, after the unification on planet Carthage, there was a seemingly utopian society by banning all social deviants to Gyaros- a lunar prison. But the strict totalitarian government has rigid, structural social hierarchy that is designed to keep everyone in their place.

This is setting for Cry Wolf. And then there should be a countdown like 3 – 2- 1 Action! The book is an adrenaline rush following Wolf, Ryker and the rest of the crew on their mission. I won’t give too much of the plot away, but I can say that there are some very tense moments.

I think that the purpose of this book is to set the stage for the full length novel Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) that is set in the same setting. In Cry Wolf, you as the reader are able to get a better sense of the divisions within society. Everyone is relegated to their place or social position. All the information about a person is imprinted on the bio chip that is embedded in each person’s skin. The quality of life of a person is determined by social status. For example, in one district, it always rains and the weather is depressing. Closer to the upper levels, there is sunshine. Above all else, no one can freely move between the districts.

As is common in many sci-fi books, you need time to understand what is going on in the society in order to fully visualize and appreciate the setting. For Gyaros Book Zero: Cry Wolf , because of all the detailed scene descriptions, Carthage becomes real.

I do not read a lot of sci-fi books, but I was glad that I read Gyaros Book Zero: Cry Wolf . It was like a burst of caffeine without drinking any coffee. I really enjoyed it. My interest was stirred to read Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron .

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.