An enjoyable sci-fi take on the erotic novel.
A debut post-apocalyptic erotic romance between a warrior lord and the fiery woman he hopes to tame.
Earth is a barren wasteland, and most people survive in primitive camps led by warrior bosses—some kind and fair, others cruel and selfish. On the edges of this barely civilized society live groups of mutants known as “techs,” who get by in squalor and near-starvation. Char is an 18-year-old girl who’s lived on the fringes of civilization for quite some time, after her mother was chased out of a camp by an abusive boss. Now that her mother is dead, Char and her stepfather, Seth, hope to find employment as warriors in one of the camps, despite the fact that women never, ever fight as warriors, and bosses often purchase beautiful women like Char to serve them. However, Char refuses to give up her dreams for the sake of gender norms, even after the powerful (but just) boss Garron chooses her to be his concubine. Garron and Char share numerous steamy love scenes while they wrestle with their feelings for each other, and their chemistry jumps off the page. Char doesn’t want to be a mere concubine, but she enjoys how Garron’s touch makes her feel; Garron, meanwhile, hates how Char challenges his authority yet finds himself attracted to her feisty nature. Their burgeoning romance is further complicated by Primus, the sensitive, smart leader of a group of techs whom Char wants to help. Garron’s growing jealousy, and the mysterious supply raids on the camp, eventually brings the story to a violent, emotional climax. Burke creates a vibrant world for her characters and a plot with high stakes. Char comes across as an admirable yet believable heroine, a refreshing element in a genre that’s often populated by flimsy, frail females.
An enjoyable sci-fi take on the erotic novel.Pub Date: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481150408
Page Count: 232
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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