Independent trader Trilby Elliot is making some not-quite-legal modifications to her starfreighter, when an unexpected visitor falls out of space. Literally. He’s crashed onto the uninhabited planet of Avanar in a crippled ’Sko fighter–the last place you’d expect to find a Zafharin military officer because the ’Sko and the Zafharin have been at war as long as Trilby can remember. Rhis Vanur is … Vanur is your typically arrogant Zafharin. But to Trilby’s surprise, he doesn’t look down on her or her slapdash ship. Still, Trilby’s learned the hard way that even though she found Rhis, she can’t keep him. She’s just a low-budget jump jockey as far as men like him are concerned. She’s not falling for his offer to help…until Port Rumor reports her best friend missing and Trilby learns that the ’Sko are hunting both her and Rhis. Now they’re in it together for better, for worse–or till death blasts them to oblivion….
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I love everything Linnea Sinclair has written, but this one might be my favorite.
If you like your science fiction fast paced and with a strong shot of romance, this is the book for you.
The Plot: I’ve read this book about a dozen times. I *think* it was my first Linnea Sinclair book, and even after so many reads, it’s like crack for me. I just can’t quit it. Or any other Sinclair book (except the zombie book because I hate zombies, which is totally unfair to Sinclair because her zombies weren’t really zombies and I *tried* subbing another word for it so I could enjoy it, but that just didn’t work for me. *shrug*). Plot is pretty simple. A freight trader (I love freight trader stories!) is repairing her ship when another ship crashes nearby. She goes to check on it and finds a super hot and unconscious man from a different, use-to-be enemy government. He ends of being Tivahr, who is notorious even outside his government for being demanding and ruthless and very good at any job you give him. But of course he doesn’t tell Trilby who he is when he awakens, so they start falling for each other sort of under false pretenses. And of course she flips out when she drops him off with his people and discover he’s Tivahr the Terrible, and I just heart that kind of story. Anyway, there is a plot outside the romance that revolves around finding out why some freighters are missing and how another enemy plans to take over much of space. They have to stop it, and they have to work together to do it, so yay! Lots of fun and games!
The characters: Oh, how I love a ruthless commander falling for strong female character. Tivahr is awesome. So good at his job commanding a ship and people etc. He survives what other people can’t survive because of some genetic manipulation, so he gets all the dangerous assignments. I love his commander mode and seeing his softer side when he’s with Trilby.
Trilby is a great character, too. Sinclair does an excellent job at writing the strong female characters, and Trilby is independent and capable all on her own. Oh, except when she tries to walk. lol There was a whole lot of falling-into-Tivahr’s arms in this book. Such a silly way to get them closer together but I didn’t care because the story is so fun.
The romance: The perfect blend of sci-fi and romance. Linnea Sinclair’s books are what made me want to write sci-fi romance. This book is more behind-closed-doors steamy scenes, but not so much to find it frustrating or a cop out. It was pretty perfect for getting me into romance novels (before Sinclair’s books, I was a romance hater. I know! What was wrong with me!? I think I was just lonely and bitter. lol Now, romance is a requirement in the novels I love best).
The writing: Sinclair has disappear-on-the-page writing, which is the best compliment I can give an author. I don’t like purple prose or for the writing to stick out, so if I’m reading for hours and never feel like I’m reading, that’s a win. I will say that, with this book, we enter the cheese zone. That’s okay because the book is overall so awesome, but I cringed every time Tivahr called Trilby his “air sprite.” That was the only time the writing jumped out to me. Oh, and eventually all the yav chera-ing got on my nerves, but that’s probably just because I’ve read the book a gazillion times.
Some highlights:
* “I do not hack.” He let a haughty tone return to his voice. “I professionally amend system codes to perform at an optimal level.”
* [an example of the cheese zone lol] And sent him over the edge. “Dasjankira. My lady, my love!”
* I’m in the mood to scramble, she told him. Good. I’m in the mood to kill.
Hard to put down!
This book started my love affair with all of Linnea Sinclair’s books. A must read!