An injured veterinarian and a cyborg with unusual pets must join forces to save their town. The vast Central Galactic Concordance strictly prohibits genetic experimentation and alteration of humans on any of its 500 member planets. Animals aren’t so lucky.On a frontier planet, veterinarian Bethnee Bakonin made a home for herself in the frozen north. Her minder talent for healing all kinds of … healing all kinds of animals would ordinarily assure her success, but her unwilling stint in the shady pet trade industry left her damaged and scared. She works around her limitations as best she can, and rescues pet trade castoffs.
“Volunteered” for a black-box research project, elite forces Jumper Axur Tragon now has dangerous experimental tech in his cybernetic limbs. He escaped and crash-landed a stolen freighter in the northern mountains of a frontier planet, only to discover a secret shipment of designer pets was part of the cargo. Determined to do right by them, he enlists reluctant Bethnee’s aid in caring for them—a definite challenge, considering Bethnee is terrified of him.
When greedy mercenaries come raiding, can Axur and Bethnee work together to overcome their limitations, with help from their unusual pets, and save the day?
It’s a deadly adventure—with pets—in the fringes of space. Grab your copy of Pet Trade today!
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Series note: Pet Trade takes place between Pico’s Crush and Jumper’s Hope in the Central Galactic Concordance series, but is a standalone story. Originally appeared in the USA TODAY bestselling anthology Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2.
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”…a poignant romance… I loved watching as these two individuals start to heal, and find love together.”
— Kathy Andrico – KathysReviewCorner.com
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I so enjoyed reading this story in Pets in Space! Author knows her SF and her pets!
I’ve been having a good time re-reading this series and this tweenie novella is no exception. I originally read it as part of an anthology, Pets In Space 2. I liked it well the first time around, but I think I enjoyed it even more this go around.
Pet Trade is book #3.5 in a series of standalone space opera excitement, intrigue, and romance. It’s works fine standalone because its a side story to some of the major plot threads that stream through the others and stays light on the world building so a reader isn’t lost.
Bethnee is a psychic- or minder as this series calls them- with an affinity for animal telepathy. This made her of prime importance to those in the illicit pet trade so stole her and exploited her while abusing her. She had enough left in her to escape and make her way to an off grid colony world. There she acts as a vet and hides away to herself, terrified of men. Until Axur.
Axur was a special forces jumper and happy to be part of his military unit until he was taken and experimented on making him left more cyborg than human. He didn’t plan to be the tenth failed experiment so he escaped the CPS, stole a freighter, and crash landed on a colony world. The ship was smuggling illegal pets from the pet trade. His pets need care and so he tentatively makes friends with a lonely vet with a minder gift and some baggage. Both are worried that someday someone might come looking for them. And, they do.
This is a sweet, heartwarming story set in the future on a frontier world. The characters were vivid and had well drawn backgrounds. The plot was fully developed since it was a long novella and I was glad to see the slow-burn romance, lots of time with the exotic pets, and a good suspenseful climax. Those who enjoy romantic space opera should give this one and the whole series a go.
Great Story
Van Natta’s Pet Trade was a captivating novella, and part of the Central Galactic Concordance series. I’ve read a lot of her work, and actually am in the process of catching up to read all of her work. I was honored that Van Natta shared more of her stories with me. There is a sense of journey and survival in this story, and in the Central Galactic Concordance, there is more of a survival of humans and cyborgs (or a combination of the two), but animals, not so much. This story explores that revenue and how someone sees this is overlooked and must do whatever it takes to save them. It’s a standalone novella in part of this series, but I recommend reading all of it, not because a reader would get lost, but because it just makes sense to read stories this good.
I very much enjoyed this book. Sweet and fun with ugliness looming in the background. Meet the coolest pets you never heard of, too!
The more I read the Central Galactic Concordance series the more I like Carol Van Natta’s way of writing characters. They all are relatable, likable and so very human, even when some are cyborgs and others have unusual talents, like in this story. It was a pleasure to read how these two people, both with a complicated past but sharing the same love for animals, overcome their own personal tragedies to save a bunch of endearing pets from a cruel fate – and fall in love with each other in the process.
This one was really good and there were so many pets, which made me happy. And lots of unique pets too and almost every scene had pets in them. They played an important role in the story and were interwoven everywhere. I liked both of the main characters, they both had a tough life so far and are trying to find some peace and quiet on this planet. And seeing the female main character who was afraid of men slowly allow him close was great to see.
I thought both character felt realistic and I enjoyed reading about them. The romance was slow paced, which totally fit the story. There was a time skip in the middle of the story that worked well. I liked how much both characters cared about the pets. The author pulled of the short form really well and I never felt like I was missing something or things were rushed. I definitely plan to check out some of her other books.