Dear Ms. Everaux:

Over at Bam’s blog, a couple three people suggested Bam read this book. I’m not Bam but I am always up for a recommendation. I had to fly for business last Thursday and downloaded this book at the airport. God, I love ebooks. . Onto my handheld the book went and I proceeded to walk around the entire airport, down the jet bridge, onto the tiny commuter jet and so on without looking up. So maybe I bumped into a few people, trampled over a kid or two without noticing what I was doing, but I was reading!!

Moira Shine lives in an alternative earth that has been decimated by disease. In the first chapter, we learn everything we need to know about Moira. She has suffered terrible loss, but hasn’t allowed it to make her bitter. She has a big heart and a pragmatic nature. She understands when it is time to run and hide and when it is time to fight. My kind of heroine. More than anything, though, she loves that she had a child even though she lost the child to illness.

Aliens from another planet have invaded earth and are taking the comparatively healthy individuals and selling them as slaves to the Kinnians. Moira is captured and eventually sold to Lord Marin. Lord Marin has two of his minions begin to “train” Moira in the ways of a good slave. Marin intends to make a sexual pet of Moira. Usually this is done by having intercourse with the slave as the seed acts like a drug. The more intercourse one has with a Kinnian and the more that the slave needs it. Moira is horrified to see the deadening effects of the sperm as she witnesses one of her fellow captives totally abase herself, like an animal, before Lord Marin. She resists every attempt by Marin and his minions to be trained. Lord Marin, in his desperate attempt to get Moira to submit to him, has her food drugged (ala Johanna Lindsey in the unforgettable Secret Fire). At this point, I thought that this was shaping up to be some awful dom/sub book and I didn’t know whether I would ever buy a redemption of Lord Marin. Lord Marin’s treatment of Moira becomes so awful that Moira attempts to kill herself than to continue to be a slave of Marin. It is her only way of escape.

Lord Marin’s entire worth will be devalued once it gets out that a slave would rather die than to service him and so he gives Moira to an advisor of the King, Anath. Moira fears that her life with Anath will be even worse. His eyes show no emotion. Except, Anath does not want to bed Moira. Instead, he wants her to be a spy for him while working a kitchen slave. Seeing no other option, Moira agrees. This part of the story reminded me of Poison Study a bit where Moira chooses to work for an enigmatic protector of the king. Part II, as I like to think of it, is much more about intrigue than about sex even though the hottest parts of the story are in Part II. Anath is a fascinating character, albeit a bit enigmatic. Watching the two of them fall in love is touching.

One thing that I thought was particularly well done was the sex scenes. In many Ellora’s Cave novels, I find the graphic descriptions of body parts to be a bit distracting. Here, the sex scenes were nicely balanced. Oh, and smoking hot. I should mention though that the Southern Kinnians have an extra “part” to the penis so if that bothers anyone, you may want to skip this story. I was really overwrought with Moira’s treatment at the hands of Lord Marin. Perhaps the evil treatment could have been shortened and more time spent on developing the interesting political intrigue. Overall, this was a hot story whose hotness made up for the lack in other areas. I am thankful of new authors, like, you who can provide both great sex with great characterization. B+

Best regards,

Jane

PS. For readers that are faint of heart, there is a part at the end which features characters eating the hearts of other characters.