In His Sights by Rie Warren

These sworn enemies have everything to lose and each other to live for.

At the outset of the Revolution against the oppressive Company regime, Hawke is a freedom fighter on a mission. Infiltrate Alpha Territory, kick some Corps ass, and stay alive. His plans unravel when he’s captured by the enemy on his first sortie. Waiting for death by the soldier sworn to kill him, all his training couldn’t have prepared him for what happens next.

A corporal in the Company’s military branch, Mayce is a hard-liner intent on ridding his city of the insurgent threat. Yet one look at the gorgeous Freelander named Hawke and years of yearning and unrealized desires change his course permanently. If discovered, he’ll be branded a traitor and a homosexual—and sentenced to death.

Mayce and Hawke act on their intense and immediate attraction. But amid the escalating war their dangerous trysts come at the risk of their own lives.

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This novella is a taste of a larger universe, though it stands alone. If you have a taste for military, dystopian literature, with sex, this should satisfy. There’s sex. Lots and lots of sex, and in the interstices of the sex scenes, there’s some pulse pounding military action in a dystopian future. The novel length works in this universe would probably be a better place to really see the world-building, because in this novella, there’s mostly sex.

Did I mention there’s sex? There is. Going from hot, “we’re enemies but we need to fuck” sex, to “I love you and can’t keep my hands off you” sex, and almost every permutation in between. Mayce and Hawke are equals in their alpha maleness and versatile in what they’ll do together. Their initial encounter is “kill him or tap him?” and goes on from there. It’s hot, even if it’s abrupt and requires some suspension of disbelief, so I turned my porn brain on and the problem disappeared. It’s a meeting of equals, and the affection that grows is a function of desperation: they’re fighting a really stupid war and they both know it.

A number of elements would logically follow from the premise of the world situation, but they are either contradicted or ignored. There is a plot and some tension in there, which I liked a lot, worked out in a way that is consistent with world situation. The resolution to the love interest felt kind of tacked on, like something thrown in to satisfy other sensibilities, but it, like the logic behind the military aspects, is pretty much lost in the sex. 

If you’re reading for the sex, it’s great, and if you’re reading for the science fiction/military aspects, it has good action with some odd world-building, so best to think of this as SF-flavored erotic romance. Overall it’s entertaining and written in a fluid style. 3.5 marbles

Coming up this week

Thanks  for hanging out here in the Bookshelf. This week we had some good stuff come by. I reviewed Relativistic Phenomena by Kate Pavelle, spotlighted Two Thousand Pounds per Square Inch from Brent Hartinger as part of the The Real Story Safe Sex Project, promoting safe and responsible sex by entertaining.

We also had an excerpt from Rie Warren's In His Sights, to go with our hot Thousand Word Thursday prompt pic. I had to run out and read that novella!

In fact, In His Sights is one of my reviews coming this week, as is the fabulous anthology Butt Ninjas From Hell, and if that title doesn't make you smile, check your pulse, cuz you're dead. The stories are unique, funny, and all over the map in theme, except a lot of them are LOL funny and as for those ninjas? You'll never hear them coming.

We'll also have another nommy prompt pic for Thousand Word Thursday, so inspiration may strike. Or drool may strike. Or both.

In a late breaking event, we'll also have a Thousand Word Thursday story from Jean Nygard, who got to pondering a pair of male lions I posted about a year ago. Look for big cats on Friday.

Keep reading!

A Story from The Real Story Safe Sex Project by Brent Hartinger

The Real Story Safe Sex Project, spearheaded by Brent Hartinger, is gathering up stories and blog posts promoting condom use. Many talented authors have contributed stories to this worthy project. We'll look at two stories a week until I have them all, but there may be new ones along any minute!

Every author has a different take on this message, and everyone has something valuable to add. Please read and forward the stories to anyone and everyone you know who needs to protect themselves, male and female alike. Thank you, authors, for making these stories free to all. Because that old ounce of prevention is really worth a pound of cure, or a ton of battle.

Our spotlighted story this week:

Warning: this story includes both explicit language about sex and graphic depictions of sex itself.

Russel Middlebrook is a gay teen who’s been through a lot. He’s the lead character in Brent Hartinger’s Lambda Award-winning Russel Middlebrook Series. And he’s also the star of Geography Club, the book that started it all and that has now been adapted as a feature film co-starring Scott Bakula and Ana Gasteyer.

But now Russel is facing his biggest challenge yet: getting tested to find out if he has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Along the way, he recalls some of his own most important sexual experiences.


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Links to all major etailers here.

Read. Be happy. Be safe.

A Thousand Word Thursday Excerpt from Rie Warren

An excerpt from In His Sights to go with Thursday's picture

************* 

For a moment while we held each other, muscles still straining, hands still wandering, it felt intimate. That scared me more than anything this man could do to me with a gun. My body didn’t seem to give a fuck though. I was aroused again, or still, desperate for more.

Pulling his head back, Mayce gave me an arrogant all-over look. “You’re a hot fucking piece of tail.”

He planted another wild wet kiss on my lips, twisting fingers into my dreadlocked hair, holding me by my scalp. My hands chased down his chest to the warm wet spot on his camos.

Surrounded by our scent it was hard to focus, but I squeezed his testicles none too gently and said, “You’ll do, for a soldier.”

His laugh was breathless. His hands trailed down my body one last time before he separated from me. The air felt cool on my chest. I wondered if this was when he would kill me, or if he’d take me in for questioning. I could probably make a run for it. I should’ve thought of that while he was all sweet and horny and fucking against me.

His eyes shaded when his Data-Pak went off with a blaring sound, announcing a transmission. Tugging the handheld CO-communications device from his pocket, he cocked a finger at me. “Stay.”

Just to make sure, he leaned over to grab his gun, keeping it casually in his hand.

“Commander Cannon,” he spoke into the D-P. “No, sir.” Squinting at me, Mayce thrust my shirt into my hands.

So I’m to be detained and killed at a later date.

He holstered his weapon, rearranging his pants. I smirked when he swiped at the wet spot on the crotch. Listening to the D-P, he answered in a crisp voice, “Yes, sir. ASAP, I got it.”

The D-P pocketed, Mayce kept his gaze on me as he dressed with concise motions. The alarming sounds of the Revolution outside were drawing closer. Shots sounded, not too far from our little hole in the wall.

Mayce pondered me as he scratched across the smooth sexy skull-cut. He found my gun, my ammo, my blades, handing them to me one by one.

Finally he exhaled. “You better stay alive, Nomad.”

I nearly dropped my gear. “What?”

“You heard me.” His back stiffened before he took up a casual at-ease stance. “This isn’t advisable in any way what-so-fucking-ever, but I want to see you again. Same time, two days from now, here. If not here—if the place has been overrun or locked down—I’ll . . .” He tapped his boot on the floor and frowned. “I’ll locate you.”

Hell no, it wasn’t advisable. It was goddamn foolhardy, and I’d be a straight-up idiot to even consider a second run-in with Mayce, my enemy, just because he granted me mercy, then made me come so frigging hard I almost passed out.

“Is this a stay of execution?”

“Actually it was my first try at seduction.” He shot me a lopsided smile. “How’d I do?”

Shit. I tried not to grin. “Maybe don’t a shove a gun in my face next time?”

I turned to leave—knowing turning my back on this soldier was an asinine move—and he clasped my wrist. His breath traced along my neck. “You’ll come then? Next time?”

This was stupid. A death sentence. I couldn’t stop myself from responding. “I came the first time, didn’t I?”

His low chuckle followed me into the night.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Can two enemies overcome the battles within and the war without to find love? Or will the Revolution destroy their chance at happiness?

At the outset of the revolution against the oppressive Company regime, Hawke is a freedom fighter on a mission. Infiltrate Alpha Territory, kick some Corps ass, and stay alive. His plans unravel when he’s captured by the enemy on his first sortie. Prepared for death by the soldier sworn to kill him, all his training couldn’t have prepared him for what happens next.

A corporal in the Company’s military branch, Mayce is a hard-liner intent on ridding his city of the insurgent threat. Yet one look at the gorgeous Freelander named Hawke and years of yearning and unrealized desires change his course permanently. If discovered, he’ll be branded a traitor and a homosexual—and sentenced to death.

Mayce and Hawke act on their intense and immediate attraction. But amid the escalating revolution their dangerous trysts come at the risk of their own lives, as Hawke soon finds out.

LINKS:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21534286-in-his-sights

http://www.riewarren.com/books/in-his-sights/

Rie Warren

Erotic Romance…Heat, heart, and a hint of the dark

Author of Sugar Daddy, the Don’t Tell series, and Carolina Bad Boys

www.riewarren.com

A Picture is Worth...

Mmmm..... Rie Warren sent this picture in. Scuse me while I stare a while. Stay tuned for a hot little section from her new book, In His Sights, to go with that stubbly kiss.

Intrigued and want to play? See How Thousand Word Thursday Works for details.

Relativistic Phenomena by Kate Pavelle

Title: Relativistic Phenomena
Author: Kate Pavelle
Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at All Romance eBooks

Genre: contemporary
Length: 18500 words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print (hey, nice!)

Grounded by a hurricane, Tony passes time playing chess and flirting with “Ken,” a pierced punk kid. Restless, he needs to make the quantum physics symposium in New York, where making an impression on the reclusive Dr. Ikeda could mean a post-doc research position. What are the odds?

Nineteen-year old Dr. Kenichi Ikeda, alone out of Japan for the first time, gets hustled in a game of chess by the ingenious and handsome Tony. Coincidence and fate brings them together – but the reclusive prodigy is torn: should he hire Tony because of their undeniable mutual attraction, or despite it?


Review:

It’s always fun when the reader knows something the character doesn’t. Then the joy of the story is the attempt to steer the character—no, don’t go into the cellar while spooky music’s playing! Or – no! that's really not what it appears! And of course, the character does what he’s been put on the page to do, leaving the reader laughing, exclaiming, sometimes facepalming, but very involved in the story.


Kate Pavelle let Tony loose with all his preconceived notions, and let him walk into a metaphorical door or two. Fortunately his “injuries” are mild enough to recover from, but he’ll be a better scientist from here on, always checking his assumptions. He was a sweet guy, kind to a young man he perceived as a flighty nuisance, even if he was sexy and played some mean chess. Kenichi holds more cards, and isn’t exactly sure how to play his hand. The interplay between the two of them and the various mistakes Tony made was delightful to read. Including high-level science and its practical implications was a nice touch.

Kenichi as prodigy is a bit hard to swallow, but he's so adorable that I just set aside all the Doogie Houser thoughts and watched him go in social matters where he had no expertise.  

Where I hung up on this story—anything that inspires me to stop reading and start counting is a big bounce out. Tony’s insistence on thinking of Kenichi as a punk kid became both a repetitive issue and a character issue—if that’s the only way he thinks of Kenichi, it’s dull for the reader and makes Tony seem like a complete and total unredeemable jerk. Which he’s really not, but that’s the effect of finding “punk” in a novelette 30 times and yes I counted. By the third use I was tapping my fingers and by the 7th I was done with Tony—he’s not that much older than Kenichi and how the hell did he get off being so judgmental? Then I counted, redirected my wrath at the author for some lazy writing, and finished the story, which I almost didn’t do.

I’m glad I did, because even with the total stretch of “no CV for a noted scientist” to explain part of the mixup, it was a well written (with the exception of the one issue) and delightful read of mistaken identities and future happiness. Even with a 1 marble problem that didn’t need to be there, the story is still a 3.

Coming this week

Thanks for following along, guys. Last week we had  a book I loved, the Unwanted by Jeffrey Ricker, a nommy pic with a story behind it that someone ought to write on Thousand Word Thursday, and spotlights on two of The Real Story Safe Sex Project stories, Guiseppe and Me from Robin Reardon and A Matter of Trust from Jeff Erno.

The Safe Sex Project stories are free. The authors planned that and have given their words as a gift to readers.

HOWEVER. Only stories that are designated to be free are free. All you thieves who showed up hoping I had pirated copies of other stories should be ashamed of yourselves. You aren't welcome around here. I will never help you steal. And I know you showed up, what you were looking for,  and what your IP addresses are. How about I show up at your place and take a handful of whatever you're selling to make a living and walk off with it? It's just a handful, and it wants to be free anyhow.... Spare me your excuses. And honor the social contract of the author entertains you, you pay the author.

With that off my chest, I am happy to announce that this coming week will sport a review on Relativistic Phenomena by Kate Pavelle, a spotlight on Two Thousand Pounds Per Square Inch from Brent Hartinger, and a perfectly luscious picture for Thursday, supplied by Rie Warren. There's an excerpt from her new book, In His Sights, that goes with that, so we'll get an extra treat post on Friday. Guess what's moved to the top of my TBR pile!