Saturday, January 8, 2011

What I Read Last Week

I’m doing something here I’ve NEVER done before: comment about a book I’ve read. It’s not easy for me to tell you WHY I like the books I do – I just do. Maybe it’s the characters – or the relationships – that capture my attention. I’m a sucker for romance, yet for years I read nothing but Dean Koontz and Stephen King. I’m glad I finally branched out, though, or I may never have started writing (and missing out on the joy in my life)!

Anyway, this year I thought I would try and mention some of the books I’ve read this year. Books from authors you might not have heard about. Authors that belong to my RWA chapter, for example! It’s the least I can do for my chapter-mates.

I just finished reading “Beyond the Rain” by Jess Granger. It’s a sci-fi/futuristic romance novel. Normally I don’t read sci-fi. I like watching it on TV and in the movies because I don’t have to pronounce the names, they’re spoken, not spelled. But the romance hooked me, and Jess belongs to my Cincinnati chapter, so I decided to give her a try (the fact the book was in print was a plus, since it’s the only way I was able to read it as I don’t own an e-reader – but it is available as an e-book).

The blurb on the back of the book says (and isn't the cover pretty?):

After five years behind enemy lines, Captain Cyani is ready to retire to her home world of Azra as one of the Elite – the celibate warrior sisterhood that rules the planet. But first she must complete one final mission to rescue her fellow Union soldiers. The last thing she expects to find is a prisoner, chained and beaten – but radiating feral power and maintaining an unbroken spirit…

Soren is one of the Byralen, an enigmatic people who possess a unique hormone that they use to bond with their mates – and that is sold as a sexual narcotic in the shadow trade. For years, he has endured torture at the hands of his captors as they leeched his very essence. The last thing he expects is to be freed from slavery by a beautiful warrior woman with radiant blue dyes.

Driven by her rigid sense of honor, Cyani risks her life to free Soren. But after so many years of slavery, his hormones are so unbalanced that he will die if he does not bond with a woman. Can Cyani be the woman he needs to survive, or will this forbidden bond destroy them?

I really enjoyed the book. Even the strange alien names weren’t too hard to figure out how to pronounce. The worlds were explained through dialogue since the two main characters came from different planets, making it easy for me to follow. But it was the romance and characters that really sucked me in. All in all it was a great read for me. If I didn’t limit myself to 1 hour a day (and the 20 minutes at the gym while walking on the treadmill), I’d have inhaled it. But I gotta write, too, thus the limits.

I liked it so much, I’ve already added the next book, “Beyond the Shadows” to my wish list at Barnes & Noble. I look forward to reading more of her work. I suggest you give her a try.

4 comments:

The Viking Princess said...

Thanks for the info. I don't usually read sci-fi/futuristic romance either but I just put one on my TRL list. It's titled Ravished by a Viking by Delilah Devlin. I love to read good Viking romance novels so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a good one.

Mary Beth Engle said...

I don't usually read the Sci-Fi romances much either, but I'll have to give it a look see.

On another note, I'm not sure about Nook or the other e-readers, but Amazaon.com offers a free download program for the Kindle format e-books. You can get it for PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android phones, and something else I can't remember. I know the PC program is easily downloaded and installed and it makes it easy to download the e-books from the Kindle store. Amazingly enough they have a huge assortment of free e-books available in addition to regularly priced ones.

Stacy McKitrick said...

Mary - I understand you can get download books to your computer, but I won't go that route, either. I read at work during my lunch hour. I'm not about to carry my laptop around and try and read off that (which is not my idea of a good time, let me tell you!). I'll stick to the paper books.

Mary Beth Engle said...

Oh I much much prefer printed books, but I have a lot of writer friends who have stuff that isn't available in print yet so it was nice to learn that I can get their stuff without having to buy an expensive e-reader that I wouldn't use otherwise.

Another thing I learned recently it's nice for... my son likes to hook his computer up the their LCD tv and my daughter-in-law downloads the free kids books and is using it as a teaching screen to help my granddaughter learn to read.