Something About Harry

Healing #3

by Nicki Bennett, Ariel Tachna

Desperate for an edge in the war against the Gavenelians that will keep the Confederation from losing as many ships to the sadistic aliens as they destroy, Sasha Dmitrov contacts the space pirate he knows only as Harry, hoping the mysterious engineer will be able to pull off one more miracle. Having been warned of Harry's disdain for the Confederation, Sasha is prepared for Harry to tell him to jump out an airlock without a space suit. The last thing he expects is an invitation to Nicodemus Vector, Harry’s shielded planetoid. What Sasha discovers is an Andromedite empath who sees far too deeply into his soul. As they race against time for a breakthrough that will tip the scales in their favor, Sasha finds himself more and more attracted to the reclusive mercenary. But duty calls, and Sasha has a war to win before he can even think about returning to Harry’s side—assuming that either of them will risk opening himself to the other's empathic touch.

Genres: M M Romance, Science Fiction, Romance, Aliens, LGBT, Military Fiction, M M Science Fiction

95 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 26, 2011

About the author

Growing up in Chicago, Nicki Bennett spent every Saturday at the central library, losing herself in the world of books. A voracious reader, she eventually found it difficult to find enough of the kind of stories she liked to read and decided to start writing them herself.

Reviews

[Icedave · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars, too short for my taste.
Also I'd have liked to get a bit more detailed visuals (although other readers are probably happy that they are not that detailed )...

[D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sorry guys, I COULD NOT FINISH Hot Cargo! WTF was that? Self inflicted punishment? Oh HELL YEAH! Headdesk...Headdesk...Headdesk...Headdesk. *wipes blood*

Gawd, I was hopeing that this one was better than book 2...Me thinks me got a cuncussin...blbbalababaaa O.o

possible spoiler alert...

Harry (Andromedite, blue skin with tentacles and piscine features)…Empath, recluse, techno whisperer. Originally from Andromeda, he now lives (isolated himself) on Nicodemus Vector.

Sasha Dmitrov (Regulosian, albino humanoid)…current captain of the North Star battleship. He holds a rare secret. Something that Harry helps him with. But then again, that “help” turns into something completely different.

Peter Keller (usedstabe Captain of the North Star) and Blaise Risner, both human, are from book 2. They live on Petarus now. Keller got some serious burns from one of the battles with the Gavenelians. Blaise and Harry are best friends. Peter and Ryan are also good friends.

Juo-ta-dar-ri…Healer (a Petarian, has wings) and Ryan-also human, from book 1, also makes a cameo appearance.

Billy Royce…Lieutenant, chief engineer, geek, techno whisperer. lol

Gavenelians…the mega space bullies, vicious, sadistic SOB’s. They don’t make demands. No negotiations, no warnings. Attack, blow ‘em up, move along.

Having bits of wreckage from one of the Gavenelian previous ships, Harry becomes familiar with Gavenelian technology. But the North Star was still fighting a losing battle in this war. Confederation ships were being blown to bits with no survivors. Sasha is desperate for Harry’s help in the continued fight against the Gavenelians.

Sasha and Billy head off to Nicodemus Vector, with more ship parts and sensor data from a recent Gavenelian battle. The Galactic Command is not gonna be happy about that.

Harry and Billy Royce develop new shield modifications for the Confederation battleships that would hold them off long enough to get in there and kick some Gavenelian ass. The Gavenelians soon get their alien asses handed to them and withdraw from Confederation space…for now. A treaty is in place.

In the meantime, Harry teaches Sasha how to control his empathy. They’re both on the high end spectrum of being empaths.

“Harry didn't kiss like a Terran did, or even like a Regulosian, his mouth too different for that, but Sasha could feel, though their empathic bond, the pleasure the Andromedite derived from the contact of their mouths so he
continued the embrace, reveling in the way Harry's tentacles surrounded him, enfolded him, touched him seemingly everywhere at once.”

Tentacle sex! Oooo, every part of the body getting attention all at once. Shazaam!

…opening their minds and reading each other’s intentions brings out the deepest pleasures imaginable for them.

“He was surrounded, every erogenous zone on his body receiving some kind of attention, and it left him reeling, struggling to find some level of control,
but Harry would have none of it, exploiting every hint of a sensitive spot, probing and encircling and thrusting and squeezing until all Sasha could do was moan and gasp and come apart in his arms, his cock shooting ropy strands of spunk all over Harry's bare chest.”

Sasha wants to return the pleasure to Harry but…"Not to be crude, but we don't seem to have the same equipment."

"Andromedites evolved underwater," Harry reminded him. "It isn't exactly
safe to let your reproductive organs dangle freely where anything can get at them." Now that was funny! Bait! LOL

Sasha has a horrible time living with the bombardment of so many emotions from his crew. He resigns his post and goes back to Nicodemus Vector with the hope that Harry still wants him. Well, of course he does. ‘Sides, Harrys’ got a frickin waterbed! Hah! Right on, Harry! You ever scratched your love Jones on one of those before? It’s incredible!

Months pass for the two love birds. A vacation to see their friends on Petarus opens up a new future for them. Peter and Blaise are looking for someone to pilot the Stallion Transport. The end of the book has all six of them talking about the move to Petarus.

*washes dried blood from forehead* Damn, that hurt.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. I wish it had been longer. The last half was rushed, but it was an interesting read

[Heller]

I'm going to hold off my rating of this one. I tried to read this one as a standalone and that didn't work for me. It really needs more context than that so I need to read the first two in the series and give this one another shot.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ive loved this little series. Its been different. Nice little sci-fi s with some twists and a kick.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this story fascinating, for managing to evoke eroticism in scenes describing sex between a human and an alien who is only vaguely humanoid, with tentacles and other differences I wouldn't necessarily find "attractive" in real life. Yet somehow it works in the novel, and it becomes easy to understand Sasha's attraction to Harry. The story was interesting, but I would really have liked to see more of it -- more of the battle between the Confederation and the Gavenelians; more of Sasha's life on board his ship. It was all just touched upon and could have made for exciting reading. The writing was good and the characters well-defined. I haven't yet read the other two in the series, but I'm looking forward to them.

[Lexi Ander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this sci-fi story but I think I would have liked it much better with a little more description. I thought Harry was human and it isn’t until the second scene with Harry that you find out that he is humanoid with extra bits. There is not a clear description about what he looks like to help you visualize what the other characters see. This had me paging back and forth trying to piece details that were strewn through out together to try and figure out what Harry looked like. It effectively took me out of the story. Even when I decided to ignore the lack of information it still felt incomplete.

[Amy Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for sci-fi romance--this one was delightful, and quirky. I really enjoy this universe--Hot Cargo and Healing in His Wings were both fun, hot reads, and Something About Harry was the same. I've got to give it to this writing team: they don't shy away from hot alien sex, and their species are both fully imagined and, *blush* creatively endowed. I loved the rather shy romantic hiding behind Harry's crusty exterior, and Sascha's longing for someone, anyone, he can open up for honestly. Good, hot fun!

[Liz (Bugetta) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to see more of Harry and learn more about him and see him get his HEA with Sasha.

[DeeNeez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love good space military and alien stories. This was a fun, sweet read, tentacles and all! I'm only sorry we didn't get to see more actual space battles, conflict, near death scenarios to heighten the plot line more. But overall it was enjoyable.

[CB · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining, short read. I have not read the whole series and this one worked well as a stand-alone although the secondary characters obviously have their own stories to tell. It was intriguing enough, I will definitely be getting the whole series and re-reading this one with it. A fascinating sci-fi world with interesting MC's - what's not to love?

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the Gavenelians are back and decimating the good guys, when Captain Sasha, despite his orders, gathers up some space debris and convinces Blaise of Hot Cargo to put him in touch with Harry, the only person who's been able to make any sense of the Gavenlian technology. So off he goes with his version of Mr. Scott and as he watches Harry tinker he becomes more attracted, although he knows he's only there to get the info, so what is the point.

Hmm. Perhaps I'm specieist? I had trouble getting into the romance here because Harry is really different. He's from a water planet, has tentacles rather than arms (but I wasn't sure if they were on the end of arms, but it seemed to be all down the side of his body, he doesn't have a human mouth and his genitals are tucked up in a sack. Yes, I asked the question about alien romances with aliens that don't look like Dr. Spock and I got one and I found it hard to visualize maybe. When I read I "see" it in my head, and I just couldn't visualize this in a way that I found appealing.

Still, for those who want to give a less-humanoid alien a try it's fine. I liked Harry and his kind of crotchety attitude and that there is more to him than just being reclusive, but I didn't love it as much as the winged guys.

[Jimmy Hanson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short[ish] story to round out the 'Healing' trilogy from Nicki and Ariel, "Something About Harry" kind of lacked a bit of the depth given in the two previous novels. There was background but it was skimmed over, a hint of what could be or could happen or had happened without much follow-through.

Harry and Sasha were fun characters as well, as unique as the others from the Healing novels, though I found it harder to connect with them. Maybe it was the whole empathic thing, which wasn't explained very well, or maybe it was just ... you know ... the TENTACLES. o.@;;

Anyway, a neat little book-end to have, but probably not one I'd read again too terribly often.

[ElaineY]

I tried. I really tried to read this. I even got throu a couple of chapters. I even skimmed through the rest.

But in the end, the squick factor won out. I know I should expect anything when I pick up a sci-fi but I still wish there was some warning indication in the blurb that Harry has TENTACLES, not hands. I may be unrealistic but I do want my MCs to be humanoid, at least. I still enjoy sci-fi romance and this won't stop me but it definitely will make me not buy anymore sci-fi romance until I've read reviews.

[Ayanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tentacles. Tentacles. 'nuff said.



Okay, this was awk because I didn't really remember Ryan and Juo and I never bothered to read bk 2, so I was about half-way through the book before I realized why the name "Juo-ta-ri" or whatever his long name is sounded so familiar. Actually, I think it was towards the end when it said he arrived in a flurry of wings or something.

Still, it's not a bad read. The tentacles earned an extra star, though.

[Pamela Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

...And back to sweet. This series is giving me reader's whiplash!

I enjoyed this a lot. Of course, I would! Anyone who knows me knows that I love my tentacle stories.

Heck, it's even got one of my favorite romance themes: the nerd and jock. In space! Harry and Sasha were adorable.

It was nice to see the previous characters as well. The ending of the book was amusing, if a little ridiculous. Oh well.

[Lakeisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok the sex scenes FREAKED ME OUT!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA. Tried to picture what went where in my head, that was a mindfuck! However I still enjoyed their romance not too bad, but not on par with the first two. Tentacles lmao

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the cover photo, I wasn't expecting the story to be about an albino and a humanoid octopus, but somehow it worked. I don't know that I pictured the scenes where they were together correctly, but oh well. It was short and well-written.

[Clover · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good little scifi story with romantic tentacles !! But I still prefer Hot Cargo from the 3 books of this serie.

[Marsha Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read. Loved that Harry had his own story and to see what you think of him as a curmudgeon and turning that into his sensitivity and love. Excellently done!!

[Sair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with a bit of tentacle loving!

[Cj · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it. a good if short part of the series.