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Innerworld #3
Gallant
Cherry Cochran, a feisty Terran actress in Innerworld, witnesses the murder of an intergalactic trader. When Gallant Voyager, an agent for the Consociation, sees the victim speak his final words to Cherry, he kidnaps her "for her own protection."
Gallant needs his prisoner's cooperation to discover why the trader was permanently silenced. But he has no idea how much trouble he's brought aboard his ship. While tracking the killer to a distant galaxy, his verbal battles with Cherry turn physical as primitive passions burn away their differences.
Then Cherry discovers Gallant's truth: he is slave to the barbaric alien behind the murder, and there's a double-cross in the works.
With her own life in danger, Cherry faces a choice: put on the performance of her life to escape the captor she's come to love and warn the Consociation of impending invasion, or rely on a suspicious offer of help from one of the barbarians to save her lover.
Previously titled: Stardust Dreams
Gallant needs his prisoner's cooperation to discover why the trader was permanently silenced. But he has no idea how much trouble he's brought aboard his ship. While tracking the killer to a distant galaxy, his verbal battles with Cherry turn physical as primitive passions burn away their differences.
Then Cherry discovers Gallant's truth: he is slave to the barbaric alien behind the murder, and there's a double-cross in the works.
With her own life in danger, Cherry faces a choice: put on the performance of her life to escape the captor she's come to love and warn the Consociation of impending invasion, or rely on a suspicious offer of help from one of the barbarians to save her lover.
Previously titled: Stardust Dreams
344 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Marilyn Campbell
42 books28 followersMarilyn Campbell has been writing fiction novels, nonfiction works and screenplays for nearly twenty years. A true thrill-junkie, she has jumped out of an airplane, raced around the Indy 500 track, driven solo throughout the United States and believes a great roller coaster ride can cure whatever ails her. She resides happily in Massachusetts with her daughter Joie and their lovable four-legged companions, Sweetie and Milk-Dud.
All of my "old" paperback books are still available in unopened condition on my personal website (autographed if desired) but I am in the process of getting them all into e-book format.
www.marilyncampbell.com
All of my "old" paperback books are still available in unopened condition on my personal website (autographed if desired) but I am in the process of getting them all into e-book format.
www.marilyncampbell.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 27, 2017
I really enjoyed this book! It has adventure, sex, different planets and aliens.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Read
April 15, 2024The Smut Report team is participating in Wendy the Super Librarian's #TBRChallenge 2024. Our goal: to dust off our TBRs once a month and talk about the book we read.
Read our full TBR Challenge update at The Smut Report
This book is amazing.
Ok, I’ll admit there are some very cringe elements. Barbarianism is genetic, depending on what kind of alien you are (it’s the Vulcans and the Klingons all over again). There are two genders only, and their characteristics are immutable. There is a secondary character named Mar-Dot, who is a “he-she.” They are a single person with one female head and one male head and the male head is a sexist pig and the female head is a gentle confidante to our heroine. Gross.
But.
Our heroine, Cherry, is such a great character that I forgave Stardust Dreams a lot of nonsense. She is a Terran (ie, from Earth’s surface) who has lived in the interior colony for the past ten years, ever since a boating trip was interrupted by violent drug smugglers and they ended up in the Bermuda Triangle. Her souvenir from that particular incident is a robotic arm that she puts to good use throughout the story. She’s in her mid-thirties and has had plenty of sexual partners, about which there is absolutely no shame or stigma. She works as an actress doing immersive reenactments—that is, until she witnesses a murder and our hero must kidnap her for her own protection.
Our hero, by the way, is named Gallant Traveler. When he introduces himself, Cherry laughs and asks if Luke Skywalker was already taken. Yes, he does wear an eyepatch, and yes it is relevant to the plot, such as it is. I admit that the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but whatever! It’s a ridiculous adventure story so just strap in for the ride.
The romance here is fabulous. Cherry and Gallant have great chemistry—it’s the arguing overlying sexual tension type of chemistry, and Campbell strikes a good balance here of showing that they do like each other under the ribbing. The sex scenes aren’t extremely detailed, but they’re plenty explicit to be fun and develop the relationship. At the end of the day, I bought not only that they were establishing a solid partnership but that they just really actually liked spending time together.
This book is definitely not for everyone, but I had great fun reading it.
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Read our full TBR Challenge update at The Smut Report
This book is amazing.
Ok, I’ll admit there are some very cringe elements. Barbarianism is genetic, depending on what kind of alien you are (it’s the Vulcans and the Klingons all over again). There are two genders only, and their characteristics are immutable. There is a secondary character named Mar-Dot, who is a “he-she.” They are a single person with one female head and one male head and the male head is a sexist pig and the female head is a gentle confidante to our heroine. Gross.
But.
Our heroine, Cherry, is such a great character that I forgave Stardust Dreams a lot of nonsense. She is a Terran (ie, from Earth’s surface) who has lived in the interior colony for the past ten years, ever since a boating trip was interrupted by violent drug smugglers and they ended up in the Bermuda Triangle. Her souvenir from that particular incident is a robotic arm that she puts to good use throughout the story. She’s in her mid-thirties and has had plenty of sexual partners, about which there is absolutely no shame or stigma. She works as an actress doing immersive reenactments—that is, until she witnesses a murder and our hero must kidnap her for her own protection.
Our hero, by the way, is named Gallant Traveler. When he introduces himself, Cherry laughs and asks if Luke Skywalker was already taken. Yes, he does wear an eyepatch, and yes it is relevant to the plot, such as it is. I admit that the plot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but whatever! It’s a ridiculous adventure story so just strap in for the ride.
The romance here is fabulous. Cherry and Gallant have great chemistry—it’s the arguing overlying sexual tension type of chemistry, and Campbell strikes a good balance here of showing that they do like each other under the ribbing. The sex scenes aren’t extremely detailed, but they’re plenty explicit to be fun and develop the relationship. At the end of the day, I bought not only that they were establishing a solid partnership but that they just really actually liked spending time together.
This book is definitely not for everyone, but I had great fun reading it.
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December 14, 2016
I was given this book free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.
I loved this book. I've not been reading paranormal, fantasy romances for long so this is all new to me. I always read just romances but now I've got a Tate for fantasy paranormal I can't get enough!
Gallant is a brilliant character with so many layers he's great. Cherry sees an incident while playing her acting role which leads Gallant to take her as a "guest" until he can find out some information from the assassin she saw, she might be in danger with seeing it all play out and he can't risk that.
Cherry is a bubbly carefree character that didn't trust Gallant at the beginning but forms a friendship with his second in command on his ship.
Cherry isn't happy to find he's taken her and she's no longer in the innerworld but heading out of the galaxy on the trail of the assassin! No matter what Gallant tells her she doesn't believe him because she's caught him out a few times. She also needs to be back soon because she had an audition for a new acting role and her best friend and the only other true human she knows in the innerworld (they were together when they died and ended up there) that's due to have a baby soon.
Gallant promises to take her home but she notices she moving further away all the time.
All this time Gallant is trying to keep his barbaric instincts of having Cherry in check, he's never felt this way about anyone before and Cherry is wondering how she can feel anything for her captor although she does.
This book gripped me straight away and has so many twists and turns throwing you when you think you've worked out what's going on! I loved this book, it's a fast paced storyline with romance thrown into the mix keeping you hanging on right to the end, brilliant.
A great book with so many layers keeping you on your toes, you've got to concentrate or you'd miss some things, you can use your imagination which is great. I'd definitely recommend this book because the characters make you laugh and yet you want to shake them to, but parts of the book are more serious, this makes it such a great book. I'm going to have to read the rest of the series now and hope it's as good as this book.
I loved this book. I've not been reading paranormal, fantasy romances for long so this is all new to me. I always read just romances but now I've got a Tate for fantasy paranormal I can't get enough!
Gallant is a brilliant character with so many layers he's great. Cherry sees an incident while playing her acting role which leads Gallant to take her as a "guest" until he can find out some information from the assassin she saw, she might be in danger with seeing it all play out and he can't risk that.
Cherry is a bubbly carefree character that didn't trust Gallant at the beginning but forms a friendship with his second in command on his ship.
Cherry isn't happy to find he's taken her and she's no longer in the innerworld but heading out of the galaxy on the trail of the assassin! No matter what Gallant tells her she doesn't believe him because she's caught him out a few times. She also needs to be back soon because she had an audition for a new acting role and her best friend and the only other true human she knows in the innerworld (they were together when they died and ended up there) that's due to have a baby soon.
Gallant promises to take her home but she notices she moving further away all the time.
All this time Gallant is trying to keep his barbaric instincts of having Cherry in check, he's never felt this way about anyone before and Cherry is wondering how she can feel anything for her captor although she does.
This book gripped me straight away and has so many twists and turns throwing you when you think you've worked out what's going on! I loved this book, it's a fast paced storyline with romance thrown into the mix keeping you hanging on right to the end, brilliant.
A great book with so many layers keeping you on your toes, you've got to concentrate or you'd miss some things, you can use your imagination which is great. I'd definitely recommend this book because the characters make you laugh and yet you want to shake them to, but parts of the book are more serious, this makes it such a great book. I'm going to have to read the rest of the series now and hope it's as good as this book.
December 31, 2016
Interesting paranormal romance read. I received a copy from eBook Discovery and voluntarily review it.
Gallant is an agent following tracks of a witness that is murdered after he whispers his last words to Cherry, a cheerful actress who works for other´s fantasies come true. Under the excuse of protection, Gallant kidnaps Cherry, determined to pry out of her what the witness had told her. But Cherry does not trust him and is really annoyed to be taken out of the Innerworld at a time when she should prepare for a new role. Gallant also has to understand his own feelings for Cherry, since he never felt this way before…
Captivating story full of hilarious moments, romance and action, emotional and violent at the same time. The storyline was developing quickly, with many surprising twists. I also liked the characters, optimistic and jolly Cherry that could not figure out her feelings for Gallant and understand why she is attracted to him while she does not trust him at all and is annoyed at him; and a bit overprotective Gallant with rough manners and a soft spot for his "prisoner".
Despite the fact I have not read the previous books, I had no problems to keep up with the plot. Nice read.
Gallant is an agent following tracks of a witness that is murdered after he whispers his last words to Cherry, a cheerful actress who works for other´s fantasies come true. Under the excuse of protection, Gallant kidnaps Cherry, determined to pry out of her what the witness had told her. But Cherry does not trust him and is really annoyed to be taken out of the Innerworld at a time when she should prepare for a new role. Gallant also has to understand his own feelings for Cherry, since he never felt this way before…
Captivating story full of hilarious moments, romance and action, emotional and violent at the same time. The storyline was developing quickly, with many surprising twists. I also liked the characters, optimistic and jolly Cherry that could not figure out her feelings for Gallant and understand why she is attracted to him while she does not trust him at all and is annoyed at him; and a bit overprotective Gallant with rough manners and a soft spot for his "prisoner".
Despite the fact I have not read the previous books, I had no problems to keep up with the plot. Nice read.
April 14, 2013
synopsis:
cherry was an actor in the innerworld world. gallant was on the trail of a witness. when the being that gallant is tracking is killed, and gallant sees him speak his final word to cherry, gallant kidnaps her and takes her off planet for her own protection...and so that he can find out what the man said to her. as their travels take them deeper and deeper into space, with no return in sight, gallant and cherry get on each others nerves, and rev up their libidoes.
what i liked: the world building, and that even though there were previous books, i didn't need to read them to understand what was going on. i enjoyed seeing cherry and gallant battling it out, and that cherry didn't just roll over for gallant.
what i didn't like: there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of torture and betrayal.
cherry was an actor in the innerworld world. gallant was on the trail of a witness. when the being that gallant is tracking is killed, and gallant sees him speak his final word to cherry, gallant kidnaps her and takes her off planet for her own protection...and so that he can find out what the man said to her. as their travels take them deeper and deeper into space, with no return in sight, gallant and cherry get on each others nerves, and rev up their libidoes.
what i liked: the world building, and that even though there were previous books, i didn't need to read them to understand what was going on. i enjoyed seeing cherry and gallant battling it out, and that cherry didn't just roll over for gallant.
what i didn't like: there seemed to be an unnecessary amount of torture and betrayal.
January 25, 2014
First off, the girl on the cover looks familiar. Second off, the description of the H had me picturing at various times George Hambleton in Love at First Bite. Or a character out of Carpe Jugulum (Pratchett) Yeah - he sounded like a vampirate.
This was actually pretty entertaining. The h was not happy at being kidnapped, and the H (unlike those goody-two-shoes Noronians) was amazingly human, in an alien sort of way. Sparks flew regularly. The plot… well, a wild goose chase is a pretty good description. Heck, I've seen worse plots.
This was actually pretty entertaining. The h was not happy at being kidnapped, and the H (unlike those goody-two-shoes Noronians) was amazingly human, in an alien sort of way. Sparks flew regularly. The plot… well, a wild goose chase is a pretty good description. Heck, I've seen worse plots.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews