Babylon: The Rebel's Woman

Clone Wars #1

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

It was a simple thing that shouldn’t have turned her simple world on its axis, pitching her into danger, abject terror, and the arms of a man that stole her breath, her heart, and totally blew her mind.

Lena thought her world had turned on its axis when she met the sexiest man she'd ever seen in her life. But she discovered that was only the benign tip of the iceberg. Dax was neck deep in the rebel plot to expose a horrifying government conspiracy. Had the handsome stranger with overwhelming sex appeal saved her because she’d helped him escape? Or did he have other plans for her now that he had her all to himself?

And was it something hot that was going to blow her mind or just blow her away?

This title was previously published as "Armageddon"

Genre: Futuristic/Interracial Romance
Words: 61,050
Rating: Spicy - Oral/Cunilingus
Warning: Really hot dry humping scene in top bunk of a prison cell with other prisoners below.

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Futuristic, Erotica, Science Fiction Romance, Paranormal, Dystopia

ebook

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Stats:
■Kaitlyn has written and completed nearly 140 intellectual properties under several pen names in different genres.
■She has written over 8,000,000 (yes, more than 8 million!) words in published works.
■She has nearly 50 partials in various genres in various stages of completion. :0
■In 2004 she wrote 27 different stories which, together, amounted to nearly a million ‘printed’ words.
■However her most productive year was 2009 when she completed 17 projects totaling well over a million words.
■Second runner up was 2007 when she completed 14 projects at just over a million.
■The year 2008 was a close tie to 2004 in number of words written.
■Her least productive year was 2011. Sorry!
■At 500 to 750 words per hour, the 8+ million written words constitute 10,666 to 16,000 hours, or 20 to 34 hours per week, devoted to Kaitlyn fans over the past 9 years!
■One title had over half a million copies pirated. She decided not to count anymore.

Kaitlyn O’Connor’s Bibliography

Liar’s Poker—romantic suspense; 1993; 93k

Lord of Chaos—historical suspense; 1993; pen name Goldie McBride; 98k

Moonlight Surrender—historical; 1993; 100k

Bond Unbroken—romantic suspense; 1993; 98k

* * * *

Bride of Atlantis—paranormal; published NCP March 2003; pen name Marie Morin; 47k (overall light/humorous)

Sexphiles: Haunting Melody—paranormal/erotica; published NCP Jan-Mar 2003; pen name Kimberly Zant; novella (overall light/humorous)

Four Play—erotica; published NCP Apr-June 2003;pen name Kimberly Zant; 9k

The Lion’s Woman—science fiction; published NCP Apr-June 2003; pen name Kaitlyn O’Connor; 58k (drama)

Thief of Hearts— erotica; published NCP April 2003;pen name Kimberly Zant; 6k

Thief of Hearts: The Return— erotica; published NCP May 2003;pen name Kimberly Zant; 6k

The Claiming—science fiction; published NCP Apr-June 2003; pen name Kaitlyn O’Connor; (drama)

The Assassin’s Blade—science fiction; published NCP July-Sept 2003;pen name Lyssa Hart (drama)

Blood Moon—paranormal/fantasy; published NCP July-Sept 2003;pen name Sylvia Kincaid; 59k(drama)

Doctor, Lawyer … Police Chief—erotica; published NCP July-Sept 2003; pen name Kimberly Zant; 9k

Neptune’s Daughter—paranormal; published NCP July-Sept 2003; pen name Marie Morin; 35k (overall light/humorous)

SexPhiles: The Howling—paranormal/erotica; published NCP July-Sept 2003; pen name (overall light/some humor)

Yar & the Orgasmizer9000—Science Fiction; published NCP July-Sept 2003; pen name Marie Morin; 23k (overall light/humorous)

Below—science fiction; published NCP Oct-Dec 2003; pen name Kaitlyn O’Connor; novel(drama)50k

fantasy; published NCP Oct-Dec 2003; co-authored ; (overall light/humorous)

The Prey—erotic suspense; published NCP Oct-Dec 2003; pen name Kimberly Zant; 33k(dark)

science fiction; published NCP Oct-Dec 2003; co-authored 41k (overall light/humorous)

* * * *

The Djinn—paranormal; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; pen name Marie Morin; 29k(overall light/humorous)

The Fairy Ring—fantasy; published NCP Mar 2004; pen name Catherine Paige; 42k (overall light/humorous)

urban fantasy; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; co-authored ; 29k(drama)

Goldilocks—erotica; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; pen name Kimberly Zant; 8k (overall light/humorous)

Guardian of the Storm—science fiction; published NCP Jan 2004; pen name Kaitlyn O’Connor; 61k (overall light/humorous)

The Invitation—erotic romance; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; pen name Kimberly Zant; 9k(drama)

Maiden of Atlantis—paranormal; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; pen name Marie Morin; 40k(drama)

Noccio—science fiction; published NCP Feb 2004; pen name Veronica Chase; 9k (overall light/humorous)

science fiction; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; co-authored 51k(drama)

The Shaman—erotic suspense; published NCP Jan-Mar 2004; pen name Kimberly Zant; 32k(drama)

Thief of Hearts: Stolen—erotica; published NCP Jan-Mar 200

Reviews

[Julie (jjmachshev) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Armageddon" is Kaitlyn O'Connor's first book in her 'Clone Wars' series and I loved the book, but hated that now I will be sucked into buying all the rest of the 'Clone Wars' books! There's just something about her writing, even when it's cliched, that works for me and I don't think I've read any of her erotic stories that I didn't like.

Lena was orphaned and then adopted by a kindly old geezer who spent his time ranting about government conspiracies so when her latest visit to her 'father' results in her seeing a totally changed man, she's sure she must be going nuts. But when she kills the clone sent to replace her, she suddenly finds herself in a secret prison fighting for her life. When another prisoner helps her escape, all she wants is to go back to her calm life...and it doesn't take much time for her to realize that's not only not possible, it's downright murderous.

Dax has been a leader of the rebellion for quite a while. When he leads the mission to rescue Lena, he's unprepared for the way she makes him feel. He's confused too...because he's not totally convinced that the Lena he rescued isn't a clone sent to gather information on rebellion activities. But how can Lena 'prove' she's really Lena?

Sounds crazy, but read like an action-packed dream. O'Connor fans will do a happy dance that she's started another series to feed our addiction.

WARNING: Contains scenes of multiple partners, sharing, and sexual acts described in frank language.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sci fi element was confusing. It was hard to figure out what was going on. There was very little attempt to describe physical places and stuff so the world building was vague. Example: she's in this city, she has lunch with her brother, she gets captured immediately after than then gets put in prison then rescued. The rescuer takes her on a 2 week space ship ride to a place called the 'home base' where her brother is. HUH? No indication at all that the brother has left what I assume is Earth and gone to this other place. In fact, there was a scene of him and a clone going through some office where I think the brother works right before this. It made no sense at all. The plot and stuff made no sense. The major bad guys were mention at the end like oh it was definitely Bob when we'd seen hide nor hair of Bod at any other time. It was like getting to the end of Wrath of Kahn and finding out the bad guy was Darth Vader. Huh?

The relationship was pretty lame too. There was not a lot of development here. Just some thinking about each other some scenes where they fight each other then they go to bed. Just nothing real convincing or particularly interesting.

All in all not impressed.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm jumping all over this author's series, reading the books as I get them. This books takes place way before The Portal and I think even before The Ninth Orb. It may be very close to before When Dawn Breaks I think.

I've read something around 6 of her books already and I am so impressed with her writing. Each book is so different. This one is very dark and a little heart breaking when Lena's "father" is substituted for a clone. She comes home and finds one waiting to replace her. Now she has to prove she's the original Lena and no one believes her. She's trying to be strong but a horrible early childhood that she's tried to forget comes roaring back when she feels like there's nowhere to run or hide. Dax is her "father's" real son who tries to fight his attraction to her by being especially cruel. I cried over one scene where she feels so much hurt and terror.

A lot of this author's books are erotica, but this one seemed just a normal futuristic/sci-fi romance. I would totally recommend this author's books. I've liked every single one.

[The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears · Rating 2 out of 5]

After turning the last page of this book, I'm still wondering what I was reading--a sci-fi romance, a social critique or perhaps both. Even though New Concepts Publishing markets this title under its interracial Harmony line. I just kept wondering if the author had some personal issues with interracial relationships because there were parts of the book in which it seemed she had no idea if she was for them or against them. I really couldn't say if race was the plot because it seemed to get mixed-up with everything else this novel was trying to be.

The premise definitely had potential and had this been a longer book might have gone some interesting directions. Set in a dystopian future where cataclysmic natural disasters have disrupted normal life for the remaining inhabitants, there's social unrest in the streets and the corporations are running everything (oh wait, that doesn't sound so futuristic to me...) Within this milieu, scientists have unlocked the secrets of genetic manipulation and can now eliminate diseases and other disorders. They also can for those who have the means to pay for such things, alter one's body shape, size, hair and/or eye colour. Once this technology is available to all, thoughts of discontent become whispers until rumors begin to circulate that the government is replacing people with clones.

Into this setting comes the heroine, Lena Silverstone, who is described as a "purebred neg", meaning that she's black (don't let the blue eyes and genetically-altered long hair on the cover fool you). On her way to visit her guardian Morris, an old codger who lives on the not-so-shady side of a city divided by race, she's nearly attacked by street toughs and is rescued by a tall, blonde, brooding but impossibly good-looking man who doesn't seem to think much of damsels in distress.

Morris, a "purebred cauc" is unbeknownst to Lena part of a rebel movement that knows the government is replacing people with clones. Taking one look at Lena's altered hair, he expresses dismay that she allowed scientists to tamper with her genes. Lena's answer that her straight flowing locks are easier to maintain lets us know that even in the future, black women will still have good hair/bad hair issues and want to toss their tresses back a la Farrah Fawcett. Morris also observes that Lena couldn't seem to stop staring at the scowling stranger who saved her and remonstrates with her saying, "You promised me you'd give me some beautiful neg grandbabies to dandle on my knee..."

One of just many lines in this book that made me go "excuse me?"

Now for our hero--the differences between Dax and a Neanderthal are almost nonexistent. There's alpha males, then there's alpha males who need a good spanking (guess which one this guy is). Most of the book is spent with Dax scowling, glowering or just generally being pissed off about something. He was worse than one-dimensional. He wants Lena, then doesn't want Lena, thinks she's actually human, thinks she's a really good clone and basically just wants to have sex with her or kill her or both. The "f" word pops up in his vocabulary a lot, sort of the way we use "like"--as a noun, a verb, an adjective and interestingly enough in Dax's case--an endearment.

This guy is definitely not the flowers and candy type, although I will give kudos to the cover artist because long-haired, scruffy men are one of my weaknesses.

I like my heroines to be aggressive, take charge types and Lena wasn't even close. As I waded through several pages of graphically-described torture scenes including a near gang rape and Dax once again coming to Lena's rescue by faking a sexual encounter (which makes Dax wonder if he's starting to fall for Lena), normally a strong and savvy heroine gains some sort of backbone and starts kicking tail. Not here. Most of the time Lena's either painfully self-pitying or screwing the strong but silent Dax or bemoaning the fact that she's screwing the strong and silent Dax who obviously wants her, but is also willing to kill her if she can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's fully human and not a clone. She's the typical damsel in distress who can't seem to tie her own shoes without Dax telling her to.

If there was any "romance" between Lena and Dax, it might have been at the end of the book for most of it was spent with Dax not trusting Lena, believing that she's actually a clone - even though she'd pretty much jumped through hoops to establish her identity.

The biggest problem with this book was that for such weighty subject matter, the author didn't simply balance the sci-fi and the romance equally. At times it seemed the romance was tossed in just for kicks. It was far too short and ended too abruptly. Dax and Lena make nice and everything's okay.

Oh Octavia, where are you when we need you the most?

[Brutally Honest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty typical for a KO'C. The reason it's cut down to 3 stars instead of 4 is because I actually skipped a whole bunch of scenes in the beginning 50% of the book because of boredom.

One thing I noticed is that Kaitlyn must have a very strange sex life. In NONE of her sex scenes do her characters remember for certain whether the other participant enjoyed themselves.... they call the event "hazy" and never remember any details. Then there's the fact that every single time, the hero has to "work" his cock inside of the heroine in multiple lunges, and the heroine always is struggling out of clothing in a very frantic and panicky way, and there's always some hitting of cervixes and other this-should-be-uncomfortable-but-somehow-isn't type things...

[Yvonne Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. The plot, the character development, the sex, the action, and the romance between the hero and heroine was dynamite.

[Avi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, it was definitely my cup of tea. The characters each had their moments of pissing me off and charming me. Its worth a read especially if you're bored.

[Emotonal Reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't crazy about this book, this heroine, if I'm not mistaken was suppose to be black or mixed, her was more coarse but she changed everything about her self that showed she had any black in her.
What exactly was this author trying to convey?

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not that great a story. It was interesting and kept me reading, but far from the best thing this author has done.

[Susan Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this series

[Simone · Rating 1 out of 5]

:P

[Nessa]

DNF

THIS WAS TERRIBLY SLOW AND LONGWINDED...AND THE CHARACTERS JUST DIDNT HAVE THE KIND OF CONNECTION I PREFER.