Elyrian Brides: Octavia: Book One Of The Elyrian Brides Series

Elyrian Brides #1

by Sunshine Taylor Reddick

Octavia Bryant is everything a well brought up young buppie woman from the Old Line State of Maryland is supposed to be. She is smart, classy, hardworking, respectful, independent, and waiting for a milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or cafe au lait colored Rhett Butler of her very own. Just as long as he's black she'll make her father proud. More than anything she wants love and a home and a family. The universe throws a wrench in her little buppie life after the men from Elyria arrive on Earth looking for wives. And they only have eyes for women of color. But Octavia isn't having any of them until six feet six inches of muscles covered in a sunset yellow skin named Kade Egon sees her and turns her life upside down. Kade Egon wants a wife and he has his heart set on Octavia from the moment he lays eyes on her. He wines her, dines her, and takes her on spaceship rides around the Milky Way. He promises her love, a home, family, and passion. How can she say no? Kade just seems too good to be true. There are still things he won't tell her about Elyria and himself. Octavia has been lied to before by smooth talking men who only wanted one thing. How can she be sure that Kade means all that he says? And what are Elyria's secrets? As her mother reminds her, the last time blacks got on a boat run by non-blacks they were enslaved. Can Octavia overcome her fears and leave her family and Earth behind to take a chance on love among the stars?

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2012

About the author

Sunshine Taylor Reddick is a wannabe sci-fi geek who exists just on the fringe of geekdom. I reside in Maryland in the city of Baltimore. I love telling non-fiction stories on the internet and in real life. The real life characters in my life are quite entertaining. So much so that they read my books to make sure they aren't in them.

I love telling fictional stories in literary form and I do my best to keep people I know out of them. Just don't make me angry. No telling what story I'll put you in or as what.

When I'm not buried in edits, writing a new story, or thinking up new ideas, I can be found tooling around the internet dispensing encouragement and espousing to having a crush on the leader of certain group of mechanical aliens made famous from a 80’s cartoon.

You've got your quirks and my crush is just one of mine.

Reviews

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

How surprised I was that I loved this book!!!! Sci-fi really not my thing but I do like IR romance so I wanted to see how the book would turn out. This is a modern story with references that allows the reader to connect to the world we live in and not have to imagine a world that is too far from our own. I like this. Not too many times can I connect with science fiction like this. Octavia Bryant (homage to Octavia Butler?) is a career minded Black woman living in D.C. who is becoming quite used to the tall, yellow hued giants from Elyria. The Elyrians have come to Earth to find wives and replenish their gene pool and they seem to gravitate towards Black women. The author addresses a serious social issues surrounding Black women: the lack of viable mates. Very subtle and clever device. Kade Egon is enamored of Octavia and will do almost anything to catch her notice and when he does, he's not above being high-handed and stubborn. Octavia tries to resist , mostly because of the ethnocentric father, but it is no use. Kade meets all of her expectations for a life partner except that he doesn't come with a chocolate coating... You will so thoroughly enjoy this book. Lots of surprises, laughs and a tad bit of danger.

[DivasoftheSerengeti_Lioness · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I read by this author, but it will not be the last. This was a wonderful read and the author has a very unique writing style. It is well written and makes you examine everyday life. The storyline is intriguing with the right balance of love, passion, conflict and humor. The character development is fantastic and you can find your self wrapped up in their emotions.

Kade and Octavia are a wonderful couple, both with passionate personalities and love of family. Kade comes into Octavia’s life when he witnesses her struggling when she is ill. Kade is a very strong character who has protective instincts that are literally out of this world. Octavia believes that she can take care of herself and does not need help from anyone. As the story progresses she comes to realize that this man will do anything for her. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and look forward to reading more from Sunshine Taylor Reddick. This is definitely a 5 star read and we highly recommend it.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't know how I would take his book. Having read paranormal I thought this would be similar but boy was I wrong. The aliens walking the earth thing, I didn't think would appeal to me, but once I got into it I really enjoyed it. This book was something different and refreshing, and also full of humor. Octavia and especially Athena was hilarious. The only negative I have is there were way too many references to black man this, brown man that, chocolate man here....it got a bit tiring after a while. I am though intrigued to continue on with this series.

[Mattie Ford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just What I Needed

I am a true romantic and sci-fi fan at heart. After about four weeks of searching I finally found a book to sooth my soul. As a proud African American female I am always on the lookout for good clean romantic sci-fi books about African Americans. Ms. Reddick truly hit the ball out of the park. This story was true to our culture, with just the right amount of fantasy and oh so sweet. I finished it in one day. You go girl:)

Miz Bluestocking

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story. I didn't like that the heroine was a grown woman hung up on what her dad had to say about her social life. I get why it was important to the storyline, but I hate that it kept coming up on like every other page. I probably will finish the series because it did have some interesting twists and turns.

[Julianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

While i liked this one ok, i didn't love it. Maybe it was because i was sick while reading it so just couldn't get as caught up as usual but it was just eh.