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Throwaway Mate
Aiden is the black sheep of his family. Of course, always being covered in grease hasn’t helped, but put anything mechanically broken into his hands and he can fix it. His cold-hearted parents have lived off his talent for years, but apparently, it wasn’t enough. They sell Aiden to slavers and plan to use the funds to buy themselves a life of high social standing within the city. Dumped on a refuse recycling planet along with other enslaved women and children, Aiden uses his talent to transform an ancient wreck of a cargo transport into their escape plan. His plan would have gone off without a hitch, if he hadn’t been shot in the escape. Bleeding, dying, Aiden locks himself into the cockpit of the ship the second help arrives and aids their landing, knowing that unlike the other slaves who have eager families to return to, he has no one. It’s just better if he fades away from this existence.Jaylon lost all hope of love years ago, when his intended killed herself on the morning of their wedding, rather than face him over her betrayal. Now, as a medic, he has no time to think of what could have been, until a hunk of metal posing as a ship literally falls from the sky. When Jaylon breaks down the cockpit door to the sight of a pale, skinny, yet breathtaking man, bleeding out on the floor, he has to wonder if fate has sent him a second chance at a future, or if it is just reopening an old wound and pouring salt onto it.
63 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2015
7 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Ellen Cross
20 books63 followersI am a mum of five boys, who lives at the beach in a little Northern NSW town in Australia.
I have been writing erotic and gay romance exclusively for EXtasy Books for the past ten months, and love it.
I have a passion for all genre's, particularly gay paranormal and sci-fi, and write within each. I especially love the underdog--the characters who think they are unworthy, or have been cast aside as being undeserving of love. They will not only find a home within my books, but find their happily ever after as well.
I have several books in the works, and hope to share the news of their impending releases in time as well.
I have been writing erotic and gay romance exclusively for EXtasy Books for the past ten months, and love it.
I have a passion for all genre's, particularly gay paranormal and sci-fi, and write within each. I especially love the underdog--the characters who think they are unworthy, or have been cast aside as being undeserving of love. They will not only find a home within my books, but find their happily ever after as well.
I have several books in the works, and hope to share the news of their impending releases in time as well.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 2, 2015
Aiden didn't understand why his parents hated him when he found out he was glad to be away from them. I'm always happy to read a good sci-fi romance and this is one. There was also what seemed to be a bit of magic happening especially when Aiden was claimed as mate in order to save his life. Aiden had to learn that he was loveable & loved. I also enjoyed seeing how Aiden interacted with machines, and wished I had the ability. Aiden's mate Jaylon is a medic and a kind and selfless kinda guy, who wound up with a mate he wasn't looking for. This was a great story, with quite a few twists and turns and mysteries that kept me glued to the pages.I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
August 22, 2017
This was a splendid novel and story. I enjoyed the main characters Jaylon and Aiden who have a special bond. I'm sorry the story didn't continue longer, I could have continued reading, a sign that the author wrote a good story. Well worth reading.
April 8, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. I give 5 stars to books that I like enough to reread and I know that I will reread this one. I love Ellen Cross's writing style and can become engrossed quickly. Aiden captures your interest right away, and his back story of loving siblings and abusive, unfeeling parents has you admiring his actions more than you would have if his youth had been spent happily. He is piloting a decrepit shuttle full of 36 children and 4 women that he is rescuing from slavery and it is crashing. Medic Jaylon Mason and his team are on hand to rescue the crash victims. Aiden and Jaylon are destined mates. Having grown up on sci-fi, I have no problem with people being technopaths or healing talents with implants for diagnostic abilities.
Through trials, discoveries and revelations Aiden and Jaylon become a team, Aiden finds his people and Tah Dah! HEA !!
Through trials, discoveries and revelations Aiden and Jaylon become a team, Aiden finds his people and Tah Dah! HEA !!
July 2, 2016
This was an interesting short story. The world it set up was interesting; characters have various talents that are both natural and mechanically enhanced. We don't see a lot of conversations and interaction between the leads, but we are told a lot of the "getting to know you" is happening off-page. It's convenient for the brevity of the story, but I found myself wishing we got to see more interaction and conversation between the leads. Overall, I would read more books set in the universe.
July 25, 2016
Aiden is shot while escaping with a precious cargo and expects to die. Jaylor is not ready to accept that and starts a mating bond with Aiden to save him. Jaylor leaves his current life to join Aiden on his people's ship. There they finish the mating process so they spend the rest of their lives together. I really like this author's writing style and couldn't put the book down until I finished it.
April 13, 2015
Well, this was interesting. I can't tell if this is a standalone or a start to a new series. I think with sci-fi especially, it requires a lot of world building and explanation, and I wish there had been more of that for this story.
May 2, 2015
I'd love to see a sequel to this one
May 4, 2015
Throwaway Mate
This was great I hope there's more to come of this book .. I can't wait if there is I will be looking for it..
This was great I hope there's more to come of this book .. I can't wait if there is I will be looking for it..
May 6, 2017
I really wish it was a full lenght novel but I enjoyed the story anyway.
January 26, 2018
Interesting ideas, species, and settings. It could have used a good proofread, but was still entertaining.
Favorite Quote:
"I don't think fate wrote an instruction manual for a situation like this."
Favorite Quote:
"I don't think fate wrote an instruction manual for a situation like this."
January 10, 2018
3,5* updated because I would love to read more...
January 16, 2017
Much, much too fast coverage of a slave who saves the day, and the healing mate who attempts to save the slave
Some of the character and setting concepts explored in this novella were tremendously intriguing, a rather novel and enticing mixture of mostly science fiction with some fantasy/paranormal aspects. However, the narrative was at times very thin and rather mediocre, often whipping through tantalizing ideas too quickly, cramming a treasure trove of character history and development into a brief "tell" rather than an artful "show."
Unfortunately, the heat at the end was a bit anticlimactic and disappointing for me. Usually when the narrative, story development and/or relationship building is shortened, it's in service for plenty of sizzle. The physical connection was nice but not too torrid, leaving me with mostly a feeling of what could have been.
Still, some of the ideas were so enticing, I'm likely to read more from this author to see if other works have a better exploration of story and/or heat for my tastes.
Some of the character and setting concepts explored in this novella were tremendously intriguing, a rather novel and enticing mixture of mostly science fiction with some fantasy/paranormal aspects. However, the narrative was at times very thin and rather mediocre, often whipping through tantalizing ideas too quickly, cramming a treasure trove of character history and development into a brief "tell" rather than an artful "show."
Unfortunately, the heat at the end was a bit anticlimactic and disappointing for me. Usually when the narrative, story development and/or relationship building is shortened, it's in service for plenty of sizzle. The physical connection was nice but not too torrid, leaving me with mostly a feeling of what could have been.
Still, some of the ideas were so enticing, I'm likely to read more from this author to see if other works have a better exploration of story and/or heat for my tastes.
May 7, 2015
3 heart review by Tara
Aiden has had a terrible go of life so far. In his family his sister and brother are treated with love while he is abused for reasons he doesn’t understand. But his talent for fixing anything mechanical that is broken has kept him alive so far has now run out. His abusive father and cold-hearted mother have sold him to be a slave on a refuse recycling planet where his talent as a mechanic is paid highly for. They use the money to pay for a higher living status and Aiden is sent away. Nine months later Aiden is escaping on a ship he found buried in the refuse of the planet. He along with thirty-six children and four women from his salvage crew our on their way to safety and he would’ve been too had he not been dealt a fatal blow before he could escape. His last thoughts as they are saved are at least he kept his promise and the women and children will have a good life especially with the repaired salvaged equipment to sell on board. Jaylon is the medic called in to evaluate the refugees and when a young girl mentions that the pilot had yet to leave, he breaks into the cockpit to find Aiden bleeding and is struck by the need to make Aiden his especially since Aiden is so ready to die. Jaylon has his own past to get over and the memory of his first bonded choosing to kill herself instead of living with her betrayal has haunted him for the past five years. But fate has a way of stepping in and making things right.
This was a very cute but too short read. I did like the whole sci-fi feel to the story. That was very unique and spoke to my inner geek. Aiden of course you immediately feel sorry for. You kind of figure out right away that something rotten was going on with the family situation. The parents were truly evil and to sell someone into slavery just to make money was ridiculous. Aiden though was very sweet and it was sad to know he had to live every day being abused without anyone to help him. But in the end the blessing was for him to be sold because it led him to finding out about his true self. Jaylon was a good man. As a healer he was tested because due to Aiden’s talent for machinery he was almost able to die. But of course like the good man he was he bonded himself to Aiden in order to save his life. I think what I missed for me was a bit more fleshing out of the story. I would have liked more of a background story of the galaxy they were living in because a lot of the time I got lost on what each species was. You pretty much got thrown in a readymade world without any way of knowing how you got there. That may not bother some people but for me I love the buildup and I missed the buildup to Aiden and Jaylons relationship. Everything happened within a span of two weeks and most of the time was glossed over until boom they are bonded, they are happy, Aiden is healthy, and they get some revenge in the process. All in all it was a very cute story but I would have liked to have a bit more added into it to give it some depth.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Please visit www.lovebytesreviews.com to see this and many more reviews, author interviews, guestposts and giveaways!
Aiden has had a terrible go of life so far. In his family his sister and brother are treated with love while he is abused for reasons he doesn’t understand. But his talent for fixing anything mechanical that is broken has kept him alive so far has now run out. His abusive father and cold-hearted mother have sold him to be a slave on a refuse recycling planet where his talent as a mechanic is paid highly for. They use the money to pay for a higher living status and Aiden is sent away. Nine months later Aiden is escaping on a ship he found buried in the refuse of the planet. He along with thirty-six children and four women from his salvage crew our on their way to safety and he would’ve been too had he not been dealt a fatal blow before he could escape. His last thoughts as they are saved are at least he kept his promise and the women and children will have a good life especially with the repaired salvaged equipment to sell on board. Jaylon is the medic called in to evaluate the refugees and when a young girl mentions that the pilot had yet to leave, he breaks into the cockpit to find Aiden bleeding and is struck by the need to make Aiden his especially since Aiden is so ready to die. Jaylon has his own past to get over and the memory of his first bonded choosing to kill herself instead of living with her betrayal has haunted him for the past five years. But fate has a way of stepping in and making things right.
This was a very cute but too short read. I did like the whole sci-fi feel to the story. That was very unique and spoke to my inner geek. Aiden of course you immediately feel sorry for. You kind of figure out right away that something rotten was going on with the family situation. The parents were truly evil and to sell someone into slavery just to make money was ridiculous. Aiden though was very sweet and it was sad to know he had to live every day being abused without anyone to help him. But in the end the blessing was for him to be sold because it led him to finding out about his true self. Jaylon was a good man. As a healer he was tested because due to Aiden’s talent for machinery he was almost able to die. But of course like the good man he was he bonded himself to Aiden in order to save his life. I think what I missed for me was a bit more fleshing out of the story. I would have liked more of a background story of the galaxy they were living in because a lot of the time I got lost on what each species was. You pretty much got thrown in a readymade world without any way of knowing how you got there. That may not bother some people but for me I love the buildup and I missed the buildup to Aiden and Jaylons relationship. Everything happened within a span of two weeks and most of the time was glossed over until boom they are bonded, they are happy, Aiden is healthy, and they get some revenge in the process. All in all it was a very cute story but I would have liked to have a bit more added into it to give it some depth.
A copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Please visit www.lovebytesreviews.com to see this and many more reviews, author interviews, guestposts and giveaways!
June 20, 2015
Reviewed for The Novel Approach.
I had high hopes for this story because the blurb sounded fantastic, but in the end, it was just too much packed into too short a space.
The author has a good idea: Aiden is treated terribly by his family, and when they need money, they sell him off to slavers. Aiden manages to save other slaves but endangers his life to do so. A healer named Jaylon is there when he crash lands and has to fight Aiden in order to save him from himself. In order to do that, he needs to mate with him. There are a lot of twists revealed, and several different alien species with complex societies that I wanted to know more about, but it really needed more space to fully flesh them out. Sixty-three pages just wasn’t enough.
I liked Jaylon and Aiden. Their unique abilities make them a good pair. Once Aiden is rescued, the truth of his origin is revealed, and everything moves too quickly. A hidden species is very quickly found and brought into play, even though they’re supposed to be secretive and nearly extinct. And did Aiden’s captors ever come back? They seemed to give up so quickly.
I should also mention that the title is actually pretty clever. While it at first appears that Aiden is the throwaway mate, it could actually go both ways if you take into consideration Jaylon’s previous circumstances.
There is a lot of telling rather than showing in this novel, and quite a bit of info dumping. If this were rewritten as a full novel, however, I think that would take care of those problems. A strong edit would also help tighten everything.
I had high hopes for this story because the blurb sounded fantastic, but in the end, it was just too much packed into too short a space.
The author has a good idea: Aiden is treated terribly by his family, and when they need money, they sell him off to slavers. Aiden manages to save other slaves but endangers his life to do so. A healer named Jaylon is there when he crash lands and has to fight Aiden in order to save him from himself. In order to do that, he needs to mate with him. There are a lot of twists revealed, and several different alien species with complex societies that I wanted to know more about, but it really needed more space to fully flesh them out. Sixty-three pages just wasn’t enough.
I liked Jaylon and Aiden. Their unique abilities make them a good pair. Once Aiden is rescued, the truth of his origin is revealed, and everything moves too quickly. A hidden species is very quickly found and brought into play, even though they’re supposed to be secretive and nearly extinct. And did Aiden’s captors ever come back? They seemed to give up so quickly.
I should also mention that the title is actually pretty clever. While it at first appears that Aiden is the throwaway mate, it could actually go both ways if you take into consideration Jaylon’s previous circumstances.
There is a lot of telling rather than showing in this novel, and quite a bit of info dumping. If this were rewritten as a full novel, however, I think that would take care of those problems. A strong edit would also help tighten everything.
July 7, 2015
I never enjoy when the smaller MC goes through a huge change in growth, still it was well done.
April 9, 2015
1.5 stars - A disappointing read in serious need of fleshing out and editing.
February 16, 2016
1.5 stars
May 28, 2015
Good
Great story. Will look into getting more books by Ellen Cross. Liked story and characters. Thank you for really good story.
Great story. Will look into getting more books by Ellen Cross. Liked story and characters. Thank you for really good story.
June 30, 2015
The book was interesting. It was like someone telling a story but not really getting into the lives of the 2 main characters. It could have been way longer than what it was but what can you do.
October 25, 2015
It was enjoyable but I wish it was longer. I felt like everything happened incredibly fast. I didn't like how the epilogue portrayed Aiden.
May 30, 2016
it could have been so good
April 6, 2015
A cut Sci-Fi short story with interesting characters.
June 5, 2015
Great start for a sci-fi m/m series. I'd love to read the next one.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews