He may be the last of a species whose sexual talents were the envy of the galaxy
"I found him in the slave market on Orpheseus Prime, and even on such a god-forsaken planet as that one, their treatment of him seemed extreme."
Cat is an enslaved warrior from a race with a feline gene that gives him awesome beauty, fearsome strength, and sensuality and sexual prowess unmatched by any other males in the universe. Even filthy, chained, and beaten, he gives off an aura of power and virility and his feline gene gives him a special aura.
Jacinth is an intergalactic trader on a rescue mission and she needs a man she can trust with her life.
She has spent years pursuing her kidnapped sister from planet to planet. Now her quest leads her to a place where all the women are slaves. "Jack" needs a slave of her own-one who can masquerade as her master.
Enmeshed in a tangle of deception, lust, and love, they must elude a race of violent killers and together forge a bond stronger than any chains. The first book in wildly popular Cat Star Chronicles, a paranormal romance series featuring heroes with a feline gene that gives them remarkable sexual powers.
Cheryl Brooks is a former critical care nurse turned romance writer. Her Cat Star Chronicles series includes Slave, Warrior, Rogue, Outcast, Fugitive, Hero, Virgin, Stud, Wildcat, and Rebel. Her Cowboy Heaven series includes the Cowboy Delight novella and the Cowboy Heaven novel. Her self-published works include Sex Love and a Purple Bikini, Midnight in Reno, and the Unlikely Lovers series, which includes Unbridled, Uninhibited, Undeniable, and Unrivaled. As a member of the Sextet, she has also published several erotic novellas with Siren/Bookstrand. She is a member of RWA and IRWA and lives with her husband, two sons, two horses, four cats, and one dog in rural Indiana. You can visit her online at https://www.cherylbrooksonline.com/ or email her at cheryl.brooks52@yahoo.com.
I have read some weird stuff in my time. But nothing...and i do mean NOTHING compares to Slave by Cheryl Brooks.
This first book in the Cat Star Chronicles, is a mixture of erotica and sci fi...two of my favorite genres. And while the mix SOUNDS good in theory, in this case it just did not work.
Basically the premise is this: Jacinth is an 'intergalactic trader' who buys a slave - who possesses more than a few feline qualities, and is nicknamed Cat - to help assist in her mission to free her kidnapped sister.
Much flirty banter and oogling of Cat's well endowed body ensue, and within about 2 days, the two characters have professed their undying love and mutual lust for each other. And this is when the real weirdness begins.
Jacinth discovers that Cat's....'male essence'... *cough* is a highly potent aphrodisiac and much discussion of bottling and selling the prized elixir begins. I will spare you the incredibly unappealing name that Cat has for it. Trust me, you don't need to know.
Everything about this book screams "oh.my.gawd." and not in a good way. The dialogue is cheesy and ridiculous, the characters are about as one dimensional as you can get. Even the sex scenes are poorly written.
And to think...this is only the first book in a series! *shudder*
I tried to finish this but just couldn't. I agree with the others who gave bad reviews. When I first read the bad reviews I though they were being picky and harsh. NOPE, they are right. This is one of the worst books I have ever read. Actually I think it is the worst. It started out good. Girl searching for her sister for 6 years. Going from planet to planet trying to find her. She was kidnapped by a group of aliens. She buys a male slave and frees him. He needs to pretend he is her owner because the planet her sister is on all women are sex slaves. Yeah I thought I could read this. They get to the planet where there is a dress code. All men have to wear pants with a hole so their penis hangs out, women have to wear a see through flesh colored dress and have a leash on at all times. Women are supposed to do sexual things to the men at all times, it especially calms them down when arguments arise. So what lost me? They were eating dinner. Orgies going on all around them. One of the native aliens come up to Cat(the slave she bought and freed) and asked if he could touch Jacitchs nose, the natives have flat noses and are fascinated by her "big" human nose.So he touches it....with his penis. Then gets off.Then every other alien there wants to do the same and a line forms. Instead of being disgusted by this she thinks it is funny. Well I made it through that scene and thought, yeah done with that.........NOOOOOOO lets recap. Her nose is still sore from all those penises rubbing it and she can't believer her Cat let them do that, he was probably jealous he hasn't got off on her yet. I am just glad I got this free on my Nook and didn't waste any money on it.
I really think that this story was thought up by an adolesent boy who was jerking off to his dads Playboy and watching Star Wars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If you're looking for a good sci-fi read, this isn't the book for you. If you're looking for a good romance, this isn't the book for you. If you're looking for something a little smutty, a little cheesy, and very odd, then this may be the book for you!
This was a free ebook download. The reviews/synopsis state that our male hero is the last of a feline-type alien species with some very *erm* interesting attributes to his genitalia (including, but not limited to, a built in French tickler and copious amounts of seminal fluid that causes instant orgasm on contact with mucous membranes). So I thought, "I like sci-fi, I like smut, and I certainly like cats. I'll give it a try."
Well, all in all, I enjoyed it. The story is fun. The universe is interesting. The characters are a little flat, but that's okay for a fluff read. It was the writing that turned me off though. All in 1st person from our female hero's POV. Let me say it was annoying as hell to have the story interrupted so often with her long (unnecessary) inner monologues.
I'll give it three stars though because it was pretty fun and the male hero purrs. How cute is that?
Slave is definitely not the book for every romance reader. And it is definitely not the book for most sci-fi readers. Slave is the kind of book you get when you have a rabid Star Wars fanatic with a runaway imagination and a taste for erotica. You've been warned.
Jacinth, better known as Captain Jack, is in the market for a slave. Not just any slave will do. She needs a man, one who can clean up nice enough to pass as her master and not stab her in the back. Six years ago, Jack's sister Ranata was kidnapped and sold into slavery by Nedwuts. Naturally, Jacinth is doing everything in her power to hunt down her sister and free her. But as it turns out Ranata is currently enslaved on Statzeel, a planet where all females are slaves to the males. The only way to get close to her sister and hopefully rescue her is to put on a collar and chain herself to a man she can trust not to put her in the same boar as her sibling. When Jacinth finds Cat--as she quickly nicknames him--in the slave market, he's naked, dirty and looking mighty feral. But there's just something about him and she ends up buying him even though she immediately frees him and decides to find another way to save her little sis. Believed to be the last of his kind, Cat has nowhere else to go so he finds Jack and the two set off to find Ranata come heck or high water.
If the warning above wasn't enough, let me state again... this book can get a bit graphic. You should be very comfortable with the male anatomy and sex in general before diving into this one because much of the story centers around Cat's nether regions and the sexual behaviors of most of the planet Statzeel. It's erotica done light, with the love story of a romance and the adventure of a sci-fi novel. What really made this one stand out for me as a reader was the clever dialog and (though raunchy at times) the inventiveness of the author. Cat and Jacinth were fairly enjoyable as characters, though they felt a little unoriginal, cliched even. I don't know if it was the authors intention but I laughed a lot throughout the story as the dialog and some situations were just hysterically silly.
For a first novel this is a really good one and I very much look forward to reading more from Cheryl Brooks!
Overall: 2.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖 Feels: 🦋🦋 Emotional Depth: 💔💔 Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡ Romance: 💞💞💞 Sensuality: 💋💋 Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑 Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (scenes were a bit hard to count, they were way shorter than I was expecting but probably about 3 steam) Humor: Yes Perspective: First person only from heroine’s point of view
(These are all personal preference on a scale of 1-5 (yours ratings may vary depending what gives you feels and how you prefer you sex scenes written, etc) except the Steam Scale which follows our chart from A Love Less Ordinary )
Basic plot: Jacinth has been searching for her sister for 6 years. She comes across a slave and buys him on a whim to free him and they team up to rescue her sister.
Give this a try if you want: - Human heroine - I can’t recall what race “Cat”, our hero, is but he has feline characteristics (long hair, he purrs, he licks the heroine) - Medium steam – there’s plenty of sexual content in this one but none of it is super long - Road trip (space trip?) romance feel - Slave/master relationship play (heroine frees the hero, but he still says he’s her slave and she’s his master) - A bit of instalove feel - It’s a complete story with a HEA (happily ever after)
My thoughts: This book has some fabulous ideas behind but sadly the writing just was extremely difficult for me to get into. I struggle already with first person, but then the fact that there’s no hero perspective I struggled more. And then it was all a bit corny sounding and I can’t say I ever came to enjoy the heroine so being stuck with her the entire book yelling her not too funny one liners – I just found myself cringing for a lot of it.
I felt like the heroine was really unaccepting of other species and creatures. There was A LOT of talk about how ugly and nasty everyone else was and honestly she just came off like she was so much better than everyone else even though she wasn’t that great to me in the book.
I rounded up just for the fun cock. Details below under spoiler warning. I also enjoyed the bit of a twist at the end for the rescue mission for the sister. I was so disappointed in the sex though. I didn’t have any emotional connection to it or either of the characters really and then it was pretty short and disappointing. And the heroine talked through all of it and said super annoying things probably like ‘hot diggidy dog!’ or something equally ridiculous (I don’t know I already returned the book to the library)
Ultimately though I was so relieved when it was done and I can’t see myself picking up another one of her books just because I had such a disconnect with the writing.
Epilogue is long term and shows them after 65 years together and mentions she’s a great grandparent.
Cock Stats
Content warnings:
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Oh man, I did not know how to write this review without turning anyone off on the book. Honestly, this was not a bad read at all. In fact, for a romance with a title like Slave, it was fairly detail-rich and thought out. The heroine had your typical "i'm not the pretty one-I'm the tough, boy-like one and I'm paying penance for something that wasn't my fault so I aint got time for mind blowing sex" thing going on. She was with her younger sister when said sister was kidnapped and sold into slavery and spends the next six years of her life trying to find her and rescue her..blah blah... This sister was beautiful and fair hence the not so flattering self-description of the heroine. (My favorite part of the story is when she finds her sister and she is old and worn out looking. LMFAO talk about catty....) The hero, well..... this is where writing this review becomes painful. Sooooo i'm gonna just give it to ya in business-like bullets; *He was from a near-extinct feline type species but, thankfully, the only feline qualities I caught was the purring and the eyes. *He had long black hair to his waist...made up of spiral curls...lol. I kept thinking of Paul Stanley from KISS and I am not attracted to him at all. *No more than an IQ of 80 and experiencing only brief bursts of testosterone. I like my heroes tough and fairly dominant so this is a matter of personal taste. *A penis, large of course, with a ruffle-like edging around the head that secreted copious amounts of fluid and undulated. Which made me cringe whenever they had sex or someone noticed it,(because the fashion where they are requires men to wear pants with the crotch cut out and his business on display). I kept picturing a flesh tone sea cucumber or something of the sort...just threw up in my mouth a little..excuse me. Ummm, this book got some good reviews, and i read it quite quickly and was entertained for the most part but I think its just a matter of taste. I don't really like it when they mess with the penis, The penis is fine on its own. If ya want to depict a man who is humanoid but not human, change his eye, skin color, nose, ears..whatever. But please god dont mess with his junk. Again, these are my issues. I'm comfy with my issues. Downright cozy with 'em. Since i've already outed myself as an uptight, snobbish bitch I may as well add one more thing; the heroines' inner-monologue NEVER stops, EVER. There are pages of her self-analyzing...uhg. I do that enough myself, I don't want to read someone else doing it. A little self-monologue goes a long way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I actually enjoyed this book and found it very funny. I also found it pretty darn hot! I really need to get myself a Zetithian as their 'fluids' cause orgasms once they hit mucous membranes! Now that's a handy trick!! The sex didn't quite hit the erotica zone for me, nothing I can put my finger on (hah hah) though.
Jacinth is on a mission to find her kidnapped sister. She's spent six years traveling around space just missing her each time. Now she's got a really good lead, but there's just one problem. The planet her sister is on is one where no 'masterless' women are allowed. She needs to find someone she can trust ASAP. She found just was she was looking for at a slave auction on Orpheseus Prime.
Cat is one mouthwatering hunk of male flesh. He also seems to be becoming VERY attached to Jacinth. His real name is pretty long, he has big teeth, and he purrs...so she just calls him Cat. And Cat seems to find that arousing...well, actually, Cat seems to find everything about Jacinth arousing! Now he must earn her trust and help her find her sister, but there's no sense in not making the journey an enjoyable one!
As I said, I did find this book funny. Could have used a better editor and the book is in first person, so don't try it if that bugs you. Otherwise, I found it a quick and fun read. I'll be looking for author Cheryl Brooks next book "Warrior" set for an Oct 2008 release.
Rarely do I stop reading a book mid read. I figure it's a marriage. Sometimes it's bad but you keep going, hoping it will get better. That plot hole will shrink. That heroine will grow a brain stem. Maybe the author will stop using those exclamation marks like they were fertilizer. This one, just no. I got to the scene in the restaurant and gave up. You have defeated me, book. Enjoy your horrible, badly written, victory.
Staying true to my recent trend I stepped way outside my reading comfort zone with "Slave" by Cheryl Brooks. It's the first outer-space/alien romance I've read and it's more erotica than traditional romance. That being said, I did enjoy it. The hero, appropriately named Cat, is a member of a nearly extinct humanoid race with distinctly feline characteristics. The one I liked the best? He purrs. Yes, ladies...purrs. There was love, sex (lots of it) and adventure. If you're interested in something waaaaay outside the box then you should check it out.
Jacinth is on a one woman mission to find and rescue her kidnapped sister. She has been searching the far reaches of the galaxy for six years. Her sisters abductors always seem to be one step ahead of her. Her latest intel informs her of her current location. Jacinth wishes this was the end of the road. The problem is that the planet that her sister has been taken to doesn’t have any free women. All of the women on the planet are slaves to their males. Jacinth needs a male to help her now.
Cat has been a slave for more years than he has been a free man. He has been sold off numerous times and severely abused. He is a strong warrior from a planet that has long been destroyed. He has not let any of his Masters break him. He now has a female attempting to buy him. Perhaps there is freedom in his near future.
Slave is written in first person point of view. This is the pov that I enjoy the least. Cheryl has done something interesting in Slave that I rather enjoyed. Jacinth talks to you the readers much of the time. Reading this book is almost like sitting down with her and her her tell you the story of her and Cat. I liked this. I did however miss what Cat would have shared had he been there for the conversation, his purring mostly.
Cat purrs! Cat purrs a lot and oh my wow is it sexy. One of the things I enjoy about sci fi romances with humanoid aliens are their sexual differences. Cheryl was very creative with this mans joystick (yep, I went there.) It seems an apropos idiom considering all the joy it brought Jacinth. Cat also has a very tragic history and heartbreaking reasons he ended up on the auction block. I would have like to have read some of this book from his point of view.
I’m looking for to continuing this series. It’s full of all sorts of crazy futuristic gadgets that I want, a sexy race of feline like humanoid aliens and I’m curious about the remaining beings of Cat’s planet. I'm definitely looking forward to their tales.
This is probably the best 3-star series I've read in a while. Each adventure is fun, and our heros always get into a bit of trouble - classic space opera. The stories are well plotted and don't have holes or cheats.
But...
The romance is strictly "This must be my mate as he has a huge cock" instant love. And the sex scenes lack intensity. Yes, the characters tell you that what they are feeling is intense, but the descriptions are short and didn't really turn me on. Which is too bad, because the clever part of the sexual attraction to the Cats is quite compelling, and the various scenarios are creative. Each story has an epilogue that ties the series together, which is clever, and may lead to an all-star book later on.
The first installment introduces us to the Cats and they're terrible history. Their entire planet was destroyed by jealous men from other species who couldn't match the Cats' sexual prowess or fertility. Our intrepid heroine rescues one Cat from slavery, and convinces him to help her find and rescue her sister. After a rollicking adventure, everything ends well.
I thought this was a surprisingly endearing read, especially considering it's Brooks's first novel! Cat and Jacinth were adorable as a couple, and I found myself laughing out loud more than once (especially at the descriptions of some verrrry revealing outfit choices on a certain planet.)
It is much more erotica and insta-lust than romance, but the bickering-filled romp around a strange planet with a cat-like hero was more than enjoyable to read. Lots of fun! And thank you to my dear friend, Lindsey, for recommending this one to me! :)
I have mentioned a few times that fantasy romance- stuff on other planets etc., was never my cup of tea and I avoided it as much as possible. I am so glad to share that I have completely changed my mind! I just finished Cheryl Brooks "Slave" and loved it. Again, I've got spoilers in my review so if you don't want to know, stop reading now. :o) Back blurb: "Cat is an enslaved warrior from a race with a feline gene that gives him awesome beauty, fearsome strength, and sensuality and sexual prowess unmatched by any other males in the universe." The story is about Jacinth (heroine) AKA "Captain Jack" a trader travelling through space trying to find her sister who was abducted and sold into slavery. Jack has been tracking her sister for six years when she gets a lead that her sister is on the planet Statzeel. A planet where the males wear crotchless pants and have women chained to them to serve them as the need arises. The males are aggressive and the females are needed to sooth their males tempers and keep the planet peaceful and prosperous. Jacinth can't land on the planet without a male master so she decided to buy a slave to act as her master so she can rescue her sister. Jacinth finds Carkdacund Tshevnoe, a male slave for sale on a putrid planet. He is chained around his neck, wrists, feet and genitals by his nasty owner who takes pleasure in using a remote to tighten the slaves bonds and cause him great pain. The owner has also recently had the male slaves penis pierced with a ring and chained to his neck so that he can't raise his head without pulling the sensitive abused skin of his penis and suffering more pain. Jacinth buys the male slave then frees him when he tells her he will try to escape if she doesn't keep him bound. Jacinth doesn't really want a slave and doesn't want to waste time worrying about him escaping- she's got a sister to rescue, so she frees him and gives him money ('credits') wishing him well and leaves him there in total bewilderment. They end up together and Jacinth removes his chains and heals his wounds and ends up with his undying loyalty - and soon love. Carkdacund has very feline features, sharp pointy canine teeth, cat eyes and interesting eyebrows. Jacinth nicknames him Cat or Kittycat and he finds it an endearment. Cat has something else very interesting...his penis. It's large (not so unusual in a romance novel), but Cat's penis isn't like any other penis Jacinth (or myself!) have seen or heard of. Cat's penis has a corona with a serrated edge around it that when he's aroused seeps a fluid that gives females orgasms. And his penis is very talented! He can move it around at will and after he orgasms it continues to move and drag out a woman's orgasm for a very long time. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase: "Me love you long time". *grins* Oh and I forgot to mention he purrs. He purrs when he's happy and when he wants to have sex and after he's had sex and it's just so darn sexy when he purrs! So Jacinth and Cat with his wonder penis go to Statzeel in search of Ranata, Jacinth's sister. Jacinth has to wear a short see-through nightie type outfit while Cat has to wear the crotchless pants that all males wear on the planet and off they go chained together. Everywhere you look females are servicing males to keep them happy and docile. After a day of trading and trying to find out information about her sister Jacinth and Cat decide to try eating at one of the planets restaurants. Inside the restaurant females aren't just fondling their males they are climbing on them and having sex right there in public. Now, this scene has to be my favorite in the entire book. The people of Statzeel have rather small flat noses, Jacinth does not and she causes quite a stir with the men who are turned on by her nose- so much so that they ask Cat if they can touch it. Before long the males are lining up to rub their penises against Jacinth's nose and orgasming over it! lol Jacinth is a good sport and thinks its hysterical, while Cat is sitting there seeping his orgasm fluid and the females are lapping it up looking at Jacinth like she's the luckiest woman in the world to have a male with such a wonder penis. Of course at this point, Jacinth hasn't had sex with Cat so she's got no idea what she's been missing. I have never in my life read anything so unexpected and humorous in a romance novel. The scene was priceless! Loved it. There is adventure, love, humor, dry wit and a very nice happily ever after ending. I can't wait to read Cheryl Brooks other novels in her "The Cat Star Chronicles". I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.
I stumbled onto this series by accident but really wanted to try something new and different and thought this would be an interesting series to try!
Cat is an enslaved warrior from a race with a feline gene that gives him awesome beauty, fearsome strength, and sensuality and sexual prowess unmatched by any other males in the universe. Even filthy, chained, and beaten, he gives off an aura of power and virility. Jacinth (Jack) is an intergalactic trader on a rescue mission. She has spent years pursuing her kidnapped sister from planet to planet. Now her quest leads her to a place where all the women are slaves. Jack needs a slave of her own, one who can masquerade as her master. Enmeshed in a tangle of deception, lust and love, they must elude a race of violent killers out to destroy Cat and any of his kind who still live, and together forge a bond stronger than any chains.
Slave is a sci-fi romance meets erotica romance and is brilliantly written by Cheryl Brooks. The background to the story is about a breed of warriors who are a mix between cats and humans and their planet has been blown up and any survivors are hunted down and killed and no-one really knows why. The Cat Star Chronicles is all about the few warrior survivors of the war who fought together and were all sold into slavery and how they've survived since, found their mates and are trying to find each other again.
I thought Slave was really weird at first but once I got a bit more into it I really liked it and it was a refreshing change for me in some areas of romance as I've been feeling a bit bored with the overall genre, but Slave happily brought romance back for me.
I want, very badly to give Slave 4 stars but I haven't because even though I loved the unique storyline I got a little tired with the whole erotic thing going on at times and would have liked it much more if it had been toned down a little. But otherwise Slave was a brilliant story and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Slave by Cheryl Brooks wasn't bad, but wasn't great. I agree with many of the other reviewers here. For one thing, much of the dialogue was made up of cliche`s masquarading as old Earth sayings, and while a few are fine, it got aggravating after awhile. For another thing, her depiction of Cat was a little too much, well, like a cat. I get that he had feline genes, but I have seen other authors use this concept much more effectively. Perhaps it is just me, but I expected him to be more dominating, more male. He didn't come across that way. Another issue I had with the story was the lack of danger. Oh granted, there were some problems, some scuffles, but Cat took care of it so well, that you never really felt suspenseful. Even at the end...
This was a free book from Amazon for my Kindle. After reading this book, I ended up purchasing ALL her other books. This is a quick read with endearing characters.
So. This is exactly what it looks like. And yup, it's pretty bad. The narrative voice starts out OK, but grates immensely by the end of the book. The romance feels contrived. The sex is kind of weird. The setting is OK, but kind of endorses slavery in a weird way? Um, in general, it's a book I can't recommend and am kind of ashamed to admit to reading. I won't say it is the worst thing I've ever read, but I won't be continuing with the series or author.
Why did I read this? And, dear God, why did I finish this? Please, anyone who might see this review: save yourself. Steer clear of this clusterfuck.
How did I get myself into this mess? I blame my library, because I probably wouldn't have grabbed this if it hadn't been available to borrow for free from my public library. I'm picky about picking up kindle unlimited books, I'll admit, but my library usually has more discerning taste, and I mistakenly assumed that if they had this book available, then it couldn't have been that bad. I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.
The premise of this story actually sounded intriguing. We have a heroine trying to find her sister, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery six years ago. She's finally got a good lead on where the sister is, too, but unfortunately the planet she's being held on is one where women are all considered slaves and chained to men. Our heroine's in a bit of a pickle, as she needs someone to pose as her master, so she decides to buy a slave herself and convince him to help her out. But wait, there's more. The man she finds is part of a super rare alien race and they've got, you guessed it, magic dicks.
...Can you figure out where in that plot the author lost me? It got eye-roll worthy real quick, which is a shame, because at first I thought it could be an interesting read. Reality caught up quick, and the entire book turned into a downward spiral of a train-wreck that I couldn't look away from. I was sure that at some point it had to get better, or at least would a hit a point where it couldn't get any worse, but I was wrong.
I'll leave most of the story unspoiled, just because it's entirely too ridiculous to even repeat, but allow me to highlight the part of the story that got me the most irritated: After our heroine finds her sister, who has obviously been through hell over the past few years, and who was raped by at least one of her former masters, the two chat to catch up about what happened in those past 6 years. The entire conversation is ridiculous, and literally no part of it would ever be said in any real situation, but what takes the cake is when, while discussing the gorrilla-esque alien who had purchased and raped the sister at one point, our heroine asks: "so tell me, sis, what was sex with the gorilla like?" I'm not even joking. Literally the only part of that question that is paraphrased is the "so tell me, sis," part. She actually asked that. To her sister. Who was a survivor of multiple assaults. While discussing one instance of rape. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? But is the sister at all upset by the question? No, she laughs it off and answers, making fun of the size of the dick that was used to rape her. Because that's what matters, obviously.
Look, the book was a shitshow from like 10% on, but I generally reserve my one-star ratings for books that not only are bad, but actually piss me off. That scene right there is what earned the one-star rating, all on it's own.
But while we're chatting, other things that irritated me:
The entire explanation behind why this one planet had women leashed to men as slaves. It's utterly ridiculous and completely absurd.
The bugbite that our heroine has a bad reaction to, right at the moment she and our hero were going to get it on for the first time. It causes her to pass out, and naturally he's pissed at her the next morning when she finally comes to, and he somehow doesn't realize what happened. And she's somehow not dead from this.
The way the author decided at some point, part way through the book, to suddenly have the main character start narrating to us (like, actually saying "I haven't told you this yet, but...") as if she's been telling us a story the whole time. I think the author's trying to be cool and stylistic, but: just no. It does not work. It was not set up from the beginning. It's jarring as hell, and it made me dislike the heroine more than I already did.
The insta-love between the two leads.
The fact that the hero has a magic dick, and that's why his planet was destroyed. Like come on.
The fact that there's essentially an orgy scene that I was 110% not expecting. And there's magically no issues whatsoever when other women suck our hero's dick in front of our heroine, and multiple random dudes rub their dicks against our heroine's nose, right nest to our hero. And it's literally not discussed at all between the two of them before or after. Um... wut?
The way that the heroine is apparently "obsessed with ancient earth slang" (because this is apparently set 2000+ years in the future), so constantly uses idioms and slang, but literally only uses slang that is popular in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Like, if she's so into old earth slang, then why isn't she using slang from multiple decades? Oh, because she's not actually interested in historically or anything, the author is just suuuuuuper lazy and didn't want to have to create an actual futuristic setting for the story.
I could go on and on, but honestly, I just want to forget about this book and pretend I never read it.
I saw a review and thought might be a mildly amusing diversion. Started okay, but then got boring, bonkers and stupid. Not so good after all. I skimmed a lot of it, but I read enough to consider it finished, so it can at least add to my read statistics for the year.
I bought this years ago, and didn't get around to reading it, because the first-person narrative put me off. As I've been reading a lot of first-person UF recently and really enjoying, I thought I'd give it a go anyway. It turned out to be precisely the sort of first-person narration that makes me hate this device. Jack was deeply irritating, not least because she kept breaking the fourth wall, dragging the reader out of the story.
Despite this, this book could have been a light and enjoyable, although unoriginal, erotic/futuristic romance. However, it was slaughtered by some of the worst porn cliches ever.
I wasn't that bothered by the coronal fluid which induced instant orgasms. It's not an uncommon device at the more erotic end of the futuristic/paranormal genre, and one that, when done well, can be pretty hot. But the fact that Jack thinks about bottling and selling it (and, I think, hands out free samples, although I only skimmed that bit) repelled me. In addition to this, the book featured a planet where all the men wander round with their genitals hanging out through an embroidered hole in their trousers and their women give them blow-jobs etc in public to calm them down. Ewww. Unsurprisingly, these same women have to dress in transparent clothes, The scene where the men in a restaurant line up to rub their penises on Jack's nose, while their partners try to catch their ejaculate as it flies through the air was the beginning of the end for me.
Surprisingly, what stopped me reading any further wasn't the porn cliches. I was pretty fed up and skimmed ahead to the part where Jack is reunited with her sister. There we are told that, to help restrain the violent tendencies of the men on this planet (the reason behind the dodgy porn clothing and rampant, public, orgiastic sex), the women secretly practise artificial insemination. Therefore, of all their children, only the first is actually the child of their husband. The men, of course, don't know this. To be honest, I can't remember how this selective breeding was supposed to work because I was fuming so much. It seemed so nasty and manipulative, and yet was presented as a jolly good idea. I suppose if I'd been enjoying the book at this point, I could have lived with it, but I was so fed up that I gave up on the book.
Alongside the porn cliches, there were a significant number of bad futuristic cliches. Aliens who just happen to look like terrestrial animals. Convenient machines that can make or carry anything you could possibly want (seriously, who takes a shoe-making machine ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE as we are told Jack does?). And my personal pet peeve: aliens whose eyes have coloured pupils. The pupil is a HOLE in the iris. It has to be a hole to let light through so it can reach the retina. It's black because it is a hole into the inside of the eye. Gaaah.
Anyway, this book becomes irreparably bogged down in this mass of cliches. I thought about slogging through to the end, but concluded that life is simply too short for that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I'll be honest, I didn't read the whole book. Why?
1. The main female character is Amazon-like and portrays herself as a guy in the first few chapters. She must be more manly than feminine because she fools everyone. Not my idea of a leading lady...
2. Imagine you are a male slave with cuff restraints on your neck, wrists, ankles and groin area(head of penis and testicles). And you have been whipped, so you have sores along your back and who knows what kind of lice live on you. Covered with crusted dirt and a smell so awful that people have to wear filtration mask so they don't get your aroma. Now imagine having the restraints removed (cock piercing too), taking a shower. And what do you want to do now? The new Amazon-like woman who rescued you an hour before of course! It actually says in the chapter that he is still dripping blood and fluid from the wound from where the piercing had been. Ouch and Ewww right? Not my kind of romance so far....
3. The chapter that finally made me stop reading, was where the lovely couple decided to go to a restaurant where a random man asked if he could touch the woman's nose. The "slave" said yes. The man not only touched her nose with his penis instead of his finger, but decided to get off on it?!?! But wait, it gets worse..... Every male in the restaurant decides this is a great idea and do the same! Does this get you hot or what?
So, needless to say, I didn't get more than a quarter through this book. This was free on Kindle so I only lost a little time on it and nothing else.
This was a giveaway at the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco. I started reading it during the conference, and got sucked right into it. Couldn't put it down. It's a space opera story--the heroine is a ship's captain, a small-time merchant, who's been hunting her sister for six years, ever since she was kidnapped by a nasty race of aliens and sold as a slave. Now the heroine has finally tracked Sis down to a planet where all the women are slaves, and never go into public without being chained to a man. So she's looking for a man at the slave market who can play the part of her owner. She winds up freeing the guy she buys, but he follows her to her ship and rescues her from the former owner who's decided he got cheated. They work out a deal where the hero will do as the heroine needs. This story started off interesting, and kinda went downhill. It's told in a lively first person voice--which got Really Repetitive fast. (I got Very tired of "If so-and-so thought this, he had another thing coming.") And there was a lot of wish-fulfillment in it. The hero was Way over the top. He even had a frilly penis that squirted orgasmic juice. Really. And whatever conflict there might have been just...evaporated. It wasn't actually resolved. It turned out not to be real conflict after all. Repetitive, almost annoying voice; lack of conflict, and "Gary Stu" characters--it wound up being a bit of a disappointment after its strong start.
I decided to go back and play with some of the earlier books in this series since I read them ages ago. I'm so happy about this because these books are light and fun. They're the books you pick up when you need something to take your mind off a bad day. Sure, there's slavery and viciously stupid bad guys and an entire planet that's been wiped out of existence, but the sexy cat men balance all that out. Well, that and Jack's potty mouth.
Jack is... a character. She's offbeat and prickly. She doesn't want to get entangled with any man. She's driven by her need to find her sister and she's willing to do what she needs to do to follow her trail. Yet, underneath it all, she's a big, old softy. She thinks about buying Cat at the slave auction just tot set him free. She has her own code of honor that she stands by. She's weirdly obsessed with using ancient Earth sayings that no one else can follow. Buying Cat is probably the best purchase she's ever made.
Cat. How can you not like a guy who is determined to show a woman joy like nothing she's ever known? He's honorable and strong. He gives his word to Jack and he's willing to stick by her come hell or high water. It's pretty sweet. Plus, he has amazing penile control. It's pretty hot to read about.
Like I said, the series is fun. Heck, even the slaves on the world they end up on enjoy being slaves.
The only reason I finished this book is the same reason people stare at horrible traffic accidents. I just had to. Very weak story even for a romance. The heroine is annoying as hell.
spoiler alert:..............
At one point in the novel the heroine is undercover as a slave with her companion to rescue her sister who was captured years prior. She allows men of the planet to line up and ejaculate over her nose and finds it funny that the men of this planet find her nose so fascinating. I almost tossed the book at the wall reading that. At another point she learns her sister was raped while in captivity by a gorilla like species that owned her. Instead of oh I don't know going and killing the person responsible or being upset she asks her sister what was it like having sex with the gorilla man. Then the sister laughs about the small penis. Rape is rape...big penis or small! What annoyed me more is the heroine is described as not being pretty, even calling herself Jack instead of Jacinth. She is described as being a smart tough girl, a loner and having killed before. But then her actions in the story don't support this at all. She is just annoying and whiny as shown by almost all of her dialogue in the entire book ends in an exclamation point. At times more than 3 exclamation points in a single paragraph which makes me read it as the character is shouting for half the story.
Please excuse typing errors as my phone likes to auto correct words into words I did not intend.
Free Kindle download, and just a bit too weird and alien for me. It's meant to be a sexy book, but given all the anatomical differences between the human male and the heroine's cat-like alien lover, it was too kinky for my taste. The science fiction part of it is of course completely non-science-based, and there's no serious commentary on society as you might find in other science fiction that isn't really science-based. So I think the world-building in this book exists solely to provide some comedy and some kinkiness with the sex — to appeal to those who enjoy the idea of getting it on with people in costume at Trekkie conventions and the like. But this book is definitely for you if you have ever fantasized about having sex with any of the aliens that were in the Star Wars bar scene. It actually would have been a fun read as a science-fiction adventure (hence my two stars instead of one), but the sex part of it just made it all too weird for me. Totally not my genre.
Downloaded December 23, 2010. Finished reading January 11, 2011.