Vixen

by J.R. Barrett

Superheroes are dropping like flies. Cause... Unknown. Supervillain-in-charge, Alley Cat, holds the key. My task? Convince her to let me in on the secret so I can save the day and my superhero lover.

Genres: Romance

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 28, 2014

About the author

This author also writes as Julia Rachel Barrett and Julia Barrett.

If one word describes me, it's eclectic. Or so my friends say. I'm a lover of books, poetry, art, history, baseball, barbecue, chocolate, coffee, children, animals and the great outdoors. I'm a hospice nurse as well as a writer, but I got my first job at the age of twelve so believe me when I tell you if my heroines are doing it, I've probably done it. At the heart of every one of my stories is a real life event. (Even in Captured!)

If I was pressed to brand my romances, I guess I'd say I write romance for the thinking woman. Or I try. I layer my stories with meaning - I have fun, yes, but I draw on my literary background and I love nothing more than to sprinkle a special pixie dust composed of one part mythos, one part symbolism. I'm quite fond of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung.

Family is everything to me. I keep my kids private, but my mom and dad and my poor husband are occasionally fair game! And I talk about my German shepherd, Jake, all the time.

I am also a hospice nurse and I write nonfiction-- articles for medical and nursing journals. I have a full-length work of nonfiction regarding my experiences with hospice: One Foot In Heaven, Journey of a Hospice Nurse.

Come by and visit anytime! juliarachelbarrett(dot)net

Reviews

[TL *Humaning the Best She Can* · Rating 4 out of 5]

THEY WERE DYING, ALL of them but one. We alone knew. I mean my medical team and me.

Oh, in the confusion some nameless official started a rumor that they were on hiatus, like a vacation. You know? As in they’ve all gone to Tahiti for some much needed R& R. ’Cuz yeah. That’s what the official line has to be, right? And the press ate it up.

Otherwise there would be panic.

Widespread panic. And riots. Yes,there, I’ve said it. Riots. Probably complete with looting and pillaging. We’ve become dependent on our superheroes. Need our fix.

It has to be this way. Otherwise . . .

[Penny Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was NOT expecting this.

To be honest, I had no idea what this was.

Since Julia is a friend of mine, I knew she had a new quickie out,

but she didn't really tell me what it was about.

Well.

Well.

Well.

I FREAKIN' LOVED THIS STORY!

I love fiction that is unexpected, and unique, and well-written, and intriguing, and fun, and has twists you don't see coming, and has the promise of more to come in the future that is exciting and new.

VIXEN is all of these things and more.

It's a VERY quick read, an amuse-bouche that will whet your appetite for more stories in this brand new world created by Julia Barrett.

It mixes comic book-style superheroes with medicine and science, with intrigue and suspense.

It's bloody, bloomin' brilliant.

I think it's being categorized as sci fi-fantasy.

If you're like me, and you enjoy stuff that is different and outside-of-the-boring-old-box, you'll love this quickie.

[Muse-ic ♬ · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as short stories go, this was good. I can't complain that it was too short. It's meant to be that way.
Considering the length, I think it did pretty well in providing the necessary information in an appealing manner. It was cute. I think I may continue. I'm curious about this Alley Cat chick!
It's 26 pages and free on Amazon Kindle, so like, why not?

[Nikki "The Crazie Betty" V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the idea of this story is really fun and I would be interested to see what happens next to Vixen and Cat but I can't really get on board with spending $.99 for 25 pages. If the next chapter ends up popping up as free I'll most definitely get it. The story was fun and had an interesting premise: superheroes and super-villains are real but are dying from a disease that only their kind is suffering from.

Cat is a super interesting character/villain that I want to find out more about. More than the MC. I think the MC's superpowers seem like they are going to be used as a plot tool later on but I can't truly speculate on that, it just seems like something that is going to be very convenient. I also agree with another reviewer that it seems like there is this giant missing lesbian sex scene in the middle that isn't alluded to enough to even let us know if something actually happened or not.

All in all, entertaining but not worth $.99 each for a 25 page chapter.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

**4.5 Superhero Stars**