Harmony

by Maureen Turner

Harmony is the sequel to Sanctuary. Anael is once again imprisoned by the ruthless Ezekiel. He was captured following his attempt to steal life saving serum from the hospital at the Astraen military base. The serum is required to treat victims of Angel Fever. The disease was inadvertantly brought to Earth by Astraen refugees seeking sanctuary. His accomplice, the human girl Mercedes escapes with the serum but is devestated by Anael's capture. When all seems lost, only Supreme Commander Verchiel is willing to fight for Anael's release. He knows that the bridges built by the young soldier between humans and Astraens is the only way forward. Can Verchiel and Jack, the leader of a band of human rebels, forge an alliance to end the hostilities between two not so different species. With tensions running high Anael must face a military trial which could end in a death sentence.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2018

About the author

Although born in Birmingham in the Midlands I have lived in Gloucestershire for the past thirty years. I applied for redundancy following 25 years as a teaching assistant in a rural Gloucestershire school. I had already started writing my debut novel First Breath before finishing work and completed the writing in 2012. The book was published in August 2012. Since then I have penned a further three novels and a collection of short stories. All have been published as e books and most as traditional books as well. Two of the e books were later re-published as one traditional novel. All my novels are in the fantasy romance genre. My collection of short stories are multiple genre. My writing has been influenced by many authors from H.G. Wells to Laini Taylor. As well as fantasy romance I enjoy reading Historical, sci fi and contemporary books.
My books are: First Breath...
Malchediel-Warrior Angel...
Amy-Nephilim Freedom Fighter...
Do Androids Dream?...
Purgatory...
Wings Unfurled.
I am 45,000 words into my latest book as yet untitled.

Reviews

[Millie Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just finished reading Sanctuary, I knew I wouldn’t be happy until I found out how this story played out, so I immediately downloaded a copy of the sequel. Harmony starts where Book 1 ends, at a particularly precarious point for the Astraen ‘Angel’, Anael, one of the main characters and the hero of the tale.
Anael has been arrested, and badly injured in the process. To make matters worse, it happens at a time when efforts to bring acceptance and unity between the winged Astraens and the human population of the post WW3 Earth are going well. Now, thanks to Ezekiel, the key villain in the story and his ally, Yahel, head of the Mothership’s Council, negotiations have taken a marked backward step, and Anael is facing a military trial and possibly, the death sentence.
At this point, Ezekiel seems to hold he upper hand and the plot continues to hurtle along as Anael’s friends, of both species, strive to see him freed and that the work towards co-existence on Planet Earth continues. Emotions run high as different characters consider where they now stand; personal and family relationships are tested to the limit, and several characters find out who their true friends are.
There is a host of interesting characters to love or hate in this book, their interactions carrying the engrossing storyline along. I really enjoyed both books in the series, and found that although the ending of Harmony was totally unexpected, it was satisfying and rounded things off very well.

[Janet Gogerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought Harmony as soon as it came out as I had been waiting in suspense since reading Sanctuary. It was good to be back amongst the two communities, humans and Astraens. They are not so different from each other, which makes this such a good story. Can harmony be achieved when both sides have various agendas and the Astraens are not as angelic as their appearance suggests. The tentative peace between the two races is constantly at risk because of the action of some individuals. But this is also a story of good characters trying to do their best and a tale of love blossoming.
Cosy science fiction perhaps? We don't need to know how the motherships work, though we learn more about their travels since having to leave their own planet, nor why the aliens are conveniently sexually combatible with humans... lucky the woman who has a chap with wings to shelter her on a chilly night. But don't get too cosy, the pace of the story escalates to a stunning ending.

[Sherrie Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Starship Enterprise meets Red Dwarf and then some, that's how I saw the Mothership, a hovering, orbiting city in the sky where Astraeans lived whilst searching for a planet to call home. Book 1, Sanctuary, saw them checking out whether war torn planet Earth would be suitable but they met with hostility from the inhabitants until a friendship was formed between a group of humans and an injured Astraean soldier.

I couldn't wait for this sequel to discover how the story continued, whether unpleasant characters would get their comeuppance or whether they'd undo any progress that had been made - I won't spoil it, you'll have to read the book. Suffice to say life moved on for the two species with twists and turns along the way. The author has very cleverly created two communities and interwoven them and as I read I could clearly see them both and feel a part of them. The two books Sanctuary and Harmony are a very unique and interesting science fiction story but wow what an ending! I never expected that!