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Cyborg Merman
What happens when a merman cyborg steals a human wife?
When my husband dies, leaving me a widow on the frontier planet Traxia, his best friend--a merman-turned-cyborg--decides to offer me his protection.
All I have to do is marry him.
There are good reasons to accept his offer. If I didn’t think with my heart, I’d be wise to say yes. But this cyborg is shrewd and calculating and so clinical. Plus, my husband’s body is barely cold. I just can’t do it.
When I essentially tell him to get bent, he demonstrates why the local cowboys are afraid of him. I didn’t know he possesses the ability to alter areas of my brain--and with no hesitation, he begins exploiting a way to circumvent my flat-out No to his marriage proposal.
***Note: This is a 17K Short Story Romance you can enjoy during a lunchbreak or two. There’s an HEA ending and no cheating.
*Trigger warning* if you’re averse to trigger material in your romance.
When my husband dies, leaving me a widow on the frontier planet Traxia, his best friend--a merman-turned-cyborg--decides to offer me his protection.
All I have to do is marry him.
There are good reasons to accept his offer. If I didn’t think with my heart, I’d be wise to say yes. But this cyborg is shrewd and calculating and so clinical. Plus, my husband’s body is barely cold. I just can’t do it.
When I essentially tell him to get bent, he demonstrates why the local cowboys are afraid of him. I didn’t know he possesses the ability to alter areas of my brain--and with no hesitation, he begins exploiting a way to circumvent my flat-out No to his marriage proposal.
***Note: This is a 17K Short Story Romance you can enjoy during a lunchbreak or two. There’s an HEA ending and no cheating.
*Trigger warning* if you’re averse to trigger material in your romance.
68 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 3, 2020
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 23, 2023
DNF @ 68%
This is short, so I'd planned to finish it even if I didn't like it. But the degree to which I don't like it is different than what I expected. There's a combination of grief and rape here that isn't working for me, especially given the fact that none of this is sexy. The rape may have been committed as a "logical" step, free from malice, but that doesn't negate the way the heroine felt when it was happening. I also do NOT like mind manipulation, so pair that with sex scenes that are not in any way hot and I'm out.
This is short, so I'd planned to finish it even if I didn't like it. But the degree to which I don't like it is different than what I expected. There's a combination of grief and rape here that isn't working for me, especially given the fact that none of this is sexy. The rape may have been committed as a "logical" step, free from malice, but that doesn't negate the way the heroine felt when it was happening. I also do NOT like mind manipulation, so pair that with sex scenes that are not in any way hot and I'm out.
June 13, 2024
Thank you RAIN for reading and reviewing this. I wish it was longer. This book just went so fast. The epilogue was everything you need in epilogue to be. It's a futuristic but at the same time Wild Wild West where they live. CVest is a pretty cool character with his combination of merman, robotic mods and not human come.
I could see how if the book was longer, her using his ability to make her feel comfort and happiness stretch out further in the story, as a way to medicate/block drown out her grief.
I think he handled that well understanding the need to try and make that situation better for her even though he couldn't fully understand at the time.
Even though the story is pretty short it does a really good job of touching on the aspects of grief, widowhood, the loss and change in your life of having a different person there. The change in situation in person isn't minimized or go unnoticed by either of the main characters. I have to say I did think that there was going to be an aspect of a bad man in one of the locals that gets mentioned a few times. And if the book was longer I could definitely see that person becoming a character of interest in either what could turn out to have been her husband's murder as opposed to a natural death, or him trying to create trouble for them in the future. Definitely going to check out some other works by this author.
I could see how if the book was longer, her using his ability to make her feel comfort and happiness stretch out further in the story, as a way to medicate/block drown out her grief.
I think he handled that well understanding the need to try and make that situation better for her even though he couldn't fully understand at the time.
Even though the story is pretty short it does a really good job of touching on the aspects of grief, widowhood, the loss and change in your life of having a different person there. The change in situation in person isn't minimized or go unnoticed by either of the main characters. I have to say I did think that there was going to be an aspect of a bad man in one of the locals that gets mentioned a few times. And if the book was longer I could definitely see that person becoming a character of interest in either what could turn out to have been her husband's murder as opposed to a natural death, or him trying to create trouble for them in the future. Definitely going to check out some other works by this author.
May 1, 2022
God, I love this story so much. The depth of characterisation, the immense darkness that yields to so much light. The hawtness totally intrinsic to the cyborg and alien aspects — it’s so fucken hard to find cyborg fic where the cyborg isn’t just a stupid human with a few metal bits who looks totally human, that is NOT what I want. Just when I was grumbling about maybe having to write the damned thing myself, I remembered this excellent story I’d read so many months ago and went scouring and of course it was Amanda Milo who wrote this perfect chilling gorgeous story that I wish was so much longer but also is so satisfying as is. Bless.
July 3, 2022
I liked how the hero had never had sex before and was shocked by how much he enjoyed it.
I didn't like how the hero kept forcing her mind to feel good things as she was sad her husband had just died. (Hero has alien abilities)
I didn't like how the hero kept forcing her mind to feel good things as she was sad her husband had just died. (Hero has alien abilities)
April 18, 2022
Ok. Since I am the ONLY review for the book let me temper this a bit.
SPOILER AT THE END
1. Love Amanda Milo and all her books, love her universe. Hard yes on anything Milo.
2. Love her virgin heroes. And loved most things about this one. The more innocent the better. This one has never had an erection before. (More common than you think in the virgin hero/fated mate world).
SPOILER ALERT
3. Interesting concept how he can go in her head light up pleasure centers… would love to give that a whirl!
Now… to the point though….
4. So.. he raped her. Just so ya know. He is a virgin who has never had an erection before. And he rapes her. Doesn’t matter is she enjoyed it.. she is trying to fight him off the whole time. He rapes her. Not good. Never a fan. Especially of the whole… falling in love with your rapist.
But I would not want that to out you off Amanda Milo. That is not her normal thing. She DOES have rose victims but they meet loving caring men who take care of them in the way they need caring. They don’t marry their rapists! (In general.)
Virgin rating:
Innocence of virgin hero: 5/5 no erection until met this female
Innocence in losing it: 4/5
Build up to losing it: 1/5
Hotness of losing it: 2.5/5
Busted touching himself: no
POV of losing it: male
SPOILER AT THE END
1. Love Amanda Milo and all her books, love her universe. Hard yes on anything Milo.
2. Love her virgin heroes. And loved most things about this one. The more innocent the better. This one has never had an erection before. (More common than you think in the virgin hero/fated mate world).
SPOILER ALERT
3. Interesting concept how he can go in her head light up pleasure centers… would love to give that a whirl!
Now… to the point though….
4. So.. he raped her. Just so ya know. He is a virgin who has never had an erection before. And he rapes her. Doesn’t matter is she enjoyed it.. she is trying to fight him off the whole time. He rapes her. Not good. Never a fan. Especially of the whole… falling in love with your rapist.
But I would not want that to out you off Amanda Milo. That is not her normal thing. She DOES have rose victims but they meet loving caring men who take care of them in the way they need caring. They don’t marry their rapists! (In general.)
Virgin rating:
Innocence of virgin hero: 5/5 no erection until met this female
Innocence in losing it: 4/5
Build up to losing it: 1/5
Hotness of losing it: 2.5/5
Busted touching himself: no
POV of losing it: male
May 30, 2024
*4.5* Stella is a women grieving for a husband she loved deeply and lost too soon. She owns a cow farm on a distant planet. The cows are a mix of Earth bovine and alien cow genetics.
C’vest is a cyborg-hybrid merman who was her late husband’s best friend. He essentially thinks like a machine, with some human emotions sprinkled in. There is nothing malicious about him. He makes decisions based on reality, picks the best outcome, and goes with that.
I love it when I find little written gems like this one. Yes, there is non-con/dub-con, but because of the careful way Milo has of putting words to page, it wasn’t as awful as it could have been. The story is told in dual POV, so that really helps understand both characters.
This story was about grief, trust, and the rebuilding of love. I adored it and the epilogue was so sweet. As always, I wanted so many more pages.
Milo stories like to push boundaries. TW for rape and mental coercion.
C’vest is a cyborg-hybrid merman who was her late husband’s best friend. He essentially thinks like a machine, with some human emotions sprinkled in. There is nothing malicious about him. He makes decisions based on reality, picks the best outcome, and goes with that.
I love it when I find little written gems like this one. Yes, there is non-con/dub-con, but because of the careful way Milo has of putting words to page, it wasn’t as awful as it could have been. The story is told in dual POV, so that really helps understand both characters.
We’re barely over the threshold when Stella announces, “If you can still get hard, you’re going to have to use your hand and imagination. I’m too exhausted to promise you that I can even stay awake enough to watch.”
I shake my head. “Curiously, performing scrotal castrations killed all of my desire.”
This story was about grief, trust, and the rebuilding of love. I adored it and the epilogue was so sweet. As always, I wanted so many more pages.
Milo stories like to push boundaries. TW for rape and mental coercion.
September 21, 2025
I loved Smart@ss Cyborg so much that I wanted to go back and read the origin story for supporting characters Stella and C’vest, but holy $&@! This book is straight noncon erotica! I was so uncomfortable with the first chapter that I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up again for months. I finally managed to soldier through it, but I was disappointed when it ended just as the actual romance finally, barely began. In fact, I would say you learn more about these characters in Smart@ss Cyborg than in their own book. Heck, the inciting incident in this book isn’t even resolved until that sequel. Add to that the super-icky noncon-to-dubcon and mind-control elements, and the fact that the same marriage-of-convenience plot could have been set in motion without them (even within the messed-up laws of the planet) and it’s just a no from me.
dnf
September 24, 2024DNF at page 17
OK, this is partially my fault. I've learned better than to just start reading where Kindle opens at Chapter 1. I have to page back to check the trigger warnings. Yet, I didn't because I first read book 2 and it was great---I know Amanda Milo can get pretty dark, but I assumed the rest of the series would be the same tone.
SA by the MMC is never okay IMO.
OK, this is partially my fault. I've learned better than to just start reading where Kindle opens at Chapter 1. I have to page back to check the trigger warnings. Yet, I didn't because I first read book 2 and it was great---I know Amanda Milo can get pretty dark, but I assumed the rest of the series would be the same tone.
SA by the MMC is never okay IMO.
August 16, 2023
I’m responsible for my own reading choices lmao
this one was so awful but also not sure what I was expecting out of it?! It’s my own fault hahaha
this one was so awful but also not sure what I was expecting out of it?! It’s my own fault hahaha
January 25, 2025
This was so sweet, short and heartbreaking. The MMC was a little rapey at first but he was trying to do his best for her! And he was a virgin. He was a little clueless at times though in an endearing manner. My heart hurts thinking about how both of them lost Baron (FMC’s first husband and MMC’s best friend). FMC (30ish?) is so strong and capable. I loved them all! 🤠
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews