Macy Shaw lives a lie… believes the lie… loves the lie…
Macy and Narcifer’s love was instant. And it became them against the world as their bond was met with disapproval from people near and far.
Behind the disapproval is a group of extremists determined to bring Jelvias down. Their mantra, ‘wake up’, is as distasteful to Macy as their unsolicited emails and letters to her home.
But the more she delves into their world, the more Narcifer’s odd behaviours are amplified, and she begins to wonder if there’s an element of truth in their chant.
And then it all becomes clear when her mind is hit with a cascade of returning memories. Macy, and the rest of the world, have had false memories implanted.
As her mind remembers, she finds her perfect life with Narcifer collapsing.
Now she must struggle with the truth, all while living and loving her piece of untruth—Narcifer
T. E. Kessler is the pseudonym of British author Louise Wise, writing darker, adult science-fiction romance.
Best known for the Jelvia: Not Human series, her work explores power, control, identity, and survival through emotionally driven, high-stakes storytelling.
Louise Wise’s earlier novels include the critically acclaimed Eden and its sequel Hunted. She adopted the T. E. Kessler pen name to separate her more mature science-fiction work from her conventional romance.
there’s so much at play here that it’s be easy to miss the actual love story between Macy and Narcifer. the fact that she’s human and he’s Jelvia should always come secondary to love itself. still, I couldn’t help contextualizing the fictional “Wake Up movement” against the very real “woke” vs “anti-woke” contemporary perspectives. they’ll always be at least two sides to any argument and being dead wrong never stopped anybody!
I'd given up on this series. It's well written and interesting but I'm over any and all BDSM sex scenes. When this popped up on my recommendations I had to read it (paged ahead through the sex scenes). Macy and Narcifer are back! I enjoyed their story and hope the next book continuing the plot is released soon.