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Xxan War #1, part 2 of 3

Close Enough to Human

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It's the culmination of a lifetime of training. Miri Johns is about to meet humans for the first time, as a negotiator for the Xxan who created her. What she doesn't know is that she's part decoy to hide an attack and part cannon fodder. Worse, when it all blows up, she finds herself captured by the humans, an illegal cross-bred experiment used as a weapon against them. The best she can hope for is that they'll kill her without torturing her too badly first. Since she's under a sentence of death on Xxan, whatever the humans do can't be worse. Aleeks Daahn is a natural-born cross-bred, raised on Earth, and the team leader of an elite military unit. He doesn't question that Mirienne Johns wasn't complicit in the plot against the human council; beyond that, nothing makes sense about her. Why wasn't she claimed by her Xxanian father? And why does the sight of a Dominant male send her into a panic attack? There's more Xxan in these two than their peculiar skin and eyes. Cross-bred Xxan-Humans have fierce mating instincts, and with Miri at the height of her sexual quickening, Aleeks may not be able to control the Xxan need to Dominate and claim his young prisoner. Nor is he sure he wants to. Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, interspecies sex, violence (including reference to off-camera rape).

82 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 24, 2009

90 people want to read

About the author

Brenna Lyons

129 books80 followers
Brenna Lyons wears many hats, sometimes all on the same day: former president of EPIC, author of more than 95 published works, Administrator for Silver Publishing, columnist, special needs teacher, wife, mother...and member in good standing of more than 60 writing advocacy groups. In her first eight years published in novel-length, she's won 3 EPIC e-Book Awards (out of 15 finalists) and finaled for 3 PEARLS (including one Honorable Mention, second to NY Times Bestseller Angela Knight), 2 CAPAS, and a Dream Realm Award. She's also taken Spinetingler's Book of the Year for 2007. Brenna writes milieu-heavy dark fiction, mainly science fiction, fantasy and horror, straight genre, romance and erotic crosses, poetry, articles and essays. She teaches everything from marketing to choosing an indie publisher, and she's been called "one of the most deviant erotic minds in publishing today" by Fallen Angels. Find out more about Brenna at Youtube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b61pN_...]!

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5 stars
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26 (35%)
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Alicia Nordwell.
Author 56 books167 followers
July 6, 2013
I read Close Enough to Human quite a while back. Yes, it's MF, not MM like I mostly review, but this series is absolutely amazing. I first read the short story that I found free from Brenna's website, 'Homecoming' and needing to know who the characters were. I bought this eBook, then the 'prequel' that was available. I was a tad disappointed by the reverse storylines (the author has several generations to write) but I think the other stories, since the characters from those aren't very fleshed out in this eBook, and the others I've read, will still be quite interesting.

Okay, on to my thoughts for Close Enough to Human. First off, I relished the alien/human interaction which had several layers of complexity based on the conflicting species and customs. Add in that there are some of the Xxan (the ones featured) that aren't quite 'with the homeworld' anymore and we see quite the mix of attitudes.

The Xxan aliens have a rigid social hierarchy. They're lizard like species with some serious dominance vibes, so alpha male story lovers, these are right up your alley. But ... in this story, we're not seeing a fully adult male Xxan, we get a Xxan/human hybrid! He's a mix with some very interesting quirks, one of which is the need to bind a female to him.

The female in question? Miri ... a human/Xxan hybrid raised, if you can call it that, and Aleeks certainly doesn't, by the Xxan. There are plots afoot that erupt during a peace conference and, in the course of his duty, he has to find out exactly what Miri knows about it. In the midst of this drama she matures and she needs Aleeks and BOTH of his cocks. Yep, both.

Have I intrigued you yet? I hope I have, because dayum! This is a great story, and an engrossing series I'm constantly googling to make sure I haven't missed an update. Check it out today, because it definitely earns all 5 of the 5 stars I gave it!

Profile Image for Carolyn F..
3,491 reviews51 followers
August 9, 2016
Short story. 82 pages. 3.5 stars

Daahn, half Xxan-half human, is at a negotiations with the Xxan when Miri is brought in as the Xxan's negotiator with the humans. She's part human, part Xxan too. Just when things get started, the Xxan start shooting and Miri starts shooting them back instead of the humans having no idea why this started. Daahn takes her back to ship and finds out she's been tortured most of her life and seems to have barely survived. He also finds out she's in her first "quickening" which is like heat, and is happy to oblige when she needs someone to help her out.

Daahn's really attracted to her but it felt like any half Xxan would have sufficed and since she's the only one he met, he was going to grab her. Miri is super screwed up from the life she's lived/survived but is trying to find some kind of happiness and acceptance with Daahn. I wish this story were a little longer just so I could have seen this relationship develop naturally.
Profile Image for Sandra.
1,396 reviews84 followers
August 23, 2016
I enjoyed this scifirom and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Somehow there are hybrid human/xxans and they all seem to be on the firing line of the war.

Two such meet across the enemy barrier of a peace negotiation that is a trap for the humans.

Negotiator Miri Johns, raised and created by the Xxans is used as a patsy by them whereas Commander Aleeks Daahn has said it is a trap all along.

Very interesting mating habits and much Hawtness.

Merged review:

Re-read 23/8/16
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews