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Darinth #1
Mastering Marissa
After her mother's death, Marissa believes she's alone in the galaxy and is shocked to discover her father, Davo, alive. Unfortunately, he lives on the planet Darinth.
Darinth, known throughout the galaxy for its dominant men and ruthless treatment of women, is not a place for a single woman, especially one as unfamiliar with Darinth as Marissa. Despite her misgivings, she believes Davo's promise of protection and agrees to visit the planet. Unfortunately Davo has rivals and one of them, Kytar, sees Marissa as a tool to increase his power.
Kytar plans a simple kidnapping. He won't hurt Marissa, he'll just hold her until Davo pledges his political support. Kytar uses Darinthian magic to bind Marissa, but didn't count on the magic trapping them both.
Marissa vows she won't surrender to Kytar and challenges the binding. Infuriated, Kytar knows he has to break her defiance before they face the ancient challenge ritual. Failure means death.
He won't fail.
Darinth, known throughout the galaxy for its dominant men and ruthless treatment of women, is not a place for a single woman, especially one as unfamiliar with Darinth as Marissa. Despite her misgivings, she believes Davo's promise of protection and agrees to visit the planet. Unfortunately Davo has rivals and one of them, Kytar, sees Marissa as a tool to increase his power.
Kytar plans a simple kidnapping. He won't hurt Marissa, he'll just hold her until Davo pledges his political support. Kytar uses Darinthian magic to bind Marissa, but didn't count on the magic trapping them both.
Marissa vows she won't surrender to Kytar and challenges the binding. Infuriated, Kytar knows he has to break her defiance before they face the ancient challenge ritual. Failure means death.
He won't fail.
154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 17, 2007
1 person is currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Cyna Kade
10 books10 followersCyna Kade started reading science fiction and fantasy when she was ten. By age fifteen, she added romance to her reading list. Erotica followed much later. Cyna belives the best books mix genres and she's followed that belief in her life. She's lived in north, east, south and west. She's been married and liberated and deeply loves her children. She's worked as an x-ray tech, a computer programmer, a systems analyst, a university instructor and earned a multidisciplinary Ph.D. Hobbies are equally varied, including stained glass and tai chi.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 24, 2012
A powerful story that takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster. The author does a wonderful job of pulling you into the story to the point that you can feel Marissa's anger, fear, and frustration as she tries to come to grips with the customs and culture of Darinth. It seems almost excessively cruel in some ways the way that Kytar tricks her first into accepting him as an escort, which leads to him binding her, and then into accepting his collar, withholding key information from her all along so that she acts without really understanding what she's agreeing to or what the consequences will be. It is true, however, that she refuses to believe him when he does try to explain things to her, so perhaps his deceptions are a bit more forgivable.
On the negative side, Marissa ends up turning the corner from defiance to submission fairly suddenly and unexpectedly, her change of heart coming a bit sooner than one would have expected. By that point, however, things had reached the stage where something had to give one way or another - either she had to decide to stop fighting so hard and work to accept and submit, or there was a very real chance that the training would have ended up breaking her. Still, things could have gone on just a bit longer, and the change of heart could have happened a little more gradually so that it wasn't quite as jarring to the flow that had been established. The author's skill at bringing the emotions of the situation alive so vividly well overcomes these few negatives, however, and the story deserves the full five stars as being one of the best in it's class.
On the negative side, Marissa ends up turning the corner from defiance to submission fairly suddenly and unexpectedly, her change of heart coming a bit sooner than one would have expected. By that point, however, things had reached the stage where something had to give one way or another - either she had to decide to stop fighting so hard and work to accept and submit, or there was a very real chance that the training would have ended up breaking her. Still, things could have gone on just a bit longer, and the change of heart could have happened a little more gradually so that it wasn't quite as jarring to the flow that had been established. The author's skill at bringing the emotions of the situation alive so vividly well overcomes these few negatives, however, and the story deserves the full five stars as being one of the best in it's class.
May 20, 2016
I feel like the description of this one was a little misleading. He is supposed to be the enemy of her father, but it never mentions why they are enemies and how she fits into this. I also this that if he had told her everything right up front, she wouldn't have been so ridicules. That was one this that bugged me about this one. They keep saying "You don't understand our customs" and she responds "Then tell me!" and I respond with " Just Fucking tell her already!". The character is frustrated, I'm frustrated (and not in a good way) and the guy is just blaming her. He gets mad that she doesn't understand, when she keeps telling him to tell her so she can understand, and then he doesn't, and then it keeps happening all over again. This happened in Linking Shelley as well, and it just got me mad to the point that I'm done with this series. Sometimes, the first one isn't that great, and the second book is better, that wasn't the case. What frustrated me in this book as frustrated me in the second book.
January 27, 2019
This book walks a fine line between intense and too much. It evokes strong emotions in the characters, leading to the ending we all enjoy. Very intense, but a good escape.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews