"Droll, writty, sexy, funny, brilliant"
Insufficient Mating Material is Rowena Cherry's follow up
to Forced Mate (Dorchester Love Spell, November 2004) and
her novella Mating Net. And if you haven't read this
utterly droll, perfect British wit, she is tweaking your
noses! These are chess terms, not
her...hmm...preoccupation with the mating rituals of
humans- -and in this, case human beings, godlike ones,
mind. She is an intelligent writer that dishes up this
sizzling, heady mix with equal servings of originality,
humour and hotter-than-hot romance. One of the hardest parts of writing Off-world/Alternative-
world Sci-Fi romances is the world building. Some writers
just fail to deliver that crafted realm needed to sustain
this genre. Other writers merely "adjust" their worlds,
such as J.D Robb does, making the future where Eve and
Roarke live not TOO different from now. A handful--C.J.
Barry, Robin Owens, Susan Grant--take this to a new level,
creating worlds with so many layers they truly carry the
readers into their alternative universe. Quite possibly,
Cherry is one of THE bests at creating this special world
for her characters. Judging by the interactive family tree
on her website and the rules of her Djinn-universe, which
are so precise and drawn in vivid detail, I would not be
surprised to one-day see a Mating Net Video game coming
out, along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons. I have a
feeling it would be an overnight success! This second installment of the Djinn realm (with more to
come) Princess Martia-Djulia (sister to the hero in Forced
Mate) is not happy with her arrogant brother Prince
Tarrant- Arragon's machinations. Fresh from claiming
Djinni Vera, the last virgin female of the royal Djinn,
the arrogant Prince is now trying to set straight the rest
of his royal life, and that includes sorting out his
arrogant, bitchy sister, Cherry describes as the ultimate
Fashinista! Martia-Djulia had a wild night with Tiger prince Djetthro-
Jason, the perfect lover. Only now she is being forced to
wed this "insufficient" weakling? Faced with no options,
she flees the public mating ceremony, only to be stranded
on a desert isle. Complications abound, as someone is
clearly out to kill the princess and her hunk of
insufficient mating material, who bears a remarkable
tattoo that may give the whole game away! In movies, very rarely do sequels ever achieve the
brilliance, the spontaneity of the original. That is
precisely what Cherry does with this wickedly funny,
tongue- through cheek tale. When so many of the big names
of Sci- Fi Romance have moved into other genres, Cherry
now stands on the cusp of inheriting the title as queen in
this category. Men, especially, will be drawn to Cherry's special mix of
sex and humour.
Reviewed by Deborah Macgillivray
Posted January 11, 2007
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Fewmet!
Shot down...for failing to mate in public. Marooned on an island with the ultimate fashionista, who wouldn't take off her clothes to save her own life, Djetth was discovering that when a Tiger prince is honor bound to hide his true identity, when his best tool of seduction bears a damning tattoo, and his very life is in danger, survival isn't just a matter of making out. Someone was trying to kill them...
Even in the outrageously wicked Tigron Empire, who would dare to attack a royal princess and her consort? So what if she had spectacularly rejected Djetth's hand and privately turned her pretty nose up at his other princely parts? With the aid of two exiled empresses acting as psychic sleuths, some misplaced guitar glue and a talent for disguises, he would unmask a killer and prove this was certainly not a case of... INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL
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