"Gut wrenching and heart warming - Grant's new space romance is a keeper!"
Susan Grant introduced us to Aviation Romance with strong
female aviator/role models such as Jas Hamilton (THE STAR
KING) and Jordan Cady (CONTACT) and Earth to alien cultures.
Like CONTACT which dealt with terrorism in the aftermath of
9-11, Ms. Grant's latest novel MOONSTRUCK is very edgy
dealing with the scars left by war. This is a tale
about an injured but strong woman, an honorable man who had
been her sworn enemy and the healing power of love. Did I
say that I simply love an edgy paranormal romance? I really
adored this one. In MY FAVORITE EARTHLING (Otherworldly Men series: Book 2)
the Goddess herself, Queen Keira of Sakka, had killed the
Drakken leader and with the help of thousands of Draaken
faithful who had worshiped the goddess in secret, had put an
end to the brutal galactic war between their peoples. Earth,
the backwater home of Keira's consort Prince Jared, had been
declared a holy untouchable Shrine. The Coalition government
and their former enemy the Drakken Horde were no more.
Instead the two would unite, along with Earth, to form the
new Triad government. And they all lived happily ever after,
right? Not quite. Not everyone was happy about the new arrangement. Admiral
Brit Bandar, commander of the Coalition Space Ship
Vengeance
had spent her career hunting down Hordish pirates, among whom
she'd earned the name Admiral Stone-Heart, and protecting
the Coalition worlds from the Imperial Armada . It had been a
name well earned for her heart had turned to stone following
the Massacre at the Arrayar Settlement which had taken her
beloved family from her. To Brit the only good Drakken was a
dead one. Vengeance even more than a sense of duty had
spurred her to become the most successful commander in the
Coalition forces, winning more battles than any other. Her
business with the Horde was far from finished. No one other
than Prime Admiral Zaafran knew of her secret
pain, a pain she both buried and revived on shore leave in
the pleasure dome of a resort planet. It is there that she
is contacted to report to the Ring to receive her new
assignment -- a diplomatic assignment. Peace wouldn't last,
of that she was certain. Imagine her chagrin upon arriving
at the Ring and smelling -- Horde! Drakken Warleader Finnar Rorkken, of the former Imperial
Fleet, had been summoned to the Ring as well. Prior to his
promotion he'd been a notorious pirate tagged The Scourge of
the Borderlands. Although he is not certain whether the trip
indicates a new assignment or a trial for war crimes he is
optimistic for he has very little to lose. He and his crew
are on the verge of starvation. Brit had come close to
capturing Finn several times. He'd
respected and admired her as a worthy opponent and was more
than a little intrigued by his rival. She had held a secret
admiration for her adversary as well and she fully expected
to make him pay for that. Imagine her dismay to learn that
her new assignment would be a diplomatic position as the
Captain of the Triad Alliance Ship Unity, commanding
a crew
consisting of Coalition, Earth and Drakken, with Rorkken as
her second in command! No, she couldn't relegate the Drakken crew to menial tasks
as far from her sight as possible, they were to be
integrated and if she didn't like it she would be reassigned
to dry dock. For the first time in her life duty would have
to come before her need for vengeance. Her career was her
life. But nothing could have prepared her for the shock of
meeting Finn or his resemblance to an older version of her
dear departed husband, the love of her life murdered by his
kind. Finn sees the assignment as an opportunity. Orphaned as an
infant in a Coalition attack, he'd been rescued and then
abandoned on another world and raised by other homeless
children. His crew was his only family and he would do
anything to convince Brit to take them aboard the
Unity. He's
floored by their first meeting. He'd admired Brit before but
couldn't reconcile Admiral Stone-Heart with the woman he'd
kill to have in his bed. Brit is shocked and dismayed at the
medical reports that
reveal his meager beginnings, the last thing she had wanted
was to see him as human. With both hiding their feelings,
working together is NOT going to be easy! It's not long
before she realizes there is only one way to get him out of
her system. She was going to hate herself in the morning, or
would she? Brit wasn't the only one dissatisfied with peace. When
communication is lost with the Cupezikan science outpost in
the Borderlands, the Unity is sent to investigate.
What they
find is a brutal slaughter. Has Brit gotten gotten her wish
or have time and Finn finally healed her wounds? Oh my! The interaction between these two star-crossed lovers
is as complex as it is heartwarming. Brit's feelings are raw
and heart wrenching, due to her devastating tragedy that has
stolen her faith. What begins as admiration, curiosity and
intense attraction for Finn quickly becomes a need to know
the woman he's come to love in every sense of the word and
to do whatever it takes make her whole again. For that to
happen, Brit must let go of both her pain and her hatred.
The result is a touchingly beautiful romance filled with
courage and heart that was pure pleasure to read. On a final note, I very much enjoyed the secondary thread, the
adventures of
Admiral Bandar's assistant Lt. Keyran. Hadley is a true
innocent who hero-worships Brit. Brit sees her own strong
potential in the girl and plans to toughen her up on this
assignment. In the meantime the hopeless romantic from a
planet of hopeless romantics becomes caught up in a romantic
triangle between Rueben Barrientes a.k.a. Tango, a
big time
player from Texas and Battle-Lieutenant Bolivarr, a shy
former Drakken Wraith assassin who has amnesia due to a near
fatal injury. She's swept away by the smooth talking Tango
but the mood ring he gives her has other ideas. This side
story brought humor to an otherwise intense situation. I do
hope we see Keyran and Bolivarr again. For me a keeper is a gut wrenching, edge of the seat novel
that makes you laugh, cry, and sigh, one that you can't put
down until you've finished the last word, and then want to
read all over again. MOONSTRUCK is a keeper!
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted April 7, 2008
|
