I’ve been doing a bunch of sci fi romance reading on both my Sony Reader and my Kindle. Most of these books are shorter novella length. Some are well done within those parameters, some not so much.
Burning Up Flint by Laurann Dohner
– 4 stars
#7 for the SFR Challenge
I was interested in a later book in this series and decided to start here and read in order. I read the others reviews and the people who didn’t like it had some valid points but I think I’m coming at it from a different place. First of all some of the things that bothered people are the types of things that were pretty typical happenings in the bodice rippers of the old days. And since I avidly read them as a teenager in the 70s, my mind just told me “bodice ripper” and I went with it.
Also I am a huge fan of sci fi romance so it gets an extra half star just for genre. I thought the world building here was pretty good. You don’t have to like or want to live in the world the author has created you just have to be able to clearly understand it in order for it to be good world building. Also I like that alien worlds/cultures are different from Earth culture/accepted norms. Otherwise what is the point in writing an SFR?
Flint was an ass true but he was a cyborg. I didn’t want him to act like a human. I, in fact, thought that he came to his “lightning bulb moment” where he realizes he loves her much too easily. Mira was a bit wimpy and I didn’t agree with all her actions but she was true to how she was written. She was a pretty weak woman not a butt kicking heroine at all. She didn’t suddenly change in the middle of the book.
Unlike some SFR books which I feel are mislabeled, this one is really erotica. The scenes are explicit, raunchy and plentiful and not necessarily full of love.
I will definitely go on with the series.
Kidnapping Casey by Laurann Dohner
– 3 stars
#8 for the SFR Challenge
I thought this was better than the first book. This new author seems to be improving her craft. These aliens are interesting, very alpha. The
heroine here overreacts here and there which I feel is a plotting issue. The overreaction drives the plot a bit. Hopefully, this too will get better as the series goes on. As this author’s books have tended to be so far, this is erotica. There is a lot of sex in this book because the guys just need it physically and their women can’t handle that much so each guy has 2 or 3 women to share the burden. But glory be! The women from Earth don’t have this same physical restriction so they can go at it all day long. Still I love alien/human stories and these are good. I will be reading the rest of the series.
Cyborg (Cyberevolution #2) by Kaitlynn O’Connor
5 stars
#9 for the SFR Challenge
A real good one by Kaitlynn O’Connor. The story here was quite strong. As usual with KO’s books the sex while hot is only part of the story. The feelings between the 3 heroes and the heroine are the main part of the story. Strong world building. Plot makes sense. Writing is well done. The romance is strong. I loved the whole thing. The only minor quibble I had was that the epilogue was more tell than show but like I said pretty minor. this is the second or third of this cyborg series I’ve read. The other two were lighter, more comedic. This one was darker and more angsty. Very good. Not a short story but so good I’d have been happy to have it even longer.
Luzia Reads Books 