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Archive for 'Science Fiction Romance'



N.J. Walters: Secondhand Finds!
Thursday, July 23rd, 2020

Summer of 2020 is rolling along, and I’m still waiting for the warm weather where I live. I know a lot of you have been sweltering for weeks, but I’m still wearing a sweater. It’s been a strange year in so many ways. I miss the little things—breakfast out, going to movies, sitting in a coffeeshop reading a book, and snooping around the thrift stores and yard sales.

I was shopping at thrift stores long before it became fashionable. In the early years, it was by necessity. The only way I could afford anything was if it was secondhand. But I love the variety. You can find things you can’t find anywhere else. It’s true what they say, “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” There is truly something for everyone.

I’m always amazed and thrilled by my finds. Here are a few of my favorites:

#1 Alex and Ani bracelets for under $10 for all three.

#2 Fun owl china mug for $3.99

#3 Sterling Silver ring for $7.99

I used to go twice a week before the covid-19 shutdown. Most of the time I walk away with nothing, but sometimes, you find something truly special. For me, it’s like beachcombing. The fun is in the hunt.

Do you have anything fun and unusual you like to do?

And if you’re looking for a book to read and enjoy sci-fi romance with a sexy assassin, you might want to check out Spear’s Search, the first book in my Assassins of Gravas series just released.

Spear’s Search
Assassins of Gravas, Book 1

Spear el Gravaso—prince of Gravas and assassin—is on a mission to find his brother. His hunt had led him to an auction of Gravasian weapons that can only belong to the missing man. He needs to secure the items, get any information he can, and kill all those involved. Nothing and no one will stop him.

Sass was taken from a harsh life on the streets as a child and trained to be an assassin by the powerful Artemis. The lives of those she loves is on the line if she fails her mission—to win the auction of Gravasian tech. Only one problem—Spear is in her way.

Their battle escalates, as does the explosive heat between them. When it comes down to it, they can fight each other and one of them will die or they can join forces. But can they trust each other?

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CD7GNTQ/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1031385
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1137303521
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/spear-s-search

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

Ava Cuvay: What’s in a World? (Contest & Excerpt)
Monday, July 13th, 2020

UPDATE: The winners are Pansy Petal, Debra Guyette, and Bn100!
*~*~*

I’m a workshop presenter at this year’s Chicago-North RWA Spring Fling conference, being held online due to COVID-19, and I’ll be talking about one of my favorite subjects: World-Building.

Imagine reading a story about vampires, but the author never tells you if these are creepy Nosferatu types, 80s-style heavy metal teen rebels, sword-wielding daywalkers, or sparkly high schoolers from the Pacific Northwest. What would you picture? What characteristics would you assign to them? How would you expect them to interact with other characters?

What if the story didn’t do any of what you imagined? That would be pretty disappointing—frustrating even—right? *This* is why World-Building is crucial… so a reader can immerse themselves into our stories and walk beside our characters without tripping up, taking a wrong turn, or thinking with a fair amount of annoyance, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

I say all of this because, in spite of knowing better, I initially tried to cut World-Building corners with my newest book, Tin Man. I admit, I was a little tired of having to build a world completely from scratch, like a 90k ingredient cake recipe. I wanted something more familiar—a pre-made world that I didn’t have to invent. Like a cake from a box mix.

So, I decided to write a story located here on earth, in my current hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Human beings in an earth city where I could say “tree” and not have to describe the color of the leaves… What could possibly go wrong??

Wellll, there’s the fact that my story is set about 150 years in the future, so the city will have changed, but how? And the fact that technology will definitely have changed, such as what phones look like. And the fact my story is about cybernetic individuals, so what do they look and act like? And how might society perceive toasters versus a fellow human with machine parts? And the basic fact that not everyone is as familiar with the city of Indianapolis as I am.

Sigh. I had forgotten the main reason why World-Building is so critical to a good story: Not every reader’s individual life experience and perception is the same as another’s.

A story set in Indianapolis might feel like home for one reader, but a trip to uncharted lands for another. Saying a character is a cyborg might incite positive emotions from one reader, but negative from another. Based on our individual experiences, even something as seemingly universal as McDonald’s or Amazon will bring forth a wide variety of responses. Authors must build our worlds to gently direct our reader’s responses and perceptions. Are cyborgs misunderstood humans living in fear of their own safety, or are they dangerous timebombs ready to murder innocent people at a snap?

I smacked my forehead for ignoring the main tenet of my own World-Building presentation: No matter if we authors build a world from scratch or with the help of a box mix, we HAVE to craft a believable world so readers can experience the story as we intend them to. And to experience it in such a manner they feel they have lived the story alongside our characters.

And that they know what color the leaves on the trees are. 😉

My cyborg story, Tin Man, is book one in my Silver Cyborg Series trilogy, and is currently on pre-order to go live on July 17th. Despite my initial stumble where the World-Building is concerned, I’m thrilled with how it turned out, and I can’t wait to share it with you! Below is the beginning of Chapter One to pique your interest.

Contest

What book “worlds” have been fascinating/engaging/immersive for you as a reader? Post in the comments, and on July 16th, I’ll select three winners for a Kindle version of “Tin Man.”

Excerpt from Tin Man

A slow start to the night promises a crazy ending… said no one ever. But, based on his years as a bouncer at the historic Vogue Bar and Music Venue, Adam Lehmann knew the saying was truth. This Saturday night shift was downright dull so far, and the tingle in his lower back—the part which didn’t have cybernetic sensors running through it—assured him tonight was doomed.

He didn’t yet know what or why, but something would swerve into shit creek territory, and the cops would be called.

Cops who had once been his friends and coworkers. Guys who’d had his back. Up until part of that back, his heart, his left arm, and an eye had been replaced with cybernetics. On the outside, Adam didn’t look any different than he had. But simply knowing he wasn’t entirely organic beneath the epidermis layer was enough to make him an object of fear and loathing.

The awkward shift from pal to persona non grata hadn’t been listed as a possible side effect when he’d allowed doctors to replace his shot-to-hell body parts with experimental cyborg systems. If it had, he might have let himself die on the operating table. Scratch that, he would have assumed his friendships were tight enough to withstand a few synthetic enhancements.

The joke was on him. And it wasn’t funny.

“You seem on edge, Lemon.” The automaton bartender handed him a bottle of water. Adam forced a neutral expression at the slight mispronunciation, which turned his last name into a proclamation of his derelict physical state. Adam’s glitching cyborg parts and mid-forties human body did not mesh well. A mid-life crisis of epic proportions with no hope of coming out on the other side any way but dead. Not that he would admit that to anyone.

“I seem? A bit of a subjective statement, don’t you think, Arthur?”

Arthur’s robotic Swiss army knife body rotated beneath its head, its multiple attachments a symphony of cleaning, stacking, filling, pouring, serving. Only its face held any humanoid features, and those looked like the poor schmuck who passed out first at a fraternity party. Someone had taken a black marker to the mechanized bartender, decorating it with a scraggly goatee, handlebar mustache, scars, anime eyelashes, a black eye, and the word dildo in bold caps across his forehead. Instead of paying to have the synthetic covering cleaned or replaced, The Vogue’s owner had shrugged at the vandalism and invested in costume hats to add to Arthur’s look. Tonight, it sported a red bandana skull cap and pirate’s eye-patch. Adam refused to laugh at the ridiculousness of it.

To be honest, he didn’t laugh, period. Looming demise did that to a person.

*~*~*

Spring Fling Online Conference Registration: https://chicagospringfling.com

Tin Man Buy Links:

iBooks – https://books.apple.com/us/book/tin-man/id1519102092
Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Tin-Man-Silver-Cyborg-Book-ebook/dp/B08B4YXYQQ/
Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940162637080
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/tin-man-13

Ava Cuvay: Old Dogs and New Tricks
Friday, May 8th, 2020

I have a confession to make, one which likely shows what a sheltered life I’ve lived:

Last year, I discovered that tentacle sex was… a thing. And as I shared my shocked wonder with my fellow author pals, their response was always a shrugged “Oh, yeah, Hentai. It’s been around for a long time.”

*blink*blink*picks jaw off floor*

So, it would seem that the Japanese tentacle erotica, which falls under the category of Hentai, essentially anything that isn’t human-heterosexual-twosome-sex in both the Japanese and English language, has been around since as early as 1814 when a Japanese artist depicted a woman having “relations” with two octopuses in his “Dream of a Fisherman’s Wife.”

Honestly, I shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, the 80s were my formative years, and the movie Better off Dead starring John Cusack was when I learned the difference between covering a love interest with testicles versus tentacles. However, my mind was blown upon the discovery of Hentai, specifically tentacle sex, for two reasons:

1) As a romance author, I thought I fully grasped the breadth and depth of what turns people on (obviously, I didn’t). And,
2) As a Sci-fi Romance author, this opened a whole new area of possibility when crafting my characters and worlds.

Turns out, an old dog can learn new tricks, and I put the knowledge in my back pocket, anticipating an opportunity to use it. That’s when Delilah’s Boys Behaving Badly Anthology call for submissions came. So I played with the concept of tentacles and had a blast doing it. You can read the result in Delilah’s upcoming anthology, currently on pre-order (links below, in case you haven’t already one-clicked).

I hope you like the story about spaceport bar owner, Lorlii Atarga and Fire Force Captain Roark Trekker!

First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology

Excerpt from “The Siren’s Song”

While verbal sparring, especially the joking innuendos, with Roark was entertaining, she’d give a bottle of rare Carhind’n Rum to change that into a physical tussle. But how to transition to a more climactic sort of ribbing? She was hornier than a bayhar and ready to ignite with little more than a smooch of his full lips. Her sexual drought had lasted several months at this point. No one seemed interested in her, outside of her mixology skills and Twofer Tuesday specials. A little attention from a handsome man that didn’t involve anything shaken, stirred, or two fingers neat…

Lorlii swallowed hard at the thought of what Roark could do with a couple of fingers. He’d never know, but he starred in all her masturbation fantasies.

First Response: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology Pre-Order links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086JBGW7W/
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/first-response-7
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1136763722?ean=2940162803409 https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Delilah_Devlin_First_Response?id=o5HZDwAAQBAJ&hl=en_US
https://books.apple.com/us/book/first-response/id1505242080

About the Author

Ava Cuvay writes out of this world romance featuring sass and sex set in a galaxy far, far away. She resides in central Indiana with her own scruffy-looking nerfherder and tween kiddos. When not writing, Ava is thinking about writing. Or wine. And she’s always thinking about bacon.

https://avacuvay.com
https://www.facebook.com/AvaCuvayAuthor/

Cynthia Sax: Fated To Mate Reunion Romances And Warlord Reunited
Tuesday, February 18th, 2020

I LOVE fated to mate/instalove/love at first sight stories. They are the only romances I tend to write.

Why?

Because that is the only type of romantic love I’ve ever known. I fell in love with the Dear Wonderful Hubby at first sight and over twenty-five years later, we’re still very much in love.

I knew the moment I saw him that he was the man for me and that conviction only strengthened when I learned more about him. He felt the same way about me.

Reading about couples (or more) experiencing that knowing, making that soul-deep connection with an otherwise perfect stranger thrills me. What will they have in common? How will they overcome their differences? How long will they last before they act on their physical attraction?

That is all very exciting and I tend to turn the pages quickly to find out the answers.

I also love reunion romances. The couple (or more) connects and then, for some usually heartbreaking reason, they part. Years later, they reunite and fall in love all over again. They’re older, wiser, more appreciative of what they have and they don’t make the same mistakes this time. They make different ones. (grins)

The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I have never had to part for a long time, thankfully, but merely the prospect of that happening to us makes me emotional. I feel for the heroines and heroes in that type of situation.

In Warlord Reunited, the story I’ve released today, I’ve combined both of these tropes. Berke and Ellie, my barbarian alien hero and human bounty-hunting heroine, fell in love, at first sight, solar cycles ago. They had a passionate, life-changing yet much-too-brief affair. Berke then left Ellie on a distant planet and returned to his war-torn home.

Now, Ellie has returned to Berke’s home, determined to end her suffering (literally) and kill the only male she has ever loved. Their reunion is passionate and violent and full of conflict…because they ARE fated to mate and the time apart hasn’t changed that.

Which do you prefer to read—fated to mater/instalove/love at first sight stories OR reunion romances? What are some romances that combine these two tropes?

Warlord Reunited

This barbarian warrior’s cold demeanor hides the warmest of hearts…

Solar cycles ago, Berke, a savage Chamele Warlord, found his gerel, the one being he is destined to be with for all time…except he couldn’t embrace that fate. He was fighting a series of brutal wars.

To protect his little human female, he conveyed her far from the Chamele sector. He then returned to the endless battles, concealing his pain, his anguish, his need, under a thick layer of ice.

His gerel was safe. That was all that mattered to him.

When Elle was a young bounty hunter, she bonded with an arrogant warrior on a distant planet. She was deliriously happy…for a while. Then he dumped her in a strange settlement far from his home and left, never to return.

Their parting caused her excruciating pain—both physical and emotional. She endured it, earned the esteemed role of head bounty hunter of an academy, salvaged a bit of a life from the disaster her primitive warrior had made of it.

Now, two of her bounty hunters have made the same terrible mistake. Elle is determined to rescue her friends and break their connections with their Chamele Warlords.

While she is in the sector, she plans to kill the warrior she’d once considered hers. Elle is ending her relationship with Berke…permanently.

* * *
Warlord Reunited is based on a much shorter story sharing the same title.
It is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian SciFi Romance, featuring a warrior hero and a take-charge heroine set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

Buy Links:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082RM76RF
Apple/iTunes: https://books.apple.com/us/book/warlord-reunited/id1491702046
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/warlord-reunited-cynthia-sax/1116110455
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/warlord-reunited-1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/995680

About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes contemporary, SciFi and paranormal erotic romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of erotic romance top ten lists.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled release day newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com.
Website: http://cynthiasax.com/
Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Facebook: facebook.com/cynthia.sax
Twitter: @CynthiaSax
Blog: http://tasteofcyn.com/

Anne Kane: And it’s a wrap!
Thursday, January 2nd, 2020

Christmas 2019 is over, and the New Year is finally here. 2020! A clean slate just ready for my  plans and plots. I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions anymore. I used to make them, but I found that by the end of January they were already a distant memory. Now, I just try to make general goals for the year and hope I can stick to them.

My goals this year are fairly simple. I want to keep a consistent release schedule for my books.  I have two ongoing series, my Terras Five Cyborgs and my Northern Rockies Werewolves. Although both are romance, one is a sci-fi series and the other is a paranormal. My hope is that by alternating between the two, I will be able to keep both fresh and not start to recycle the same plot with different characters in each successive story. I find my muse gets bored and stale if I just stick to one universe. (I’m sure a psychologist would love to explore that idea!)

Click on picture to pre-order!

On a personal front, I want to continue to spend as much time as I can with my grandkids while they are still willing to be seen in public with me. I have a day planned to see the latest Star Wars movie with the oldest four (ages five through thirteen) this weekend. We’ll go to the afternoon show, get pizza for dinner and then they can have a sleep over. I love going to the movies with a group of kids. They aren’t embarrassed to show their enthusiasm for their favorite characters!

As five of  my grandkids live within a fifteen minutes of my home, and one of them goes to high school a mere three blocks from me, I have an revolving door policy that means they are always welcome to drop in, be it for few minutes to grab a glass of water or to stay overnight and make popcorn and watch a movie on Netflix or Disney plus. I cherish these times, and hope they always feel welcome to drop into my home unannounced. Being a grandmother is one of the best things that ever happened to me!

I am also determined to be more active. Since my day job is a desk job, and writing is also very much a sit still kind of activity, I have to find hobbies that make me move (unfortunately reading isn’t active either!) This fall I entered Merlin the Wonder Dog in an advanced agility course, and it turns out he loves it! Santa brought him a set of weave poles for Christmas so now we can practice at home. Come spring, I’m considering letting him compete in the local agility competitions.

Lexi is much younger, really just a pup (maybe a year old?) so I am working on basics with her. So far she has mastered not looking terrified all the time, and sitting on command. I spent a lot of time getting her not to cringe and crawl when anyone looked at her so I hesitate to teach her ‘down’. Right now we are working on leash manners. As in, walking while on leash as opposed to dropping to the ground and playing dead.

So that’s it for my plans for 2020! Here’s hoping it’s a wonderful year for all of us,

Happy Reading!

Anne Kane

Pia Manning: Star Brides 3–Dept. of Corrections
Wednesday, November 6th, 2019

Hi! I live in the deep dark woods of NW Wisconsin with one big happy mutt, three spoiled felines and my spousal unit. I love it up here. It’s quiet, peaceful and cold enough to freeze your gotchies off.

I began writing my make believe stories after being medically retired from the traditional workforce. I suppose my great need for escapism necessitated the birth of the Star Brides trilogy. It was either create a different world and alternate reality or run screaming into the woods! And as noted above, it gets pretty cold up here.

Throughout, I believe I’ve been true to the three women whose adventures I’ve chronicled. Each one, although very different in nature, has managed to be true to their principles while carving out a place for themselves in challenging cultural environments.

I guess you could say I believe in a woman’s strength and ability to stand up for herself, to yell, and kick, and fight for what she needs.

Janine Longo (Dept. of Corrections) continues that tradition. She’s a strong woman in a tough place making decisions about her future that some wouldn’t agree with. If you choose to share her journey, know that I write erotica. While the sex is explicit, there is no sex between the men in the book. My stories are all about her!

Star Brides 3: Dept. of Corrections

Inmate 1640, Janine Longo, would do anything to escape serving her long and well-deserved prison sentence. Anything. Including, leaving Earth with Zuntx warrior Kadir, to serve as mate to him and the three other men of his unit. Scarred and disfigured Kadir, is growing desperate. His third time as a Bridal Fair participant is about to end in failure, and the money has run out. Kadir can’t afford a fourth attempt. So, when the woman in the orange jumpsuit agrees to accompany him, he accepts her offer. The thriving bustling planet, Zuntx, that Kadir left behind is not the same place anymore. Riot torn, the planet’s homeless men now wander aimlessly seeking food, shelter and women. This is not at all what Janine had in mind. Can Janine find redemption on Zuntx? Is this her second chance? Can she learn to love all her men?

Buy links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Brides-Corrections-Publishing-PolyAmour-ebook/dp/B07Y2CJ52X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=star+brides%3A+dept.+of+corrections&qid

Siren Publishing: https://www.bookstrand.com/book/star-brides-dept-of-corrections-mfmmm

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/star-brides-pia-manning/1133652760?ean=9781642439571

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=Star+Brides%3A+Dept.+of+Corrections

And as always, I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave a comment, or contact me at:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/piamanning3
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pia.manning.71
WordPress: https://wordpress.com/view/piamanning.wordpress.com
Email: pia.manning@yahoo.com

Thank you, again, for having me as a guest on your blog!

Take care,
Pia Manning

Sylvie Grayson: The Last War Series! Books just $0.99 now!
Friday, October 11th, 2019

Start this Romantic Suspense/Sci Fi Series for $0.99!

The Last War Series — Romantic Suspense in a Science Fiction World…

To learn more about upcoming releases, please go to her website and sign up for her newsletter!

What readers are saying about the Last War:

“Major Dante seeks justice for Beth in the tough world of Khandarken. Loved this book and couldn’t stop reading. Ready for more in this superb story.”

“This…was a humdinger! I could not put it down and continued to read it from beginning to the end in one setting; late night! The story is well written, and the world is finely described.”

“There are plots within plots, subterfuge and battles, treachery and loyalty; all leading to an exciting story line that makes you want to read the next book in the series.”

The Last War: Book One, Khandarken Rising: Major Dante Regiment seeks justice for Beth, even if he has to provide it himself $0.99 For a limited time!

GET IT NOW!: Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon IN   | BN | Apple | Kobo

“I could not put this down. This is full of mystery, romance, obsession. I can’t wait for the second book.

The Emperor has been defeated. New countries have arisen from the ashes of the old Empire. The citizens swear they will never need to fight again after that long and painful war.

Bethlehem Farmer is doing her best to help her brother Abram hold things together in south Khandarken after their father died in the battles. She is looking after the dispossessed, keeping the farm productive and the talc mine working in the hills behind their land. But when Abram takes a trip with Uncle Jade into the northern territory and disappears without a trace, she’s left on her own. Suddenly things are not what they seem and no one can be trusted.

Major Dante Regiment is sent by his father, the General of Khandarken, to find out what the situation is at Farmer Holdings. What he sees shakes him to the core and fuels his grim determination to protect Bethlehem at all cost, even with his life.

Ms Grayson has created a fascinating new world with a lot of the same old problems. Sci fi and fantasy rolled into one with a sure hand and enormous imagination.

Son of the Emperor: The Last War: Book Two $0.99 For a limited time!

GET IT NOW!: Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon IN  | BN  | Kobo

From the mud and danger of the open road to the welcoming arms of the Sanctuary, from attacks by the dispossessed army to the storms of the open sea, Son of the Emperor takes us on a wild ride into danger and on to the dream of freedom.

The Emperor is defeated but already unrest is growing in the north of Khandarken.

After Julianne Adjudicator’s father disappears, she seeks to escape the clutches of her vicious stepmother Zanata, and flees to the Sanctuary. This is the safest place for a woman in a hostile world of unrest and roving dispossessed. But when Julianne seeks asylum, it soon becomes clear all is not as it first appeared.

Then Abe Farmer arrives at the Sanctuary seeking medical help. Abe isn’t interested in taking a young woman with them, as he and his injured bodyguard struggle to return to the Southern Territory. Yet when he discovers her fate if she stays, he finds he has no choice.

But the journey becomes more dangerous as they encounter the army of the New Emperor. Caught in the middle of a firefight, they flee toward the Catastrophic Ocean. Can Abe keep her safe till they reach home?

The Last War series is a stunning portrayal of a new world created from fire and consumed at the edges …- sci fi and fantasy at its best…

Truth and Treachery, The Last War: Book Three: Emperor Carlton has made Cownden Lanser an offer he can’t refuse $1.99 For a limited time!

GET IT NOW!: Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon IN     | BN | Apple | Kobo

The Last War series is one of a kind. The personal relationships are intriguing… The names are cool, the plot gets thicker with each page, and I loved the author’s style. I was sad to be finished and impressed by the world that Grayson was able to create. The descriptions were so real and the well-developed characters and sensuous love scenes make this a page turner.

Emperor Carlton has been backed into a corner, with his visions of expansion collapsing all around him. The skirmishes he’s launched have had limited success. But he has a new plan to overthrow everything Khandarken has cobbled together since the end of the Last War, and he knows just the man to make it happen. Chief Constable Cownden Lanser is a private man with a close connection to the Old Empire that he doesn’t divulge to anyone. Although he’s dedicated to his position in Khandarken, things are not what they seem in the rank and file of the police. And it’s his job to fix it. Selanna Nettles is a sookie, trained in Legitamia, who works with the disposessed and injured workers in the Western Territory near her family. When she meets Lanser, her life takes a startling turn once he hires her to accompany him to a set of high-level meetings in Gilsigg. In Legitamia, these three meet up and the result is explsive. Not just for each of them but for the future of Khandarken. When the Emperor makes Conden an offer, can he refuse? Espcially as it is everything he’s secretly dreamed of.