Re
Space ships and aliens and technology…oh my!
We wish to thank author T.C. Archer for such a lovely introduction into this neat little sub-genre and wish them much future success on subsequent missions. (Hehehe…did we speak Sci-Fi there, or what?!)
Our thoughts
Overall Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Mechanics: (4 out of 5)
People, we’ ve only got 122 pages to save the planet, here…
Oh, the dueling requirements of an ambitious novella versus a reader’s needs. SO much to cover in such a short period of space. So few pages to really build a romance...what's an author to do?
The plot and the characters have to move fast to fit all the space travel and bad-guy fighting/planet-saving in there with the sex and romance. And they do. From the opening shots of a shiny plasma-lazer-zapper gun at pursuing Pinkertons (nice nod to the Old West, by the way), Archer opens the story and moves. Quickly. Not once can a reader complain that the plot or the action stalls.
The characters were interesting.
Heck, anyone with chrome eyes, living on spaceships with magical boob expansion and reduction creams will have our attention from the get go.
Sasha, our heroine, starts out the journey a bit unrefined in this reviewer’s opinion. A bit victim of circumstance (and a tad novice, perhaps?) who hides on a spaceship and happens to be discovered by our hero...not the strongest motivation to drive us into hyperspace, but it doesn't snag you very long or make you stumble through the story. You get over it and you begin rooting for her and her hero and all the crazy, hot, space nookie that follows.
Dirk? Dirk’s the brainy hunk we never had in our high school chem class. Dammit. He’s got to be something special for readers to let go of our initial “holy hell, they get naked really quickly” reaction and just go with it. But we find our groove with these two and we go along, all the while treated to a new universe and new race. The ultimate in escapism. And the sex is steamy. And inventive. Made us blush a shade or two on occasion. Just sayin’.
Reading experience: (4.5 out of 5)
The bottom line is Archer put plenty of conflict in our heroine’s lap immediately and kept the pressure on. Lives were going to be lost if she failed. Period. To this, Archer mixed a sexy hero, a bunch of technology, a few hairy man/mammal species, some robots, a lot of science and, well, lust. A lot of lust. The book was high stakes and high emotion through out. Not everyone’s tastes, we understand some people love their understated regencies and medieval…but this is not one of them. And that’s good.
We cheated and read a few reviews before we actually cracked the Nook open and read it and were actually surprised at a grumbling here or there about the sex being misplaced and too abundant. To that we answer: well, you bought an erotica.
Yes, it has fantastic Sci-Fi flair and alternate worlds and creatures…but you bought erotica. The expectation is for lots of sweaty, heated hook ups that keep our characters occupied and naked while saving planets, defeating villains, and shooting their cool pew-pew-pew guns (gosh, we loved her pistol…can you tell?).
The pace was perfect, the characters fascinating enough to keep us along for the unfamiliar, extra-terrestrial ride, and the outcome (a mere 122 pages, mind you) was rewarding. Highly recommended and many happy returns wished for Archer.
Happy reading!
Pink Owl Romance Reviews
Excerpt to Sasha's Calling
