Moonfire

Rating:
Summary: Good Sci Fi Romance!
Review: Alex Mariltar, third son of the High Lord of Mariltar, was ready to live his dream. Long ago, the clans had all traded and lived in peace in the Crestar System, but jealousy, greed and war drove the great families apart. Alex has been made ambassador of Treaine, a beautiful planet with a new colony that will become the example of the peaceful harmony that the Crestar System will be able to enjoy once again - if Alex can get all of the other races to get along, that is. The one snag in his plan is that he must marry a woman of a race not his own. Alex did not care for any of the Coalition's choices and didn't really want to get married soon. Still, he couldn't help but remember the beautiful woman he had helped a few months ago. Too bad that he never got the chance to learn who she was...

Joanna Chase was an Earthwoman serving as an negotiator on a space ship near Treaine. She was in the middle of some very touchy negotiations when the handsome hunk she had run into before kidnapped her and said that he was going to marry her! She refused, of course, but she couldn't get anyone to listen to her and get her out of this mess. All they kept talking about was the Match Key and how the computer had said that Alex and Joanna would be a good match. Hah! What the heck did a computer know?

Joanna understood the sensitive situation that Alex was in on Treaine, but she knew that she just didn't have what it took to be an ambassador's wife. She resisted Alex at every opportunity, but, when Alex finally coaxed her into sharing his bed, sparks really flew. Joanna was falling in love with Alex, but she was still determined to escape the colony and go somewhere far away where he would never find her. She was convinced that Alex would find someone better suited to his new position than she. But she had no idea that she was being watched by a secret society with magic powers who were intent on resurrecting old grievances and setting the clans at war against each other as in the past. Joanna was an integral part of their plan because every fool could see how much the new ambassador cared for his wife - every fool except Joanna...

Moonfire was a good science fiction/romance novel and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything spectacular. It is a character driven book and so much of the story is focused on the two main characters and the other people around them, but they lived in a fascinating world with many different kinds of peoples that was interesting to learn about. I did feel that the author introduced some aspects of the story to give it a more fantastic feel that detracted rather than added to the story, though, as she kept throwing weird things in at the end to move the story along that just didn't fit. I also was a bit frustrated at the two main characters. They had the same argument over and over in the book and every time they came to an understanding the same thing would happen again and then they wouldn't know how to fix it. I would have liked to have seen some more depth and maturation in them as the book went on instead of them staying static and then suddenly changing at the end. Still, it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it and Alex was a really hot hero. Recommended for fans of science fiction with a lot of romance thrown in.

Rating:
Summary: Good Sci Fi Romance!
Review: Alex Mariltar, third son of the High Lord of Mariltar, was ready to live his dream. Long ago, the clans had all traded and lived in peace in the Crestar System, but jealousy, greed and war drove the great families apart. Alex has been made ambassador of Treaine, a beautiful planet with a new colony that will become the example of the peaceful harmony that the Crestar System will be able to enjoy once again - if Alex can get all of the other races to get along, that is. The one snag in his plan is that he must marry a woman of a race not his own. Alex did not care for any of the Coalition's choices and didn't really want to get married soon. Still, he couldn't help but remember the beautiful woman he had helped a few months ago. Too bad that he never got the chance to learn who she was...

Joanna Chase was an Earthwoman serving as an negotiator on a space ship near Treaine. She was in the middle of some very touchy negotiations when the handsome hunk she had run into before kidnapped her and said that he was going to marry her! She refused, of course, but she couldn't get anyone to listen to her and get her out of this mess. All they kept talking about was the Match Key and how the computer had said that Alex and Joanna would be a good match. Hah! What the heck did a computer know?

Joanna understood the sensitive situation that Alex was in on Treaine, but she knew that she just didn't have what it took to be an ambassador's wife. She resisted Alex at every opportunity, but, when Alex finally coaxed her into sharing his bed, sparks really flew. Joanna was falling in love with Alex, but she was still determined to escape the colony and go somewhere far away where he would never find her. She was convinced that Alex would find someone better suited to his new position than she. But she had no idea that she was being watched by a secret society with magic powers who were intent on resurrecting old grievances and setting the clans at war against each other as in the past. Joanna was an integral part of their plan because every fool could see how much the new ambassador cared for his wife - every fool except Joanna...

Moonfire was a good science fiction/romance novel and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything spectacular. It is a character driven book and so much of the story is focused on the two main characters and the other people around them, but they lived in a fascinating world with many different kinds of peoples that was interesting to learn about. I did feel that the author introduced some aspects of the story to give it a more fantastic feel that detracted rather than added to the story, though, as she kept throwing weird things in at the end to move the story along that just didn't fit. I also was a bit frustrated at the two main characters. They had the same argument over and over in the book and every time they came to an understanding the same thing would happen again and then they wouldn't know how to fix it. I would have liked to have seen some more depth and maturation in them as the book went on instead of them staying static and then suddenly changing at the end. Still, it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it and Alex was a really hot hero. Recommended for fans of science fiction with a lot of romance thrown in.

Rating:
Summary: Well written futuristic romance
Review: I adore futuristic romance... love that combo of sci fi, space opera, and 2 people falling into a happy ever after.
This certainly fits the bill.
A first book, it is well written, and well editted (unlike other first books,.. Three Moons Rising comes to mind immediately. UGH.)
The hero, Alex, has to get married as a contingency of his ambassadorial appointment. He doesn't like his choices, and when our heroine's ship passes close by, he's desperate enough to scan the ships database to find a "match". Joanna isn't too thrilled about being abducted and forced to marry. But unlike many books, neither character changes too diametrically from the people they started out to be. They grow, and adapt to one another.. and yes fall in love.
I hope we see more from this author.
It has a hero who does manage to grow, and a heroine who falls in love despite herself.

Rating:
Summary: sadly, a poor effort
Review: I feel bad doing this, since Ms. Clarke put effort into writing a book (one would think), while I am taking the much easier route of tearing it apart. However, in the spirit of fair criticism, I have to say that in my opinion one could fill an entire term paper with what is wrong with this novel. Here are some possible entries:

(a) I know that the enjoyment of reading erotic scenes doesn't always depend on good writing. Here, however, it is most certainly hampered by crass writing. In addition to fairly formulaic and stereotypical erotic scenes, which constitute the bulk of this book, we often find stuff like: "He had a brief moment of doubt when he wondered if she would breed less easily because of her daintier size" (p.42); "While she never initiated their lovemaking, she had never refused his advances, except once on the first day of her monthly bleeding." (p.190) And more of the same.

(b) The emotions of the two main characters are agonies of pointless and exaggerated misunderstandings. He wants her, but is put off by her cold demeanor; she wants him, but won't yield just for the sake of it. When at last we think they understood each other and sigh with relief, the book goes right back to "he wants her, but...", as if nothing had happened. The reader often wishes the characters would have a long talk about it and move on to more interesting emotions.

(c) Although the author makes it painfully clear that the "adventure" part of the plot is as crucial to the book as the dialogue to a porn movie, I was hoping that the "mystery" would be resolved, at least. The whole thing is squeezed in the last 50 pages or so (out of 300) of the book, in which we hear about a strange city, a strange being, and a strange prophecy. At the end of the book, we sort of solve the prophecy, and find nothing about the city, the being, or why the prophecy was important in the history of that planet, for that matter.

I am sorry, but I wouldn't recommend this book, unless you really have nothing else to read on a train ride.

Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful suprise!
Review: I love paranormal/futuristic romances but I am very picky and rarely find new authors that I like but Anne Clark has just been added to my list! I won't write a storyline for this book as others have done so but I thought the book was well done. I will be looking for more books in the future from this author!

Rating:
Summary: Don't Pass This By
Review: This e-book was a nice surprise. It is well written, has sympathetic characters and a strong, developed plot. If you like romances written by Stefanie Laurens you will certainly enjoy this e-book, even though it is not a historical but futuristic romance. This is a character-driven romance, by the way, with the setting being secondary to the evolving relationship. For a frame of reference, this is a better book than the time-travel books written by Nora Roberts, and her books are never "bad". So, again, if you like the writting style of Stefanie Laurens and Nora Roberts, I recommend this e-book.