Saranne Dawson

Nazleen is the ruler of the Hamloorian people. Like all Lieges, she is Cerecian: a descendant of Stakezti, a mysterious golden-haired child who had special powers (telepathy, visions of the future, the ability to wield green fire). It was Cerecians who wielded their green fire against the violent Warriors and brought peace to this land. Since then, a female Cerecian Liege has always ruled Hamloor, reluctantly choosing a mate from among the Warriors when it comes time for her to conceive an heir.

Nazleen knows that she will need to choose a mate soon. Her choice will almost certainly be Miklav, the Warrior Chief. He's a Warrior, so she'll never be able to fully trust him, but he seems to be a good man, and he's made some changes to Warrior society that she finds surprising, intriguing, and a little unsettling. However, first she must deal with news that may shift the balance of power more in Miklav's favor: there have been several sightings of aliens, some of whom might be male Cerecians. There have only ever been female Cerecians, and it's uncertain whether these possible male Cerecians are peaceful or as prone to violence as the Warriors.

Love Spell futuristic romances (which weren't necessarily "futuristic") used to be my catnip. If I found one at the library or on a used bookstore shopping trip, I wanted to read it. I figure I've probably owned this particular book for at least 15 or 20 years. I never seemed to be in the mood to read it, but I couldn't bring myself to offload it either. Love Spell nostalgia, I guess.

Sadly, this didn't turn out to be a hidden gem. I don't think I'd have liked it even if I had read it back during the height of my "futuristic romance" reading. The beginning was weighed down by overly complicated and confusing world-building. The story had potential but was generally boring. Even worse, this wasn't a romance. I don't care what the cover art and branding make it look like, it's not a romance.

It's possible to see the bones for a couple potentially decent romance novels in this book. In one, Nazleen and Miklav, two rulers who see each other as political adversaries, work together to investigate a potential threat towards their people and gradually begin to care for each other. In the other, Nazleen grew up believing that Cerecians were only ever female, while Zaktar believed that Cerecians were only ever male. After a disastrous meeting, they tried to patch things up between them for the good of their people, but also because they found themselves drawn to each other.

Two thirds of Greenfire was the first romance. This confused me, because the back of the book indicated that Nazleen and Zaktar were the book's heroine and hero. It was possible that this was somehow a stealth poly romance, but the Cerecian Sisterhood's visions of Miklav being killed in a war didn't seem like a good sign.

I initially figured that Zaktar would show up early on, kill Miklav or somehow cause his death, and then spend the rest of the book trying to get Nazleen to trust him. As pages and pages went by with little more than a single instance of telepathic contact between Nazleen and Zaktar that Nazleen thought might have been a hallucination, I became more unsure of the route this story was going to take. I also found myself thinking that this read far more like SFF with romantic aspects than an actual SFF romance. Although Nazleen and Miklav had sex, Nazleen never truly trusted Miklav and made it clear that he didn't have her heart. Miklav actually seemed more emotionally involved with Nazleen than Nazleen was with him, despite the fact that he had a long-term lover with whom he'd had a child (Hamloorians, and Warriors in particular, rarely had lifelong monogamous relationships).

I disliked Miklav's lust for political power and his controlling behavior. However, at least he had a significant on-page presence and had spent a good deal of time with Nazleen. The same couldn't be said about Zaktar. And yet. (Major spoilers from this point on. MAJOR.)

About two thirds of the way through the book, Zaktar killed Miklav. He could have held back and just stunned him, but instead he deliberately killed him - he wanted Nazleen after having briefly seen her, and he viewed Miklav as his rival. Nazleen tried to kill him in return and ended up miscarrying - yes, she was pregnant and Miklav was the father. Zaktar saved her life by carrying her into the Cerecians' sacred green fire...an act which the two later found out was an ancient Cerecian marriage ceremony. So, no matter what Nazleen did, she was unwillingly bound to someone. Nazleen spent most of the Zaktar portion of the book avoiding him, to the point where Zaktar thought he'd end up having to go back to his people alone, but once that "unwittingly married" bit came up, Nazleen's resistance magically evaporated and the two of them had sex in the sacred green fire. The end. Literally the end. The book just stopped right there.

It was bad enough that the book's supposed hero didn't really meet the heroine until the last third of the story, after he'd killed the man she'd chosen as her mate. That ending, on top of everything else, was a slap in the face. On the plus side, now I get to offload this book and free up a little shelf space.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (plus d'informations)

Once two people were never closer. Bound in innocence and freedom, the heroine and her hero were inseparable as children. Then everything changed. The hero began to feel something more primitive towards his friend and became unnerved by it. Knowing, even at the young age of 14, that a peasant could never be with the daughter of the royal family, he decides to accept the offer from the brotherhood to join their ranks. With them he can expand his world with a formal education, he can spend his time doing what he loves-reading, and he hopes that the heroine was young and naïve enough to forget about him in time and find someone to love-even if the idea eats him from the inside out. But instead, the heroine grows bitter towards the brotherhood-hating them and everything they stand for. For taking away her friend she could never forgive them. And for the hero abandoning her, she vows to never forgive him either. Now she's a woman and when she's asked to journey into the distant land in search of a rare and strange bird, never in a million years would she have expected to see her hero. When the hero is sent out by the brotherhood to recruit members, he knows that there is a deeper seated reason for why they've chosen to send him. He's told he'll find his destiny on this quest and deep inside his heart, he knows that seeing the heroine again will alter his entire world. He accepts the quest even enough that once he lays eyes on her again, he doubts his ability to leave her again like he did all those years ago. And he is right. He tries to pretend that there is even the slightest chance of returning to the life of a monk and the heroine turn tries to pretend that she doesn't care any more but both are lying to themselves. Though she is bitter towards him and says things to try to hurt him as much as he's hurt her, they eventually fall right back into how they once were together. No, that's a life. They can never been like they were, instead their bond has evolved into something deeper, something adult. Both inexperienced with anything remotely sexual, they begin to learn each other and explore their new passion and desire. But forces are working against them. The hero begins to suspect his brotherhood is trying to kill one of them and attempt after attempt makes him fear more for the heroine safety. Until finally they succeed in separating the lovers. They make them forget everything to do with the other person and send the heroine packing while keeping the hero wrapped up in mystical dreams and magical promises. But the enemy didn't factor in the love shared between the hero and heroine and soon the spell wears off and the heroine remembers the boy she cared for who became the man she loved and she must fight to get him back- to get him back and keep him forever. I don't think the summary above does this book justice so don't judge it too harshly. It's hard to write a synopsis about such a deep and complex book, especially one I adored as much as this one. I would categorize it more a Fantasy romance than the futuristic it's supposed to be but regardless I really liked the storyline and the passion between the characters was awesome. The tension between them as they struggled to understand everything was potent and it made the pages sizzle. I loved the fact that both characters were virgins, having no desire to be with any one else but each other even if their love was forbidden as children and is just as forbidden now. I loved the nobility of the hero who took his vows to protect her-denying himself in an attempt to give the heroine as chance to be happy. He took his vows to many reasons but it was never intended to hurt her. And unfortunately that's the only thing he did. She never forgot him, never married and it didn't take her very long in his company to realize that no matter what, she would always love him. As I said, I found this pairing to be so sweet and I the writing style captured me and captivated me. My only issue with this book was the ending. Pretty much everything after the two characters were made to forget each other felt like a completely separate book. It lost the magic for me and prevented the 5 star rating I was so willing to give up to that point. REGARDLESS. Awesome book. Passionate love story. Interesting plotline-far from cookie cutter.… (plus d'informations)

Mortal enemies after the heroine's race enslaved and tortured the hero's, the heroine's people were driven out of their home land and stripped of there memories. Now they have returned and immediately succumb to the evil forces living in the mountain. The book started out nicely. The heroine is an outcast in her people due to her lack of faith in the Gods and the coldhearted priests who speak to them. Though she considers staying behind when her people begin to travel back to their ancestral home, a vision of a man who's to be her destiny drives her to accompany them. The hero isn't completely human and kidnaps the heroine in an attempt to stop her people from making it to the valley. It doesn't take them very long at all to have sex. In fact the second the male shows a little interest in her the heroine is immediately on her back. I hated the heroine, not just because of her flip flopping feelings toward the hero but also because of her weakness to stop her people. She ignores all the facts about what her people used to be and continually allows the priests to slowly destroy them. Every piece of information the hero gives her, she immediately runs to tell them as if it will stop their pursuit of power. So shocking, the priests welcome to evil forces into their bodies and begin to take steps to enslave the mountain people. Also, the same things are repeated over and over and over again. The heroine shouting that the voices in the cave are evil, the hero showing up randomly and telling her he wants her before they screw in the bushes. Over all, a very frustration book with even more frustrating characters who never really felt genuine in their love. It did, however, paint religion in a dark and dangerous light with showing just how far people will go for power in the name of faith. Also that complete devoutness will leave you blind to the horrors of human behavior.… (plus d'informations)