What begins as a rescue in space and quickly adds some elements of a starlit romance, soon charges into an emotion-driven action/adventure. A daring starship captain and an abused ex-slave who thinks of himself as worthless are at the center of some exciting turmoil that enables one to fullfil a long-term promise to himself and the other to find his courage. Their story had me cheering them along as I was enjoying the world, far in the future, these guys live in.

Shanrem wasn’t raised to make his own choices, and he never expected to be loved by the mate his family chose for him, but getting kidnapped by the brutal Dukati is far worse. The warrior who keeps him as his pet brutally abuses him at every opportunity, and when his jealous wife has Shanrem beaten half to death, then abandoned in space, he actually hopes to die. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself rescued and treated kindly – suddenly he has a say in his own future. What now?

Zen knows how brutal the Dukati are, two of his younger siblings are still in their hands and the third has never been the same since Zen rescued him. When he finds Shanrem and is immediately attracted to him, he is determined not to let the Dukati have him back. It isn’t as easy as he hopes for, and Zen has to risk it all if he wants to keep the man he is quickly falling for. Luckily he has a secret that might just help him do that…

If you like space opera with heroes who risk everything to make things right, if rescued captives who learn to enjoy life again are your thing, and if you’re looking for a read that is as suspenseful as it is sweet, then you will probably like this novella.


NOTE: This book was provided by Changeling Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )