Review: Beyond the Rain by Jess Granger

Published Date: August 4h, 2009
Finished Date: November 2nd, 2011
Publishers:  Berkley Trade
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Series: Realms Beyond #1
My Rating: 3/5

Blurb from Goodreads:
In a universe torn apart by civil war, a warrior and a slave must fight for their lives and a love that may destroy them both.

After five years behind enemy lines, Captain Cyani has to complete one final mission before she can return to Azra-a planet ruled by a sisterhood of celibate warriors. Along the way she finds a prisoner, chained and beaten-but radiating feral power and an unbroken spirit.

For years Soren has endured torture as his captors leeched his very essence, a unique hormone then sold as a sexual narcotic in the shadow trade. Now he has been freed from slavery by a beautiful warrior woman with radiant blue eyes.

After years in bondage, Soren's hormones are so unbalanced that he will die if he does not mate with a woman. Can Cyani be the woman he needs to survive, or will this forbidden bond destroy them?

My Review

The thing about Sci-fi is, once you've read one of them, you've probably already read them all. Not to say that I don't like them, it's just that it gets old. But Granger is a fantastic author, for that I do commend her.

I've actually took 5 months to read this book. I got bored in the middle portion and chucked it aside for 4.5 months, so I can't give an accurate synopsis, and I think the one above pretty much summarises the whole thing. Cyani's an Elite officer for the cold, established planet of Azra, and she is on a mission on this other planet. Over there, her scout (Vicca, the mini fox - or something else that's small) and her discovered a tortured and chained Byralen. The Elite was formed to uphold justice, and being a true blue Elite, she frees him and tries to sneak him off the planet.

Byralens are a race who cannot survive long without their mates - something to do with their hormones and stuff? I don't know, it wasn't explained, but it seemed like a sort of sexual stimulation that they'd die without. Lol. Anyway, so Cyani's secret mission? To get Soren, said captured Byralen, back to his home planet fast for him to find a mate. Or somewhere along those lines. All I can remember is that she has to get him home, fast, but he doesn't have a mate at home yet, so I don't know why Cyani's gotta rush him home. Along the way multiple problems arise; For one, the current matriach of Azra wants Soren for her own psychotic reason, so she has to steer clear of the Elites (problem 1). Two, there's the problem of transport, no ship = trapped on some godforsaken planet. Three, Cyani's starting to fall for Soren, but when she gets Soren back, her mission's complete and she has to return to Azra. It's her duty, but can she leave Soren for good when the time comes for them to say goodbye?

Lol, ok, that was pretty obvious, but oh well. I'm not a big fan of the ferrying by space ships from planet to planet. I don't know why, but the setting just doesn't appeal to me. And the challenges faced by the protagonists are not what I'd consider original, so I gave it a meager 3 stars(or licks as my icons say). But, I did enjoy the ending and the constant action and a sorta suspense hanging around in the periphery. Just when I thought it will be a happy ending already, something happens and I would be so shocked and curious I'd tear thru the pages to read what happens. And I was already at the last few pages!

I loved the whole cast. Cyani, who was brave, sweet, and just so lovable; Soren who was protective and so romantic. Even Cyani's brother who appeared around the three-quarters mark. He is such an enigma, in a good way. He is super smart, super badass, and super infuriating! He could fight better than anyone, he could be so sarcastic (and witty), but he does care about Cyani's welfare and happiness. I know he's going to find his happiness in the next book, BEYOND THE SHADOWS, because I'm reading this series/duology backwards. Haha, the second book's synopsis appealed more, so I went ahead with it first.

But anyway, the entire cast in BEYOND THE RAIN was superb, and I rooted for them all the way. The plot was cool, but as I've said, is still a very typical sci-fi one. So if you're a fan of Sci-fi-plus-a-little-heartwrenching-romance (lol, I realised that "little" and "heartwrenching" are contradictory, but really, Granger only focused on the romance at the end, but it was very well done, and very, very heartwarming), you might want to try this one out.

My Rating

Review: Captive Surrender by Linda Mooney

Published Date: September 12th, 2011
Finished Date: August 28th, 2011
Publishers: Carina Press
Format: eARC from Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads: As an intergalactic cop gifted with psionic abilities, Maurra instinctively went to the Ellinod's defense when she saw the immense and bestial-looking alien being attacked by a group of vicious Kronners. Little did she know what the Kronners had planned for her and the Ellinod until she woke up naked in a cell inside their ship. And it wasn't long before she found out a translation device had been implanted against her spine, debilitating her and making her helpless with pain whenever she tried to use her psi powers.


Neither she nor the Ellinod had any idea how twisted their captors were, but they soon discovered that she and the beast were at the mercy of someone who expected them to "entertain" his "customers", and entertain them well regardless of the consequences.

My Review: Hmm.. Conflicting emotions, this one gave. There were the ups and there were the downs, but ultimately, I'll say there were more ups.

Maurra is a JoJo, our equivalent of the police. One day after a mission which left her exhausted, she decided to give herself a little reprieve and went to a bar for a drink. It was there that everything went downhill for our dear Maurra.

As a JoJo, it was instilled into her to always uphold righteousness, so when she sees a group of Kronners attack an Ellinod, she plunged herself into the crosshairs between them.

As seen in the synopsis, she was coerced to copulate with the Ellinod. Oh, but amidst the moans and groans (oh, sounds kinda..gross) sparks fly and they started developing affections for each other. However, even after their narrow escape from their prisonhold (albeit a little ruffed up), they still had the law to face - which decreed that inter-species fornication is strictly forbidden. On top of the law, the mastermind behind this whole incident is still at large, and is bent on seeing both of them silenced forever...

Let me start off by saying that sci-fi novels have very similar storylines and since I've already read more than a few sci-fi novels, this one seemed pretty predictable to me. Which ultimately debilitated the excitement and suspense for me. But well, Mooney is a great writer and her words carried me to the end.

The world building is amazing. Detailed but not overtly fanciful or redundant. It was stunning, really. All the peripheral stuff came together with the nitty-gritty, and voila, you get yourself a crazy backdrop. Lol. Aside from that, the characters were well-formed and their interactions were..well, fun. Those that made an impression were actually those that were witty and funny. Lol, got a kick out of those.

Maurra started off as a very serious, no-nonsense type of officer. Stern and always in control. But you could see as the story progressed, she became a more...loving..person? Oh man, my vocab brain compartment is planning a mutiny.. Let's just say that she embraced more of her feminine side and developed a sense of humor in the end.:)

The male protagonist, Safan the Ellinod...Safan Safan Safan.. He is a giant hulk of a man. Not man, more of a humanoid alien. He has horns which are as sensitive as his manhood. Lol. So you can imagine where Maurra strokes/places her hands as they, ahem, fornicate. Anyway, not the point. To me, Safan wasn't the ideal male protagonist. Not that I don't like him, just not the best that I've seen. He's dominant in bed, yeah, but out of bed? It's more of Maurra steering the reins, so nope, he didn't make the cut for me.

The first part of the book was like:

Woah dude, that's some hot _BEEP_!

Yep. It's like the Rated version of Jess Granger's Beyond the Shadows. I have to say, Mooney sure has some sick and sadistic thoughts up there! But patrons enjoy it, so why not right?

Two things that bugged me was the speed at which their feelings for each other developed and that sometimes there were just too many coincidences that it made the problem solving a little too convenient. Firstly, how can you actually develop feelings for someone just because he was gentle to you in the course of being sexually violated?

And about the convenience issue, somehow during her rather ambitious endeavors, EVERYTHING was to her favor, and EVERYTHING that happened seemed to fit into her plans. Which got quite fallacious at some point.

Furthermore, the hype and suspense dwindled down towards the middle portion. But it got back up again right after! I swear, it shot up real quick. Lol, I think this review is getting a little wacky (in a bad way) and lengthy, so I'll stop here.

Oh wait, just one last point. The ending was suh-weeeet. Really romantic.

Ok, let me rate it this way.

As a sci-fi novel: Not bad. 3.5/5

As an erotica: Woah. 4/5

Plot-wise: Nyeh....Predictable, but still action-packed. 2.5/5

Development of plot, world, characters, etc: Not bad. 3/5

Mean: 3.5/5. But I was tempted to stop reading quite a number of times, that's why I gave it a 3.

PS.The first thing that came to my mind when i saw this book cover, was "legal porn". Lol.

*Thank you Netgalley and Carina Press for this eARC!*

My Rating: