The Cosmic Bullet, The Enigma Series Part One by Andrew C. Broderick is a science fiction/futuristic story. I gave it four stars. There is an unknown object traveling toward the earth at a high rate of speed.
I received a complimentary copy in an Amazon promotion. That did not change my opinion for this review.
Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Bullet-Enigma-Part-One-ebook/dp/B06XPCQS8C
This Body Won't Break: Part 1 (The O-Negative Series) by Lea McKee is a poignant story about an orphan, Joanna who is almost turning eighteen and ready to leave Zone Three. I gave it four stars because it was easy to read and kept my attention.
"The clock above my door has traded in its hands for knives. They cut and slice, shatter the minutes and seconds from existence. Countless days have led me to this point, this day."
She and the others who have turned eighteen have been transported to a new location.
"The entire roof is glass, the pieces angled, allowing the remnants of sunset to soak the room in a glow of fragmented amber light. Like being underwater if the water was on fire."
I received a Kindle copy in an Amazon promotion. That did not change my opinion for this review.
Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073YK24MW
This is supposed to be the first novella out of three that were supposed to be released in the span of four weeks time but for the life of me I cannot seem to find others from this series but this one so I will only review what I have on my Kindle and what I was able to read.
This novella is a contemporary mystery/crime, adult erotic romance with a dark edge novella which plays around with abduction and rape as lightly as it would be dangling rope in front of kittens.
I think that from my point of view this story held a lot of promise in the first half but then it came undone in the second half when the storyline pretty much fell apart and the characters became either non-existent in personality or overly sex driven to the literal point of becoming a psychopath.
"I wanted to show her that her high and mighty superiority, her degrees and diplomas, her privileged existence, her sense of security, was a façade. I was going to breach the fortress that was her privacy. I was going to leave my mark on her life like a dog pissing to mark his territory, and one day soon, I was going be in her bed fucking her brains out."
All this said in that one first sentence would be perfectly understandable in this kind of a story if the female protagonist Mina ever did anything of the sorts. She didn't. She is barely present in this novella. She is simply there for the real main character Mikhail to obsess about after meeting her just once. Yes, one look at the woman and our main ex marine, ex special ops, enhanced ex soldier is completely taken with her. I wouldn't mind it so much if Mina was at least interesting or different from a horde of good looking women out there.
That was my first complaint. I didn't find them believable as a couple at all. Maybe this is due to the shortness of the story. So I won't judge too harshly because of that.
But the second complaint I have that even with the story being so short, some things make no sense whatsoever.
Example: Mikhail is an enhanced soldier who is on the run from a government that created him and now wants him dead so he assumed a different identity. He gets captured by the FBI because of some mafia involvement and when in custody he meets a doctor who was present at the early stages of the Program when he was turned into the enhanced soldier. And for no apparent reason or any other connection, previous or more personal, this doctor helps him in every way possible, even with his escape plan and with providing him the address of his student Mina. It's just not believabe. It took me out of the story. There is no connection or friendship between them. There is no reason for that doctor to risk his career and life to help a man like Mikhail.
There were a couple of passages/sentences that I liked very much, that were what I thought this whole story would be like.
"Nothing like making a woman orgasm to point out how they were creatures of the flesh just as much as men.
Bring her down to my level."
"Revenge is cleansing. It's the only way to move forward because it sets things right. Civilization is this thin veneer that overlays the beast beneath it, hiding its true nature."
All in all, I think this was a good novella to pass the time and interesting enough to make me pick up the second one in the series (if I had one).
If only it had been a little longer and more consistent and provided us with more characters' personality so I would care more about what happens with the protagonists I would certainly give it more stars as I would be more invested.
"Will you punish me?"
"Do you need to be punished?"
"I have such... wicked thoughts of you."
"Dear God, I hope you do."
"Gabriel, what I give to you cannot be taken; 'tis a thing you've earned. To submit is my gift to you, and pleasure is your gift."
"God, but I love being inside you," he whispered in his own tongue. "So perfect, your body iron hard and petal soft. So beautiful, your satin mouth, your starlight eyes, your silken skin. My heart beats for you, sings for you."
"They'll know I tamed you, and it's no secret I've a liking for rough play. But exactly what goes on betwixt us?" [...] "Your submission belongs to me alone. But everyone is to know you're mine, and no one else is to lay a hand on you. No one."
I deliberately gave no rating; from a technical point of view: there were a few typos (auto-correct?) but that was not why.
I quite liked the first two in this series; the next three were okay but nothing special. It was my first foray into gothic style romance (okay, other then many years ago Victoria Holt) so I was not entirely sure what to expect. I had already pre-ordered this one and after the last three had meant to cancel the order but forgot.
The book (the reader will know early on) took a paranormal turn. Vampire novels just don't do it for me.
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