Saturday Book News

HeartFast
An erotic sci-fi romance
by Linda Mooney
Author’s website: www.LindaMooney.com
Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
Buy Link: http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/torrid/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=340
Size: 102.5K (super novel)
Heat rating: sensuous/explicit
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACNvsDw9nFc
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Blurb:
They were the Guardians, sixteen special men and women with incredible powers. They lived on a world that, eons ago, had suffered a devastating plague that had rendered more than half its population unable to reproduce. In order to assure the survival of their species, the HandFast law was enacted. Every month, twenty couples, complete strangers, were drawn by lottery—couples whose sole purpose would be to procreate.

It was a cold and impersonal law, but it worked.When StarLight and Master Hunter heard their names called out to be HandFasted, their neat, orderly lives were turned upside-down. Gone was the comfortable companionship and brother-sister working relationship. Now they were forced into an intimacy neither had wanted, nor expected.
Neither were they prepared for the overwhelming passion they would find in each other's bodies, as well as in their hearts. But things would only get more complicated and dangerous, because someone had deliberately placed their names in the lottery as the first step in destroying their world and every Guardian living.
Excerpt:
Two nights. They had shared two nights, and she’d become like his own blood.
The netherworld protected him during his flight past a hundred moons and planets. Its only drawback was that it wasn’t oxygen rich, which meant he had to find worlds where he could breathe and re-stock that thin bubble around him. As he slipped effortlessly into gray, mist-like non-existence, his body reached out, calling to her.
Terrin.
Time Merchant and Deceiver had stared at him when he had told them he had to convince Star he loved her. Oddly, though, they didn’t seemed surprised, other than hearing him declare it. A tiny smile creased the corners of his mouth. How many of them already suspected the truth?
A tiny shimmering of color rainbowed from behind an asteroid belt circling an uninhabited planet below. The phenomena should not have been there, as the coloring faced away from any light source. Hunter felt a tug in his bones, and he dropped to check it out.
When he finally spotted her, for the span of several heartbeats he almost allowed his terror to swallow him whole. She was lying sprawled inside one of the million craters spotting the back of the largest asteroid. Motionless, there was no sign of breathing, no sign of life coming from her.
Hunter drew closer. The asteroid had no atmosphere. If he left the void, he would die almost instantly, but definitely, and with extreme agony in the airlessness of space.
A tremor ran through her, and her eyes flew open. Her mouth formed a single word.
No!
He watched as she painfully got to her feet, and at that moment it hit him. She could feel him. She could tell he was there, as surely as he could sense her. How, he couldn’t begin to understand, but the knowledge gave him both a sense of security while at the same time it also posed a problem. How would he be able to approach her if she could "see" him coming?
Star was weak. The star-like pattern on her body suit barely moved. Her face was pale. Wane. Her violet eyes were enormous saucers.
Taking the risk, Hunter coalesced for less than a fraction of a second before retreating back into the void. But it was enough time to drop the earpiece in front of her.
Star saw the tiny communications device materialize near the toe of her boot, as if by magic. Long moments passed as she stared at it, warring with her emotions. Fighting with her need to hear his voice, even though she knew that if she relented and put it on, all that she had accomplished thus far would not matter anymore.
Hunter watched her body tremble as he softly urged her to "-pick it up, my love. Please. Please. Take it and put it on. Let me talk to you. Let me tell you how this flight is going to kill us, but I don’t care. I don’t care anymore, not as long as I’m with you. Not as long as the last thing I ever see is your beautiful face. Pick up the earpiece, Terrin. Please."
She bent to retrieve the earpiece, and Hunter finally knew her love for him was greater than her worse fears and despair. He waited for her to slip it on. Waited for her to speak first.
"I know you’re there. I can feel you. You’re so damn close." Her voice was a ghost. She was past exhaustion, as was he.
"Terrin."
At the sound of her name, Star almost convulsed, tightly shutting her eyes as she clenched her fists in front of her.
"I can’t ... I can’t take any more, Udo," she told him. Her confession sounded thin and far away in the vacuum of space. "Why won’t you let me go?"
"Because if I do, I will lose what’s left of my sanity. I love you, Terrin. So much, that if I have to follow you for the rest of my days, I’ll do so without any reservation. I can’t let you go. I never will."
****
An OUTSTANDING READ from Simply Romance Reviews
HeartFast was not just a satisfying romance, it was also a mind-teasing mystery and science fiction read as well. Visual imagery was well written, and the mystery surrounding the unsanctioned handfast skillfully told. While I can usually figure out what's coming, this story kept me guessing to the end.
Emotionally conveyed, StarLight and Master Hunter's story was equally touching, painful and poignant to read. I look forward to further stories in this new series.
-- Christine, Simply Romance Reviews