Collision (The Prophecy Series, #3) by Lea Kirk – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, Lea Kirk, scifi romance

Review by K.J. Van Houten

Review of Collision

Collision is book three of Kirk’s Prophecy series. I definitely recommend reading books 1 and 2 first, to get a better sense of the ‘world’ of this series. Collision does not include a lot of detail about how the various species of Terrans, Matirians, and Anferthians have come together on the galactic stage. Unfortunately, there may be some spoilers for those books in this review.

Collision is the story of Flora Bock, whom we met in book 1 as a young child, orphaned in the invasion of Earth by the Anferthians. This book also starts out with Flora as a young child, but past the events of books 1 and 2, and she is now the adopted daughter of Alex and Gryf (whom we met in book 1), and there is peace after the war. But even a child continues to hold dislike and distrust for the Anferthian species that had invaded and destroyed the family she was born into, so it is no surprise she doesn’t want to participate in diplomacy of her adopted parents as they prepare to greet the arriving Anferthian ambassador K’nil. And she’s already prepared to dislike Fander, the ambassador’s grandson, who is arriving with him. The instant she and Fander exchange gazes, Flora’s fears seem confirmed as she hears an internal roar and the world spins, and for the first time ever, she faints. No surprise she’s surly and gives him a black eye the next day. It is a surprise, however, that he lies and covers for her so she doesn’t get into a lot of trouble for it.

Thus begins an uneasy friendship. Maybe a childhood that fluctuates between dislike and friendship is a better description. With not a lot of childhood around, Flora and her adopted brother and sister find themselves frequent playmates with Fander, who is learning a lot about the Terran culture he is in now. Maybe it’s no wonder that by the time Flora and Fander both reach 15, they’ve become close friends. Possibly more, if their one brief kiss hadn’t ended when Flora’s uncle found them together. Possibly more if this discovery hadn’t resulted in Fander being sent back to Anferthia, away from Terr and Flora for what seemed forever.

Part 2 of Collision jumps 9 years into the future, to Flora’s 24th birthday. Flora is now working with Ambassador K’nil, pursuing her own diplomatic career, and she’s eager for her new assignment which will send her away from Terr. She’s hoping for Anferthia, in part because she still feels a strong bond toward Fander and wants to see him again. She’s also looking for an explanation for why she has intense dreams that include Fander – the grown-up Fander she’s never seen or communicated with in person, his grandfather their only connection. Then, right before her eyes, just as he’s about the reveal some information about Anferthia he’s been withholding from her, the Ambassador is assassinated, Flora barely escaping with her own life.

The life she’s known is upended. She’s hiding the secret reliquary the Ambassador passed to her as he died. A treasure that she learned can be used as a distant communication device as the Ambassador had her use it as he lay dying to connect with Fander on Anferthia. Flora learns she is a target for assassination AND the Anferthians’ number one suspect for the Ambassador’s murder. Fander realizes he needs to return to Terr to protect her, which means revealing his own secrets.

Collision continues with the story of how Flora and Fander meet again, revelation that Fander is more than Flora realized, and the understanding of the bond between them that remains as strong as ever, if not stronger. Against a backdrop of political intrigue and fast-paced action, Flora and Fander find love does conquer all, including prejudice and greed.

Bottomline: Each book in the Prophecy series seems to be better than the previous, which, considering how much I enjoyed book 1, isn’t an easy thing to do. Lea Kirk definitely deserves high praise for the quality of her writing and the solidity of her stories. Worth double every cent I spent on the purchase.

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Beloved Enemy by Hywela Lyn – Review

Tags

4 stars, Book Review, Hywela Lyn, scifi, scifi romance

Review by K. J. VanHouten

Review of Beloved Enemy

Beloved Enemy starts with a crash – literally as Cat Sinclair, our heroine, crashes her escape ferry onto an unknown planet. It doesn’t get any better when she exits her damaged craft and hears blaster fire. At least they aren’t firing at her though. A bit hesitantly, and at a distance, she joins the fire on the side of 3 unknown humans facing a larger group of unknown foes – who may or may not be unfriendly planet inhabitants. Her rationalization is that she needs these people to help her get off the planet. As the fight nears its end, two of the humans are able to make an escape, leaving the third man to continue the fight, although he also succumbs in the end. When the firing finally stops, Cat creeps forward to see if he’s alive. Of course she discovers he’s the one man in the galaxy that she’s been searching for, the man responsible for the death of her half-sister. Kerry Marchant regains consciousness at find a beautiful redhead standing over him. At first he’s confused, as she bears a strong resemblance to the woman he loved, the woman who died protecting him. But once he shakes off his first reaction, he noticed the differences.

And this is how Cat and Kerry find themselves stranded together. Kerry’s companions had returned to their ship in orbit, planning to get medical help before returning to the planet surface to pick up Kerry. Unfortunately, something is interfering with communications and Kerry can’t call his crew for help. Cat’s crashed ship is beyond repair. Kerry does not know who Cat is, and Cat doesn’t make her desire to see him dead known, as she’s hoping she can use him to get off the planet first. There is definite tension as the two settle in for the first night, wary of each other but recognizing they need to work together.

Beloved Enemy continues as a rather fun plot of two strangers – enemies actually, if only Kerry knew why Cat was so distrustful of him – who find themselves helping each other survive a number of life-threatening incidents, including a booby trap, aggressive indigenous lifeforms, and capture by Cat’s former lover, an officer of the governing Union that is on a ruthless path of expansion across the galaxy. For another twist, this officer is aided by a woman from Kerry’s past, a woman he thought dead, who he discovers is Cat’s supposedly dead half-sister. Seeing her sister alive throws Cat into a whirlwind of confusion and she discovers she isn’t the beloved sister she thought she was trying to avenge. Adding to the confusion is a growing attraction and reluctant trust she is developing toward Kerry. Beloved becomes enemies, enemies become beloved. Nice, fun, satisfying story.

And then the book takes an unexpected turn involving a superior race of beings, inexplicable teleportations around the planet as well as on and off Kerry’s ship in orbit, and a trial for humanity’s future. (Which, along with some wild realistic hallunciations gave me a flashback to Star Trek: The Next Generation when Q puts the crew on trial as representatives of humanity. As a Trekkie/Trekker myself, I have no problem with Star Trek connections in stories, lol.) Cat and Kerry find themselves as pawns in a larger game, trying to make sense of what is happening, bearing the responsibility of humanity’s future, and struggling to overcome their own reasons for not wanted to give in to the feelings they are developing for each other.

Turns out Beloved Enemy is book 3 of The Destiny Trilogy. I’m not sure how it fits into the series – if it’s continuous or not. It was fine to read as a standalone, but there were definitely references to people and situations that I wondered if I’d have gotten deeper meaning from if I’d read volumes 1 and 2. (At one point I did stop and get book 1 on audio, but I was distracted by the narrator and realized that I wasn’t really hearing the story, was totally lost about a third into the audiobook, at which point I stopped.) Beloved Enemy is definitely a fun read, and it’s a good bet that I’ll end up getting books 1 and 2 to read soon.

Note: The author provided an e-copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

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The Phantom Tree by Nicola Cornick – Review

Tags

3.5 stars, historical, mystery, Nicola Cornick, romance, time travel

About The Phantom Tree

Browsing an antiques shop in Wiltshire, Alison Bannister stumbles across a delicate old portrait—identified as the doomed Tudor queen, Anne Boleyn. Except Alison knows better. The subject is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr, who was taken to Wolf Hall in 1557 and presumed dead after going missing as a child. And Alison knows this because she, too, lived at Wolf Hall and knew Mary…more than four hundred years ago.

The painting of Mary is more than just a beautiful object for Alison—it holds the key to her past life, the unlocking of the mystery surrounding Mary’s disappearance and how Alison can get back to her own time. To when she and Mary were childhood enemies yet shared a pact that now, finally, must be fulfilled, no matter the cost.

Nicola Cornick offers a provocative alternate history of rivals, secrets and danger, set in a time when a woman’s destiny was determined by the politics of men and luck of birth.

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Review of The Phantom Tree

There are several things going on in The Phantom Tree.  Alison’s story in the past.  Alison’s story in the present. Mary’s story in the past.  I little bit of fantasy.  A chunk of history. And a mystery.

Alison and Mary are connected by the time they spent at Wolf Hall as forgotten children of royalty and nobles with no place to go.  Alison was the older of the two, cold and distant to Mary.  Mary was always a bit different because she had some unique abilities that would some day get her into trouble. They were not really close, but share some bit of friendship since they shared a room.

When Mary does get into trouble, Alison has a plan to help her out, though her plan is selfish.  She will get Mary someplace safe in return for Mary’s assistance in finding her son who was taken from her at birth.  And then, Alison basically abandons Mary.

Alison left home with no idea, really, of where she would end up.  All she knew was it was a very different place than her current circumstance.  In fact, it was four hundred years into the future.  Alison was not really smart enough to wonder if she could really even get back.  And she left her baby behind.  It was already established that she was somewhat cold and prickly.  Going to the future did not change her.  Her relationship with Adam proves that.  Alison is a main character that I could not develop any sympathy for.

On the other hand, I did like Mary.  The author filled in fictional details of Mary Seymour’s life that made her interesting and I wanted to see her get a happy ending.  However, Alison’s story seemed to be the main focus of the book, so I did not really get enough of Mary’s story.

I debated about posting this review on my blog. I was not really into it mostly because of Alison, though I did finish the book which is a positive.  I am giving it 3.5 stars (which I will round to 4 for other review sites).  I know there are many that will really enjoy this story and it does have a few good things to recommend it.  1) The character of Mary Seymour, as I mentioned earlier 2) historical settings were very well done and added to the overall atmosphere of the story 3) the use of clues provided in a portrait to research the past and provide answers to Alison’s questions.

The Phantom Tree is for history lovers who like a little mystery too.

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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