Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
59 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fabulous book from GS, 27 Jun 2005
Imagine Lara Croft with more guns, knives and attitude and we come close to Mia Snow, a woman sick of the alien sympathisers who accuse her of murder. Since the arrival of the "off-worlders" over seventy years ago, most of the public only meet the friendly type intent on intergrating into Earth society and living a peaceful life. As a member of AIR (Alien Investigation & Removal), Mia tracks and executes those aliens no sane human would not wish to meet, ET's possessing super strength and mind powers who view Earthlings as either a tasty dessert or toys to be abused. However there is something far deadlier patrolling the streets than any nasty alien and her name is Mia Snow, a huntress with a formidable and dangerous reputation, fierce enough to cause grown men to lose bladder control and most aliens to quiver in fear.
I can sum this book up in one word - Fantastic. With it's imaginative and meaty storyline, memorable characters and hot bedroom scenes, this book will definitely remain on my keeper shelf to be read again and again. Mia is one of the best female lead characters I have come across; GS has created a truly awesome heroine who definitely deserves a lengthy series. After reading "Awaken Me Darkly", GS proves that the female of the species is far more deadlier than any male! I've become quite a fan of this author since reading "The Pleasure Slave" and "The Stone Prince" and gave both books 5 stars - if I could I'd give this book more.
|
|
|
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Erotic, Hot And Steamy Stuff., 28 Jun 2005
Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter
RIDDING THE WORLD OF EVIL, ONE ALIEN AT A TIME: THAT'S MIA SNOW'S MISSION.
Snow is in the forecast.
In a time and place not too far away, Mia Snow is an alien huntress for the New Chicago Police Department. Heading up her expert team of Alien Investigation and Removal agents, Mia's unmatched at battling the elusive enemy among us, and she's the perfect girl for the job. She's seen her brother die at the hands of aliens. She's earned each of her scars. And she'll die before she cries. Now, a series of killings have Mia and her partner Dallas tracking alien suspects -- but a sudden blast of violence leaves Dallas fighting for his life. They are ice and fire.
The chance to save Dallas appears in the form of a tall, erotic stranger. An alien. A murder suspect. Kyrin en Arr, of the deadly Arcadian species, holds the power to heal the injured agent but not without a price. For Mia Snow, that price is surrendering to Kyrin's forbidden seduction...and embracing their electric attraction. She's walking a knife's edge, risking her badge and even her life. The closer she gets to Kyrin, the more Mia learns about her own heart, her human needs -- and the shocking secret that will shatter everything she's ever believed.
|
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Anita Blake/Eve Dallas Gets Her Man, 24 Dec 2006
This is the first book I've read by Gena Showalter and it wasn't very memorable? Why? Because I nearly bought it again, 2 months after first purchasing and reading it, as it came recommended by Amazon and when reading the blurb I didn't recognise that I'd already read it. What does that say about the book?
Anyway, when I realised I already owned it and had read it I decided I ought to give it another go, and this second reading was more enjoyable. Perhaps I read it more slowly, perhaps I was just in a different frame of mind, but this time I got more out of it. And this time I think I'll remember that I've read it.
The basic story is that Mia Snow works as an Alien Huntress on a version of Earth where Aliens live, reasonably quietly, but with minimal legal rights if they cause any harm to humans. Actually I found this opened a whole philosophical can of worms harking back to mistreatment of black people in history. But that's another issue.
Well, Mia finds herself investigating the abduction and murder of various dark haired, dark eyed men, one of whom has been discovered dumped naked and the only evidence at the scene proves that a member of the race of Arcadians was involved. There aren't that many Arcadians on earth and Mia very quickly discovers one who has previously been arrested for violence but was then released - which is remarkable as any violence by an Alien means they are terminated. She goes to investigate this Arcadian, the female Lilla en Arr, and stumbles on a whole lot more than she bargained for.
Mia Snow is VERY reminiscent of Anita Blake - she arms herself with knives and guns, she's short and people underestimate her physical capabilities and she's very self confident. She's also like Eve Dallas from J D Robb's "In Death" series in that most of her adjectives are four letter words and she's completely obsessed with her role in law enforcement. Her partner, Dallas (another unintentional link to J D Robb?), is injured in the line of duty and Mia shows her genuine care for him in that she is offered a bargain by Lilla en Arr's brother, Kyrin - if Lilla is released from police custody then Kyrin will heal Dallas. I thought this was a very interesting conundrum in the book - this sort of thing occasionally pops up in fiction and people usually do the honourable and right thing, thus condemning their partner/friend/relative/lover to some gruesome fate. I wondered if this would happen in real life, or if people would actually be more willing to ignore their ideals in the face of true human suffering. Anyway, in this book Mia shows that there is definitely more to her than meets the eye in her choice.
Kyrin turns out to be a rather unexpected hero in that he's been reading rather too many 70s Mills & Boon books - he kidnaps Mia and ties her to a bed, saying that he wants her to fall in love with him. Once released from her bonds on the bed she's forced to remain within his house and not go back to her job of finding the killer of several men. Interesting angle on morality there, Kyrin. Fortunately for him Mia decides he's really rather dishy and seems to get over the fact that she's been abducted and dressed in some rather dodgy gowns.
This book is a romance - supposedly - but I didn't find it all that romantic. I found it a very interesting police crime-solving book which was left with some loose ends (which I thought was good - how often are real crimes wrapped up 100%?) and also a book which considered issues of children born of mixed-race liaisons, honour versus love and even matricide. The romantic side of the book failed, in my opinion, because of our heroine. Mia probably needs to have a shedload of counselling about spousal abuse - her idea of foreplay is to punch Kyrin in the chops. She spends most of their scenes together hitting him, slapping him, punching him, elbowing him - although she wisely seems to avoid his groin as a battle area. If this were turned around and Kyrin was attacking her we would have detested him - I wasn't entirely sure that the woman being violent to the man was a great deal better. Fortunately he heals well but if I were him I would have run the other way screaming - it is very unattractive to have a gutter-mouth woman physically attacking you most of the time. Of course, being a hero he was able to cope with all that and still seemed to like Mia but this violence and general distrust between Mia and Kyrin rather spoiled the romance element for me. Still, he was a good hero most of the time and the book moved along quickly and was interesting to read.
Having read it again, I'll look out for some other books by this author and see what I think of them. I suppose a quick summary (after this huge long explanation) is that if you like Eve Dallas and Anita Blake's characters then you'll probably really enjoy this book.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Gena Showalter
by Gena Showalter
by Gena Showalter
by Gena Showalter
by Gena Showalter
