susanvoss18

First, let me chat about the cover. If you read the review for Awaken Me Darkly, then you know that I found that cover misleading as well. At no time is there any leopard print negliges anywhere in the book. Yes, there is sex, and sexy clothes, and some ladies tied up – but not in the fun, kinky sex kind of way. There’s plenty of weapons, future tech, practically dressed heroine in this book, and none of that awesomesauce is portrayed by this cover. Why? If you got a decent answer, let me know.

OK, now onto this fast paced alien hunter adventure. Eden has a few issues, which I always like in a main character: her parents were killed when she was very small; her race has been hunted by humans because of their golden skin and hair (it is gold and so they end up skinned for profit); she feels the need to be the best at everything. Then enter Lucius, a well muscled man with issues of his own. There is plenty of sexual tension the first half of the book and then some very nice steamy sex scenes in the second half (tho the book ends with a sweet, not-so-descriptive sex scene that was kind of ‘eh’ for me). But that romance subplot stays subplot and the action-packed hunt for the slavers is the primary plot.

Lots of bad guys inhabit this book, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of them were really bad, some sort of bad (in a polite way), and still a few seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I like a variety in bad guys and for them to be a little harder to pick out. Some of them were in it for the money, some for the power, and some for the lust. There was one bad guy that I felt got off too easy and I wish the author had written it so Eden had rearranged his face instead of trying to hook him up on a date (but I turned my morality and thoughts off so I could finish the book).

There’s some cool tech, including some fun weapons. There is also the method by which the slavers, and other off-worlders, get off world. I didn’t care for this bit of ‘technology’ too much because it was, well, lacking tech, and science, and physics, and had no basis in anything we know about inner-galactic travel. But again, I turned off my brain because I was listening to this book for the action and the sex, not the science and science-based theory in plot format. The author also built in some differences between humans and aliens and differences between aliens. This becomes important when the bad guys try to knock Eden unconscious and whisk her away. Hehe! They were in for a surprise!

Over all, I enjoyed Awaken Me Darkly a bit more as I felt the plot was tighter knit, except for the instant love the two main characters suffered from. Here, there was no insta-love (thank you Showalter!). So, if you are looking for action-based plot, with a lead female that is strong, a little twisted, and makes a few mistakes, this is a pretty fun read. Oh, and there is this one sex scene that is very well done, just saying.

The Narration: While Justine Eyre has a luscious voice for Eden, it was the exact same voice for the main female from Awaken Me Darkly. So, at first I thought I had misread or misunderstood the book’s blurb and thought the book was about that main character (Mia Snow), but it wasn’t. While I figured that out pretty quickly from the narrative, I spent the first quarter of the book picturing Eden dressed and looking like Mia. But if I set that aside, then Eyre was a delight to listen to, giving Eden a full range of emotions and providing a deep sensuality when the story called for it. She had a variety of voices for the males and the other ladies and provided accents for the aliens (albeit they sounded like Earth accents, but it must be difficult to come up with alien accents if the author doesn’t go into detail as to how that particular race sounds like).

For more reviews, check out Dab of Darkness: http://dabofdarkness.com/2013/10/12/enslave-me-sweetly-by-gena-showalter/