Lord of the Storm

Damn, that's good. It's a ridiculous premise, but one I usually enjoy despite its ridiculousness - a love slave in a science fiction universe. But Justine Davis managed to make both the premise and the people in it very real. Shaylah and Wolf/Dare make sense in their actions, behaviors, and beliefs (though I'm glad Wolf explained himself, late in the game - I didn't know why he was so resistant). Of course, it also uses the misunderstanding trope, which I hate, but they had better reasons for misunderstanding one another than usual. It would have been one hell of a story without the romance - with it, this is magnificent. I'll be reading it again, I'm sure. Oh, and according to LibraryThing there's another book! Gotta find that. I do love Justine Davis - her characters always come to life, and the silliest premises make sense. This one is unusually good even for her, though. Excuse me while I wipe my eyes and blow my nose... ( )

Shaylah is an ace fighter pilot for the Coalition, a futuristic government with a stronghold on the universe. Wolf is a slave who was taken from his planet after the Coalition conquered and destroyed his people. Shaylah does not approve of the Coalition's slave policies and will have to make tough choices after meeting Wolf.

I liked Lord of the Storm, but I didn't love it. I read it after seeing it on The Romance Reader's (www.theromancereader.com) Top 100 Romances list. It's listed as No. 81.

The story's interesting and it's a fast, fun read. You can label this "A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING" book, which, like many romance lovers, I find irritating. This time the cliche plays well. I get why these two characters don't communicate well and I get why they can't get over themselves and spit it out already. It makes sense given the context. So the cliche didn't bother me this time around. It was actually sorta fun.

I did have a problem with a mistake Shaylah makes in the beginning. She behaves in a way that I believe goes against how the character would have behaved and so I think the author wrote it to toss some sex in early. I believe what she does is rape, plain and simple. Another reviewer on Amazon.com saw this same problem, so I'm not alone. If you don't like rape used as a plot device in romance novels, you'll have a problem early with Lord of the Storm. If you don't mind it, you won't mind this rape scene. It's not the worst of its kind; that's for certain.

So. Fun story. Rape scene. Big misunderstandings. Liked it, didn't love it. ( )