Pippa Jay

I love Science Fiction Romance and have my firm favourites, but I would be hard-pressed to think of another book that really, really blew me away the way Tethered has. What an amazing and original premise and fantastic world building. Fantastic, yes, yet totally plausable because it's fundamentally all about the difficulties of relationships, irrespective, and in spite, of the origins of the participants. Just like here on Earth. Where there's a will, there's a way.

I love Tyree and Zander, show more and I especially like that their journey wasn't easy or obvious. Stories where the protagonists coincidentally or conveniently connect are always fun to read, but it's all the more engrossing when there is nothing contrived about characters crossing paths as I feel Pippa Jay has achieved with Tethered. The layers of complexity in this short story grabbed and pulled me along at breakneck speed and once I started, I couldn't and didn't want it to stop.

I always know I've found a great book when I feel emotionally connected to the characters and actually want to get involved in their ups and downs. Tethered does that as an exhilarating and all-encompassing Science Fiction Romance experience with a very satisfying - and excitingly open - ending that makes me yearn for more about Tyree and Zander and their fascinating cultures. show less

Note: This novella contains triggering subjects: rape, murder, being drugged and helpless.

Tyree is from a race that can kill people with sex. Said race makes clone creches, and Tyree is asked to stand in for another member of her creche to complete a diplomatic agreement. Mirsee did not have Tyree's assassin abilities and lived as a dignitary, marrying the human diplomat Zander D'joren. Tyree now must masquerade as Mirsee until the treaty is concluded. She develops romantic feelings for show more Zander, which add complications to her mission.

Tyree is quite complex. She has ideas about what is appropriate for her and others and starts the story something of a prideful bigot. Her skills have kept her in good standing, but she's asocial and rude. Her emotions are turbulent and brutal, her attempts to handle them clumsy because Su aren't supposed to have emotions and feeling is new to her. The nightmare scene is troubling to her as it was to me. She may be a trained assassin, but her vulnerability is touching. She doesn't make a very good guard, but she's not trained as one. Tyree grows to understand Zander and some other humans, and it broke my heart (in a good way) to watch her grow, hurt, and be hurt. I want to know how she will deal with the world after the story's end, because her life changes so drastically.

Pippa Jay uses evocative language. It's a cut above the usual and immersed me in the setting. Nature, smells, tactile impressions are sprinkled in so the reader feels along with Tyree, almost in her body. I felt 'there' with everyone. The environments and secondary characters are detailed and compelling in their mysteries. This is an important factor to me. I didn't cry, but I felt longing, horror, fear, and tenderness during the course of the story. That's what does it for me: getting punched in the emotions.

I questioned why a grieving Zander falls in love with Tyree so quickly. We don't know the details, because although the story is third-person, it is all from Tyree's perspective. Zander is not a complete cipher, but he can easily distinguish between his late wife and Tyree. So what does he find compelling about her?

The end felt a little premature. Events with a great deal of emotional impact happen and I can only guess at the fallout. My hope is that the story continues so I can spend more time with the protagonists, Visaya, and Pevanne. Perhaps even with or from Zander's perspective? He's got to be experiencing some upheaval too. show less

I began reading Keir with no expectations, despite having read and loved a novella from the same author. I knew that Keir was Pippa's debut work, so I went into it with an less critical approach for that reason. What I got was a manuscript that read like it was written by a seasoned author. Pippa has a knack for painting scenes with descriptions that provide good details without floundering in it. Her characters, even the supportive cast, are strong, can stand on their own and are presented show more within a three-dimensional context. I think flat-characters would be eaten alive in the world that Pippa has created with Keir, which I have discovered while reading is part of the same universe for her upcoming YA sci-fi adventure release of [b:Gethyon|17701692|Gethyon|Pippa Jay|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364597987s/17701692.jpg|24747078].

One further comment about the world building - Pippa uses a backwards or persistent world-building technique that may throw some readers off. This means that her characters think, react and converse in full knowledge of their own histories even if the reader has not yet been introduced or is aware of these histories. These histories are explained as the story develops that shed light on a conversation that you may have read a few chapters before. This is different from the progressive world-building technique that most authors use. There is nothing at all wrong with this approach, and it can add some nice plot-twist elements, you just need to trust that even if you don't fully understand the conversation two characters are having in one scene that it will be relevant and explained later on. Pippa does make all those scenes relevant and I didn't find any loose strings by the end of the story.

I will say that the beginning of this book had me scratching my head a little bit. The first couple of chapters read like a fantasy story more than a sci-fi book, but as the story develops you learn why. Pippa has created a book that mixes elements from fanatasy, science fiction and science fantasy. The fantasy elements come in to play because one of the planets in the book hasn't developed science yet, and so they treat science as witch-craft and even name the heroine, Quin, as the Red Witch, and Keir as The Blue Demon. The planet reminded me of earth during the Spanish Inquisition. Once I figured this out, the story came to life. I would almost recommend a prologue or a first chapter to set this up to avoid confusion or losing readers in the first couple chapters who are wondering if they did buy a Science Fiction book.

There are sci-fi fantasy elements with Time-Travel, Psi-powers, gateways and telepathy. Though this may turn off hard-core science fiction readers, I thought it was done very well and explained within a believable context.

Now, about the romance - It is a sweet, but tormented, romance. Both of the leads have some heavy baggage, each with a richly developed history that is explained throughout the book. Their is a strong connection between them to start, but neither of them throws themselves at the other (which is refreshing). Both have real reasons for proceeding cautiously or misinterpreting the actions or intentions of the other. The intimacy scenes, though not quite as hot as I like, were extremely well written and beautiful. I think it suited both characters.

And the ending. Oh the ending. OH THE ENDING... not going to say anything else except to encourage you to see this book to the very end. You will be glad you did. show less

I began reading Keir with no expectations, despite having read and loved a novella from the same author. I knew that Keir was Pippa's debut work, so I went into it with an less critical approach for that reason. What I got was a manuscript that read like it was written by a seasoned author. Pippa has a knack for painting scenes with descriptions that provide good details without floundering in it. Her characters, even the supportive cast, are strong, can stand on their own and are presented show more within a three-dimensional context. I think flat-characters would be eaten alive in the world that Pippa has created with Keir, which I have discovered while reading is part of the same universe for her upcoming YA sci-fi adventure release of [b:Gethyon|17701692|Gethyon|Pippa Jay|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1364597987s/17701692.jpg|24747078].

One further comment about the world building - Pippa uses a backwards or persistent world-building technique that may throw some readers off. This means that her characters think, react and converse in full knowledge of their own histories even if the reader has not yet been introduced or is aware of these histories. These histories are explained as the story develops that shed light on a conversation that you may have read a few chapters before. This is different from the progressive world-building technique that most authors use. There is nothing at all wrong with this approach, and it can add some nice plot-twist elements, you just need to trust that even if you don't fully understand the conversation two characters are having in one scene that it will be relevant and explained later on. Pippa does make all those scenes relevant and I didn't find any loose strings by the end of the story.

I will say that the beginning of this book had me scratching my head a little bit. The first couple of chapters read like a fantasy story more than a sci-fi book, but as the story develops you learn why. Pippa has created a book that mixes elements from fanatasy, science fiction and science fantasy. The fantasy elements come in to play because one of the planets in the book hasn't developed science yet, and so they treat science as witch-craft and even name the heroine, Quin, as the Red Witch, and Keir as The Blue Demon. The planet reminded me of earth during the Spanish Inquisition. Once I figured this out, the story came to life. I would almost recommend a prologue or a first chapter to set this up to avoid confusion or losing readers in the first couple chapters who are wondering if they did buy a Science Fiction book.

There are sci-fi fantasy elements with Time-Travel, Psi-powers, gateways and telepathy. Though this may turn off hard-core science fiction readers, I thought it was done very well and explained within a believable context.

Now, about the romance - It is a sweet, but tormented, romance. Both of the leads have some heavy baggage, each with a richly developed history that is explained throughout the book. Their is a strong connection between them to start, but neither of them throws themselves at the other (which is refreshing). Both have real reasons for proceeding cautiously or misinterpreting the actions or intentions of the other. The intimacy scenes, though not quite as hot as I like, were extremely well written and beautiful. I think it suited both characters.

And the ending. Oh the ending. OH THE ENDING... not going to say anything else except to encourage you to see this book to the very end. You will be glad you did. show less