Driven

In a futuristic world with no trees or plant life and everything covered in snow with freezing temperatures, the heroine is on the run from her past. Growing up under the rule of her abusive and harsh make-no-mistakes father, she's been taught to never show weakness or kindness else it get her killed. But when the man she's supposed to meet shows up late and begins to brawl with a large group of men, she knows that it isn't the job she need him for that spurs her into helping him. From the instant she meets him she's horrible and head over heels attracted to the most bizarre and very weird man. He's completely robotic. He doesn't understand sarcasm or jokes and replies to questions with plain and obvious answers. He isn't cold per say show more but rather blank and barren without much in the way of personality. But he's hot and ingenious and extremely handy in a fight. He must be, as he was raised in a lab and genetically experimented on as a child before training to be an assassin for the government. He has no concept of emotions or feelings until he escape his prison but he studied those around him and slowly began to at least be able to understand others emotions even if he had none for himself. But in his quest to get the heroine to her destination he finds himself experiencing a whole lot of emotions. Some good, like humor and happiness and some bad like fear when she's in danger and anger for her being in danger in the first place. The heroine in turn feels a whole lot for the hero despite her harsh upbringing she's kind and generous if untrusting and standoffish at first. She's tormented by her attraction and growing feelings for a man whom obviously has no capability to feel the same in return. She finds herself lost and confused as to how to break through his walls. I absolutely loved this book. From start to finish it was action pact and so funny. The hero's straight forward answers and statements had me smiling. And when he tries his hand at compliments, romance and courtship, I laughed so hard. But in the end, he was the same robotic man he also was and always will be but he found feelings and motions deep inside that allowed the heroine to finally have her happy ending. Amazing book! show less

When I began reading Driven I was immediately sucked in to the futuristic atmosphere. The story took off at a running pace and never slowed down.

Raina Bowen is used to being a loner and she likes it just fine. The little female, big rig driver even thinks that being alone is better than having people in her life. In her experience, people she gets close to end up getting hurt or turning on her and as far as Raina is concerned, the less attachments, the better. But Raina does have one attachment, a sister that she recently found out about. Wanting to win a cash prize so that she can ensure her little sister stays taken care of, Raina enters a contest to race across the longest stretch of highway in the world: The ICW or Intercontinental show more Worldwide.

All Raina needs is a pass that will allow her to bypass the Jansen trucks that basically run the ICW. The Jansen drivers are big bully's that feel like they own the ICW. Raina knows that without the pass she has no chance at a win. Luckily, there is a pass out there with Raina's name on it.

Wizard is the man with the pass that Raina has been guaranteed, but before she can get the transaction over with, Wizard gets into trouble with the Jansen drivers. Raina ends up dragging herself into his drama and from there, chaos ensues.

This story hit the ground running and never let go. The pace was fast and entertaining. The characters were very likeable.

Raina is a do it herself, no strings attached, need no one type of girl. Her past experiences have made her that way. While many heroines that I've read with these type of characteristics tend to aggravate me with their constant "need no man" mantra, I didn't find myself being bothered by Raina. I understood why she was the way she was and I enjoyed seeing her evolve into the woman she became.

I do wish that Wizard would have gotten more POV. His perspective was short lived, giving us limited insight to his thoughts. This is where the story read almost like a first person book to me and caused my grade to slip a bit. I guess I like to know what's happening inside the brains of both of the lead characters, more than just one of them.

Even though the tone of Driven is serious, being that the Raina and Wizard are in constant danger, there were moments of comic relief; mainly from Wizard. I found much of what he said to be funny. He was so clueless when it came to emotions and when he tried his hand at jokes or simple sentiment it proved to be hilarious. I really wish there was more of his view point throughout the story.

Overall, Driven was a great book. Kenin's descriptions and explanations of futuristic devices were thorough, but not overdrawn. I never felt lost which could easily happen with a story based in the future, I appreciated this greatly. Grade B+ show less

The premise seems almost absurd: a post-apocalyptic trans-Siberian trucker romance? It sounds like something a desperate marketing director for NASCAR, a bit too tipsy on eggnog, might come up with after accidentally stumbling onto a romance convention. But as weird as this may sound, it actually kind of works in Eve Kenin's Driven.

It was interesting seeing Raina and Wizard learning to trust each other, but I think I had more fun reading the sci-fi and action adventure aspects of this novel. How can you go wrong with crazy truckers and big explosions? (more)

The setting is a futuristic post-apocalyptic world (after a nuclear war) where a third of the world population has been decimated. This is a fabulous action/adventure well blended with a hot spicy romance.

Raina is an independent trucker who hauls much needed supplies between the scattered outposts of the Northern Waste. She intends to compete in a contest with a group of truckers who are basically pirates who will kill other drivers and hijack their cargo. In the opening scene Raina shows us what a kick-ass heroine she is. She pairs up with Wizard and they get chased across the frozen icy wasteland in her completely self contained truck. Wizard is a robot like character with some strange abilities and very enigmatic until his background show more is slowly revealed. I really enjoyed this book. The action is non-stop and the sexual tension really heated things up. The character development and dialogue between Raina and Wizard were great and brought them to life. Eve Kenin is a going to be an author to watch. show less

Driven is a Science Fiction Romance book written by Eve Kenin, which is set in a post apocalyptic world where there has been two nuclear wars. The world is run by a corrupt Government and a bad guy called Duncan Blane. Extreme temperatures exist with the Northern part of the Earth a frozen waste land. Nothing grows there and it is dark most of the day, the only way people can survive is by getting goods transported in by truckers. One of those truckers is a woman called Raina Bowen and she is in a race to Gladow Station where the first truck there will win 50 million interdollars. Raina is banking everything on winning that money so that she can have a better life for herself in the sun with the sister she has never met. Hopefully this show more will be a safer life away from Duncan Blane who is out for Raina’s blood and eventual death. To try and win the race Raina needs to travel the ICW which is illegally monopolized by Jansen trucks and in order to do this she needs a special license, and that’s how the book begins with Raina waiting at a truck stop for a guy called Wizard who will hopefully have a license for her.

I absolutely loved this book it was amazing. If you have read any of my reviews before you will know that I have a lot of trouble with Paranormal Romance however I have no problems what so ever reading Science Fiction Romance weird huh? I think it is because from a very young age I have always watched and loved Sci Fi on tv. The characters are wonderful Raina is an extremely independent tough and lonely young woman. Wizard is a dangerous and good looking strange man who has no emotions at all. It was great to find out about the characters pasts, and boy did they have horrible pasts and I loved seeing their relationship develop and how they changed each other. There were lots of other great supporting characters too, such as the young orphan boy Ben and the evil Duncan Blane. There are twists in the story and deception and heartbreak. The science parts were easy to understand and the author portrayed a grim but vivid world. The mix between romance and the main story is well balanced and there are a couple of sex scenes. The pacing of the book is perfect and there is not one thing that I would like to change, well actually there is I would like more books about Raina and Wizard please. I really cannot stress how much I loved this book and would like to give it 5 stars even though I want to give it more. show less

Raina Bowen, ice trucker in the post-apocalyptic Northern Waste, is sabotaged in her attempt to win a race and is sidelined, but she rescues Wizard when his rig is blown up. Both have horrific histories and don’t trust anyone. Both have a common enemy, but Raina doesn’t know this. She begins to trust him makes other new friends in a rebel band but has many surprises in her future. Very good romantic adventure. This was a reread from 2009 and it is still a favorite.

This is an older SFF Romance which appeared in the short-lived Dorchester Shomi line. It got very good reviews when it came out, and I needed a book for a challenge category so I borrowed it from my library. This is the revised version that Silver/Kenin put out after she got her rights back from Dorchester.

It's very Mad-Max in the setup and it features a kick-ass heroine, which now are all over the place but were rarer a decade ago. Raina Bowen is a long-haul truck driver in the Northern Wastes, which seem to be a sub-Arctic region spanning Canada and maybe other countries. The continent is controlled by an authoritarian government and the main intercontinental highway is owned by a Supervillain who hates Raina and wants to see her show more dead (but not before he tortures her a lot).

Raina is trying to win a huge bounty for being the first to deliver a load of grain to a specific destination. That goal goes by the wayside fairly quickly, when the man who is going to give her a license to drive freely on the highway is attacked by Supervillain's minions and Raina comes to his rescue. Wizard turns out to have a complicated backstory which involves rebels, genetically enhanced rebel leaders, and a bunch of other stuff.

The road romance part of the novel is pretty good, although it's disconcerting to have mental lusting when their lives are constantly in danger. The worldbuilding isn't that deep but it's more than adequate. I liked the supporting characters.

So what didn't I like? I guess it was that it felt pretty shallow. Raina was kickass and avoided connecting with people, until she didn't. Wizard was an automaton until he wasn't. The Supervillain was totally over the top. It was all kind of cartoonish, but in an easy-to-digest way. show less