Heart Mate

Wow. As I think about the story afterward, it's a pretty standard romance - interesting SF/Fantasy setting, but nothing very new. But when I finished it, it was as if a large and gentle whirlwind had just set me down - I was totally caught up in the story. Just wow. I want the rest, and the Summoning books, too. A lot of standard tropes, well-handled - class differences, I-am-not-worthy (in both directions), misunderstandings (but not over-done). Interesting and well-drawn characters - no cardboard here, not even in the minor villains! And a very interesting setting - pretty much standard fantasy (with psi as magic) except for the constant references to the starship that brought them there (many generations ago). Love it. And a couple show more months later - I just discovered that this was her _first_ (published) novel. Wow all over again. More! show less

I first read this book in 2002, and I loved it, and have loved the series, so when it was reissued, I took the opportunity to re-read. My copy of the original is back in San Antonio.

HeartMate introduces the world of Celta, with its Flair (magic) and Fams (pets--cats, who are telepathically bonded to their owners) and Great Houses. It's a rich world, even from the beginning, yet the worldbuilding is entirely natural and non-intrusive.

Rand Ash, or T'Ash (the T' denotes the male head of the family; a D' denotes the female head) has rebuilt his family fortunes after a fire killed his entire family, leaving him at age 6 the only survivor. He got his revenge on the killers, and now his next task is to rebuild his family, and a wife features show more prominently in those plans. Fortunately, he has a HeartMate--a soul mate, the existence of which is revealed in the ceremony/ordeal that releases a person's Flair.

Said HeartMate is Danith Mallow, an orphan with, as she thinks, no Flair, and firmly in the lower-middle class. And she doesn't believe in HeartMates. In addition, she thinks T'Ash is just toying with her.

T'Ash, having spent his life fighting for his life, mostly solitary, and definitely without the civilizing influences of family, much less females, has a hard time convincing Danith that he's serious, and thinks if he can just form a HeartMate bond with her before she finds out what a terrible guy he is, she'll be stuck, and he'll be fine. Silly, silly man.

Both T'Ash and Danith learn things about themselves, and grow and change in the course of the book. It's mostly about their romance--there are other things going on that provide obstacles, but there's not, for example, a suspense or mystery plot along with the romance.

What amazes me so much is that HeartMate is a first book. It's no surprise that it won the RITA. But neither is it a surprise that Berkley/Jove waited to see how it did before agreeing to publish the next in the series. It's definitely different from the other paranormal romances out there. The few that are set on different worlds (at least the ones I've read) don't have the depth of worldbuilding this series does. Part of what I like so much, I suspect, is that I've always read a lot of sf/f, and this reads very much like an sf/f romance, without the sf/f details dumbed-down or left out for the too-stupid-to-care romance readers (not my opinion--it just seems sometimes that that's the opinion of some writers/editors/publishers).

Robin D. Owens is definitely a master storyteller. There's just something about her style... it's polished, or professional, maybe. It's like the difference between cheap fake-leather boots and the real deal.

*sigh* Okay, enough gushing. show less

I struggled with this one. I was tempted to drop it in the beginning. There were just too many details. I was over whelmed with information and strange names. There was a lot in inner dialog, about class, clothes, textures, powers.....after a 100 pages I had little idea what was going on. I let the obnoxious details go and just keep reading. The characters held my interest, they were unique in their creation, aliens from another world living on earth. i think that it, I was really blanking out, mind numb reading for at least a 1/3 of the book. This is one long read too.
Why did I stay with it ?
The main couple, they fought well, and stubbornly. He was a pigheaded controlling Alpha He-Man Noble, orphan and Ex-street rat turned Noble. She show more was an orphan, looking for family, filled with fear, wanted only safety, only to have everything turned 180 by the noble beast. Their battles, stupid little mating games and snippy moments kept me going.I was also wondering when they would finally do it. Yes, I am that way.
They also had cats, I love books with cute little side kicks. These cats weren't really cute. They were weird, jewel encrusted talking fur balls and lacked the snark I look for in my beasties. I'm not sure if I liked them or not, they ended on a null.
Sounds like I hated it I didn't. I had fun. It is a B list book for me. show less

I'm always on the lookout for books that have Celtic influence and when I found out this world is a whole planet of people whose ancestors came from Earth with a heavy Celtic influence, I couldn't resist.
On Celta most every has a touch of Flair (magic), high technology mixed with pagan traditions, a variety of different animals and a hierarchy of High, Middle and Low class.
Rand T'Ash is a man of High class though for a time he lived as a Scruff (think really tough street urchin) and worked hard to get where he's at. He's of Noble birth whose family died in a house fire set by vigilantes who later are killed by Ash. His only companion is his familiar Zanth, a tough street catch who he can talk to telepathically. He learns one day of his show more HeartMate who will complete him in every way and sets out to win her though the journey will be far from easy.
Danith Mallow grew up in an orphanage and is content with her life of Middle class where she works as an accountant, dates Claif Clover who has a large family and has her cat Pansy. Then she encounters Ash who shakes up her life and helps her see she's far from ordinary. She soon learns that she's quite gifted with Flair in Healing as well as animals and is soon raised to the status of High class.
Life becomes complicated for this pair as they learn that life, love and believing in each other isn't easy but very well worth it.
Despite wanting to shake Ash a few times for his stubbornness and to realize he needs more patience, I liked his character. He's at times socially awkward especially when it comes to revealing his feelings but he's generous, is a fierce protector and tries to be supportive of Danith's choices.
Danith is a woman with a big heart, intelligent and an animal lover. She really grows into her Flair and comes to understand Ash.
I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the rest of the series. I really hope I'll see more of Ash and Danith and possibly a growing family! Also, I want my own familiar now who can talk to be telepathically!! show less

3½
I'm not completely sure about this. Yeah, it's a beautiful love story, when you see it only from that side, but the setting it's quite difficult to grasp in the beginning...and also when you're completely absorbed in the story sometimes it make you lose the focus. But it's surely an original novel with many interesting aspects and characters.
And I loved T'Ash's Familial, Zanthoxil, a whole lot! A cat possessive, sharp-witted and with a characterization so perfect he seems more real that the human characters themselves. ;)

Losing his family at the age of 6, the hero escapes the slaughter and learns to survive on the streets. There, he grew up fighting for everything he needed and when he became a man, he fought hard for his Title and to reborn his family name. He then used that power and wealth to track down and kill every single man involved in the death of his family. Such a man doesn't just forget a past like that, not even when he holds the power of being that head of one of the FirstFamilies. So when he meets his HeartMate and tries to tempt her to accepting his HeartGift, he goes about it like he goes about everything-making it into a war. Horribly awkward and possessing very little in the way of social decorum, he fumbles his way into the heroine's show more life, much to her dismay. The heroine is a commoner, though she's always felt the potential of power within her, she's never been tested. And as such, though she secretly wishes for a title, she's convinced herself that a simple easy life, married to a simple ease man is what she wants. The hero is anything but simple and being near him is anything but easy. Because he has such an emotional wall up, for most of the book she has no idea about the true nature of the man she finds herself being courted by. As such, things like him reaching out to her sexually in a dream during his Passage as showering her with gifts, are taken the wrong way and make her extremely against liking him. He is charmingly awkward, doing everything he can think of to make her accept him but it all comes to naught. Because of his past he's reluctant to share anything about himself in fear she will never want him but in fact it's that emotional soul deep connection that she wants from a man and what she isn't getting from him. He instead is aggressive in his courtship, pressing her daily and making demands of her as though she were a possession and not a grown woman. Though he doesn't do it to be an asshole or to control her, he is a product of the streets and know no other way to get what he wants than to the fight hard for it. There relationship is rocky at the best of times because he doesn't know how to properly communicate his feelings. When he's emotional his speech reverts back into the dirty short sentences that the lower class use and when he sees a threat he attacks first, asks questions later. I don't blame the heroine for being reluctant and even a bit scared to accept such a man into her life when he is everything she didn't want for herself. But there were times that I grew frustrated with her being unable to truly be willing to see, to look into the hero's eyes and know what he felt for her. A man like that uses actions rather than pretty words to express feelings and it was plain as day that he loved her, even if he didn't himself know of loving someone meant. Over all I really enjoyed this story. The setting was imaginative and as a first is the series, the world they live in was set up beautifully so the reader can enjoy the magical futuristic world of Celta. show less

Although it is a bit overdone sometimes this is a charming SF romance where psionics is the used magic and your psionic ability dictates your place in society.
Rand T'Ash has faught his way to reclaiming his family home and his family's place in society. This took him from being a street tough to being the respected artisan.

He has created a piece of jewelery to attract his heart mate, his HeartGift. Danith is attracted to it but is afraid that it's a trap. He doesn't know how to go about seducing her and she isn't sure that she belongs with him.

Interesting and fun, it's an interesting read.