Review: The Bodyguard by Raven Willow-Wood

The Bodyguard by Raven Willow-Wood

Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
Genre: Futuristic Romance

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

Her father might have bought him to protect Brooke, but as far as the cyborg, Zeno, was concerned, Brooke was his! When the raiding cyborgs took her, leaving him for dead, he struck off the moment he recovered to get her back … determined to kill the cyborg leader, Deltra, if that was what it took!


Claudette’s Review

Brooke is in love with her bodyguard. The problem? He’s cyborg. At the beginning of the novel the author takes great pains to tell the reader how android like Zeno is, making him seem as emotionless as your computer. We then assume that that is why Brooke thinks that loving Zeno is so pointless, because it can never be anything but unrequited. Then we find out that Zeno is not just a machine with some human genetic material; but a former human soldier who has survived what would have been fatal injuries by becoming a cyborg through the addition of nano-technology and cybernetic enhancements. The reason that there has been war between mankind and the cyborgs is because the cyborgs overcame their programming and refused to do the bidding of their weaker human overlords. Being able to reason like that suggests sentience to me, but what do I know? With war raging between Cyborgs and robots and the massively reduced human population mainly in hiding, I’m not all sure why Zeno insisted on training Brooke to defend herself. How can one frail, clingy, lovesick human take on a cyborg or cyborgs intent on abduction and slavery?

I’m amazed that Brooke managed to keep her love for Zeno a secret. For a woman in her twenties, perhaps both Zeno and her parent’s protectiveness has left her with the emotional maturity of a hormonal teenager. When she isn’t throwing temper tantrums worthy of a three year old, she’s a damsel in distress. This book would have better if Brooke had been a stronger and well developed character, capable of behaving like a woman instead of a girl. It would also have been interesting to find out more about Zeno’s life prior to his becoming a cyborg. Zeno gets the chance to join his fellow cyborgs. Does he forget his loyalty to Brooke? Is it possible for him to ever succumb to the human weakness called love?

2 Tea Cups!

Review: The Soldier's Baby by Megan Ziese

The Soldier's Baby by Megan Ziese

Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
Genre: Erotic Romance

Heat Rating: 3

Blurb

Dalton had forgotten what a master of manipulation Dakota was in all the years their service to their country had kept them apart. It was a mistake, but not nearly as big a mistake as falling in love with a woman that could never be his.


Claudette's Review

The Soldiers Baby is a gripping, emotive drama, which covers the dilemmas facing a man who starts out agreeing to deceive his sister in law, in order to help his twin. He then finds that the old saying is true and indeed he’s woven quite the web of deceit; when jealousy enters the picture, complicating things further.

Twin brothers Dalton and Dakota Carlton are identical in looks only, though like their father before them they are both soldiers. They have never been close, mainly because as children Dakota, had always been competitive with his brother, and lorded it over him that he is the elder by two minutes. Their career paths have diverged too, as Dalton had been promoted above his brother, a fact that is resented by Dakota. So it was more than a little strange that Dakota chose to confide about something as personal as his sterility to his brother. And even more shocking that he would propose that Dalton impregnate his wife, while impersonating him.

Dalton immediately sees that Dakota’s jealousy would be a major problem, but Dakota manages to persuade him that he is doing this not just for him but for the sister in law he’s never met. Unknown to Elle Carlton, Dakota is aware that she has been using an ovulation kit, and on the week that she’s ovulating, he lets his brother into the house while Elle is asleep upstairs and he stays downstairs.

Though Dalton feels awkward about being tasked to get his sister in law pregnant, any stiltedness disappears when he holds her in his arms. The way she responds to him, and the look of her in the moonlight; and making love to her becomes the most natural thing in the world. He quickly admits to himself that he doesn’t only envy his brother, but he covets his brother’s wife.

Dalton quickly finds that his brother’s possessive nature makes him regret allowing his twin, anywhere near his wife. Poor Elle is confused, when Dalton first suggested trying for a baby, she didn’t expect to be dealing with his mood swings. The short tempered, verbally abusive, stranger she has been living with is a world away from the dream lover she’s spending her nights with. Not knowing if she’s living with Jeykell or Hyde is driving her insane, and she’s had enough. When Dakota leaves on deployment, they part with angry words and then months later comes a visit from army personnel informing her that her husband is dead; leaving her pregnant and alone.


Though she knew Dakota was a twin, she had no idea that he and Dalton were identical. Elle has to face feelings that leave her conflicted. She has no business being attracted to her husband’s twin! Dakota and Dalton’s mother isn’t handling her grief well and her bitterness at losing her favoured son poisons the situation further. Dalton has a secret that he knows he should confess, but how can he? And how will Elle react? He wants to be there for her and the baby, but when the baby is born, he wants his name as the father on the birth certificate, not his brother’s. Elle is the woman he’s always wanted in his life, but when she finds out how both he and Dalton deceived her, will she reject him, or believe that he truly wants her and not just the baby?

4 Tea Cups!