Scent of Salvation (Chronicles of Eorthe #1)

If he took his time maybe he'd remember how to do this right.

Available at Amazon.com

Scent of Salvation
Annie Nicholas
Chronicles of Eorthe, book one
ebook, 391 pages
Published July 30th 2013 by Samhain Publishing
ISBN 9781619217485

Love blooms across species, culture, and time.

Stranded in another dimension, on a primitive version of Earth, Dr. Susan Barlow needs to find a way to survive. There’s no electricity, no cities, and to her shock, no humans. Instead, she faces a population of werewolves, vampires and incubi. The people are vicious but she must find her place among them. And live.

An illness is killing Sorin’s pack. As alpha it’s his responsibility to save them, but it’s a battle this warrior doesn’t know how to fight. Then a blue light in the sky brings a creature he’s never seen. She calls herself human, but to him she smells like hope.

Sorin offers Susan a safe haven in return for a cure, but she’s not that kind of a doctor. She’s a doctor of physics, not a physician. Yet as they search for a cure to save a dying people, they find something special—each other.

But even with Sorin’s protection, Susan can’t help but wonder how long she can survive in a world without humans…

Warning: Feral shifters, power-hungry vampires, and a sole human female suffering culture shock.

"Today seemed like the perfect day to burn bridges."

All Susan needed was the funding to see if her dream could actually become reality. All Technocon needed was a tax write off. They didn't expect her to actually be capable of creating a door to other dimensions. But she proved herself. And now, her biggest fear, seeing the military take control of her life's work, is staring back at her.

What's a girl to do but blow it all up?...And inadvertently get sucked into its portal.. wherein getting dropped into a world raging with shifters, vampires, and an incubi or two.

There, Susan is met by Sorin, an alpha wolf shifter of the Apisi pack, and one of his omegas. He believes she was sent from his goddess, convinced her sudden appearance and his great need for a miracle to save his people is no coincidence. 

She flees him and ends up crossing into the neighboring pack’s territory where she is met by Kele, a female shifter, daughter of her pack alphas, and her guards. Susan is human and bears no scent marking her. When Sorin attempts to take her back, taking him across boundaries, Kele’s guardians attack and the fight leaves Sorin unconscious.

Kele makes the decision to bring both Susan and Sorin back to her parents, and urges Ahote, the leader of her guard, to mark Susan to keep the other males away. A mark given by rubbing her wrist against his cheek. That doesn't prevent Kele's mother from bitch slappin' Susan, though. As much as the woman tries to emulate the others and follow pack protocol, she can't help but screw it up.

When Sorin escapes the Payami pack, he takes Susan with him. And it's not entirely against her will. She could have gone with Benic, a nefarious vampire with one too many plots at work in his favor, but Sorin took that choice away from her. Honestly, each and every character has their own villainous moment.

Sorin forces Kele to stay with him, preventing any chance she has at going back through the shaky, here-again-gone-again portal. Hey, the guy's desperate. His pack is dying from a viral infection, one by one. Without her science, he'll lose everything.

Benic becomes convinced that humans, which don't exist in this world, are the ancestors of their kinds. And, in an attempt to prove his theory, infects Susan with his blood. Unfortunately, by then, Susan and Sorin have fallen in love and, unbeknownst to Benic, Susan has taken Sorin's mating bite. So, she'd already been infected with the shifter virus by the time he put his potions to work. If she would have changed without Benic's involvement is anybody's guess.

Kele was probably my favorite of the cast. As the daughter of the alpha pair, she was expected to be an alpha herself. But she lacks the ability to shift, leaving her somewhere in the hierarchy between hunter and omega. Meanwhile, Sorin's omega, Peder, is a true hunter, but he's been too badly broken by his former alpha, Sorin's father, that he's borderline submissive in every damn situation he meets. Sorin isn't much better though. The strongest of the weak that one.

Book two, Scent of Valor, has en expected publication in November, 2014. Possibly Kele and Peder's story? Hoping so...

3 out of 5 stars.

Seth (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #5)

“So if my choice was to become super robot man capable of keeping up with a gorgeous robo chick or living a mundane life alone? I chose you.” -Seth

Available at Amazon.com

Seth
Eve Langlais
Cyborgs: More Than Machines, book five
ebook, 244 pages
Published February 28th 2014 by Eve Langlais
ISBN 9781927459478

His mission: Blend in with the humans. Save the cyborgs. And seduce the only woman he ever loved, without getting killed.

Cybernetic spy models are different from other humans turned machine. For one thing, they never completely lost touch with their humanity, or their memories. But retaining their identity doesn’t mean the military didn’t mess with their lives. Seth lost the woman he loved because of their web of lies. When the chance arises to make things right, he relies on his superior intellect—and irresistible charm—to prove his innocence, and make Anastasia his again.

Anastasia might possess upgraded parts and programming, but the scientists never could cure her of her biggest weakness, jealousy. The volatile emotion made her walk away from love once. Can she overcome it and recognize the truth? Or will she continue to let the military manipulate her emotional strings?

Unlike the rest, Seth wasn't a doomed failure or reject of society. He signed on for the military. He excelled at it. And he chose to become more than a mere man. After that, the project did what they wanted with him, whether or not he agreed to it.

Seth's individual story began at the end of book three and runs concurrently with book four. Had I known what a disappointment Aramus was going to be, I would have skipped right into this, because this was just short of amazing.

Anastasia was a perfect compliment to Seth. They met back in their training days. She, doing all she could to prove herself while he... he did what he had to do to not show off and make enemies. He put himself in the middle of the rankings and helped his fellow soldiers when he could. Until he met her. And fell in love.

When Anastasia chose to upgrade herself, Seth followed along. Even back then, before even making it to second base, he couldn't bear to leave her. Oh, he's always been his smartass self, but the intelligence he possessed and his daring willingness to take risks took them both up the ladder. They became an undefeatable team.

Soon enough, even the military that trained them began to fear them and finally put into play a course that would tear them apart, turning one against the other.

Of all of the cyborgs, the government took the most from Seth. The lengths of which just about brought me to tears. They raped his wife while forcing him to watch. And they destroyed his marriage with their lies of betrayal and infidelity.

• It didn’t entirely surprise him when Anastasia confronted him, gun in hand, tears streaming down her face, intent on killing him. And despite her not pulling the trigger, a part of him did die. It died because no matter how much he loved her, and she loved him—I know she did—the military had ruined it. Ruined them both. No longer were they in control of their lives, their destinies. Heck, Seth barely controlled his body or his mind. As for Anastasia? It was a wonder she didn’t immediately pull the trigger. He could tell her machine side warred with her human, urging her to obey and kill. Not wanting her to live with the guilt, he did the easy thing, and yet the hardest. He left. But it didn’t mean he stopped loving. He couldn’t help but dream and remember the girl with the bright eyes and spitfire attitude who’d climbed the wall. The woman he’d set off on an adventure with. The woman who’d stolen his heart, owned his soul, and without whom life lost meaning and color.

By the end of the book, the story comes full circle with that of book four's completion. Elsewhere, there is a new revolution led by a cyborg named Adam, where humans are rising up in support. And Adam? He just so happens to be Anastasia's ex-boyfriend. Sure enough, metal fists are going to fly. Jealousy is one emotion no cyborg handles well, and Seth is the deadliest of them all.

4 out of 5 stars.

*Note* Because Seth commands such a starring role in this series, I recommend reading books one through three before reading this one. It's not necessary, as each book stands alone, but will definitely give you the full effect of his character.

Previously in this series:

Aramus (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #4)

An end to the emptiness inside me that plagues me whenever I am alone.

Available at Amazon.com

Aramus
Eve Langlais
Cyborgs: More Than Machines, book four
ebook, 211 pages
Published September 23rd 2013 by self published
ISBN 9781927459423

Wiping out humanity is his number one objective—until he meets her.

Aramus has no patience or sympathy for the excuses humanity uses to hunt cyborgs down and eradicate them. He’s put up with too much at their hands to ever forgive and forget. But all that changes when he rescues a fragile human doctor who refuses to see him as a machine. She teaches him that perhaps not all emotions are a weakness and that love can make even a cynical cyborg like him stronger.

And for those who’d mock his change of view or threaten his female? Go ahead. His iron knuckles could use some exercise.

Oh, how the mighty fall. And for a human. Aramus? Tsk tsk.

Aramus, once called B351GI, was the perfect cyborg soldier. Until the solar flare disrupted his programming, and set him free. Free to follow orders as he saw fit. And when his commanding officers deemed his method defective and ordered his termination, well, he killed them. And has continued to do so to anyone else who ever thought to control him. His contempt for the humans responsible for his slavery has blossomed, and consumed him. Now, he's driven to see that all of humanity feels his wrath.

After the return of their last mission, Seth disappeared. He left them with a message that contained coordinates and urged them to proceed quickly, and expect a battle. No one knows he left with his wife, estranged though they were. Doubtful anyone even knows he has/had a wife. Aramus, being the most ruthless and blood hungry of the cyborgs, jumps at the chance for some action.

Upon reaching their destination, the team, led by Aramus, find a completely uninhabitable planet on the surface. Below, they find a medical facility where doctors and scientists alike have been kept prisoner, forced to run tests and experiments on creatures that can't be identified. On cyborgs, too. Among them, they find Rylie,... and a small band of misfits that aren't worth going on about.

This was probably the most disappointing of the series thus far. Although Aramus clung to the colder side of himself the longest, much to my satisfaction, Rylie was nothing special. And when push came to shove, Aramus found himself all too capable of abandoning her ass on a refuel center. After he had fucked her, literally dumped her ass on the floor, then ignored her for days. Oh yeah, quite the lovable guy this one is.

2 out of 5 stars.

Previously in this series:

B785 (Cyborgs: More Than Machines #3)

Forehead, meet console.

Available at Amazon.com

B785
Eve Langlais
Cyborgs: More Than Machines, book three
ebook, 215 pages
Published April 11th 2013 by self published
ISBN 9781927459324

When cyborg intelligence meets sensual robotics circuit boards sizzle.

Einstein was probably the only cyborg in existence with no interest in the opposite sex, until he discovered B785. With her sensual nature and quirky sense of humor, she draws this cybernetic geek out of his scientific shell and teaches him the one thing he’s never understood – passion.

Tired of being a slave to the military, Bonnie went to sleep one day with the intention of never waking up, but she didn't count on a cybernetic prince charming bringing her back to life. Coming to terms with her past isn't easy, but harder still is the realization that even a bionic princess can fall in love.

However, all fairy tales have a villain, and despite the fact the military wrote them both off as a loss, they soon discover they’ll need to fight to have their happily ever after.

Einstein has no interest in sex. He's a tech cyborg, and likely the last of his variety.

When Aramus and Seth venture to a well known bordello, Einstein tags along in search of goods with hopes of trading. He ends up employed the entire visit by the bordello owner, earning pay and a deep discount for his brothers while he tends to the repairs of some well beaten sexbots. At the end of his task, he discovers a sealed crate with a female bot that has been deemed a dud. The owner has no need of her, and Einstein finds her too appealing to leave behind to be destroyed, so when presented as a gift for his hard work, he accepts wholeheartedly. For purely scientific reasons.

When Bonnie lost her sister, Chloe, and believed herself alone and destined to be the last of her kind, she shut down. Literally.

Once Chloe and Fiona confirm, via photo, that Bonnie is one of their sisters, Einstein is filled with regret for not saving her in time. He then, quite illogically, kisses her lips. Even more strange, it was the poor guy's first kiss ever. Immediately, Bonnie awakens, and doesn't miss a beat. She can't stop talking, flirting, joking... It's all Einstein can do to get her some water without shutting his own self down from shock. The others just end up staring in horror.

• "I'm Bonnie, formerly known as B785, or as the general liked to fondly call me, that irritating bloody bitch. But you can call me your newest pain in the ass."

Why, oh why, did the geek get the slut? 'Prime girlfriend material' my ass! Seth has seriously lost it. Aramus-he had the right idea. And the ending? No friggin way! I was expecting one of them to have a past with a woman. Being first edition, I suspected it to be Aramus. Wasn't suspecting it to be Seth.

3 out of 5 stars. They are nothing if not consistent.

Previously in this series: