Astrid Amara

Goodness. I read a lot of historical romance and enjoy the warm feelings of falling in love and everything along with my history, and was thinking 'oh nice, they're both soldiers'. lol. This definitely does have a romance, and it's lovely, but the book feels more like historical fiction that just happens to have a relationship that ends happily. It is weighty. Not only is it set in war times, most of the book takes place practically on the front line of it. War is of course terrible, so I wouldn't say the book, which is very much mired in the midst of it, was a pleasant experience, but I am still glad I read it. Just brace yourself for the grittiness of war. Men and horses drop like flies through the whole thing, and even the survivors are all scarred for life (mentally and physically). It's really rough. But, I feel like I did learn some history, and it's probably good for all of us to really consider the true cost of war from time to time. This kept my interest, and I became quite fond of the characters. There are some magical elements woven in, but they didn't veer into silliness in my opinion, or make light of this otherwise sobering place and time. Overall it was an interesting read.… (meer)

Tover Duke's whole world changes when his boyfriend, Cruz Arcadio, unexpectedly sells him into slavery--on his birthday of all days. Tover is a Navigator, with the ability to jump himself, objects, even an entire ship, across space. His is a useful talent--that might be exploited without him even realizing it. Devastated by Cruz's betrayal, Tover is forced to confront a number of aspects of his reality when Cruz returns to save him from his predicament and takes Tover back to his home planet to recover. But can he get past what happened? Can he trust the story that Cruz tells him? And if he does, is he prepared to do what needs to be done to right a major wrong?

I found it hard to put this one down. It's an intriguing story with some unexpected twists--and two main characters that are easy to empathize with...… (meer)