awesome. I need more. ( )

I have loved almost everything I have read by Ruby Dixon but I am sorry to say that I didn't like this instalment. I found the slavery aspect of the H and h's relationship too disturbing. By the end it felt more like the H eventually decided to try and do the right thing but didn't have to because he got rewarded for the thought and that the h chose safety over freedom. They just go back to the relationship they had before he wanted to make things right. Sure they are "married" but their life on the station is exactly the same as when she was his sex slave (unless you count the addition of vacations), so it feels like she still is his slave (even more so if you include the branding).

This just feels too much like romanticizing sexual slavery. I don't know what needed to take place to make me believe his perspective truly changed, that he saw her as her own person, that he regretted their owner/slave relationship and he grew beyond lust to love. The h's decision is understandable if you consider that with the H she was safe and cared for and treated better than she knows she would be by most any other owners, so clinging to that over an unfamiliar way of life that is "free" but full of loneliness and possible danger makes sense. However, that doesn't make it good or an expression of love. I would more readily believe she loved him if the falling in love had taken place when she was no longer his sex slave. As it is I just can't get behind this one. ( )

Cheesy cover turned me off from this one for a long time, but it was surprisingly engaging...right up until the bizarre ending with a farm planet and genetically grown clone cows. Threw me off a little, but until that point--solid plot (for an alien bodice ripper, I mean) and likeable main characters. ( )

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