Title: A Solid Core of Alpha
Author: Amy Lane
Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian Romance with a touch of BDSM
Length: 10 hours and 58 minutes
Narrator: Paul Morey
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (09-28-12)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Reviewer: Tams
Blurb: In an act of heroism and self-sacrifice, Anderson Rawn’s sister saved him from the destruction of their tiny mining colony, but her actions condemned the thirteen-year-old to ten years of crushing loneliness on the hyperspace journey to a new home. Using electronics and desperation, Anderson creates a family to keep him company, but family isn’t always a blessing.
When Anderson finally arrives, C.J. Poulson greets him with curiosity and awe, because anyone who can survive a holocaust and reinvent holo-science is going to be a legend and right up C.J.’s alley. But the more C.J. investigates how Anderson endured the last ten years, the deeper he is drawn into a truly dangerous fantasy, one that offers the key to Anderson’s salvation—and his destruction.
In spite of his best intentions, C.J. can’t resist the terribly seductive Anderson. Their attraction threatens to destroy them, because the heart of a man who can survive the destruction of his people and retain his sense of self holds a solid core of alpha male that will not be denied.
Purchase Link: http://www.audible.com/search?advsearchKeywords=A+Solid+Core+of+Alpha
https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=2444
Review: Anderson Rawn has spent the last ten years trapped inside a spaceship. With his only companionship being the computer generated people, he created to halt his slow dissent into madness. Kate, beautiful and smart. Bobby, the best friend. Henry, the voice of reason initially created as a lover for Anderson. Rissa, the shy and meek. And Alpha. Alpha was created for one purpose, to love Anderson, but somewhere along the way his programming absorbs the self-loathing that Anderson has kept locked inside over the devastation he feels after the loose of his family and planet. Love and compassion turn into anger and abuse.
CJ Poulson is somewhat of a technical genius. He and his sister Cassie under the direction of Cassie’s husband run a successful space station. Although CJ has spent his life surrounded by friends, family and love; he has yet to find someone substantial enough to reach for forever with. He loves his time off planet where he can breathe in the air and enjoy a few naughty indulgences, but he loves his work and his life on the station. When CJ learns about the young man coming their way that has basically redefined the laws of computer programming within the hollow deck over the past decade, he is anxious to meet him.
What they find inside that ship when it lands will rock not only CJ and Cassie, but also Anderson and everyone else that surrounds and supports them. A lifetime of memories salvaged from a planet that was destroyed wrapped up in an almost decade long package of abuse that becomes even more twisted as the truth unravels. The term, Stranger than Fiction comes to mind.
Everything that Anderson has become is wrapped up in the memory of his ship. His own memories while razor sharp, are tainted due to his years of isolation. CJ and Cassie set out to preserve Anderson’s past and hope to help him find a future. The more CJ learns about just how dark it got on that ship between Anderson and Alpha, the deeper his love for Anderson grows. He loves Anderson’s inexperience, innocence, and the way he smiles at him, so seductively. It tears him apart when he watches the vids, witnessing the brutality Anderson endured at the hands of Alpha. But through it all he still see’s Anderson, his perseverance and determination to survive is what CJ falls in love with.
Anderson as well is falling in love with CJ, the reality of him. His taste, smell and touch; all things he could never feel with the computer generated Alpha. Feelings are not something Anderson has ever dealt with well. He grew up on a space ship with only hollow friends and the information stored within the ship to nurture him, to learn from. All he knows is that what he feels for CJ feels real, CJ feels real. But can CJ’s unconditional and unwavering love save Anderson from himself?
The story started out with a bang and became a rollercoaster ride from then on out. Ups and downs, highs and lows, as Anderson’s story unfolds. Imagine being twelve years old and losing EVERYTHING. This is essentially what happens. Stuck on a ship in space utterly alone, Anderson creates friends, companions and eventually lovers to abide the loneliness. Having no adults around as a moral compass, he can only gauge his responses off the history, books and videos contained within the ships memories.
I won’t say the story was action packed or nonstop because, although there was action it wasn’t a constant. There were surely some slow parts here and there, but these were essential to the story. The world Lane built in this book was phenomenal! Her writing coupled with the outstanding narration of Paul Morey make this book a must listen! I was engrossed, enraptured and intrigued from start to finish. The subject matter is a little dark, there is a slight element of BDSM and the emotional turmoil is palpable. But the story is woven and delivered so flawlessly, I was blown away.
** I received a copy of this audio book from Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review through MM Good Book Reviews **
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