Title: Born To Please
Series: Pleasure Vessels 01
Author: Jana Downs
Genre: Futuristic (3006), Paranormal
Length: Novella (124pgs)
Publisher: Siren-BookStrand (9th March 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3 ½ – 4 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Vessel 8189, Payne, doesn’t want the man who the Facility has deemed his perfect match. A specially designed person whose DNA has been spliced with shifter DNA, his entire life has prepared him for his owner and mate. However, the man they’ve chosen isn’t the spoiled, arrogant jerk he anticipates.
Alecander Kane is the CEO of marketing for the Facility where Payne is housed. He never wanted to take a Vessel because he craved more of a partner than a slave. Unfortunately, his father has other plans. He has gifted Payne as a birthday present.
After they meet, a problem at the Facility sends them rushing back to the place Payne grew up to deal with the cleanup. Together, they will uncover all the secrets that have been festering for years and change the way Vessels are treated forever, all the while discovering that being born for pleasure doesn’t necessarily preclude falling in love.
Purchase Link: http://www.bookstrand.com/born-to-please
Review: Payne is a Vessel, a person designed to be the perfect companion for just one person, he is nearing the end of his training and will soon be given to his owner, but Payne doesn’t want anyone claiming him especially after his hellish training and knowing that his owner only wants a mindless pet. But Payne’s match is nothing like he thought he would be and just as they are coming to an understanding, a problem at the Facility looks set to rip them apart. Alec has no idea about the real story behind Vessel’s, but when he receives his own as a present he rapidly learns that everything he thought he knew isn’t right and with his Vessel at his side he looks into setting things right.
This is a cool little novella that is set in the far future and has a little twist of shifter mating, but it also has a dark tinge to it that leaves lingering questions. Payne was created for Alec, his DNA was spliced with that of shifters to create the perfect mate, but not everything is wonderful in the Vessel world as brutal training and mind-altering practices ensure Vessel compliance. Alec is appalled when he discovers what is happening and swears to Payne that they will dig for the truth, but the discovery of illegal practices at the Facility leads to a shakeup of the treatment of Vessels.
Alec and Payne clash when they first meet and it continues until Alec realizes that he doesn’t really want a mindless sex toy, Payne challenges him at every turn and makes him see that Vessels aren’t just objects, but are people with their own thoughts and feelings. You warm up to both Payne and Alec quickly and when Alec’s father, David, comes on the scene he seems unfeeling and callus, it isn’t until later in the book that his façade changes and that’s due to his own Vessel, Amber, Alec’s mother. The storyline is brilliant and a little bit taboo, playing with genetics’ to make the perfect companion, but the system is hijacked when the Vessels are treated inhumanly.
I am really looking forward to seeing which direction this series goes next, because there is unfinished business and people disappeared before they could be caught… and we also have the surprising twist of shifters coming out of their hiding places. We also have the uncertain question of the Vessels mating, now that they will no longer be forced, how will this twist work out?
I will recommend this to those that love shifters, mates, a touch of danger, hot sex, a touch of conflict and a happy ending.