Title: Bound by Defiance
Series: Owned 02
Author: Jana Downs
Genre: Science Fiction, BDSM
Length: Novella (137pgs)
Publisher: Siren BookStrand (22nd June 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Alexis Bedlam has been chosen. Selected by the annual lottery as a sacrifice to the alien race that saved mankind from the Great Plague, he’s none too happy to be carted off to be some alien’s snack pack, love slave maybe, but not someone’s dinner. Little does he know that he’s about to come face to face with the master of his dreams.
Elia, the twenty-seventh spawn of Prince Kranok, has been ordered to wed. Luckily, for him, the annual lottery has provided a being that is rumored to be the perfect first concubine for him. What the rumors didn’t tell him is that his particular human is stubborn, sexy, and determined to make a new path for the both of them in an alien world.
As questions about the legitimacy of Elia’s ownership arise, he will have to decide if he will surrender to authority and follow tradition or if defying his past is worth a future with Alexis.
Purchase Link: http://www.bookstrand.com/bound-by-defiance
Review: This story is part of a series and can be read as a stand-alone but is best read as part of the series. Alexis has been chosen for the alien lottery and is terrified, being left for pick-up he has no idea what he is about to face. Elia is Eoean and has been ordered to wed now that his mating urges have begun, his father presents him with a human as his first concubine, and Elia begins the process of setting his own home up and getting to grips with his sexy, feisty human. Alexis is just coming to terms with his relationship with Elia when it is threatened and both Alexis and Elia have to decide if they are willing to fight to stay together.
Jana Downs has written an excellent addition to the Owned series, showing the side where the Eoeans keep some of the humans and their settlement on Earth. Elia is now mature enough to have mating instincts and to set up his own house as Arak, his father gifts him with a human, Alexis, as his first concubine but the feisty human may be the only concubine he ever takes. Alexis was chosen for the lottery but at least he is still on Earth, fitting into the Eoeans society isn’t going to be easy but at least Elia seems open to changing some of the rules.
I really enjoyed the way that the Jana Downs has gone down a slightly different tract than Anitra Lynn McLeod; Anitra’s portion of the series is focused on the selling of the humans onto different worlds, while Jana keeps her humans on Earth in the Eoeans settlements. The world building is good and we get more information on the Eoeans because we spend time with them, we still get that BDSM flavor threaded throughout the story (which is hot), and we come to a better understanding of the lottery. Both Alexis and Elia are great characters and boy do they set off sparks together, their relationship isn’t easy and obstacles are put in their way. It also doesn’t help that Elia’s society has certain expectations that clashes with the human society that Alexis has grown up in, but they come to a wonderful compromise before Elia’s fathers’ idiocy nearly ruins it.
I have to recommend this to those who love humans and aliens falling in love, different species merging their cultures, just a touch of BDSM, hot sex, finding your soul mate and the beginning of a very happy ending.