Tag: Astrid Amara

Trustworthy by Astrid Amara

Astrid Amara - Trustworthy CoverTitle: Trustworthy

Series: Policy of Lies #2

Author: Astrid Amara

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Loose ID (May 9, 2017)

Length: Novella (161 Pages)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: Ten years ago, lovers and best friends Ivo Toreli and Robert Mackenzie were separated by death.

But sometimes life gives you second chances. Life…and a lot of cybernetic enhancements.

Trust Agent 505 may not remember who he was before he worked security for Trust Insurance, but now his prisoner thinks he knows him. This revolutionary named “Mack,” who has stolen one of Trust’s prized possessions, seems to think Agent 505 is named “Ivo,” someone from his past. Someone he once loved more than anyone on any of the inhabited worlds.

Ivo doesn’t remember any of it, of course. But if he’s going to get Trust’s property back from the revolutionaries, he’s going to have to play along.

And if playing along also means sleeping with a handsome, humorous, and slightly dangerous ex-soldier, all the better, right? 

ISBN: 978-1-68252-327-8

Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/trustworthy.html

Reviewer: Lisa

Review:  I have never really been a fan of anything Sci-fi, but this was a pretty damn good book if I must say so.  I hadn’t even taken a look at the blurb, so I had no clue what type of book I picked so imagine my surprise when I started reading it.  It is definitely futuristic and unique, a definite new type of story for me.  

Two young boys, orphaned at a young age find themselves together and bond in a way that many do not.  They grew up together, took care of each other and protected the other with fierceness.  Then they became lovers and decided to never be without the other.  Fighting for what they thought was right, Ivo was killed.  Ten years has gone past and Rob finds out that the man he loved, the man he watched die is in fact very much alive.

Ivo or Agent 505 had no memory of anything other then what he was.  Part man and part machine, but still human.  He has been killed many times but always brought back.  His reward is a drug that basically keeps him under the Trust’s hand.  That is until a man who knows him, shows him a different side of himself… one that he, well your just going to have to read the book.

A very fascinating story and I will now have to go back and read the first book in this series.  It is a very entertaining tale and caught my attention from the very start.  This is more than just a fight for the world, but for each other and the love they once had.  I fell in love with the characters and that dog just made a hit with me. 

I can see myself reading this book more than once, way to go!  I would definitely recommend this book.

Song of the Navigator by Astrid Amara

song-of-the-navigatorTitle: Song of the Navigator

Series:  N/A
Author: Astrid Amara
Genre: Sci Fi/Fantasy
Length: Novel (224 pages)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (May 26th, 2015)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Blurb: Worst Possible Birthday: Being sold into slavery by none other than your lover.

Tover Duke’s rare ability to move anything instantly across light-years of space makes him a powerful, valuable asset to the Harmony Corporation, and a rock star among the people of the colonies. His life is luxurious. Safe. Routine.

He has his pick of casual hookups passing through Dadelus-Kaku Station. His one brush with danger of any kind—the only bright spot in his otherwise boring life—is Cruz Arcadio, a dark-haired, hard-bodied engineer whose physical prowess hints he’s something much more.

When a terrorist abducts Tover, hurling him into a world of torture, exploitation and betrayal, it’s with shattering disbelief that he realizes his kidnapper is none other than Cruz. As Tover struggles to find the courage to escape his bondage, he begins to understand the only way to free his body, his mind—and his heart—is to trust the one man who showed him that everything about his once-perfect life was a lie.

Warning: This story contains descriptions of extreme violence and assault. It also contains graphic sexual depictions. It also has a lot of birds. And pirate movies from the future. And romance.

ISBN: 9781619228627

Product Link: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5444/song-of-the-navigator

Reviewer: Zane

Review: Kidnapped on your birthday? By your lover? Well, this started off with quite the bang! Sci-Fi is not a ‘go-to’ for me, so I was thrilled to find that the world building though complex wasn’t confusing. Astrid Amara has shown such attention to detail, building a future-fantasy world so layered, so rich that the words painted vivid pictures in my mind.

The characters were fleshed out just as deeply. Tover, the ‘rock star’ navigator, living the life of luxury, naïve and/or in denial of the injustices of the world around him. We are with Tover from his initial abduction throughout his torturous captivity, witnessing his rescue, escape and freedom.

Who are the allies? The enemies? Are they one and the same? Cruz, Tover’s some-time lover, the engineer, aide to the terrorists that kidnapped him? Terrorist himself? Is he this horrible traitor, or is he really just misunderstood? Not everything is what it seems.

There is a definite darkness to this story as indicated in the blurb. There is indeed violence and torture (no rape/noncom) which though not easy to read, was completely in line with the book and subject matter, including PTSD suffered by Tover. Shining through those tough times were moments of romance and heroism, of happiness and self-discovery.

Being a romantic sap, it was not lost on me that the place Tover truly found himself, the home of Cruz and his family, was called Carida, which sounds quite like ‘querida’, an endearment of love and caring in Spanish/Portuguese. The descriptive beauty, the events and dialogue that took place in Carida are some of my favorite in this book.

Ms. Amara has penned an epic journey of loss and love, where the hero does save the day (more than once) and love does win out. Though not the usual sweet and humorous read I have come to expect from this author, this latest release has only reaffirmed why Astrid Amara is an auto-buy for me, and why I can easily recommend this to one and all.

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* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Demolished by Astrid Amara

aa_demolishedTitle: Demolished

Author: Astrid Amara

Genre: LGBT Mystery/ Suspense

Length: Novella (165 pages)

Publisher: Loose Id Publishing (July 16 2013)

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Heat Level: explicit

Blurb: Calvin Quarry thinks Felix Bracks is a fantastic lover. He fulfills all of Cal’s deepest fantasies, allowing him to fully embrace the wanton side of his sexuality. But Cal’s fantasy shatters when he realizes Felix was the driver in a fatal accident that killed Cal’s best friend back in high school.

Forgiving Felix his past transgressions is hard, but when Cal’s young cousin Robby becomes entangled in a dark and dangerous affair, Cal realizes there’s more to both their stories than what meets the eye. As a journalism major, Cal has a duty to not only shed light on the sinister world young Robby has stumbled into, but also to uncover the truth about Felix’s accident so many years before.

But those they fight have power, and ways of making them and their families suffer. Cal and Felix have to be willing to sacrifice everything to stop these horrors from happening again. But this wasn’t what either signed up for. This was supposed to be a casual sex hookup anonymously scheduled online. Can they truly trust each other enough to bring the crimes of the past to light, or will their budding relationship be demolished in the process?

Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/demolished.html

Reviewer: Cat

Review: Cal is a gay man in a small community in his last year of college. He gets his sexual fixes from a male hookup site. He likes the kinkiness and has some wild fantasies but he is also a cautious man so he had been chatting with Bikenut for a month before actually going through with the well-planned fantasy. All goes well until he catches a glimpse of the man’s face and realizes it’s someone he knew in school and someone he wanted to forget that had caused him pain. Then his young nephew shows up with some problems and Cal finds out soon how serious Robbie’s troubles are and that there is also a connection between Robbie’s troubles and Felix’s past. Studying to be an investigative reporter this could be his big break or could it be life threatening for him, Robbie and/or Felix if he peruses this?

Felix knew when he was young he was gay he was a loner in school and considered a troublemaker. A terrible decision when he was 17 cost the lives of 4 teenagers and almost his. He now tries to forget his past and make a new life but meeting Cal dredges up the ghosts form the past. Can he just forget Cal and go back to forgetting that bad time? Can he ignore what’s happening to Robbie when it’s so much like his past? I suggest you read this one and see!

I really loved this story. There is lots of mystery and intrigue, a lesson to learn for young men, some hot sex, a sweet love story, and it’s quite the page-turner. I wasn’t able to stop once I got started. I am not sure what pushed me on the most the romance building between cal and Felix, the need to know what happened to Felix and why, what was going on with Robbie or how this whole thing would end. I wasn’t disappointed!!

 

Recommendation: If you love a sweet romance with mystery and intrigue, investigative reporting, college men, and pretty hot mansex this is a must!