Heat
4.5 rounded up.Sheeew! Finally made it through this one. Not only was it seriously intense, it was freaking long. I guess it would have to be since it was two "romances" in one. I use that word for a lack of a better one.
This is a scifi-horror-fetish-type story about an alien (Jotan) slaver, Kane, who comes to Earth to harvest dopamine from humans in order to manufacture alien drugs that will fund his need for a ship and crew. He has stolen an unarmed police cruiser and is on the run after his father was captured and killed during a raid. Kane is pretty effing evil and does everything from rape to murder, but I still found myself rooting for him. I know that sounds awful, but I'm sure we're suppose to. There are little snatches here and there that shows that he's not all bad, despite all the gruesome criminal activity. Despite coming to Earth with the intent of murdering untold numbers of humans, he still manages to find and become attached to a little gothic chick, Raven, who takes Stockholm Syndrome and runs with it.
The second part of the story is about the Jotan cop, Tagen, who has followed Kane to Earth in order to capture him and send him to prison. Tagen is painfully straight-laced and by-the-book, as polar opposite to Kane as you can get. I'm sure he's the one most readers don't have mixed feelings about supporting. (Well...maybe. I'm sure I'm not the only WTFery-uber-alpha loving, trainwreck-whore out there ;D. Though this isn't just a trainwreck, it's wholy insane). He reluctantly has to capture his own human, Daria, who happens to be a beautiful but damaged neurotic agoraphobic who ends up befriending him and helping him catch his criminal (and helping him with his own biological necessities).
Kane's side of the story was the most interesting and unbelievably crazy, but I ended up being invested in each part of the story as relationships develop and each couple dealt with their own issues. And, in my opinion, both halves of the story came to a satisfying end.
If you're sensitive and easily squicked out, stay far away from this story. This is not really a romance. There's some serious violence and atrocities that will horrify many a gentle reader. But if you like your erotica mixed with a bit of horror (ok, a lot of horror), then this might be to your liking.
