Musings and Ramblings

Tink's Neverland

Cosmos' Gateway, #1

S.E. Smith

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Susan E. Smith
Narrator: Suzanne Elise Freeman
Date of Publication: December 15, 2015
Abridged or Unabridged: Unabridged
Length of Production: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Jasmine “Tinker” Bell has always had a love for life, looking forward to any new adventure that happens to come along. When a friend’s experiment creates a portal to another world she finds herself swept into a faraway galaxy she thought only existed in the movies.

J’kar ‘Tag Krell Manok had given up hope of ever finding his bond mate. He is surprised when a pint-size female unlike anything he has ever seen suddenly appears on his spaceship to save the life of his brother during an attack. When she is suddenly taken from him he will do anything to get her back and claim her.

Two different worlds collide when Tink, a mechanic in a small college town, meets J’kar, a Prime warrior from a far off galaxy. When Tink’s life is in danger, only J’kar can save her. Now Tink has to decide if she is willing to give up everything she has ever known and loved to stay with the alien she has fallen in love with.

Will their worlds survive the collision or will they be torn apart?

I am always on the look out for new authors and interesting story lines. This one caught my eye with the reference to Peter Pan. I have always had a bit of a fascination with the idea of a cross galaxy love affair. Blame my young expose to the wonders of Star Trek/Next Generation/Voyager and books like Johanna Lindsey's Warrior Trilogy and Lori Foster's My Man, Michael. When I saw that it was a series, I knew I wanted to check it out.

To start with, the narration was pretty good. There were times, especially when reading as males, that the narrator had a more stilted tone, really over emphasizing the words. It worked when it was the aliens, showing how different they were. But she also tended to do this for the earth men, so it defeated the earlier purpose of making them stand out and appear strange. Overall she did a good job, and to be honest, I'm glad that she had to stumble over some of the alien names and titles instead of me.

Tink was a fiesty character, and though J'Kar had some serious Alpha-hole tendencies, he proved redeemable. However, the characters weren't very three dimensional; Tink was very nearly a Mary Sue. I also had some issues with the smexy times. The wordage was awkward and I kept ending up torn between laughing and cringing at the language used during Tink and J'Kar's love making sessions. It just didn't flow and felt very forced.

On the plus side, I quite enjoyed the concept of the book. The bones of the story are not just good, they are great: the set up for further books was clearly marked, there was plenty of angles left to explore in future novels and their was enough science to be able to suspend belief. For a first novel in a series by a self-published author, it wasn't horrible; I've read worse. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, but it's also truthful. I gave this book 2 stars, for being just okay.

Thanks to Audiobook Jukebox and the author for the opportunity to listen and review the book.

Hannah's Warrior

Cosmos' Gateway, #2
S.E. Smith

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Susan E. Smith
Narrator: Suzanne Elise Freeman
Date of Publication: December 14, 2015
Abridged or Unabridged: Unabridged
Length of Production: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Hannah Bell, the oldest of the three Bell sisters, spends most of her time in the remotest parts of the world photographing endangered animals. She is also gifted with an extraordinary sixth sense which has saved her life on more than one occasion. When she senses something has happen to her littlest sister, Tink, she will do whatever it takes to protect her. What she doesn’t know is her sister’s best friend Cosmos' new science experiment has opened a portal to another world. A world she is about to be taken to whether she wants to go or not.

Borj ‘Tag Krell Manok is the calmest of his four brothers, or so he always thought. The second oldest, he has been assigned the task by his father and the counsel to bring the sister of his brother's bond mate to their world. Borj knows deep down that Hannah is destined to be his bond mate, something he has hoped for since his first mating rite ceremony. What he doesn't expect when he meets her is her resistance or her independence.

When she is kidnapped by a rival clan, Borj will do anything to get her back. Hannah and Borj's escape into the vast forests of Prime draw them together in a fight not only for their lives but for a deeper understanding and trust between two vastly different worlds. Borj discovers Hannah is a fierce and cunning mate while Hannah discovers Borj is the perfect warrior to protect and love her.

If I hadn't already requested this book along side the first one, I probably wouldn't have listened to this book. As it was, I debated on whether to DNF the series at book 1. Thankfully I gave book 2 a chance.

One of the problems that I had with the narrator during the first book continued in this one. The narrator tended to over enunciate for the male characters. It gave them a very stiff, stilted feel. While I could understand some of the older politic males speaking thus, it was done for all of them. Even the younger males. Additionally, there was mention of an IA having a voice modeled after the Bell sister's mother. At first the narrator used a slightly different accent and tonal spacing to differentiate between the two, but she couldn't keep it consistent throughout and it sounded sloppy.

I was pleased to see that some of the problems that I had with the first book's writing had been corrected in this book. The smexy times flowed better, and seemed much less forced. Also, Hannah was a more well rounded character than Tink, as was her mate.

Future books continued to be foreshadowed, if a bit too heavy handed for a second book. We had an initial set up, now let each play out on it's own. There was more detailed action scenes and a bit more suspense to be found in this book, and it was nicely done. I did enjoy that there was some exploration of this new world the Bell sister's find themselves on. Even if the wrap up felt a bit rushed.

It was very clear, that this was a more put together book than the first one. The story line was tighter, the editing was more on point and it just had a better overall flow. I'm glad that I gave this one a chance and am interested to see where book 3 will take me. I gave this book 3 stars.

Thanks to Audiobook Jukebox and the author for the opportunity to listen and review the book.