The Romanceaholic

Expected Release Date: July 1, 2011 (Available Now!)
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Imprint: N/A
Author’s Website: http://www.ninacroft.com/
My Source for This Book: Amazon.com
Part of a Series: Yes, Book 1, Blood Hunter series
Series Best Read In Order: N/A
Steam Level: Steamy

Official Blurb:

The year is 3048, Earth is no longer habitable, and man has fled to the stars where they’ve discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they’re called, rule the universe.

Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can’t resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective’s maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous–or so fun!

In the year 3048, Planet Earth has become inhabitable, and humans have joined with other space-faring species.  For the very rich and elite, the Meridian treatment is a much sought-after way to ensure immortality.  However, Meridian is incredibly rare and expensive, allowing only an elite few to afford the treatment. Worse than that, however, is the deadly nature of the mineral in its raw form — exposure to unprocessed Meridian is a death sentence. Because of this, prisoners are often sentenced to serve in the Meridian mines, as escape is futile due to the simple fact that once exposed, death soon follows.

Vampire Ricardo Sanchez, one of Earth’s original pirates, is now the pilot of the infamous space cruiser, El Cazador de la Sangre — The Blood Hunter.  A womanizer to the extreme, he unapologetically uses physical passion to keep his darker vampire nature at bay, and has earned the reputation of being the best mercenary available.

Skylar Rossaria is a woman on a mission. A well-trained soldier disguising herself as a bubble-brained bimbo, she hires Rico and his crew to do the impossible — break a prisoner out of the Collective’s maximum security prison on Trakis One — a feat that has never before been attempted let alone succeeded.  Trakis One is more than just a mere prison planet — it’s virtually impossible to approach let alone escape from.  Positioned perilously close to a black hole, with an extremely inhospitable atmosphere, prisoners are kept in cryo-sleep.  Despite her reputation, sleek build, and incredible firepower, even El Cazador has no chance of successfully approaching the planet.  However, Rico isn’t one to back down from a challenge, especially when presented by a beautiful woman.  The riches promised as a reward are enough to entice the rest of the crew to agree, but Rico has his eye on something other than mere credits — if they succeed, Skylar must allow Rico to taste her blood, something that will reveal all of her secrets (as well as her true identity) to him.

With no choice but to agree to Rico’s conditions, Skylar and the crew of El Cazador plan the most daring prison break in known history.

What Worked For Me:

• To begin with, the fact that Rico used sex to tamp down his violent vampiric urges was delicious to me. *purrs!*  More than that, however, was the incredible sexual tension between him and Skylar throughout the novella.  While the novella itself is not overly explicit, the air practically crackles between Rico and Skylar from the moment they meet — something that startles Skylar and intrigues Rico.
• There was  surprisingly high level of humor for being so action packed. Rico’s narrow escape from the villagers at the beginning, Skylar’s wardrobe issues, and her hiring of the misfit crew to help “protect” her from Rico, all added quite a bit of levity to an otherwise serious story.
• While I’d figured out the twist in Skylar’s identity (to a point), I loved that Rico had as well, and that it didn’t matter.  In my mind, Skylar had more than redeemed herself for her initial betrayal by the time Rico admitted he knew her secret, and I was very happy with the way things worked out.
• While I don’t have an actual wordcount on this story, and it’s billed as a “novella” (so less than 40k I believe), it didn’t feel at all rushed as most novellas do these days. I don’t know if it’s because it’s perhaps pushing the upper limit of the novella wordcount, but regardless, the pacing was perfect and the worldbuilding was beautifully executed without sacrificing other details.
• While the sensual elements of this story were not the main focus of the story, they were quite hot and really fit well with the characters. Despite Rico’s whorish ways in the beginning, his forced celibacy during the prison break, as well as his honest developing affection for Skylar really made the “fulfillment of their agreement” quite satisfying.  I also loved that Skylar seemed to pull Rico out of his shell, and had him interacting with the crew on a more personal level for the first time in their memory.
• I really enjoyed the tidbits about Rico’s history. Being 2000+ years old, he was able to tell stories of many experiences that sounded like pure fantasy to those around him, including tales of engagement rings, gunfights, and pirate ships.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

• As always, I’m not a fan of unintentional exhibitionism — that is, other people seeing the heroine naked when it results in her embarrassment.  While this is not done to nearly the extent of some other stories I’ve read, the fact that the crew watched Skylar and Rico in flagrante delicto via the surveillance cameras left a bad taste in my mouth.
• I wish there’d been more details about vampires in general. While Meridian and its subsequent immortality was explained in depth, not much is explained about Rico’s vampirism, other than the fact that he was turned on Earth around 2000 years ago.

Overall, I was absolutely thrilled with this book.  While it was available on Netgalley, I couldn’t resist supporting the newly established Entangled Publishing by purchasing it through Amazon.  As of the writing of this review, Break Out is only $0.99 for Kindle, and I would highly recommend it to any fan of vampires and futuristic space adventure.   While this is obviously the start of a series, it also felt complete despite the fact that the ending leaves a perfect setup for the next book in the series, Deadly Pursuit, due out in January of next year.

I must admit that this is the first Nina Croft story I’ve read, but that I will be cheerfully stalking this series, and as such dear readers, you should prepare yourself for quite a bit of fangirling from my general direction closer to the release of the sequel.

Recommended for fans of slutty ancient vampires who finally meet their match, secret identities and double-crossing, and thrilling space adventures.  A very cheerful 5/5 Stars.

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