The Romanceaholic

Captain Susan Branscombe was the victim of brutal torture at the hands of terrorists. Though rescued, she’s now facing an equally brutal accusation: treason.

The only way she can prove her innocence is to allow Asler Kiis, a Confederacy Examiner, to delve into the depths of her mind. Asler is Inarri, the alien race that made contact with Earth just months before. His duty is to find the truth, but when he explores Susan’s mind he can’t resist drawing her into a more intimate experience.

Susan takes comfort in Asler’s heated sensuality. Their erotic sensory exploration chases away the darkness and her body aches for more. But as their desire reaches new limits Susan finds it difficult to suppress the memories she is desperate to forget.

Is the passion they share enough to let Susan push aside her fear and trust Asler, not only with her mind and body but with her ever-opening heart?

37,000 words

The people of Earth have recently discovered that they are not alone in the universe, and are in the process of forming a treaty with an alliance of worlds that will hopefully be beneficial to all parties involved.  During the peace talks, Captain Susan Branscombe was captured and brutally tortured by terrorists, and the information that she gave them was used to orchestrate an attack on the peace talks.   Now rescued, Susan has come under suspicion of treason, and is to be given over to the Inarri for interrogation.

The Inarri are physically similar to humans, with the exception of nerve pathways all over their bodies that resemble henna tattoos. They also have what we would consider to be psychic powers — they are able to communicate telepathically amongst their own race, and by utilizing touch, are able to probe the minds of humans as well.   Amongst their own people, the Inarri also use touch and sexuality as a way of comforting each other, and are much more uninhibited (and some might say, promiscuous) than their human counterparts.

Asler is the Examiner assigned to the case, and it is his duty to relive Sue’s torture with her in her mind in order to gain the truth. He is not at all anticipating the process, however. He knows that being forced to relive her torture might just break her, and while he knows what he has to do for the good of his people and the future treaty, he’s not a cruel man who would take pleasure in hurting her.  Unfortunately, neither of them has a choice in the matter, and Susan is soon taken to the Inarri ship for interrogation.

What worked for me:

• I was very happy to see that all alien names were easily pronounceable. Too often sci-fi and fantasy writers try to make their characters sound otherworldly in a way that makes it fairly impossible to pronounce the main character names, which pulls the reader out of the story.  Even the usage of apostrophes was pretty well done and didn’t take away from the story, which I liked.
• I really love a tortured heroine. Call me a sadist if you will, but there’s just something about having either the hero or the heroine very seriously physically injured that I love.  Perhaps it is the vulnerability of their situation, or more likely, the fact that it gives them a chance to prove how strong a person they are, but whatever the cause, this is something that will draw me to a story every time.
• I also really enjoyed the premise of having been captured and tortured and then having to deal with political fallout instead of just being able to take it easy.
• Asler’s wang is ribbed, for her pleasure!   As mentioned, the Inarri have nerve pathways all over their bodies, and these become more pronounced when they are aroused. This of course adds a whole new facet to lovemaking, as these pathways are not only incredibly sensitive, but also provide new textures for their partners that are not found on humans. H-O-T.
• Speaking of “hot”, the sensuality of the story was delicious.  Forced nudity and exhibitionism/voyeurism aside (since these just aren’t my thing usually), Asler and Susan’s experiences together were incredibly sensual. I also appreciated that Asler started developing feelings for her so early on; since the Inarri are such sexual beings, it would’ve been hard to believe that he wanted her for anything more than her sexuality had he not already cared for her at least a tiny bit from the beginning.
• I also enjoyed the twist about the different levels of memory retrieval, and how it backfired.