Tuesday, March 5, 2013

REVIEW: Honora by Cynthia Woolf

They stole her love, her life and want to steal the secrets secured in her mind. 



Secrets that could topple world governments and decimate quadrant security forever.  Now she’s on an epic quest to find out why and make those responsible pay. Honora Reyestat gave up everything to become a member of the esteemed Gregarian Guard.  No family, no friends, no connections--nothing that can ever be used against her.  Captured and enslaved, she's become a prized gladiator for her master.  Given the task of training a new slave, she recognizes a fellow Zolthor and the son of a tribal leader at that.  Her mission changes from discovery of the enemy's tactics and secrets to returning Joridan to his people. 
Drawn to this fierce woman as no other, Joridan Dolana tries to explain she is wrong.  He's not Zolthor, he's Centauri.  He was raised on Centauri with his sister.  Faced with proof of a father's ultimate betrayal, he must choose between revenge and the protection of this woman who has sworn to never return his love.



Quick Facts
Release Date: December 22, 2012.
Genre: Romance, Sci Fi
Formats: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple



The Author
Cynthia Woolf was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.
She worked her way through college and went to work full time straight after graduation and there was little time to write. Then in 1990 she and two friends started a round robin writing a story about pirates. She found that she missed the writing and kept on with other stories. In 1992 she joined Colorado Romance Writers and Romance Writers of America.
Unfortunately, the loss of her job demanded she not renew her memberships and her writing stagnated for many years.
In 2001, she saw an ad in the paper for a writer’s conference being put on by CRW and decided she'd attend. One of her favorite authors, Catherine Coulter, was the keynote speaker. Cynthia was lucky enough to have a seat at Ms. Coulter's table at the luncheon and after talking with her, decided she needed to get back to her writing. She rejoined both CRW and RWA that day and hasn't looked back.

Learn more about the author at:  www.cynthiawoolf.com


Excerpt

“Oww” a woman’s voice awash with pain reached his ears.
“You disappoint me, Honora.  You continue to try to escape me.  When will you learn?” asked a whiney voiced man.
The whip struck flesh.  Again the woman moaned but didn’t scream.  She didn’t scream.
When he woke again he was not alone but the man with the whip was gone.  Chained across the room from him, hung by her wrists, was a woman.  He could see the lash marks on her back.  Lash upon lash, new over old.  They obstructed the beautiful tattoo of a dragon on her back.  The blood hard to see within the red of the dragon.
Crawling to her he released her hands from the chains holding her up.  She collapsed in a heap on the floor.  He crawled back to his side of the room as darkness overtook him once more.

*****

The dried blood on her back cracked with each movement, but she worked through the pain as she stretched.  Breathed deep and accepted the pain.  Her sword weighed heavier in her hand than usual.  More evidence of the lashing two nights ago.  She looked down at the unconscious man at her feet.  A new recruit.  A Zolthor,  like herself.  Another reason Perdor punished her for her attempted escape, her sixth try in as many months.
This last punishment was the worst.  Five lashes.  Not enough to incapacitate her but enough to make her remember.  Perdor wanted her to be able to train the new slave.  He wanted them to be a team, good enough to take on all contenders.  He’d be the only owner with two Zolthor fighting for him.  Not just one, but a team.  He was practically wetting himself in anticipation of the beras that he’ll win with a team of Zolthor fighters.
Again she looked down on the naked man.  Long brown lashes lay against his cheek.  A nice contrast to his golden blond hair.  What color eyes did they hide?  Blue?  Green?  Brown perhaps.  She’d find out soon enough.
He was a beautiful man.  Well formed.  Broad shoulders.  Trim waist.  Long muscular legs.  He looked like a warrior.  Would be a good fighter.  Maybe even a good lover as he appeared well endowed there as well.
He’d awakened from the drug induced sleep long enough to crawl over and release her from the chains.  For that she was grateful.  Her wrists didn’t hurt as much as usual because of him.  Using her blades was easier than it had been after her previous punishments.
Time to wake up the sleeping man and get him trained.  Time was short and she intended to make the most of it.  He would learn or he would die.

My Review: 3 1/2 stars
I received a free copy of the book from Black Lion Tours in exchange for an honest review. 
I enjoyed reading this book, but it didn't really pull me in until the last 1/3 of it. I liked the characters of Honora and Joridan, I thought they was very well-written. There was one thing that happened towards the middle of the book that I felt was significant, and then dropped entirely. Although, perhaps it was resolved, and I just never caught onto it. Some of the more sci-fi elements weren't very well explained, like the med-tech units.
There were many more romantic elements to this book than science fiction, and while that's not bad, the science fiction parts seemed to be merely a nod into that direction. As a romance book, it was great, but as a science fiction fan, I hoped for a little more sci-fi.

FOLLOW THE TOUR:

Tour Schedule 
Mar 4: Black Lion Tour Blog: Introduction
          Love in a Book: Review and Guest Post.
          Second book to the Right: Review.
Mar 7Oh, Chrys!: Guest Post.
Mar 8Synchronized Reading: Guest Post.
Mar 9: Books, books the magical fruit: Guest Post.
Mar 10A novel Idea Live: Live Interview.
Mar 11Reading a little bit of everything: Guest Post.
              A Novel Idea Live: Promo.
Mar 12MK McClintock: Guest Post.
Mar 13The Bunny's review: Guest Post.
Mar 15Deal Sharing Aunt: Interview and Guest Post.
Mar 16Fictional Candy: Interview.
Mar 17: I Know that Book: Interview.
Mar 18: Black Lion Tour Blog: Wrap-up.

Also the author is doing a giveaway for the book!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for having me today and thank you for the wonderful review.

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  2. Honora is on my TBR list. Can't wait till I get to it. I love a good mix of romance and sci/fi.

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  3. Thanks Virginia for stopping by. I'm glad that you are looking forward to Honora. I hope you enjoy her story.

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  4. Yes, I would. Depending on the quest and what I was revenging.

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  5. Wow you've been busy this week Cindy, and more stops ahead! It's been fun to see all your posts. Best luck.

    Rose

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    1. Thanks Rose. It's fun and I look forward to the rest of the stops.

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  6. Hi, Cynthia, Honora is on my TBR list, too. The excerpt is just enough to give an idea of what's in store. I already own Riza.

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