eBook The Star King epub

Okay, I'm not a romance fan. Well, I do read one writer who does a good job of spinning a yarn.

I started this book expecting a science fiction story. When the romance side started taking center stage, I decided to stop reading it. I even made some noise to that effect on Goodreads. The next day, I picked up my Kindle to delete it, but decided to read a "bit more" to see what happened to the current "situation". Before I knew it, I was immersed in the story and couldn't get out. (HELP!!!).

Before I knew it, the story was over and I was reading the author's bio and the teaser for the next book in the series. I blame the author. Her writing is just TOO good.

Now, even though this is the first book in a series, the story is complete. It looks like the next book is about related characters, but the main situation in the first book has been wrapped up nicely. Still, I have this maniacal desire to buy the next book.

The story is set in the future and the characters do indeed run around the Galaxy in their adventures. But it is definitely a romance. It follows the "standard" romance formula (yes there is such a thing, but it's not written down anywhere). There's a hunk who's an "A" type personality and a "strong" woman who melts whenever he's around. Romance fans will love it.

One surprise: the female "lead" is a fighter pilot (F16s) in the beginning of the book. It turns out that the author, Susan Grant, was an Air Force pilot and currently herds jumbo jets for a living, so she knows what she's writing about. I'd suspect that writing keeps her sane while she's laying over in a motel room in a strange town that she's already explored on previous layovers.

Now, there are a (very) few science errors in the book that her story editor didn't catch, nor her copy editor. But they don't really detract from the story itself.

I'm still not a romance fan, but I could very easily become a Susan Grant fan.

Title: The Star King
Series: The Star Series
Author: Susan Grant
Designation: Book One of Series, Standalone Novel, NO Cliffhanger
Reading Platform: Kindle Edition
My Rating: Five Riveting Stars*****
Jackpot! I love science fiction, adore action/adventure, and simply can not live without an infusion of romance, but when I find the perfect combination of all three in one great book, I'm in heaven! And fortunately for me, that's exactly what Susan Grant delivered with The Star King, the first book in her divinely entertaining Star Series. I'd never even heard of Susan Grant but last week, The Star King was offered on Amazon as a free promotional download. So, after reading the blurb, I was more than a little intrigued and decided to give it a whirl. I freely admit I'm a sucker for a bargain, but I've actually found quite a few great new authors by taking advantage of these deals. This may have been my first time reading Grant's work but I can now say with utmost certainty, it definitely won't be my last. As a matter of fact, as soon as I finished The Star King, I raced back to Amazon and discovered there were two more books available in the series. I'm sure you already know what I'm about to say, right? Yup, I bought them both. I'm very passionate about books and have been since I was only four years old sitting on my father's knee while he read me a story every night of my life. I'm now 64 years young and in the last 60 years, I've read thousands and thousands of books, too many to count, but I don't just read books, I devour them! And now after only one book, I can honestly say Susan Grant has easily secured a place among my list of top ten all-time favorite Sci-Fi Romance writers. To say I'm impressed with Grant's extraordinary imagination would be a huge understatement. It quickly became obvious that Grant is not only a master wordsmith but also a gifted storyteller, exceptionally skilled at creating detailed and vividly depicted worlds, then populating them with strong, engaging characters who literally explode from the pages, capture your imagination and steal your heart. I was immediately drawn into this story by Grant's enjoyable, realistic style and highly addictive prose. After only the first few pages of this novel, I was glued to my chair, white knuckling my ereader with the pages flying as did the time, held captive and utterly enthralled with my heart fluttering wildly in my chest....and loved every single minute! The story was imaginative, unique, exciting, thrilling, intriguing, fast paced, well crafted and exceptionally well edited. The dialogue was smart, inventive, seductive, well executed and flowed effortlessly. The narrative was beautifully written in the third person with clearly defined his and her perspectives. But without a doubt, the crowning achievement of this story as well as my favorite component is the magnificent cast of strong, fascinating and well-developed characters. I was totally smitten with the two protagonists, beautiful Jasmine 'Jas' Boswell Hamilton, former Earth Air Force fighter pilot and now divorced artist, and Romlijhian 'Rom' B'kah, handsome alpha alien Vash Nadah warrior/pilot and disavowed Siennan prince. These two characters were a perfect pairing and played off each other brilliantly. The attraction, passion and sexual chemistry between Rom and Jas was absolutely captivating and so hot it sizzled! I found myself transfixed by the story of these two unlikely lovers from different worlds whose souls mysteriously defy the laws of time and space to connect during what I like to call an out of body death experience. Then nineteen years later and against all odds, they both battle insurmountable challenges to find each other, and once united, embark on an adventure that will literally change the Galaxy. I laughed with them, cried for them, empathized with them and became completely swept away in their journey to find happiness and fulfill their destinies. It was bloody brilliant!

When reviewing a book, there are several questions I always ask myself to determine my rating. First, did I like, love or hate this story? In this case, that's an easy question. Quite obviously, I loved it! The Star King is a well-crafted, beautifully written sexy, sci-fi romp filled to the brim with roguishly handsome aliens, heart-pounding action, spine-tingling adventure, heart-stopping danger, gripping drama, gut-wrenching angst, heated attraction, fiery passion, steamy sex and heartwarming romance. Quite simply, it's an all you can eat buffet for thrill seekers, action junkies and alien lovers who need a liberal sprinkling of romance thrown into the mix, and with this book, you get it all and then some!
Second, was there anything I didn't like about the book? Quite frankly, not a darn thing!
Third, would I recommend this book? You bet and I am but only for adult readers since it does contain some exquisitely written love scenes. And yes I said love scenes and not sex scenes because there is a difference. Although the scenes are explicit, this is not what I consider erotica.
Fourth, will I read this author again? Abso-freaking-lutely! As I said, I've already purchased the next two book of this series, The Star Prince which features Jasmine's son and The Star Princess featuring Jasmine's daughter, and I can hardly wait to get started on both!
And finally, was I entertained? Good gracious, yes! I was totally entertained, from beginning to end; so much so, I couldn't bring myself to put it down, reading well into the wee hours of the morning to finish all 368 pages! Fabulous entertainment and an awesome read!

I read Book Three of this series first. I enjoyed it enough that I decided to download this first book. This book established the basic World Building for the series, so some of my questions from Book Three were answered.

However, there were some things that bothered me. (Slight spoilers follow)

The advanced species. Their history is a little odd, being both warriors and pacifists. They are intergalactic travelers who suddenly "discover" our planet. How far are we from their galaxy, and how long does it take to travel here? It didn't seem too long, so why weren't we discovered far earlier? And why wasn't there more procedures in place ( on their part) for first contact and quarantine efforts? And the dream sequence concerning the couple, that was a bit shaky. He thought she was really there, but she thought that it was just a dream. Lastly, can the Hero and Heroine read each others minds? Sometimes they could, but they never seemed to investigate it further. In fact, there were quite a few things that they didn't seem to question. (end Spoilers)

Inconsistencies aside, I still enjoyed this book. It was long enough to create a civilization with developed political and moral beliefs. It had action and romance. It had suspence. It had appealing characters.

If you prefer to have some Sci-Fi and suspense with your romances, you may enjoy this series. 3-3/4 Stars for me.

I truly enjoyed this one. I've mostly given up reading sci-fi because I'm more than sick and tired of all the dystopian stories. This isn't one of those! Perhaps the love story that is the essence of the story is what makes it different, but there is love and some romance, adventure, suspense, and amid the war and uncertainty, there is hope, truth, determination, and valor. Truly a good, fun read.