3.5 stars for this short, enjoyable, explicit romance. Tropes include revenge, abandonment, and insta-love. It's cloaked as science fiction, but it's ROMANCE. As such, it's just fine, but I much prefer Andrews' straight-up urban fantasies. It's not that I dislike romance -- sometimes that's exactly what I want (but not from Team Andrews).This is book 1 of the Kinsmen series. Book 2 is out, too. My main problem with Silent Blade is the insta-love trope. It didn't work for me, so then the sex didn't move me either. The relationship development relied on sex too much, maybe? I am guessing the length (42 pages) constrained the authors.Setting: Another world, inhabited by humans with special implants and ruled by a few different Kinsman or Kin families who have special inborn powers. (Think Mafia families ruling their financial empires, killing off the competition.)Characters: The hero (Celino Carvannas) is a rich and ruthless Kinsman, good with knives, 32 years old, "tall, lean, and overwhelmingly masculine" (of course). The heroine (Meli Galdes) is an outcast Kinsman, excised from her family, and -- because of her ability to slay instantly with an energy ribbon -- she has become a world-class assassin.Plot: Meli's family asked her to do one last killing for them (even though she's been excised for 12 years, she still does their dirty work??) Celino is the target. We are never told exactly WHY they want him dead, but I suppose it's because his business is outperforming their business.But there's a twist to this assassination assignment. She knows her target. She was only 10 when their joint parents, seeking to combine power, arranged for the two to become engaged. He was 16. She studied him, as a good wife-in-waiting should do in this feudal society, and in the course of learning, she crushed, pinning all her hopes and dreams on him. But at age 22 (to her 16) he broke the engagement -- not kindly or tactfully at all -- causing her to become untouchable, an outcast, eventually an assassin.When they meet again 12 years later he doesn't recognize her, because she was always veiled in the past. Insta-luv! He strode into the kitchen in the restaurant, smelled her passion cones (talkin' biscuits!), saw her lush curves, met her rich coffee-brown eyes...After he left, Meli smiled with satisfaction. "It took almost 18 years, from the skinny 10-year-old girl to the 28-year old woman, but Mother proved right. She hit him like a brick."So....will she kill him, or won't she? Will he figure out that she's the girl he tossed to the curb? If so, will he suffer and grovel? (I do like a good grovel).Not much action. Minimal suspense. Not much to make it qualify as sci-fi or paranormal. This is a romance novel, with explicit sex and several references to honey and breasts. The language is clean. Not much violence. Nothing gory.
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