Reviewer: Robyn Roberts
Title: The Ultimatum
Author: Susan Kearney
Publisher: Tor Romance
ISBN: 0-765-35448-9
Release Date: February 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Paranormal
Year/Setting: Well into the future (around the year 2400)
Overall rating: 4.75
Sexual content rating: Sensual
Susan's Website:
www.susankearney.com
Dr. Alara Calladar needs a man...but she sure as krek doesn't want one.
If Alara doesn't make love soon, her cells will fail to regenerate and she'll die. Unfortunately, her only option is an enemy—Rystani starpilot Xander, her abductor...and a member of the race who has been battling hers since the beginning of time.
Insufferable smug, Xander issues an ultimatum: He'll make love to Alara only if she will use her psi-talent of identifying DNA to help him find the cure for the deadly Terran virus spreading across the galaxy.
Alara is trapped. She gives Xander what he wants—and gets what she needs. But Alara holds a pair of secrets: the more they make love, until the only person she can make love with is him—and the more time they spend together, the more Alara likes Xander.
When it seems that all the forces in the universe have aligned against them, can Alara trust Xander with her life...and her heart?
Wow! Ms. Kearney has done it again. Just when you think it can’t get any better, she comes up with a new race of people and throws them into an unlikely situation. I loved the book so much I managed to read it in less than 24 hours. I could not put it down and found it to be a page-turner from start to finish.
I’ll admit, I really don’t like futuristic, sci-fi romance books. They just aren’t my thing. However, Ms. Kearney writes in such a way that not only do I understand all the sci-fi stuff without struggling to grasp it and I end up enjoying it and looking for more. I find Ms. Kearney to be a master storyteller and one who can work a book into a series without offending the returning reader and still managing to keep new readers in the loop so they aren’t lost either. It’s truly a gift that she has honed to perfection.
For those who return to the series, you’ll get to see more of Kirek as a young adult. There are a few others who return with larger roles in this book, but we have the opportunity to meet Alara and really get to know Xander. They are in a race against time as this deadly virus spreads across the galaxy and infects not only every race, but the plants and animals on all the planets as well. If they can’t find a cure, the entire galaxy will die.
Then there’s Alara who needs to regenerate her cells. She discovers that high stress situations cause her need to regenerate to happen more frequently. So she’s forced to make love to Xander—whom she considers to be an archenemy. However, the tables are turned when she starts to actually like him. Could she start to enjoy this regeneration process?
The book reminds me of one big adrenaline rush. Each new planet and species proves to have their own issues and demands. Some of them are so far over the top, I can’t begin to describe it to you. You’ll be shocked at the demands they face on Lapau. It boggles my mind for a future society to be so barbaric. Ms. Kearney has truly outdone herself in this book. You’ll love the love/hate issues that both Alara and Xander have with each other throughout the book, but I think you’ll love watching the sparks fly between them.
If you enjoy this book as much as I do, be sure to look for Ms. Kearney’s future releases. In June 2006, the anthology Midnight Magic will introduce us to the heroine of The Quest. Look for the fourth book in this series, The Quest in July 2006.
Robyn
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