When is it a bad thing that your guy wants to treat you like a goddess?

When it is not a figure of speech and he is really looking for an untouchable divine being to worship. 

In True Believers, Taelen Jessit is an alien emissary on a mission to search Earth for the ancient gods his people still worship. Rachel Cruz is an archaeologist….and a Nephilim—an immortal being descended from the very ‘gods’ Taelen is trying to find. The Nephilim, it turns out, aren’t as invulnerable as they once believed. Someone has found a way to sicken and even kill them and together Rachel, Taelen, and a great cast of supporting characters must stop them.

Maria Zannini’s True Believers is a big, richly drawn, character driven SciFi. The romance between Rachel and Taelen is woven seamlessly into the plot, adding emotion and depth to this page-turning read. I love SciFi romance, so I expected to like this book, but True Believers exceeded those expectations. It is truly a cut above and will definitely stay on my virtual keeper shelf.

What I loved about the heroine: Rachel is strong, smart, spunky, and confident; but she is also a woman caught between the human world she was raised in and the world of her people. Her very nature makes her a danger to humans in many ways and that has made her guarded and isolated. She is a very young immortal and hasn’t been around long enough to grow as jaded as others of her kind.

What I loved about the hero: Taelen was a surprise for me—both a strong military man and a true believer. The combination makes him fascinating and admirable despite several missteps.

Other cool stuff: Each of the supporting characters in this book are the heroes of their own journeys. The book is big enough to allow several of them to have their own point of view scenes, so we really come to know them. Paul, the playboy computer genius, could have been relegated to the place of romantic rival, but that doesn’t happen. He is integral to the story and fully three dimensional. Bubba, the self aware computer system, is my favorite of all the secondary characters. He is one of those characters you can’t forget long after the end.  He alone would be enough to make True Believers a must read. There are just too many cool things about this book to list them all.

Genre: Science Fiction Romance

Primary format: E-Book

Available from the publisher and Amazon.com.

Publication date: Oct 18, 2010

Note: Maria very kindly arranged for me to have a reviewer’s copy of True Believers. Thanks, Maria!

9 thoughts on “When is it a bad thing that your guy wants to treat you like a goddess?”

  3. Charlie what a wonderfully done review of one of my most fun reads of 2010! Like you am a huge Bubba fan, think Skynet as his little sister and he actually becomes a hero in the book!

    I am glad you got a chance to read Maria’s book and am now subscribed to another sci-fi romance lovers feeds so can get book read ideas from your reviews!

    jackie >_<

  4. I’ll take the chocolates if you don’t want them. *laugh*

    So, let me ask. A lot of these sci-fi heroines (and my paranormal one, too) are smart, spunky, strong, and confident. When are they not? It seems a prerequisite.

    -Abigail

    • LOL. So, is this your way of telling me I’m repeating myself?

      I think strong heroines are one of the very best things about SciFi romance. But these heroines are not one dimensional at all. Rachel, for example is confident, due in part to the fact that she is immortal. But she is very afraid of hurting her lovers and friends and that laces a little sadness and regret into her personality.

      I think UF and PNR heroines are more often angsty and dark, but still usually very strong. The PNR I’m reading now has a heroine that is starting out as a bit of a doormat character. I’m struggling with not liking her, but the author is good, so I’m sure she has a good character arc lined up ahead.

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