cover image Untouchable Lover

Untouchable Lover

Rosalie Redd. Rosalie Redd, $3.99 e-book (401p) ISBN 978-1-944419-00-4

This clunky debut begins the Worlds of Lemuria: Earth Colony series by placing a stereotypical variety of near-human species in a poorly articulated fantasy setting clearly inspired by role-playing games. Redd wraps the story in the vague context of interstellar colonization: Zedron and Alora, competing gods from the planet Lemuria, have sent these species to Earth to act as pawns in a contest to determine whether the Lemurians will take the precious water of Earth by negotiation or force. King Noeh of Alora’s beast-hearted Stihaya saves vampiric Melissa from the leader of Zedron’s reptilian Gossum and feline Panthera. Noeh protects Melissa in his underground keep, as she is sought by the Panthera leader and is also the target of the universal male attention that comes from being the only fertile female Lemurian in hundreds of years. But the gods’ insistence that Noeh break his childhood vow and take a queen before the next new moon leads him to pursue her himself. Four more species mentioned but not appearing in the Earthside setting telegraph future volumes of the series, but readers have little reason to want to continue beyond this stodgy opener. (BookLife)