Blog Tour: Gentle Chains

Synopsis:

When slavers steal Juhan and his twin sister Chosi from their home planet of psychics, their only comfort is in the fact that they’re together. When they are separated at auction, Juhan swears to find his sister, no matter the cost.

Juhan is bought by the spoiled daughter of a political scion. Caught in her glittering world of intrigue and politics, Juhan is startled to find Sadi playing a long game to change intergalactic politics and Juhan is merely a pawn in her game. But as his vow and Sadi's lies takes them across galaxies, he begins to wonder if his young owner is more than an arrogant rich girl. And he has to consider the cost of his promise—especially when people they both care for begin to die.

A galaxy away, Chosi is sold into blood sport. With her psychic ability, she earns a precarious position of value within the gladiator school, training the draken—wild creatures of smoke and fire—for the arena. In the midst of that hell, she forges a friendship with the slave Jemes and the draken she cares for. But when her defiance comes with devastating results, Chosi contemplates suicide as an escape from her chains. Yet, she can't forget the brother who promised to find her, and even as she welcomes the risk of death, she clings to that promise.

Spun across space and exotic worlds, Juhan and Chosi try to find each other, and home in a stunning story about the lengths love will take you.

Before we get to my review of this awesome book, we have a giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This book is filling the category “You Heard About the Book Online” in my Full House Reading Challenge.

I’m so excited to be a part of this blog tour! I took a chance with this book (I had never heard of it, and there were zero ratings or reviews on good reads to inform my decision) and I was not disappointed.

Gentle Chains follows the story of one set of psychic Eleyi twins, Chosi and Juhan, as they are kidnapped by slavers, sold, and how they grow into their new lives. The Eleyi are pacifists by nature, and so there is no hope of rescue from their people.  Chosi is bought by a jakta, which is a compound that trains gladiators for entertainment purposes (think the Coliseum in Ancient Rome), while Juhan is purchased by the wealthy daughter of an upstanding yet fairly controversial Senator. Their lives take on very different paths, creating two very different, very interesting storylines.

Chosi’s story was more harsh, more brutal, as she is trained to fight to the death in the arena. I didn’t like her story as much as her brothers; it was much darker, grittier, more depressing, and she turned into an annoying character by the end who wants to continue wallowing in her misery. Some of her story was quite interesting though, especially when she starts training with the draken (pretty much awesome, psychic dragons). She soon becomes the most lauded spectacle on Pente (the planet where glads train).

She’s in a horrible position. No one in any position of power is looking out for her, so bad things are continually happening. She does have friends in her draken (who can communicate with her psychically), and in her mentor-trainer Kristoff. But seeing how she is so popular with the crowds, the rest of the jakta tends to hate her, making life pretty complicated. Of course, those who hate here are preferred to her owner, who is constantly trying to get her into his bed.

Juhan on the other hand, gets the better end of the deal. Sadi, his owner, buys him in order to change the Senate’s view of Eleyi; the two pretend that he is her consort, and she treats him extremely well. The longer they pretend to be in love, the more true feelings they begin to notice. The only problem is that Juhan has sworn to his sister that he will find her and get her freed. He cares more about his agenda than Sadi’s.

In other news, Nazarea Andrews is not afraid to kill characters.

I really enjoyed the split POV in Gentle Chains; it generally followed each character for a chapter and then switched to the other the next. Both had their own share of conflict, romance, sci-fi action, and terror. The writing is clear, concise (she doesn’t linger on unnecessary moments, so the plot moves along at a brisk pace), and there are plenty of interesting (if not terribly likable) characters. I love the world building in sci-fi books like this, because there are endless possibilities for weird worlds out there. I’ll be interested to see how the twins’ stories move forward in the sequel, especially after the tragedy that struck at the end of Gentle Chains!

About the Author:

Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

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