Ok, so I’m not normally a fan of rent boy stories, I just struggle with the whole paying for sex thing and multiple partners. I’m not a stickler for monogamy so much as commitment to the one or ones you choose. But this, this I adored! I really enjoyed both these characters so much and a lot of that probably stems from the fact that Kaz isn’t exactly a rent boy per se…he just manages a bunch of them.Kazha Deinos inherited his position as the owner of the Spice ‘n’ Solace brothel, but while it may have been a bit run down under his father, that is not the case with Kaz. His clients value the structure and rules he’s placed on the boys he brings in and he’s more than happy to foot the bill to make sure they’re all inoculated. S‘n’S has developed a reputation for being the best and Kaz has made sure it has stayed that way. His one disappointment, he can’t ever reveal his own sexual preferences. The one time that came to light resulted in the worst beating of his life, and by his own father. His dad may have run all male escorts, but giving it to some guys ass was not the same as taking it, being gay was just not allowed. Kaz knows his life with his so-called friends would never work if his secret came out. But when a plague hoax has his brothel locked under quarantine just when his best client is coming into town Kaz knows desperate measures are called for.Jathan One-Moon is the hereditary ambassador tasked with keeping the human race from being dragged back into war with the Ankylos. The Ankylos emperor has decried they will only negotiate with someone of his father’s line and as his only heir that task has fallen to Jathan now that his father has passed. The stress of the negotiations, with the safety of the entirety of the human race resting in his hands, takes its toll on Jathan. While the Galactic Alliance may be pressuring him to take a wife and birth an heir Jathan knows the only real peace he gets is the escorts he hires annually from S‘n’S. He needs the release he gets from being able to dominate one of the escorts to be able to function through those tricky negotiations. This year, the escort they’ve sent him, tempts Jathan beyond measure.So I adore Kaz, he’s just plain perfect. I love that he’s street tough and can protect himself, is a brilliant business owner and intelligent mind, and yet gets all soft and melt-y every time he even looks at Jathan. That in turn of course fires all of Jathan’s protective instincts and it’s just a happy little puddle of Shelby goo over here. These two compliment each other very well and despite it being a lot of erotica time in bed, I enjoyed the subtle machinations of the backstabbing plot going on.Like I said, there’s a lot of sexy time built into this one, after all Kaz is posing as one of his escorts, and yes it’s hot and all. If I had one little niggle of complaint it’s that this falls very close to the insta-love boundary that bugs me at times. I can see the draw Kaz’s sheer innocence has for Jathan, but this moves along very quickly. I did enjoy the part R’kos plays in turning Jathan all alpha male and my man is damaged grrrrrr. I liked the fact that the machinations going on for Kaz weren’t all that simple and not the most obvious culprit, though of course the final explanation does make sense. As sweet and perfect as the epilogue is I would have loved to have more time with these two and the ending did feel a little rushed. I was really enjoying the world building here and wanted more. There’s a lot more to the seedy underbelly of this world I would have loved to have seen, plus I’m sure there is more interesting alien tidbits to be garnered about the Ankylos. But that’s what later books are for right? All in all I really enjoyed this story a lot. I like my sci-fi immensely and as an erotica style book this had enough plot to keep it interesting and fantastic characters to make is sweet and heart warming. As much as I want more with these two characters I was very satisfied with where they ended up. Really great little read. I enjoyed the audio version of this book. It is a short one, but it packs a lot in. The MCs relationship is sweet but also very hawt. Lots of smex but done well, but not a lot of world building. This is the first book before Alien and the Outlaw (which I listened to first). Doesn't really matter, both are stand alone reads. The narrator is very good in both. It was under $5 when I bought it and worth it at that price, but it is not worth a credit.
What do You think about Spice ‘n’ Solace (2011)?
Super sweet and sexy sci fi book. I'm tagging BDSM but it's pretty light - more kink. Delicious :)
—Adriana
