Author: Amy Lane
Publisher: Dreamspinner Publishing
Genre: Science Fiction/Erotic Romance
Release Date: August 2011
Rating: Dream Catcher Recommended Read
Anderson Rawn would not even be alive if it were not for a heroic act by his oldest sister who put him aboard a shuttle and remote control started it so he would survive their mining
colony's destruction. But it's tough being all alone and only twelve years old, so in an effort to stay sane, Anderson spends two years learning holographic technology and several years after that creating holographic friends that he can interact with. By the time he reaches civilization he is twenty-two years old.
C.J. Poulson lives and works on a space station called the Hermes-Eight as a junior engineer. C.J. is planet side on a month's vacation when he gets the call about the shuttle, Anderson and Anderson's revolutionary new holographic technology. He is more than a little intrigued.
When Anderson finally disembarks from the shuttle, he is nervous about interacting with anyone other than his holographic family. Still he leaves the shuttle once they dock and for the first time in ten years talks to "real" people. It quickly becomes apparent to Cassidy one of the leaders on the station, and C.J's sister that there are some very serious things going on with Anderson, not the least of which is that he has been horribly physically abused by someone. Despite this, Anderson gives the appearance of handling his new surroundings fairly well. Cassidy assigns him to stay with C.J. which would be fine with him except he finds himself very attracted and very drawn to the Anderson. When it becomes apparent that the attraction is mutual, C.J. does his best to be a good friend and not take advantage of a man that all the psych workers including his ex-boyfriend who is a shrink, say is just a powder keg waiting to blow. But what will he do when Anderson sets out to seduce him? Will he give in, or will he hold Anderson off? Especially when either could be the very thing to cause Anderson to have the melt down of the century?
I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! This was my first experience with Amy Lane's writing and I have to say I was not disappointed. The entire premise for this science fiction romance is out of this world. You could tell that either Ms. Lane has experience working with mental health issues, or she really did her research into PTSD, its causes and how to treat it. It was so realistic that I felt as if I was walking and talking with all the characters as they told me their stories. Even the secondary characters were very well fleshed out which you don't often see with many books. The world building was so well constructed that I had no problem believing it was completely real. The fact that the author took the time to show us everything about the back story really made this book far surpass my expectations. So many would have just started the book when Anderson finally docked at the space station, but I loved getting to know Anderson from age twelve and I think for this story that was really needed. Finally, the slow build of the love story between Anderson and C.J. was just fantastic, the love scenes are realistic, and emotional both of which were necessary for the story line. I cannot say enough good things about this book, and it definitely deserves the Dream Catcher Recommended Read, thanks Ms. Lane for a great story!
