Craved (Tribute Brides of the Drexian Warriors #7)

Okay, I happen to LIKE reading spoilers so if you don’t you might not want to read this – be forewarned, else enjoy. 🙂

I just finished reading this and it will be one I read again and again (sigh). True is a young Earth woman, abducted but who has refused to mate any Drexian warrior so she lives in the Independent living section of The Boat spaceship which is under the command of Captain Varden, an older Drexian warrior who gave up being mated long ago and who has settled into being happy with command of his ship and its crew. One day while wearing his martial arts outfit he passes a hologram suite running an Earth simulation and because he has a curiosity to see what an ‘ocean’ and ‘sand’ look like he uses his captain’s override code to enter into the running hologram to satisfy his curiosity. Finding a young Earth woman, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, he is immediately enraptured by her and although the woman True, believes he is part of the holographic programming and therefore not real, Captain Varden secretly continues to dress in his martial arts outfit and meet with True in the hologram suite whenever she is in there. True, who is too shy to even be near any males onboard the ship thinks the man in her holographic program is perfectly safe and kisses him, cuddles with him, and tells him whatever is in her heart as he does with her. True dreams of her holographic dream man whenever she is outside of the suite while Captain Varden who in reality never runs into her while he resides in the command center can’t wait for his time with True and knows he could never be with this young, vital Earth woman half his age, especially when there are so many younger Drexian warriors still waiting for a mate. Then disaster happens! Enemies are coming to board and evacuation is announced but… while Captain Varden is at command center directing the evacuation he receives word a human is missing from those who evacuated – True! She is inside the holographic suite and did not hear the announcement! He tells them to leave if he does not return in time and takes off to get her. He runs into a friend of hers trying to get inside to get True and Varden uses his captain’s override code to go inside and get True. At first she is happy to see her dream man until she sees his uniform! Where is the martial arts outfit? The door is open and her friend is yelling to come on and all hell is breaking loose! Is this real? Who is he? Varden rushes the two women and catches one last shuttle that his first in command held for him and they get off the ship by the skin of their teeth but not without catching damage which forces them to later crash land on a planet in another solar system.

What I so liked about this was although I read many that have heated sex scenes in them and this does have just a bit, True came from a religious household extremely strict about sex so she holds back and because Varden is twice her age and he has already had vast sexual experience he holds back and goes at the rate that is just right for True. In the hologram it is True who initiates the first kiss; on the planet it is True who initiates the first sexual encounter. And though the Captain knows High Command could strip him of his command if they think he took a young tribute bride from much younger deserving Drexian warriors who were still waiting when push comes to shove he almost kills someone in front of his men when he thinks they killed True! When she shows she is still alive he grabs her and vows he will never let her go in front of everyone and he means it. She means more than everything he worked for. And the ‘cherry on top’? At the end (not the Epilogue-that’s a preview of next book) is that True is pregnant with Captain Varden’s baby – one he thought he would never have. Sweet, huh? I thought so.

True’s view of sex (taught to her by her parents) sounds like a piece of a Victorian era documentary I once watched; where a girl is told by her mother that when it came to sex with her husband she was to just lie there and think about the good of the empire (British Empire) .
Any Drexian would have his work cut out for him in wooing this sexually repressed girl, but Garden gets a break and True becomes comfortable with him. There’s enough action for those like me who need it to keep a romance from being too sappy.

Like the others before great story line, great characters! Interesting places and people! The love story part was New and exciting! The adventure part was so fun and different, the bad people were new too which I liked, over all loved it very entertaining! Spoiler ended with a small cliff hanger, so hope that means more!!!

Great 8 book series. Female characters were interesting and were not afraid of saving themselves. Warrior and bride pairings were easy to figure out, but the fun part was getting there. Some surprises and a few thrills. In all, each story was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Loved it!

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member