Enemy Games [Paperback]

Marcella Burnard (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 3, 2011

Fantastic futuristic romance from the author of Enemy Within

Kidnapped while combating a plague, Jayleia Durante fights to resist the attractive Major Damen Sindrivik, an officer from a rival government's spy corps. But with her father missing, and mercenaries on her trail, Jayleia must join forces with the magnetic major-for the good of the empire.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marcella Burnard is a member of the Romance Writers of America's Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal special-interest chapter. Growing up an Air Force brat, she traveled all over the U.S. and spent two years in Iceland. When the tiny base library ran out of interesting books, she began writing her own stories. She currently lives with her husband and their cats aboard a sailboat on Puget Sound, and writes full time. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade; 1 edition (May 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425240908
• ISBN-13: 978-0425240908
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I blame my father for my love of science fiction and fantasy. We watched many a late night science fiction movie together. I was five. By the time I was six, I was having raging nightmares inspired by The Omega Man, The Fly, and The Incredible Shrinking Man. The sum result seems to have been that I wouldn't walk into a dark room until well after I'd turned ten.

Growing up an Air Force brat, I moved often and traveled all over the US. We spent two years in Iceland, watching blue whales migrate, volcanoes erupt and geysers spew steaming, superheated water into the cold air. The whole family did plenty of reading. When the tiny base library ran out of interesting books in the kids' section, and wouldn't allow me in the adult section yet, I began writing my own stories.

My family finally settled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Western Washington. I graduated with a BFA in acting from Cornish College of the Arts in 1990 and promptly went to work for a large software company.

I live with my husband and our cats aboard a sailboat on Puget Sound.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Ultra disappointed May 28, 2011

By Tghu Verd

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I gave Burnard's prior novel "Enemy Within" a great rap - it was interesting, emotional and fun. Indeed, I was so looking forward to this sequel that I pre-ordered from Amazon...

...and then it arrived...

...and within 20 pages I was thinking 'waste of money'.

So what went wrong for me? Two things really:

1. Burnard has amped up the "Mills & Boon" aspect to the point where the plot stalls - nothing happens apart from the two leading characters wanting to jump each other but not quite getting there. It was a background buzz in "Enemy Within", here it's the only focus (and the really weird aspect that jarred me out of the moment page after page is that these two characters are not even of the same species. WHY would they be so attracted to each other? It makes no sense at all.)

2. the plot is a direct repeat of "Enemy Within". So, we have a smart, street-wise heroine with Father issues abducted by a diamond-in-the-rough apparent bad guy; they can't keep their hands off each other; the heroine may be or may not be infected with some terrible plague; loyalties on both sides are conflicted; the heroine incrementally shows previously hidden talents that keep her one step ahead. Not even Clive Cussler rehashes his formulistic Dirk Pitt plots to this extent!

There are other niggles, a major one being that the characters are just too perfectly aware. They make outstanding - and 100% accurate - leaps of intuition time and time again and it just gets a bit tedious because in doing so the tension of the situation is leached away.

By page 101 I was so bored that I elected to re-read Peter Hamilton's excellent "Mindstar Rising" on a business trip rather than take "Enemy Games".

Clearly, I can't recommend "Enemy Games". The cover illustration shows a femme fatale with a gun when it should show Fabio ripping her bodice open because this time Burnard has gone Mills and Boon to the max and the elements that drove "Enemy Within" are sadly MIA.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love futuristic romances with intelligence, tense intrigue and phenomenal characters then this book will thrill you May 5, 2011

By Bookaholics Reviewer

Format:Paperback

Enemy Games by Marcella Burnard
Futuristic Romance -May 3rd, 2011
4 ˝ stars

Enemy Games by Marcella Burnard picks off from her from her first futuristic book, Enemy Within. Both have a captivating characters and amazingly developed world building. Futuristic fans will love this book even more than the first!

In this book, the heroine is a colleague and friend of the heroine in the first book. Her name is Jayleia Durante and she is half Swovjiti. Jayleia's father is a powerful man who has disappeared and holds the key to some very important information. As his daughter, she is in danger because various factions seek to use her as a leverage to find her father. Jayleia finds herself kidnapped by the sexy Major Damien Sindrivik. He is dangerous spy who use anything including seduction to get what he wants. Soon they are embroiled in intrigue and politics. And come to the attention to the terrifying and deadly aliens known as the Chekydran. Can Jayleia save her father and her people? Will she succumb to her growing attraction to the manipulative Damien?

This was a fantastic futuristic romance. Fans of Linnea Sinclair will find a haven in this well thought out story with vivid and complex world building. I couldn't finish it fast enough. The author masterfully brings together a plot with many twists. I was fascinated by the different cultures and people. As a Swovjiti, Jayleia has very interesting talents. Unbeatable fighting skills not to mention her amazing healing trace. I really admired her strength and ability to surprise me. Damien is a Claugh known for their predatory ways and as he `stalked' Jayleia I was spell-bound.

If you love futuristic romances with intelligence, tense intrigue and phenomenal characters then this book will thrill you. This author transported me so I felt I was in space!

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great romantic science fiction May 3, 2011

By Harriet Klausner #1 HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

The Claugh nib Dovvyth spy corps operative Major Damen Sinkrivik abducts enemy xenobiologist Jayleia Durante while she is battling to end a devastating plague. Ignoring her people's plight as he is loyal only to the empire, Damen sees her as a pawn to capture Jayleia's outlaw father, the Tagreth Federated spymaster Zain Durante, declared a traitor.

Others also seek Zain as many believe he is the one person who might end the horde of traitors supporting the vicious Chekydrans. Jayleia persuades the dynamic Damon they need to team up if they are to stop the mercenaries sent to capture her in order to use her to get at her dad because the empire could be at stake.

The second venture into the Bernard universe (see Enemy Within) is a great romantic science fiction starring a strong cast and an incredibly vivid galaxy in the throes of a terrible war between two empires and traitors lurking within both sides. The story line is faster than the speed of light as the action keeps on coming. Damen is caught between falling in love with the daughter of a key enemy and his loyalty to his side; Zain wants choices in her life though the strife and her father's changing status limit her. Readers will relish Marcella Burnard's exhilarating thriller in outer space.

Harriet Klausner