Last Hope [Paperback]

Chloe Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2000

Connall Storm is a man with aspirations. A two-name bastard on the lost colony world of Last Hope, he expects this strictly pragmatic alliance to bring him the power and wealth he wants. First, he must take his new wife on a dangerous expedition into the Western Mountains-and bring her back alive. Little does he know that his exasperating, far-too-sexy wife will put his heart in as much danger as their lives. Arkana Crystal Song has blue blood, the finest education, and an unexpected, massively irritating new husband. He has promised to solve the riddle of her parents' deaths, but why does he accuse her of irrationality when their misadventures are all so clearly his fault? Their passionate arguments flare into genuine passion, but is their infant love powerful enough to defy an unknown-and utterly lethal-alien menace? Or will their love falter, putting not just them, but the entire human colony in jeopardy? Sizzling passion, sparkling adventure, and a splash of laughter follow Connall and Arkana as they discover love. But is that love strong enough to remake their entire world and save it from certain destruction?

Editorial Reviews

Review

Anyone who reads the futuristic romances of Jayne Ann Krentz will cherish Last Hope. -- The Midwest Book Review

Mystery, passion, fantasy and romance. Last Hope has it all...a must-read for lovers of futuristic romance. -- Karen Larsen. Scribes World Reviews

Prepare to be delighted. A wonderfully funny science fiction confection of mayhem and chaos. -- Debra Dixon, Bestselling Author of Bad to the Bone

About the Author

My love for romance began when I was a young teenager, and in the most unlikely of places—Mars! The summer before my 8th grade year, my brother and I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, and, more importantly from my point of view, also the creator of the handsome and hunky John Carter of Mars. While my brother no doubt enjoyed the swashbuckling derring-do of John Carter’s fantastic Martian adventures, I eagerly devoured every nuance of his thrilling love story with his "incomparable Dejah Thoris." Boys might have thought Burroughs’ tales were adventure stories, but I knew better. I knew they were romances down to the very last comma! Soon I was gobbling up every romance I could find.

That early start, combined with a deep conviction that real life is far too earnest for my taste, no doubt explains why my stories tend to stick firmly to the funny side of the street. I really enjoy writing stories that tickle the ribs as well as warm the heart.

When I’m not concocting as much trouble as possible for my characters, I spend my time in San Diego, doing cutting-edge research in computerized artificial intelligence and neural networks. That’s fun too—but I don’t laugh out loud while I’m working on knowledge-intensive query systems like I do when getting my characters into yet another "fine mess"!

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: ImaJinn Books (September 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893896285
• ISBN-13: 978-1893896284
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,942,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Good Read from Chloe Hall, June 4, 2001

By 

Tasha B. (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Hope (Paperback)

I loved Hall's ARIEL'S DANCE, so I ordered this book at my local bookstore. LAST HOPE is more serious than ARIEL'S DANCE, and has a broader scope, but Hall maintains a light touch with the characters and their occassionally dangerous situations through most of the book. All in all, it was an enjoyable read with good sexual tension between the hero and heroine.

Last Hope is a planet colonized by humans in the distant future. Connall, our hero, is a young man on the make, whose entire life centers around his political ambitions--it affects what he eats, where he lives, how he dresses; even who he sleeps with. Arkanna is a naive intellectual who, by virtue of her birth, has the political connections Connall desires. For reasons of their own, they strike a bargain and enter into a marriage of convenience. The day after the wedding, they're off on a quest into the wilderness, looking for a place from which no one has returned.

What follows is an adventure that is, more often than not, amusing. The sexual tension between Connall and his new bride is palpable, and the book is basically really fun. However, I thought that the characterizations, especially of Connall (by the end of the novel, I found it difficult to like him, or at very least, sympathize with him), could have been better. Also, the last hundred pages or so don't really fit in with the rest of the book--suddenly, it turns into an ethical story a la BRAVE NEW WORLD, or something along those lines, and thus the conclusion is really anticlimatic.

LAST HOPE was, overall, an entertaining, good read, and I would recommend that anyone who enjoys futuristic romances gives it a try.