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Strange Little Band

by Nancy Brauer (Goodreads Author), Vanessa Brooks

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 49 ratings · 23 reviews

Addison and Shane, two self-centered psychics, work for the cut-throat Triptych Corporation. Their insular lives are disrupted when, due to Triptych's machinations, they become unlikely parents. How can they raise a child when they can't trust each other?

Paperback, 368 pages

Published November 5th 2010 by Createspace (first published 2010)

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Nov 12, 2011 Tina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, interracial-romance, favorites, 2011-reads, kindle-lending, sff-romance

4,5 stars

Holy cow this book was ...different?...interesting?....relentless?

I loved it.

Quick synopsis: In what I can only guess is an alternate reality to our own, Magic, strong psychic abilities (including telekinesis& teleportation) exist, and off-world travel is no big thing. A giant, murky corporation called The Triptych corporation controls it's employees with an iron fist.

Dr. Shane Myers is a half-human/half alien who has been trying to break his contract with Triptych for 20 years hav...more 4,5 stars

Holy cow this book was ...different?...interesting?....relentless?

I loved it.

Quick synopsis: In what I can only guess is an alternate reality to our own, Magic, strong psychic abilities (including telekinesis& teleportation) exist, and off-world travel is no big thing. A giant, murky corporation called The Triptych corporation controls it's employees with an iron fist.

Dr. Shane Myers is a half-human/half alien who has been trying to break his contract with Triptych for 20 years having been conscripted by them when he was just a teen-ager. Addison Harris is the Queen Bee Diva Homo Superior pet of the Corporation. A top tier psychic with frightening abilities, she and Shane lust for and despise each other. The Corporation has used Addison once before to try to breed her abilities. The result was her daughter Ashlynn. This time they impregnated her and used Shane's sperm to do so. Now Addison is pregnant with Shane's human/alien/psychic child. Despite the Corporation's express wish that she would be nothing but an incubator and that Shane is to never know, Addison psychically bonds with the unborn-baby and, in a moment of malice, she informs Shane he is a father. Surprisingly Shane becomes fiercely possessive of the child. This sets off a 12-year chain of events that involve love, betrayal, evil corporation influence, hate, other lovers, fighting, reconciliation, more love, precocious kids, crazed shape-shifting ex-lovers, revenge, retaliation, and finally triumph and Happily Ever After.

Whew!

Normally, the constant push-pull tugging of fighting and "I hate you", "No I hate you more" would be romance novel kryptonite for me. I despise that as a plot-propeller. But, crazily, it works in this book. And it is exciting because never once do you doubt that Addison and Shane are in love -- no, obsessed with each other. Yeah, they are mean, manipulative, snarky (which...I LOVED) but their Romeo & Juliet-esque travails are interesting as hell to watch. The story moves at such a snapping pace that you really feel like you are simply holding on for the ride. Moments of 'WTF?' get interspersed with the general normalcy of two "divorced" parents who exchange their kid for the weekend.

This is indeed a romance novel. But it doesn't color within the romance novel lines. As a matter of fact, it feels like the authors are gleefully, willfully avoiding the lines, with great result. This is exactly the sort of envelope pushing, nearly genre-bending read that I am always looking for.

I also like that the two kids, Ashlynn and Jake, play such a large part in the story. They are bred to be brilliant-- and they are -- and they demonstrate this often. But they are also kids who grew up with two battling parents and after a time decide to take matters in their own hands. Yeah, there are moments when there was a little 'Deus Ex Machina' going on, but I didn't mind because I liked that the action in the book is decisive. The authors have a good instinct about not allowing things to drag on so stuff doesn't get too repetitive and tedious. At a little over halfway through Addison and Shane have a revelation and the 2nd part of the book changes tone and becomes less about them fighting each other and more about them fighting together.

I take a half star off because what had been tight writing and plotting largely fell apart rather spectacularly in the last two chapters. The pay-off works in the end, but I felt it was sloppy and a little more complex than it had to be.

All in all though, what an awesome ride!(less)

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 18, 2011 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of sci-fi/paranormal romance off the beaten track

Shelves: interracial-romance, paranormal-romance, psychic, antihero, enemies-to-lovers, artificial-insemination, alien, black-african-or-aa-heroine, british-in-america, british-american-paired, long-time-frame, intense-read, unsympathetic-main-characters, family, nerd-prof-scientist-genius-geek, favorites, science-fiction-romance, ruthless-hero, ice-princess-or-cold-heroine, daddy-hero, kindle-book, 2011-reading, pregnancy, kids-in-the-mix, bbb-review, irr-challenge-1-2011

That was some read! If you want to read a full review, check the Bitten by Books website: http://bittenbybooks.com.

I will list my casting choices in case a brave filmmaker takes this one on.

Zachary Quinto as Shane Myers:

Naomie Harris as Addison Harris:

Madison Pettis as Ashlynn Harris:

Noah Gray-Cabey as Jake Myers:

10 likes · like · see review

Nov 15, 2010 A.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

The story follows the psychics Addison and Shane, who both work for the mega-corp Triptych, a mysterious company that seems to specialize in almost everything. Both of the main characters are strong and manipulative; it’s refreshing to read a story with such complex characters and so much hidden politics at play.

Addison is passionate, stubborn and controlling, oftentimes bitchy, teleporting pet psychic of Triptych’s boss, and a fiercely protective mother.

Shane is a part human, part alien supreme...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 TheFountainPenDiva rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: genre-paranormal-romance, genre-interracial-romance, characters-black-heroines, sub-genre-bw-wm-romance, theme-non-traditional-romances, theme-daring-romance, poc-on-the-covers

Actually a 3.9 More Than a 4.00

Strange Little Band is one strange little love story, in a good way. This isn't a traditional romance by any means, so anyone looking for hearts and flowers and declarations of eternal fidelity, look elsewhere. None of that hero and heroine meet, fall madly and deeply in love and walk hand in hand into the sunset together jazz. Practically no one in this novel is a very nice person, but that's the beauty of this very unconventional romance novel. Bear in mind that...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jun 08, 2011 Claire (Roonblah) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, read-in-2011-selfpublished

Authors: Nancy Brauer and Vanessa Brooks

Genre: erotic urban science fiction

Publisher: indie/self-published

Warnings: language, sex (and plenty of that)

Disclaimer: I found this a very difficult book to rate as it’s not within my usual genres (young adult, skewed towards fantasy). I don’t tend to read romance or books with many erotic elements, so that is also affecting my rating somewhat.

The review (may contain spoilers):
Strange Little Band is a Strange Epic Duck. It’s a very difficult book to lab...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 11, 2010 Happy Bookaholic rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, my-best-reads-2010, 2010

This is really good! I had a late start today because I couldn't put this book down once I began reading it last night. Even more excited now about receiving a copy than I was when I first found it in my mailbox.

"Lawful evil never looked so cute." -http://www.StrangeLittleBand.com
"Villains need love too." - http://www.StrangeLittleBand.com

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 04, 2012 Your Need To Read rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: jesi

Full review here
http://www.yourneedtoread.blogspot.co...

Both Addison and Shane are doctors leading research teams inside the powerful, Triptych Corporation. Both are extremely powerful psychics. They don’t like each other much and Addison is livid when she discovers that the embryo implanted in her by Triptych is her egg fertilized by Shane’s sperm in a lab. Management apparently want to see what their two most gifted psychics might produce for offspring. Expecting a baby together brings Addison...more Full review here
http://www.yourneedtoread.blogspot.co...

Both Addison and Shane are doctors leading research teams inside the powerful, Triptych Corporation. Both are extremely powerful psychics. They don’t like each other much and Addison is livid when she discovers that the embryo implanted in her by Triptych is her egg fertilized by Shane’s sperm in a lab. Management apparently want to see what their two most gifted psychics might produce for offspring. Expecting a baby together brings Addison and Shane closer, but just as they are standing on the threshold of love, Triptych steps in and breaks them apart with deceptions.

Years pass. Addison and Shane waffle between insatiable attraction to each other and hatred. The whole time, the mystery of Tripych and its creepy management fill the story with intrigue. While there is some serious steamy sex, this is also the story about a family. Shane, Addison and their kids have very realistic relationships. The kids are close since there are few other children in Triptych, and both want to see Shane & Addison work things out. Both Addison and Shane are good parents who do their best by their kids. I loved how human the characters were.

There were a few areas in this story which could have benefited some further explanation. Both of my major issues involved world building. First, this all takes place with a corporation. I gather they do scientific and psychic research, but the details are sketchy. What kind of company has the employees live on sight and dictates every aspect of their personal lives, including who they can sleep with and when and with whom they can have children? The other thing is regarding the aliens. We know Shane is half-alien and there are a few full aliens in the story, but there is not a lot of explanation about the aliens. Where did they come from? What is their role on earth? Are they known to humans outside of the corporation? I felt a bit like I kept missing some fact that would tie all of this together.

Even with these questions, I still really enjoyed this book. It was very different from most things that I read, yet, I found myself engaged and thinking about it between reading. That’s the sign of a good book.

Overall, I give Strange Little Band…

Plot – 4 ½ bookmarks
Character Development – 4 bookmarks
Love Story – 5 bookmarks
Sex Scenes – 4 ¾ bookmarks
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Halle Berry (Addison), Eric Bana (Shane), James Caan (Daniel), Lucy Liu (Joon)(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 11, 2011 Leona Wisoker rated it 4 of 5 stars

I initially picked up this book because I met one of the authors, Nancy Brauer (the other is Vanessa Brooks), at a convention. I liked Nancy as a person; then I attended one of her readings, in which she read the first two chapters of this novel, and I liked what I heard. I decided to pick the book up in eBook format, because I'm always really leery of self-published books.

To my delight, the formatting, grammar and such were all very clean and there were very few typos. Best of all, the rest of...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 06, 2011 Theodora Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars

Description: Shane and Addison, two brilliant and egotistical psychics fall for each other hard after being brought together by their corporate overlords’ breeding program. A tumultuous and tortured love affair, spanning 12 years, ensues.

The Good: STRANGE LITTLE BAND is probably the strangest little IR romance I’ve ever read, and I really dug it. It’s kind of like DR. WHO meets RED DWARF meets Wolfram and Heart (the evil corp from the ANGEL series) meets DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I like(d) all of those...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 07, 2011 Tiger Gray rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mild spoilers.

The world of Triptych is not unlike our own, but despite familiar cultural references and a collection of mundane day to day problems, Addison Harris and Shane Meyers have lives further complicated by belonging to a cut throat organization populated by super humans.

In the Triptych organization, anything goes as representatives of Homo Superior lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. Affection is a thing to be exploited and genuine love is almost unheard of. Even children are...more

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 21, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, dystopia

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Let me begin by qualifying this review: I am most definitely not the target audience for this book.

By that, I mean that I don't read romance/erotica novels, by personal choice. It's just not a genre that appeals to me. However, if you ARE a fan of that genre, and you particularly like paranormal romance/erotica, you'll probably quite enjoy STRANGE LITTLE BAND.

The majority of the characters in this novel are, frankly, abhorrent people. They're conniving, manipulative, cruel, usually borderline ps...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 20, 2010 M. Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars

Supervillians get domestic....

Strange Little Band is one of the sexiest stories on the internet, and how can it not be when you are looking at two supervillains navigating their way through parenthood and romance? The wonderfully adversarial relationship between Addison and Shane creates a dark comedy of errors inside of a top secret society that may or may not be on the side of the world outside of its nefarious influence. Unlike many romances, neither Addison nor Shane are likeable characters,...more Supervillians get domestic....

Strange Little Band is one of the sexiest stories on the internet, and how can it not be when you are looking at two supervillains navigating their way through parenthood and romance? The wonderfully adversarial relationship between Addison and Shane creates a dark comedy of errors inside of a top secret society that may or may not be on the side of the world outside of its nefarious influence. Unlike many romances, neither Addison nor Shane are likeable characters, their evil natures tempered only by their interaction with their children and the dysfunctional family life they manage within their relationship. There are few characters who are 'good' people in Strange Little Band, save for perhaps Svetlana and Teague. Both Addison and Shane are selfish people who seek out their successes at the expense of others and aren't afraid to use and abuse those around them with their alien and psychic powers respectively.

The main crux of the story is the often rocky process by which Shane and Addison discovering they do, in fact, have souls. Their children are selfless and understanding, a wholly alien outlook to their own parents, and thus become teachers in how to get back those components of their humanity they had lost. The fault perhaps lies in Triptych Corp., a mysterious entity that blends both science and magic within it, manipulating those within its employ and enslaving those who are weak within it. There is a good description of the living arrangements of its employees, along with how people interact in its corporate culture. What its purpose ultimately is is never clear, but this is secondary to the main focus of the story which is the relationship between Addison and Shane. As was said, the story is mainly a love story between two very bad people who use and manipulate others at will. It's an interesting point of view, like seeing how a master villain and his relationships play out on a day to day basis.

Though they are unlikeable, we stick to watching Shane and Addison playing with these new feelings of care because we understand that they are finally learning an important aspect of their humanity--The ability to love. It could be argued that they are already more than halfway there with their feelings for their children, but the bringing someone not of your blood into your relational clan is no easy thing for either character, and realising that hurting someone emotionally is a self destructive weapon is a huge step in the developement of their humanity. Empathy may not be a good trait for a supervillain to cultivate, but it certainly makes for some darn hot and sexy conflict.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 D.H. Nevins rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Now here’s the recipe for a great story. For your protagonists, take two twisted psychics, make them into unlikely parents, and then wrap those miserable, wriggling characters up in a mire of corporate intrigue. I enjoyed every delicious page of this book! It kept me reading well into the night as I rooted for--and cursed--its spiteful, love-struck villains. Who knew that watching two wicked characters squander every opportunity for love would ever be so engrossing! I loved it.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 24, 2011 Jo (Mixed Book Bag) rated it 3 of 5 stars

As Strange Little Band opens Addison Harris is pregnant, “ A Petri dish, catheter, and a thinly veiled order from Triptych VP Daniel Gibson are responsible for Addison’s condition.” Shane Myers, another Triptych employee, does not know he is the donor for Addison’s baby. What follows when he learns is a very different romance. Much of the time neither Addison nor Shane are nice people. Both however are great parents. Triptych is not a nice company to work for and does whatever it can to cause tr...more

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Mar 24, 2012 April rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was SO different from a traditional love story. It was funny and thought provoking. The characters were great. I throughly enjoyed this book.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 16, 2011 Deva rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: interracial-sci-fi

I have a love/hate relationship with this book but in the end, I liked it a lot. http://urbanparanormal.blogspot.com

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 27, 2010 Nevertaken rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book in a First Reads giveaway. I will review it once I've read it.

like · see review

Apr 25, 2011 Rachelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Unexpected but satisfying
Review over at Doubleshotreviews.com

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Oct 21, 2011 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

An interesting world that keeps you guessing.

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Jun 16, 2013 Valerie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very interesting

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Dec 01, 2010 Bodea rated it 4 of 5 stars

review to come....

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May 30, 2012 Glinda Harrison rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: unfinished

This was a very well written book. It was billed as a non-sappy romance, and that is definitely true. Unfortunately (for me, at any rate), the characters went so far in the other direction that I found that I just couldn't relate to them. If you like off-beat characters, this might just be your cup of tea.

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Jan 24, 2011 Sasha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, romance, supernatural-creatures

This was an excellent, twisty turney read that packs a big punch.

I need to reread this at some point though, because there were minor story points that got no closure.

But to my sleep deprived brain, here and now, this book was phenomenal.

1 like · like · see review

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About Nancy Brauer

A geologist turned web programmer turned writer and graphic artist, Nancy Brauer has yet to decide what she wants to be when she grows up. She's been writing, drawing, and cracking open rocks for as long as she can remember. Nancy divides her time between freelance web and graphic design, writing, and overly ambitious DIY projects. Her latest works are a short story in the anthology Other Sides ,...more

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