The Falcorans' Faith

The Soul-Linked Saga #7

by Laura Jo Phillips

You could say that Faith Myers was one of the unluckiest women in The Thousand Worlds, but that would make her sound a lot luckier than she actually was. Her twin sister, Grace, died in an attack by the reptilian Brethren. Her parents were murdered. And, as for Faith herself, she has been stalked by ruthless criminals and bears the scars, both physical and psychological, of multiple murder attempts.

Battered by trauma and fear, she has retreated within a solitary fortress of her own making, in which she is safe from emotional harm but is achingly and eternally alone.

Fleeing to the sanctuary of planet Jasan with no loftier goal than to escape danger, Faith is found to have a unique gift that makes her a priceless asset in the struggle against the spider-like Xanti, whose goal is nothing short of conquest of the Thousand Worlds, and absolute rule of our galaxy.

This gift, and the evil forces that continue to pursue her, propel Faith into a thrilling and dangerous adventure beyond anything she could have imagined.

As if that were not exciting enough, she discovers that she is the Arima, or destined soul-mate, of the impossibly gorgeous, yet impenetrably cold and distant Falcoran brothers. Yet, behind this forbidding façade, the Falcorans’ hearts carry an unspeakable longing for closeness and family and children which they reject and deny as a result of, themselves, being the victims of an unspeakable wrong.

Although the Falcorans reject claiming Faith as their Arima, and Faith rejects being claimed, they must work together to combat the deadly threat to both their worlds.

Faith and the Falcorans begin a painful and perilous journey together - one fraught with danger from the Xanti, and with the danger of exposing their wounded and vulnerable hearts to the terrors and, perhaps, ultimately, the joys of a destined, true love.

The Falcorans' Faith, a 113,000 word full-length novel, is the continuation of Laura Jo Phillips’ breakthrough, best-selling Soul-Linked Saga, a genre-busting multi-volume epic that leaps across space and time to encompass the joys and pain and mysteries of love and destiny and passion, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy and the inner depths of the heart.

It is loaded with the passion, moving emotional insight, excitement, and heart that her fans know and love.

RECOMMENDED READING ORDER:
The Dracons' Woman (Book 1)
The Lobos' HeartSong (Book 2)
The Katres' Summer (Book 3)
The Bearens' Hope (Book 4)
The Gryphons' Dream (Book 5)
Berta's Choice (Book 5.5)
The Vulpirans' Honor (Book 6)
The Falcorans' Faith (Book 7)

Genres: Romance, Shapeshifters, Aliens, Menage, Fantasy, Paranormal, Science Fiction

299 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2013

About the author

Laura Jo Phillips is the Amazon best selling author of the genre-busting "Soul-Linked Saga" series of Fantasy/Romance/Adult/Science Fiction novels, and of the "Orbs of Rathira" trilogy, the the first volume of which was released in August 2012.

Reviews

[Duetro · Rating 2 out of 5]

TW: rape, torture

I thought the heroine's trauma wasn't treated realistically, or at least wasn't given the weight it deserves. The heroine, Faith, was gang-raped by three men, an attack that was set up by her "friend" Cinthy, because Cinthy felt that Faith was responsible for Cinthy's brother going to prison.

"It's your fault, Faith," [Cinthy] said more calmly. "All of it. Your fault that my brother suffers as he does. Do you know what they do to young, good-looking men in prison?"
"No," Faith replied.
"Well, you're about to find out."

Faith later explains to the Falcorans what happened specifically. It sends them into a blood rage, which she apologizes for (she also later apologizes for being afraid to have sex, which also made me angry. Lots of martyr-ish talk).

The most explicit the discussion about her sexual trauma gets is fairly vague, but still not great.
... the memory of the three guards appeared in her mind. Their leers, their laughter, their grunts and groans, their utter disregard of her screams as they took their pleasure in her pain. Three of them. That was the fear.

This is built up (rightly so) as a major source of pain and sleeplessness for faith. She has panic attacks in crowded areas, she can't stand to be touched by most anyone, she has horrific night terrors from which she wakes screaming. She's been through hell and back and is still a decent, selfless person.

And yet, a few paragraphs after we're told her sexual attraction to the heroes scares her, and that her only sexual experience has been her violent and traumatic rape, she's getting spit-roasted by two of the brothers, deep-throating no less, while the third tells her how hot she looks.

"From the first moment I laid eyes on the three of you, my body reacted in a way that I had never experienced before. I felt arousal. And it scared the hell out of me... I've only ever had one sexual experience. So when my body began reacting as though it wanted... that... well, it terrified me."

This tells us that Faith thinks of sex as intrinsically painful, and is confused and "terrified" by the thought of wanting to have sex. This implies a very deep-seated issue with sex: not just sex with multiple partners, but sex itself. She can't conceive of why her body would want to have sex, she has such a negative experience with it. But then, literally six pages later:

[Faith] opened her eyes and smiled at Tristan... [He] entered her with one long, steady thrust, not stopping until he was fully seated within her. She felt her body adjust to his presence, then clench tightly around him, her back arching in an effort to pull him even deeper.
"Would you like to feel Jon in your mouth?" Gray whispered into her ear as he stroked her breast lightly with his fingers.
A fresh wave of excitement ripped through her. "Yes," she gasped breathlessly.
... "Take Jon deeper," Gray said. "Relax your throat and swallow when he thrusts deep."

Seriously?! Literally and canonically Faith's second time having sex, her first being a horrific gang rape, she's still having nightmares E V E R Y night that she's been on their ship (oh yeah, and she's known them for like a month), and she's orgasming and deep-throating and being pounded like there's no tomorrow.

I get that this condensed timeline is sort of the nature of this "fated mate" romance genre, but when you combine that with sexual trauma that one of the leads is going through, it just comes off as insensitive when they have seemingly no issues jumping into the new sexual relationship. I guess it's supposed to be magic dick or whatever, but I don't think that's a good enough explanation when you're dealing with very real, very serious issues like rape.

"Stop trying to imagine yourself having sex with the Falcorans, and just imagine being with them," Summer said. "Your only experience was an abomination. Imagining the Falcorans doing the same thing can't be anything but terrifying. I promise you, making love is in no way related to what you experienced."
Faith was startled by the simple truth of what Summer's words (sic). "That's so... logical," she said. "Why didn't I realize that myself? ... This seems so simple."
... "I don't know that it will be simple," Summer said. "But it's a place to start."

Turns out, it is that simple! At least, according to this book it is.

[Rebecca Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

I enjoyed Faith's story so much, what a survivor! I loved reading about her and the Falcorans and their happy ending. The continuing story arc with previous characters and the Xanti is also great! Keep it coming!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time does heal all wounds...

What a heartwrenching, beautiful story! Both Faith and the Falcorans have troubled pasts. In the beginning it's not only a shock but a disappointment when they discover each other. Throughout the book you learn bits and pieces of their pasts until it all falls together. I absolutely LOVE this series and any book that Laura Jo writes for that matter. This book is not just about what happens behind closed doors, it's about a journey to heal the pain in all of their hearts. I would highly recommend ANY of Laura Jo Phillips books and highly recommend of you are a lover of fantasy and true, deep, unconditional love, PLEASE give this amazing series a try!!

[Eran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laura Jo has written another great story! It's wonderful to find an author that keeps her readers engaged and with each new book gets better. I loved that both the heroes and the heroine battled through their demons and realized how much they truly cared about each other. It's also nice that the story keeps us in touch with previous couples and continues to build this wonderful world. I know that we are eventually going to reach a stopping point where the natural storyline is wrapped up and completed but from my perspective I hope it's not for a very long time.

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series, and this was another good addition to it. Many past characters make an appearance in it, and the overarching storyline moves forward nicely. The ending felt rushed, but that may have been because I rushed through it, dying to know what happened next.

This is an indie author, but if I could set her up on auto-buy, I would.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book. it felt like a date book. A book were the relationship grew and didnt felt like it was just thrown togethetas it fkelt like they fought for it. I also like catching up on the other characters n how the war was going. I keep routing for the jasani people. the ending was a little force but I can't wait to see what happens next.

[Celibel Shadowsong · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Soul-Linked Saga has been a very agreeable companion for me since I discovered Laura Jo Phillips.
This was the seventh book in the saga and I loved it. And I think that people who have been reading these stories and learned to love the characters will enjoy The Falcorans' Faith.

[namericanwordcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world building and series arc remain solid in this tale.

Faith is a very wounded heroine. The romance is nice and it is fun read overall. There isn't thing super great about this book but it is a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

[Rosebud · Rating 4 out of 5]

another good installment into the series.

[R *is for Relentless* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alien shapeshifter scifi menage MFMM M's are triplets(No MM action) love this series and it has a plot :) if you like a steamy scifi romance and menage give this entire series a try.

[Angarad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book in this amazingly rich serie. I loved the development and the characters, how nothing was really simple but they still learned to trust each other and heal over the time.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great addition to the series. I cannot wait to start the next one.

[Shanna Matheo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this series! Yes it got a bit repetitious and yes those book covers are absolutely hideous, but the story was just fantastic!

[Patricia Kearns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great,wonderful, sad, happy and a whole lot more.

How can Laura Jo keep us in suspense book after book?
I don't know how she does it, but she does.