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The Valtar #1
Winged Victory
A forbidden love that will rock the galaxy . .
Medtech Abbie Brown is traveling to the distant planet of Valtar, an ancient, maledominated world, hoping to discover why the Valtarie face extinction. Despite their charm and good looks, Abby knows the silverwinged Valtarie are not angels, but they can't really be vampires, as she's heard. Could they?
Traveen, second son of Valtar's ruler, pilots the crystal ship escorting Abbie. Valtarie Law forbids males to touch a female-especially a human one. To do so means death. But when a storm forces them to crash land on a deserted ice planet, Traveen has no choice but to touch Abbie to keep her alive. Abbie survives, and she rescues Traveen from execution. But after they escape, Abbie finds herself falling for her handsome protector.
But is she really in love? Or would Traveen's hypnotic eyes and sexy voice be irresistible to females of any race . . .
"Two strangers find love when least expected, worlds away from home."-Sensual Romance Reviews
“Heartwarming and heart stopping . . . ”-Eternal Night Reviews
“Readers who like their scifi spicy will devour this outerspace romance.”-Rt Book Reviews on Pleasure Dome
L.F. Hampton is a Southern California writer living with her husband and two rescued fur babies. She has worked in a variety of careers ranging from library clerk to a major city's first female business license inspector to a nail shop owner. But, her passion is creating new worlds filled with aliens in fantasy situations of intrigue and romance. She has a deep love of anything mystical, and her love of writing is only surpassed by her love of reading.
Medtech Abbie Brown is traveling to the distant planet of Valtar, an ancient, maledominated world, hoping to discover why the Valtarie face extinction. Despite their charm and good looks, Abby knows the silverwinged Valtarie are not angels, but they can't really be vampires, as she's heard. Could they?
Traveen, second son of Valtar's ruler, pilots the crystal ship escorting Abbie. Valtarie Law forbids males to touch a female-especially a human one. To do so means death. But when a storm forces them to crash land on a deserted ice planet, Traveen has no choice but to touch Abbie to keep her alive. Abbie survives, and she rescues Traveen from execution. But after they escape, Abbie finds herself falling for her handsome protector.
But is she really in love? Or would Traveen's hypnotic eyes and sexy voice be irresistible to females of any race . . .
"Two strangers find love when least expected, worlds away from home."-Sensual Romance Reviews
“Heartwarming and heart stopping . . . ”-Eternal Night Reviews
“Readers who like their scifi spicy will devour this outerspace romance.”-Rt Book Reviews on Pleasure Dome
L.F. Hampton is a Southern California writer living with her husband and two rescued fur babies. She has worked in a variety of careers ranging from library clerk to a major city's first female business license inspector to a nail shop owner. But, her passion is creating new worlds filled with aliens in fantasy situations of intrigue and romance. She has a deep love of anything mystical, and her love of writing is only surpassed by her love of reading.
200 pages, Paperback
First published June 25, 2004
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124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
nevermind
April 29, 2016DNF at 8%
I was really excited for this. The synopsis sounded so good.
The prologue was fine, a good introduction to what seemed an interesting world. The angel-like beings of a male-dominated society seemed cool. Unfortunately, the first chapter dashed all that away when the two main characters could only think about being attracted to each other in a strange way. Added to that, there was constant head hopping as they thought about this attraction.
I decided to stop when a space storm shut down their ship and killed the navigator. The main characters were STILL thinking about this attraction, literally before figuring out how they're going to survive. While next to the navigator's dead body.
NO. IT IS NOT. Get off the damn floor and deal with the emergency. Goodness.
I was really excited for this. The synopsis sounded so good.
The prologue was fine, a good introduction to what seemed an interesting world. The angel-like beings of a male-dominated society seemed cool. Unfortunately, the first chapter dashed all that away when the two main characters could only think about being attracted to each other in a strange way. Added to that, there was constant head hopping as they thought about this attraction.
I decided to stop when a space storm shut down their ship and killed the navigator. The main characters were STILL thinking about this attraction, literally before figuring out how they're going to survive. While next to the navigator's dead body.
"Death is worth this prize," he murmured before claiming her mouth.
NO. IT IS NOT. Get off the damn floor and deal with the emergency. Goodness.
May 18, 2016
Sometimes I crave an uncomplicated passionate space sci-fi romance. Plain and simple. Human-alien romance end of the world sort of stuff. You know what I mean? And this new to me series by an equally untried author more than met expectation with the forbidden romance, survival, intrigue, and unique worldbuilding.
The story opens with Abbie Brown, a med tech, being summoned to help a human doctor that is laboring to help save a race. The Valtarie are a secretive race that no one knows much about. Abbie has heard the rumors- winged angelic vampires. The race is dominated by males and their females are dying in child birth. The Valtarie can enthrall with their hypnotic eyes. And they have stringent rules that a male cannot look upon or touch a female.
All of this keeps her on the fearful side of the huge Valtarie captain sent to pick her up and bring her back to his world. There is a situation and their space ship goes down on a frozen planet. The Valtarie, Traveen, saves her life by sharing his warmth, but in the process condemns himself to death or at the very least the hard conditions of the mines on the prison moon because he touched her. Abbie can't stand to see injustice done and to her, inspite of the Valtarie law, this is injustice. Traveen was nothing, but good to her and saved her life. Now she will save his.
Traveen is the second son of the Valtarie ruler, but this does not save him after his act of heroism puts him in the crosshairs of the law. The law has a strangle hold on their people and perpetuates the race dying off. Many have railed against it to no avail. Traveen takes the memory of his one and only moment of touching a vibrant beautiful female with him into certain death in the crystal mines.
Only, Abbie has other ideas and she comes for him in a daring escape. Now they are outlaws, but all Traveen can really wonder is if, inspite of their differences, will Abbie stay with him and if she does, can he protect her from those that will be after them?
This story is an interesting layered piece. There is the expected layer of a hot, passionate inter-species forbidden romance set against some good action scenes, but then the book surprised me. It went a little deeper and offered more with its worldbuilding and character/relationship development.
I found the alien world of the Valtarie interesting with their harsh rules and interesting racial features. They look like angels, but they are a scary, intense blood-drinking warrior race that stay just barely on the civilized side of things. The reader gets a foreshadowy feeling early on and later, some of the characters like Traveen's older brother offer up some good complexity with their mysterious actions.
The romance was off to the races at first with Abbie and Traveen sharing an attraction and then a fairly quick connection. Usually, this is disappointing, but this time I went with it because the early connection was the easy part. The author took the time to explore their differences and situations that a young relationship would stumble over. In other words, she didn't make it easy on them just because they quickly became a couple.
And instead of the usual shallow character descriptions and backgrounds, this particular story was given characters with pasts and their situations led to some character growth. Traveen has lost everything by his life saving act. He is experiencing an identity crisis at the same time he is evolving into something new. Abbie is alone in the universe and she sorrows and continues to struggle over the loss of her brothers. Her fear of loss and her knowledge that she is the cause of all of Traveen's troubles has her struggling with guilt. Even altered by his punishment, he is a beautiful being and she can't see what he sees in her. But they help each other heal and forge a strong, deep relationship.
There are some exciting scenes near the beginning and especially nearer the end with the middle going back to develop the character side. But after that last series of scenes, I am chomping at the bit for the next installment in this surprising series. Oh, not that there is a cliffie or anything like that, but I really need Traveen's older brother's story. Badly. He is the bad boy with mysterious motives and the scenes with him were intense.
On a side note, this book has a crossover with another book, Forever One. This one can be read without the other, but thought I’d mention in for those who were curious.
All in all, I am more than satisfied. I expected to be moderately entertained, but instead found myself riveted. Bring on more winged warrior sci-fi hot romance action!
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
The story opens with Abbie Brown, a med tech, being summoned to help a human doctor that is laboring to help save a race. The Valtarie are a secretive race that no one knows much about. Abbie has heard the rumors- winged angelic vampires. The race is dominated by males and their females are dying in child birth. The Valtarie can enthrall with their hypnotic eyes. And they have stringent rules that a male cannot look upon or touch a female.
All of this keeps her on the fearful side of the huge Valtarie captain sent to pick her up and bring her back to his world. There is a situation and their space ship goes down on a frozen planet. The Valtarie, Traveen, saves her life by sharing his warmth, but in the process condemns himself to death or at the very least the hard conditions of the mines on the prison moon because he touched her. Abbie can't stand to see injustice done and to her, inspite of the Valtarie law, this is injustice. Traveen was nothing, but good to her and saved her life. Now she will save his.
Traveen is the second son of the Valtarie ruler, but this does not save him after his act of heroism puts him in the crosshairs of the law. The law has a strangle hold on their people and perpetuates the race dying off. Many have railed against it to no avail. Traveen takes the memory of his one and only moment of touching a vibrant beautiful female with him into certain death in the crystal mines.
Only, Abbie has other ideas and she comes for him in a daring escape. Now they are outlaws, but all Traveen can really wonder is if, inspite of their differences, will Abbie stay with him and if she does, can he protect her from those that will be after them?
This story is an interesting layered piece. There is the expected layer of a hot, passionate inter-species forbidden romance set against some good action scenes, but then the book surprised me. It went a little deeper and offered more with its worldbuilding and character/relationship development.
I found the alien world of the Valtarie interesting with their harsh rules and interesting racial features. They look like angels, but they are a scary, intense blood-drinking warrior race that stay just barely on the civilized side of things. The reader gets a foreshadowy feeling early on and later, some of the characters like Traveen's older brother offer up some good complexity with their mysterious actions.
The romance was off to the races at first with Abbie and Traveen sharing an attraction and then a fairly quick connection. Usually, this is disappointing, but this time I went with it because the early connection was the easy part. The author took the time to explore their differences and situations that a young relationship would stumble over. In other words, she didn't make it easy on them just because they quickly became a couple.
And instead of the usual shallow character descriptions and backgrounds, this particular story was given characters with pasts and their situations led to some character growth. Traveen has lost everything by his life saving act. He is experiencing an identity crisis at the same time he is evolving into something new. Abbie is alone in the universe and she sorrows and continues to struggle over the loss of her brothers. Her fear of loss and her knowledge that she is the cause of all of Traveen's troubles has her struggling with guilt. Even altered by his punishment, he is a beautiful being and she can't see what he sees in her. But they help each other heal and forge a strong, deep relationship.
There are some exciting scenes near the beginning and especially nearer the end with the middle going back to develop the character side. But after that last series of scenes, I am chomping at the bit for the next installment in this surprising series. Oh, not that there is a cliffie or anything like that, but I really need Traveen's older brother's story. Badly. He is the bad boy with mysterious motives and the scenes with him were intense.
On a side note, this book has a crossover with another book, Forever One. This one can be read without the other, but thought I’d mention in for those who were curious.
All in all, I am more than satisfied. I expected to be moderately entertained, but instead found myself riveted. Bring on more winged warrior sci-fi hot romance action!
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
June 27, 2016
This was definitely a unique read.
This is a fairly clean romance. No descriptive love scenes, it fades to black. I didn't really notice until it happened a second time. I was so engrossed in the storytelling that I didn't even miss it. The author does a good job showing the hot chemistry between them without actually going into too much detail. The characters themselves and the intriguing world building keeps you glued to the book pretty easily.
The romance aspect was a little jarring in the beginning. This was literally love at first sight. Traveen and Abbie see each other, exchange a handful of words, spark an attraction and than they face a life or death situation that starts a chain reaction of danger, conspiracy and ultimately love. I wanted a little more interaction (one on one, without outside forces coercing them forward) before the big "together forever" and "I love you's" started flowing between them. By the end this didn't bother me at all, I loved them together!
The ending was not something I anticipated and Traveen's sacrifice for both Abbie and his people was freakin sad! He definitely has a self sacrificing mind set! Abbie was a good h but for a thirty year old virgin sometimes she acted and sounded a lot younger.
This was a great beginning to the series. I'm curious to read about the next couple. Ends with a HEA and a very cute epilogue.
** ARC provided for an honest review ***
This is a fairly clean romance. No descriptive love scenes, it fades to black. I didn't really notice until it happened a second time. I was so engrossed in the storytelling that I didn't even miss it. The author does a good job showing the hot chemistry between them without actually going into too much detail. The characters themselves and the intriguing world building keeps you glued to the book pretty easily.
The romance aspect was a little jarring in the beginning. This was literally love at first sight. Traveen and Abbie see each other, exchange a handful of words, spark an attraction and than they face a life or death situation that starts a chain reaction of danger, conspiracy and ultimately love. I wanted a little more interaction (one on one, without outside forces coercing them forward) before the big "together forever" and "I love you's" started flowing between them. By the end this didn't bother me at all, I loved them together!
The ending was not something I anticipated and Traveen's sacrifice for both Abbie and his people was freakin sad! He definitely has a self sacrificing mind set! Abbie was a good h but for a thirty year old virgin sometimes she acted and sounded a lot younger.
This was a great beginning to the series. I'm curious to read about the next couple. Ends with a HEA and a very cute epilogue.
** ARC provided for an honest review ***
April 14, 2011
On her way to Valtar to try and find the answers as to why their race is failing, Abbie encounters her first Valtaire, pilot Traveen. Abbie finds the winged Traveen beautiful and frightening, but ends up less terrified of the blood drinking male who holds the power to enspell with his eyes and compell with his voice than her trip in his crystal ship. Sneaking covet glances as the Voltarie code of conduct forbids Traveen to meet a female's gaze, he is thoroughly enraptured by the human woman whose vivid coloring is such a contrast to his alabaster skinned pale haired people. And When Traveen's ship crashes en route to bringing a human female medical techinician Abbie to his homeworld, Traveen will break taboos to save Abbie's life, even knowing that his life is forfeit.
I throughly enjoyed, Winged Victory and loved both the honorable and stubborn Traveen and the equally stubborn and brave Abbie. But even before I got wrapped up in the romance - which had a touch of steam without being at all graphic - I was totally hooked by the nuances of the Volatare culture. The world building in Winged Victory was excellent. I was also captivated by the descriptions of these winged beings and just as angonized by Traveen's punishment for aiding Abbie as Abbie was.
I was lucky enough to pick up Winged Victory as a freebie from Imajinn during "read an ebook" week (it was still free as of the review date) and I liked it so well that I will definately be plunking down my hard earned cash for the sequel Winged Darkness.
I throughly enjoyed, Winged Victory and loved both the honorable and stubborn Traveen and the equally stubborn and brave Abbie. But even before I got wrapped up in the romance - which had a touch of steam without being at all graphic - I was totally hooked by the nuances of the Volatare culture. The world building in Winged Victory was excellent. I was also captivated by the descriptions of these winged beings and just as angonized by Traveen's punishment for aiding Abbie as Abbie was.
I was lucky enough to pick up Winged Victory as a freebie from Imajinn during "read an ebook" week (it was still free as of the review date) and I liked it so well that I will definately be plunking down my hard earned cash for the sequel Winged Darkness.
August 5, 2022
Read again in 2022
Tbh I don’t think I would have written this review if I hadn’t read another review of this book that was so critical it irked me. Curious I looked at other reviews and tbh I’m not sure if they even like reading considering the reviews they leave. Apparently the only book they’re willing to suspend disbelief for is a Christian romance filled with tropes? I digress.
Lately I’ve been on a re-reading binge and this authors books (I have four) I couldn’t skim through like the rest. There is substantial plot and I found myself getting wrapped back up in the story telling. I had hoped to continue reading the series but it looks like it ends at two books although the second is just as good as the first. It doesn’t leave a bunch of open ends but I had hoped to get updates of the original characters in a continuation of the series. Anyways, apparently I’m illiterate though cause I didn’t notice the grammatical errors someone spoke of.
Tbh I don’t think I would have written this review if I hadn’t read another review of this book that was so critical it irked me. Curious I looked at other reviews and tbh I’m not sure if they even like reading considering the reviews they leave. Apparently the only book they’re willing to suspend disbelief for is a Christian romance filled with tropes? I digress.
Lately I’ve been on a re-reading binge and this authors books (I have four) I couldn’t skim through like the rest. There is substantial plot and I found myself getting wrapped back up in the story telling. I had hoped to continue reading the series but it looks like it ends at two books although the second is just as good as the first. It doesn’t leave a bunch of open ends but I had hoped to get updates of the original characters in a continuation of the series. Anyways, apparently I’m illiterate though cause I didn’t notice the grammatical errors someone spoke of.
May 1, 2019
This is the book that you get if a Texas wall of decorative crosses came to winged alien blood-sucking life and decided THEY HORNY... it wasn't good per se, but it WAS unintentionally funny
July 12, 2024
Couldn't put it down
This was a great mix of mystical creatures and outer space. I am now in love with the idea of winded space vampires.
This was a great mix of mystical creatures and outer space. I am now in love with the idea of winded space vampires.
September 28, 2016
I'm glad that I did not go into this book with high hopes. While it wasn't bad, I was so bored for most of it. I actually planned on giving it only two stars. But there was a time or two where I really wanted to know what would happen next, and a good twist with Abbie's brothers was thrown in there. The story itself was pretty good, but I just didn't get into it. I also did not like the main characters. Especially Abbie. She really annoyed me. I did so love her brothers though. Too bad they didn't show up until the end. While some things were described well, others were not. For example, places were painted with detail for you to imagine. But some races were not. I still have no idea how the one ruler looked (I can't remember his name), only that he must be some sort of kitty because he has paws and claws....but what about his head? Surely it's not that of animal because the guy took a human as his mate...
Abbie was asked to come assist a doctor who has been trying to figure out why the Valtarie female birth rate is so low and why they always die during child birth. Along the way the ship she's traveling on hits an energy field or something and goes down. Crash landing on an ice planet, the only way to save Abbie is to keep her warm with his own body. Traveen does so even though he knows that if they are caught his life is forfeit. Because females are so rare and protected on his planet, there are many laws that Traveen and his people must follow. Which includes not touching them, not looking at them (apparently their eyes can bind a girl to them), and basically treating them as well as possible without actually interacting them. So kissing Abbie and then laying naked with her is a BIG no-no. When caught, Traveen's punishment is harsh to say the least, but at least he wasn't killed as his laws actually demand.
While Traveen is off suffering, Abbie is being completely useless. She refuses to do the work she was asked there for until she gets her way. I'm not sure how I'm actually supposed to believe that these two fell in love with each other right away. While on the ship the first time, they barely spoke and kept steeling glances at each other. That's called lust. Then on the ice planet, Abbie was barely even awake. Now she's determined to save Traveen and willing to risk her life and others' to do it. At least it was successful.
Now they're hiding out on an unpopulated planet and falling more in love with each passing month. While the world there was described well and sounded like a beautiful place to live, I didn't understand how nobody already did. It's while there that Traveen starts to change and also finds himself with new abilities. Which also leads to Abbie figuring out the mortality problem for the Valtarie. Yeah, she finally did her job. Now all that needs to be done is to get it back to the doctor on their planet and let the king know they have a solution. Problem is that they're both criminals now and to go there means almost certain death. But it's a risk they have to take. And along the way we get great surprises and also terrifying truths. The way it all ended was oddly convoluted after such a simple trick gave many their happy endings.
Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley.
Abbie was asked to come assist a doctor who has been trying to figure out why the Valtarie female birth rate is so low and why they always die during child birth. Along the way the ship she's traveling on hits an energy field or something and goes down. Crash landing on an ice planet, the only way to save Abbie is to keep her warm with his own body. Traveen does so even though he knows that if they are caught his life is forfeit. Because females are so rare and protected on his planet, there are many laws that Traveen and his people must follow. Which includes not touching them, not looking at them (apparently their eyes can bind a girl to them), and basically treating them as well as possible without actually interacting them. So kissing Abbie and then laying naked with her is a BIG no-no. When caught, Traveen's punishment is harsh to say the least, but at least he wasn't killed as his laws actually demand.
While Traveen is off suffering, Abbie is being completely useless. She refuses to do the work she was asked there for until she gets her way. I'm not sure how I'm actually supposed to believe that these two fell in love with each other right away. While on the ship the first time, they barely spoke and kept steeling glances at each other. That's called lust. Then on the ice planet, Abbie was barely even awake. Now she's determined to save Traveen and willing to risk her life and others' to do it. At least it was successful.
Now they're hiding out on an unpopulated planet and falling more in love with each passing month. While the world there was described well and sounded like a beautiful place to live, I didn't understand how nobody already did. It's while there that Traveen starts to change and also finds himself with new abilities. Which also leads to Abbie figuring out the mortality problem for the Valtarie. Yeah, she finally did her job. Now all that needs to be done is to get it back to the doctor on their planet and let the king know they have a solution. Problem is that they're both criminals now and to go there means almost certain death. But it's a risk they have to take. And along the way we get great surprises and also terrifying truths. The way it all ended was oddly convoluted after such a simple trick gave many their happy endings.
Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley.
Read
June 23, 2016This book is about beautiful Angelic/Vampire beings called Valtarie, isolated on their planet from others by the will of their king. This planet is filled with beautiful, dominant males and only a small population of females remaining. These females are kept in a secure location and under guard because there are so few of them left. Only out of desperation to save the remaining females does the King allow outsiders, first Dr. Harris, then her assistant nurse Abbie, into their planet.
Males are expressly forbidden to show any inappropriate reaction to females, or even look in their direction, especially since they can force a bond just through eye contact. Due to the small female population, this world of dominant males is cursed with a life of loneliness and servitude to their king. This causes a lot of issues and results in a lot of their males being shipped off planet to their moon prisons etc.
So when Traveen, although son of the King but is considered of the lower class, is part of the party to pick up Abbie, it is with no surprise that he is instantly attracted to one of the first females he has ever interacted with. This story is about them trying to save the female population from dying in childbirth and the lack of baby girls, navigating their forbidden love; and trying to change the king’s decree of isolation from the rest of the galaxy which is rapidly causing their demise.
Males are expressly forbidden to show any inappropriate reaction to females, or even look in their direction, especially since they can force a bond just through eye contact. Due to the small female population, this world of dominant males is cursed with a life of loneliness and servitude to their king. This causes a lot of issues and results in a lot of their males being shipped off planet to their moon prisons etc.
So when Traveen, although son of the King but is considered of the lower class, is part of the party to pick up Abbie, it is with no surprise that he is instantly attracted to one of the first females he has ever interacted with. This story is about them trying to save the female population from dying in childbirth and the lack of baby girls, navigating their forbidden love; and trying to change the king’s decree of isolation from the rest of the galaxy which is rapidly causing their demise.
May 17, 2016
The plot of Winged Victory is fairly predictable but Hampton puts some twists in that kept it interesting. I loved the take on vampires. Who would have thought they looked like beautiful winged angels. When Traveen and Abby crash on a ice world Traveen makes a decision that changes everything. There is a lot of tension and danger for both Abby and Traveen before they get to their HEA. This is book one of a new series but some of the characters seemed to have a back-story from a previous series that would also be fun to read.
February 14, 2014
Loved it!!;) 5+++ stars!!
definite keeper!
definite keeper!
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