Haldis Imperium

Champions of Terra #5

by Viola Grace

Amy Tyrell has worked for the most arrogant, obnoxious, and handsome guy she has ever seen for the last few years. His Imperial Highness Palden VII was attached to his Negotiator Tyrell, and considered him his best friend. The armor that was worn by the Negotiators both protected her and kept her from contact, until it came off. Now she was without her protection and she both wanted and dreaded the breeding contract that had been arranged for her with Palden. Will she gain a lover, but lose a friend?

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Aliens, Futuristic, Erotica, Royalty, Fantasy

79 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[namericanwordcat]

Amy is such an important part of the overall series that this is a must read.

It is a strange friends to lovers romance with the heroines identity being hidden. The hero is a jerk. A royal jerk but there are hints that there are reasons for this behavior. Amy loves him though and there is great world building.

[Nenya]

Good god, why did the last one have to be the worst. I read erotica, because it has less emotionally disturbing elements-- usually a very straightforward, short, sweet story, with monogamy (and sometimes, if I'm lucky, a virgin hero :D)... This one starts off with the H and another female, and the h (in an androgynous suit) walking in on them cos, well, she's seen him do it all before.

When the story premise is shag-first-then-love, or shag=love, I really don't want to see the H shagging others, or the h remembering that his room has wonderful acoustics (other women's from the beginning of the novel, and before that)

Upped one star because I liked the h. (and the mate-eating species)

[Isa]

I should make a new shelf because so many books I read belong there: i-read-it-while-on-ambien-so....

Was this good? I don't know, maybe?

[silver]

This was less a 2 Star rating because I disliked the book, and more of a there was too little to like. Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't read the previous books in the series and dove into this one head-first, and therefore missed a lot of the world building and backstory. But even so, the book was too short.

I had barely met the main characters before they were sleeping together, and even then, I felt like their relationship hadn't progressed much, if at all. I understand that this is an erotica, and eroticas tend to be on the shorter side and focus more on the smut part of the story, but even the smut was lacking as THERE WAS NO CHEMISTRY!!! 😫😫

I wouldn't say that the book is bad. I did enjoy reading about how the FMC interacts with other characters and species, as well as the snippets of her being a negotiator. But even then, the story was lacking, especially the connection between the H and the h.
I wish we had gotten more interactions between them, or even more conflict, because as soon as they had spent a couple of nights together, she was pregnant, was expected to become the H's consort, and in the next 10 pages or so, they got married (technically bound to one another for life, which to me is even more serious than marriage, since it's FOR LIFE, and I really doubt that divorce is a possibility for an king). And although the h is a bit taken aback by this, as it happens THE DAY OF, she just... doesn't worry about it anymore a minute later. No questions, no what-ifs, she's just okay with it. Totally chill with everything that's happening, no matter how strange or confusing.

Oh, and yeah. They never even officially say I love you.

When she asks him why he chose her(as his consort) after the ceremony, this is his "love confession":

“You really don’t know?” He paused for a moment to closely examine her face. “It’s because you never called me by my title unless you had to, even when you were a Negotiator. You are my best friend, and my lover. Plus I still owe you for the time that you broke my arm.” He smiled as her eyes welled up with tears.
“You are my best friend as well, I trust you with my life.”

I don't know, maybe it's just me being particular with my romance books, but I need love confessions, damn it >:(
I like seeing the main couple finally come together to clear the air and reveal all their true feelings, and frankly, calling you my best friend and lover will not do. Maybe it's because this was written back in the 2000s, but to me, lover sounds too ambiguous. Lovers are people you are intimate with, and not necessarily someone you love. And for the best friend label; The MMC has said from the beginning that Tyrell/the FMC was his best friend, so unless he suddenly didn't see her as his most trusted confidant just because she happened to be born with a vagina instead of a dick, that part of the confession doesn't really mean much to me.

Anyway, this is just me being picky and stubborn, but come on! Just one measly "I love you" is all I need, thank you very much.

[Carolyn F.]

I wasn't sure I would like this book as much as the first 3 but it was just as good. This is about Amy, who is the negotiator stuck in the suit so that no one can identify her for 4 year. She's had a crush on Palden and when her tenure ends, she's a little heartbroken. Then as soon as she is better after being encased in the suit, she's sent back to Palden to see if she's able to breed with him as women from Earth are ideal candidates for his species. After ignoring her for weeks, he figures out who she is and isn't letting her go.

Really good series. I'm going to read some of the author's other books.

[Georgiana]

There isn't really anything to say about this book because nothing happens in it. No relationship development, no drama, no action, no tension, no conflict, no questions and very little interaction between the protagonists. It's like three quarters of the book is missing and I'm not just referring to the fact that it's a short book. Basically, it's a description of a woman getting a new wardrobe and then showing up for a happy ending that's a foregone conclusion (but without any story preceding it to make the HEA worthwhile). Strange.

[Coyora Dokusho]

I liked this one the most out of the first five. There were a lot of funnies as well as cool stuff. There was even somewhat of a plot!

[Anne]

This was pretty funny here and there. I enjoyed the story. Great for light reading.

[Ample]

I don’t really read alien romances but gave this a go because it was recommended. The writing is very rough and it made everything difficult to follow. I couldn’t understand the plot at all and didn’t care about any of the characters in this book

[Brittney Bower]

Really a 2 1\2 stars rating.

[Miku]

I love the story of this one out of the five series mostly because of Amy she was in the whole series from the very beginning and was really curious about her. Not only that I was very impressed with her accomplishment and her standing among the Alliance.
The only down point to it was the beginning of the story with the hero. I was not impress with him but I do think the two of them belong. I seriously like Amy and how she handled the situation really worth it.

[Gena]

It should have been better than what it turned out to be. Tyrell was interesting from the previous books but she does nothing but shop and lust after the hero. Ugg, she was so much better than that.

[Loata93]

3.5 I liked the idea behind the story but it was pretty short wish it had been a bit longer.

[Cc]

Absolutely one of my faves by VG. Read many times.

[Krig1m]

I love the books by Viola Grace...this book was great..