A few weeks ago, I read a scifi romance that I loved so much, I invited the author to make a stop on my blog. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I have not read any of the other books in the Beyond Fairytales series, but this cover and the description drew me in… and the story itself did not leave me wanting. Gemini has a very well-crafted world–the specifics unfold seamlessly. I love that feeling of settling into a world where everything FITS. When I don’t have to work to follow the various life forms and ships and planets, when the author is just in it and the story feels as real as modern day real life, I get sucked in–don’t you love that? The main characters and the supporting cast are well developed, down to the smallest detail, including the delightful balance of the nyx and fahir species and their roles in the story (don’t want to give too much away!) There was no suspension of disbelief required here–I was with the book from page one and never lost focus or interest. There were some really tender surprises, too (I love when the bad guys aren’t just one dimensional bad guys…) A believable romance, complex characters, and a compelling and yet very real world that keep me glued to the pages.
Catherine Peace tells us a little about her book, Gemini. Take a peek and check out her social media links below!
Gemini started as part of an experimental line from Decadent Publishing called Beyond Fairytales. The idea was that interested authors were assigned a fairytale at random, and the author then had to spin the fairytale into a romance. Super fun idea for sure.
Then I got my fairytale:
A little brother and little sister were playing by a well, and while they were playing there they both fell in. A water nixie was down there. She said, “Now I have you. Now you will have to work diligently for me,” and she led them away with her.
She gave the girl tangled dirty flax to spin, and she had to fill a bottomless barrel with water. The boy had to chop down a tree with a dull ax, and all they got to eat were dumplings as hard as rocks.
Finally the children became so impatient, that they waited until one Sunday when the nixie was at church, and then ran away. When church was over, the nixie saw that the birds had flown away, and she followed them with long strides.
The children saw her from afar, and the girl threw a brush behind her, which turned into a large brush-mountain with thousands and thousands of spikes, which the nixie had to climb over with great difficulty, but she finally got to the other side.
When the children saw this the boy threw a comb behind him, which turned into a large comb-mountain with a thousand times a thousand teeth, but the nixie was able to keep hold of them, and finally got to the other side.
Then the girl threw a mirror behind her, which turned into a glass mountain, which was so slippery, so slippery that it was impossible for the nixie to climb over it.
Then she thought, “I will quickly go home and get my ax and chop the glass mountain in two.”
However, by the time she returned and had chopped up the glass mountain, the children were far away and had escaped, so the water nixie had to trudge back to her well.
Um, well, okay then. Can’t write a romance about siblings; this isn’t Flowers in the Attic after all. I knew I wanted a POV for each sibling, so I thought I could do a sort of half-and-half, where one half of the book was the sister’s story and the other half was the brother’s, and then it came together in the end. But once I got to a certain point in Shadi’s story, I realized that there was waaaay more plot than I thought.
So now there are four planned books. *grin*
About Gemini:
Being one of the Embassy’s glorified treasure-seekers has its perks…
Komandan Uriah Jacobs recovers ancient artifacts in exchange for more than just decent pay; he also receives guaranteed protection from his former owners, the nyx…until an emergency landing on a too-familiar colony brings him face-to-face with his past life and something more—a surprisingly priceless treasure in the form of a human woman.
A slave to the nyx since childhood…
Shadi spends her waking hours in the forge, dreaming of rescuing her brother with the help of a man she once worshipped like a father. A crashed ship on the colony becomes her only hope to escape. But before she can steal the ship, the pilot abducts her. They may be the same species, but will he help her find her Shilah?
Their attraction is undeniable…
Fighting it seems inconsequential as they evade the nyx’s bounty hunter and uncover a conspiracy that shines unwanted light on Shadi’s past and reveals the corruption in Uri’s beloved Embassy, placing their fledgling love in danger.
As the universe systematically falls apart, will Shadi and Uri’s newfound passion be enough to keep them alive?
Buy links
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Author bio
Catherine Peace has been telling stories for as long as she could remember. She often blames two things for her forays into speculative fiction—Syfy (when it was SciFi) channel Sundays with her dad and The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells. She graduated in 2008 from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in English and is still chasing the dream of being super rich and famous, mostly so she can sit around in her PJs all day and write stories. When not being a slave to the people in her head, she’s a slave to two adorable dogs.
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Annie Anthony 
Thank you for hosting me! So glad you loved the book! ❤