Unchained

Unchained
by C.J. Barry
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review:
I was getting bored with contemporary and historical romances, but I didn't really want to veer over to vampires and shapeshifters. When I saw this one free for Kindle, I knew I'd have to read it again to see if it was as good as I remember (I already have the paperback). Sometimes you just need a good space-opera.

This one didn't disappoint. It's raw and gritty and sometimes violent. You jump around perspectives pretty often, but it never felt confusing. The violence was suspenseful and I didn't really want to turn off the light as I was reading it, but it wasn't so graphic that you have nightmares or something. This is an adventure that centers around a romance, but it's about so much more than just these two characters.

The world-building is complete, but not overwhelming. We don't get information dumps, everything just organically flows together and it's easy to grasp where each element fits together. It has a bit of a Star Wars feel to it, using some standard space travel words like hyperspace and Servo-Unit, but it felt original and fresh.

These characters don't have trouble caring about each other. Cidra and Grey have real reasons for their hesitation to get involved, but it's not because they just can't emotionally connect. They have a huge emotion connection that is incredible and they see early on that they're soul mates. I had almost forgotten how much I love these sweeping adventure-romances that are nearly ethereal. I love stories where the characters have an almost psychic intuition and things just mean more in that world.

One of the best things about this book is the friendships behind it. Although the villain is all bad, every character associated with Cidra and Grey are three dimensional and a huge part of the story. Cidra kicks butt and is an awesome heroine, but she can't win this alone. Each of her friends, and Grey too, have a pivotal role to play in this story and I believe they each understood that they had no way of getting through without everyone playing their part.

I believe this is the first in a series of interconnected books, although I can't remember if these characters make appearances later or if the world itself is the connection. I think I'll have to go through and re-read the rest of the series just because this one was so good. Also, C.J. Barry's newest book, Redemption, was just released and I had to start that one immediately after I finished this one because I like her writing so much.