Title: Defender
Author: Anna Hackett
Series: Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone #2
Pages: 246
Astrophysicist Dr. Jayna Lennox’s life imploded when her ship was attacked by alien slavers. After months of captivity she is freed by the House of Rone. But she has spent so much time hiding in her mind that she isn’t coping with the new changes well. The only person who seems to help is the grumpy cyborg Mace.
“Healing is rarely clean and tidy. It’ll be messy and hard, but keep trying and you’ll get there.”
Jayna is beaten down but not broken. She struggles to overcome the trauma of being a slave and experimented on. Mace is the one person who isn’t babying her or treating her as broken. He helps her realize she will never be the same person she was before being kidnapped but you take it day by day until you are better. I really loved how caring Mace was. He may push her but he realizes it’s the only way she will get past her fear. Mace is just a big grumpy cyborg who has been hiding a squishy heart. I really liked him.
As with all books in this series, this was nonstop action and romance. The Edull are a fascinating and terrible alien species. Hackett always does an amazing job at creating fascinating and disturbing villains in her books.
Overall, this was a great addition to the series and I can’t wait to jump into the next book. I love reading about these emotionless cyborgs fall in love.
Previous books in the series:
Red-Haired Ash Reads 