I really liked this story. The world building could have been better but overall it kept my intertest. So much that I am looking foward to the brother's story. ( )

When I picked this up a few days ago, the blurb kind of gave me some pause. I was thinking I didn't want to read about some mission, I wanted us to get to the good stuff right away. And I was not disappointed. Cyani is getting ready to pull out of enemy territory when her scout fox, Vicca, locates another humanoid life form. Bound and determined to rescue this person, Cyani sends her teammates on back to the ship while she goes back inside the alien prison type warehouse place (yes, this is exactly what its called) and rescues the slave her fox found. She is appalled when she finds him - he's chained and blinded and maybe drugged, so Cyani calms him before she can rescue him, because she does not need this massive man fighting her while she's trying to save him.

So she cuts him loose but not in time, her ship has taken off and her and Soren, the slave, have to stick around the goddess forsaken planet until her team can come back and rescue, which could take 3 weeks. But Cyani is no helpless miss and with Soren to bounce ideas off of, she gets them off that planet in no time. Unfortunately, the ship she hijacked doesn't have enough fuel for a safe landing so she kind of crashes on a different planet and she's worried about getting a signal out for someone to come find them. While she's waiting for her people, she gets to know the locals and her and Soren continue to bond.

Now I've only focused on things from Cyani's point of view so far - and I'm not quite done with her.

But first let's move onto Soren. Soren was captured on his planet because of his man juice, which is highly sought after on the shadow market. His race produces some hormone and he's been sucked dry by his alien captors for a looong time. For him to produce the hormone, he was pumped up with drugs and his system, now that he's been rescued, is so screwed up that he's going to die unless he gets some more of those drugs. Unless he can convince Cyani to get his blood flowing to get his body to create those drugs itself, if you know what I mean.

But Cyani belongs to the Elite warriors from the planet Azra, which is a celibate sisterhood, and she's been trained to avoid touch at all costs. So Soren, who has some very physical needs, is SOL. But when Cyani and Soren were stuck on that planet after she rescued him, she came to rely on him and he came to trust her. They started to bond and so Cyani got used to Soren and his touch.

And now that they're on a peaceful planet, Cyani and Soren have a bit of time to explore their growing bond. Only Cyani is scared shitless by it and kind of denies denies denies. And then help comes. So Cyani has to decide, return to her planet or stay with Soren (and she doesn't that if she leaves Soren, he'll die).

All right. I loved the first half of this book. The world building was awesome, Cyani was this super cool kick ass chick that didn't need anybody and Soren was this really cool guy who had some pretty nifty tricks up his sleeve.

But the second half of the book annoyed me and it was all Cyani's fault. She was so self-sacrificing it got on my nerves. I think I counted her making a dumb move 3 or 4 times. I don't want to say exactly how, but she makes the wrong decision over and over. She keeps putting other people ahead of herself and so hurts Soren who loves her. It's hard to explain without giving it away - but Soren almost dies because she's thinking of her entire planet as needing her. So yeah, it grew from her brother to her planet...and she never really questioned how things were...she played along into the 'villains' plans very neatly. Like Soren said, what she had wasn't freedom.

Now despite that, I thought this book was enjoyable. I'm giving Beyond the Rain 3 stars. And I'm definitely interested in book 2 of this series. ( )

I don't often like futuristic stories, but this one was very engaging. It dragged a bit toward the beginning (I'd say after the first few chapters) but then it picked up again and I was totally sucked in.

Toward the end I started to get frustrated with the heroine and her overblown sense of duty, but Granger really turned it around for me. Overall I was very impressed with the characters and the world-building. ( )

Is it acceptable to say that a book in the cross-genre of “romance science fiction” is adorable? How about: it’s a pure feast of m&m’s? Yeah, it’s junk food, but from time to time, it meets the need. …

Basically you have a gorgeous female warrior I-Don’t-Need-Anyone type, Cyani, who falls for a strong yet sensitive and gorgeous man, Soren. Okay, they’re from other planets, and they’re a tad different from humans. Otherwise, it’s the same old plot that apparently will travel around the universe for millennia. But the author doesn’t see a need to get our eyes rolling with references to alabaster breasts or throbbing members. Moreover, the protagonists both love animals and children, and go out of their way to protect them. In fact, a third character is the “dog-cat” Vicca, a sort of fox that serves as Cyani’s trained scout. Brave, loyal, loving, and playful, she is the perfect companion for the also brave, loyal, loving, and playful Cyani and Soren.

But it gets even more touchy-feely, and I don’t mean in the sexual way, although that enters into the picture as well. Cyani defends a mother leopard against two men who want to kill her and orphan her cubs. Soren (the guy) loves flowers and butterflies. Another male character who is a space pirate keeps diapers in his spaceship in case anyone brings babies on board. And how about this: Cyani views having sex as a source of power, rather than submission.

But here is the pièce de résistance: as exciting as the physical stuff gets, this is how you know the author is a female: "But his touch was nothing compared to his words. They entrenched themselves deep in her battered heart.”

And all of this is just presented as part of the story, as normal, if you will, even though it’s as alien to my reading experience as any of the extraterrestrial descriptions.

The sex angle is clever. As it happens, Soren is a member of the Byra race, called Byralen. This race emits sexual pheromones so potent that other races try to capture Byralen, chain them up, and extract their sexual fluids to use as aphrodisiacs. But these chemical compounds are also what keep the Byralen alive. And once they bond with another, their pheromone production gets particularized, so that they will die if the object of their love is removed. Thus, the Byralen are programmed not only to be hot, hot, hot, but to be loving as well … obviously a combo only possible in an alien race.

My only complaint? The very, very end was a little over the top. But really, if you’re looking for m&m-reading with features like a cuddly cat-dog and men who nurture babies, look no farther!

Rating: 3.5/5 ( )

Disappointing. Could have been so much better but the characters never really came to life for me. I like this kind of fantasy, I like the blend of futuristic soap opera and erotica, and I liked the situations they found themselves in. It was Cyani and Soren who didn't work for me. I guess the writing never really lifted it above cliché, and that was a pity. There were some really good ideas there, but they never really sparked.

Cyani is some kind of warrior priestess, Soren is an alien of unknown abilities. Cyani meets and rescues Soren and then the two of them have to escape the evil empire. ( )