Rebels and Lovers [Mass Market Paperback]

Rebels and Lovers is book four in Linnea's Dock Five Universe series. Devin Guthrie is the youngest brother of the very respected and powerful Guthrie clan. His oldest brother, Philip, who's an admiral and the newest commander of the rebel forced of the Alliance is now somewhat of a black spot on the Guthrie name. Devin is the complete opposite of Philip. He spends his days surrounded by a glass-walled office working at his family's corporation, the Guthrie Global System's financial headquarters. There's a great deal of pressure for Devin, not only being a part of the oldest, wealthiest and most established families in the Empire, but his father, "the indomitable Jonathon Macy, known better as J.M." wants Devin to settle down and get married. He's disappointed in Devin because at thirty-five he's still single, unlike his two other brothers, Ethan and Jonathon. Devin is dating Tavia Emberson, who J.M. finds very suitable as Devin's future wife. Tavia comes from money and is everything beautiful and much a society darling, but Devin doesn't really feel anything for her. The problem is he's never gotten over Makaiden Griggs, who along with her husband Kiler, used to be a captains for one of their private ships. He and Makaiden grew close, but never overstepped those boundaries, although Devin longed to. He respected Makaiden's marriage and unfortunately lost contact with her when she and her husband were fired from the Guthrie employ. Devin knows he has to get over his long time crush even if it means marrying a woman he doesn't love. But before he can move on with the engagement plans, his college age nephew Trip has gone missing and his bodyguard murdered.

The family thinks Trip has been kidnapped. Devin doesn't think so and regardless of his father threatening him to stay and not search for Trip he and his family's chief steward, Barthol will find Trip before he's harmed. Devin believes his nephew has gone to Dock Five, a well known unsavory outpost, to find out information about Philip. Finding Trip on Dock Five will be like looking through a needle in a haystack But as Devin searches for Trip, he meets up with the least likely person, the woman of his heart, Kaidee Griggs.

Kaidee is stuck on Dock Five. She has less than a week to hand over a large amount of money to a very dangerous man all because her deceased husband became involved in some underhanded deals. There's no way Kaidee can come up it, especially with the Empire's restrictions on trade. And the last result maybe her handing over the only thing of value she owns, her ship the Rider. She can slink away and hide for a few more months until she can raise the cash but that's close to impossible, unless the restrictions are lifted. As Kaidee tries to come up with an answer to her problem, she spots Trip and saves him from a nasty looking individual she nicknames Fizz-face. Devin and Barthol are able to track Trip and that's when they meet up with Kaidee. All four hide out, trying to figure out a way to get off of Dock Five before they end up dead. Devin is more than happy to reconnect with Kaidee even as danger surrounds them. Devin comes up with a plan Kaidee is forced into and goes along for the ride so to speak.

As intergalactic bad guys are on their trail, Devin wants to help Kaidee and a shoulder to lean on, as well as something much more. Now that she's a widow, Devin believes he has a chance with her. Kaidee thinks there can never be anything more between them because he's a Guthrie and she's nobody, a daughter of an illegal smuggler. But Devin doesn't think that and will tap into his very underused romancing skills to show Kaidee that she's been the only woman for him and no other.

Rebels and Lovers has this awesome Star Wars type feeling to it where there are great fight scenes, horrible villains and a wonderful and touching romance between Devin and Kaidee that delvers in so many ways. The romance is a bit more primary here than over the past few books because Kaidee is always on Devin's thoughts, and not because he just wants to have sex with her. He's fallen hard for Kaidee, who he'll only call by Makaiden because he finds her full name to be beautiful, just like the rest of her. Kaidee tries to keep him at arms' length, but Devin is at the point where he's sick and tired of following the herd and doing what he's told. He wants Kaidee and no longer will be denied. And when he claims her for his own, the fireworks between them are intense and emotional.

Linnea is so skilled at making the down time between these characters interesting even if there isn't much action going on. The dialogue is great and you feel as if you are right in the middle of it. You will have no idea who the killer is causing the Guthrie family grief until the very end, and that will come as a shock, especially considering one specific act that will rock the Guthrie clan to their knees.

Linnea Sinclair has delivered yet again with Rebels and Lovers. She's master storyteller who writes the best in science fiction romance.

Katiebabs

This is the fourth book in the "Dock Five" series of science fiction romances which currently consists of

1) Gabriel's Ghost
2) Shades of Dark
3) Hope's Folly
4) This book, Rebels and Lovers

At the start of the series Imperial navy captain Captain Chasidah Bergren, court-martialled and convicted of a crime of which she was innocent, had been sentenced to a hellish prison planet as a result of the corruption at the heart of the imperial regime. In the first two books of the series, Gabriel Sullivan, a smuggler she had frequently crossed swords with, but believed to be dead, showed up and offers to rescue her - if she would help him deal with a dangerous conspiracy.

Before she knows it, Chasidah has helped him steal the ship she used to command, persuaded her ex-husband Captain Philip Guthrie not to blow it out of space, and is haring off through the galaxy with Sullivan and a blind telepathic alien, trying to defeat a devilish plot. Before long the corrupt Empire which she served is breaking up ...

The hero of the third book of the series was none other than the ex-husband of the heroine of the first two books, Philip Guthrie, who had become an Admiral but then joined the rebels. (I think this is the first time I've ever known a romance author to take the risk of making the ex for a sympathetic character in one book into the hero or heroine of another book in the same series, but Linnea Sinclair did get away with it.)

The hero of this fourth book is Philip Guthrie's younger brother Devin. The Guthrie family are immensely rich and powerful through their family business, Guthrie Global Systems. But Philip's defection to the Alliance of Independent Systems has made the head of the family nervous of their position within the Empire. As the rest of the Guthrie family are trying to force Devin to make a dynastic marriage to a girl from another powerful corporate family, his teenage nephew Trip disappears, possibly having been kidnapped, and Trip's bodyguard is found murdered.

Have imperial security targetted the Guthrie family - or is something else going on?

Devin finds himself in a desperate race against dangerous opponents to find and rescue his nephew in a dangerous area of space, including the infamous Dock Five. And mixed up in his rescue attempt is an old friend and former Guthrie employee, Captan Makaiden (Kaidee) Griggs.

Devin has held a torch for Kaidee for a long time, but when last he knew her she seemed to be happily married, and anyway, an independent freighter pilot is hardly the kind of woman his wealthy family of dynasts would want him to marry. But the more time he spends with her the less this seems to matter ...


A light-hearted romance set in space, this book won't appear on many lists of the most brilliant works of science fiction ever written. I have a sense that, in returning to this universe, Linnea Sinclair has to some extent gone back to her comfort zone of witty and entertaining but bog-standard space opera romances after a couple of really imaginative and unusual works, Games of Command (Bantam Spectra Book) and The Down Home Zombie Blues.

None of the "Dock Five" series are quite up to the standard of those two books, but I did enjoy them.

Other books by Linnea Sinclair which I can recommend include

An Accidental Goddess (Bantam Spectra)
Finders Keepers

This latest entry into the Gabriel's Ghost universe doesn't even feel like it was written by the same author. The writing style just doesn't feel the same. Slow to the point of tedium, populated by terminally uninteresting characters who have no real spark between them, it read like a poor rendition of Dallas or Dynasty. The characters also felt like soulless retreads of previous Sinclair characters.

I wound up not finishing this one, which is too bad because Gabriel's Ghost and Hope's Folly are two of my favorite space operas.

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