Close Liaisons

The Krinar Chronicles, Volume 1

By: Anna Zaires, Dima Zales

Narrated by: Kathleen Godwin

Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A dark and edgy romance that will appeal to fans of erotic and turbulent relationships....

In the near future, the Krinar rule the Earth. An advanced race from another galaxy, they are still a mystery to us - and we are completely at their mercy.

Shy and innocent, Mia Stalis is a college student in New York City who has led a very normal life. Like most people, she's never had any interactions with the invaders - until one fateful day in the park changes everything. Having caught Korum's eye, she must now contend with a powerful, dangerously seductive Krinar who wants to possess her and will stop at nothing to make her his own.

How far would you go to regain your freedom? How much would you sacrifice to help your people? What choice will you make when you begin to fall for your enemy?

WARNING: This book contains strong sexual content and explicit language and is not suitable for listeners under 18.

©2013 Anna Zaires (P)2013 Anna Zaires

Critic reviews

"If you're looking for some sexy summer reads, you'll want to check out the new book series, Krinar Chronicles. Author Anna Zaires brings you a kind of 50 Shades of Grey meets Star Trek tale...." (Marie Claire)

"For diehard fans of the paranormal romance genre, author Anna Zaires's risqué new book could be your next guilty pleasure. Zaires's most recent read, Close Liaisons, combines a love story with science fiction in the tale of Mia, an unassuming college student whose life gets suddenly entangled in a dangerous, otherworldly affair." (Woman's Day)

I want to like it but….

“You silly twit,” she said to herself, and I agreed. I think I like the concept of this book in general, but like many have mentioned, the relationship dynamics were sometimes hard to hear. The male character being so controlling and domineering had me thinking of borderline domestic abuse at times. When you have to cook dinner to put your man in a good mood to tell him what your grown self is going to do with your own life, there’s a problem. I mean, you can’t even just go see your family by yourself without an issue? Come on now. You haven’t even been together that long.
The rest of the story is okay. There is plenty of sex for those who like the steaminess. I understand what other reviewers mean though, that the good sex seems to be their main connection.
I listened to this series years ago and decided to give it another try, to see if I would feel the same way listening to it years later. I do. 😝

It was just ok

Where does Close Liaisons rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I won't be reading any of the others in this series I am sure. Not really into it at all.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Close Liaisons?

I just didn't like how possessive he was.

Have you listened to any of Kathleen Godwin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Nope, took a while to get through

I love the story and the narrator, Kathleen Godwin

What did you love best about Close Liaisons?

I love that the author took the time to research and write about high tech, science, history and added a poetic feel to every single paragraph. The authors of this book are amazing, they brought romance and science fiction to life. They made a science fiction/fantasy story seems so real!

Who was your favorite character and why?

The first chapter is my favorite because it's the first time we see Korum.

Which scene was your favorite?

The rain scene is very cute.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I can listen to this book in one setting because it's so exciting.

Any additional comments?

The narrator is amazing. She makes the story to fun, sexy and interesting. She can switch from Mia to Korum's with such natural tone. She is the world's best narrator in my opinion. Her voice is perfect in every single possible way. I wish Apple hired her to record Siri's voice!

Great story, so-so performance

Mia Stalis is an ordinary college senior at NYU when her life is forever changed after an encounter in the park. Earth has been taken over by the Krinar, a race of humanoid aliens who for the most part leave humans alone. However, when Korum, a powerful K (as the Krinar are called), sees Mia in the park, he decides he must have her.

As a general rule, I don't ordinarily read science fiction. Paranormal I like, but this isn't my usual preferred genre. That being said, the science fiction elements in this book are great. The world building is fascinating, and I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed these aspects of the story. There are suspenseful elements related to the science fiction, and the book ends on a bit of a cliff hanger.

Of course, the main focus of the book is the relationship between Mia and Korum. I use the term 'relationship' loosely, I feel that 'dictatorship' more accurately describes their interactions. There is a fine line between Alpha Male and a$$hole, and unfortunately, Korum crosses over to the a$$hole side much more than the Alpha side. Mia is given no choice in this situation. Korum wants her and what he wants, he gets. Mia goes along with this, for the most part, with very little protest (any protests she makes are entirely ineffective), mainly because of the intense sexual chemistry the two share. The sex scenes are quite steamy and for mature audiences only. The author uses some clinical terms for body parts, which is a bit jarring, but still, the scenes are good. One in particular - SPOILER ALERT - the scene in which Mia loses her virginity, is very detailed and gut wrenching, and listening to it really brings that point home.

Since the story is so good, the deficiencies in the performance seem all the more glaring. The reader has a breathy style, which I didn't particularly care for, and her dialogue readings didn't have the right inflections. She makes Korum sound like a robot most of the time and since the author made the point that he speaks perfect, unaccented English, that didn't sound right to me. This is especially glaring when he says her name. She has him pronounce it as "Meeeeee-ya" instead of "Mia." Also, the interactions between Mia and her peers sound a bit off as well, especially in the first part of the book. This does improve a bit toward the latter part of the reading, maybe because the reader was getting a better sense of the characters.

I definitely recommend this title based on the story alone. It is so good that the performance aspects can be overlooked. I also highly recommend the second title in this series, Close Obsession, although it isn't available as an audio book. I purchased it as soon as I finished Close Liaisons because I was dying to know what happened next!

Kind of Creepy

Any additional comments?

Interesting world and technology. The male lead is a total creeper one minute (obsessively controlling) and then completely solicitous the next (cooking and cleaning). It was ok and maybe I will pick up the next two, there is not all that much out there in alien romance fiction. More sophisticated/serious than Johanna Lindsey's Deep space/ Ly-san-ter series and certainly less misogynistic than Laurann Dohner's Zorn or Cyborg. I don't ever see myself re-listening to this.

Sexy alien sex! (but bad reader -- sigh.)

I had just finished my 2nd reading of "the Host," and was looking for another alien-type book, when I found this on Amazon. I read it and it was promising, but then I read the 2nd book in the series and that was great! In fact, book 2 makes book 1 even better! So when I saw the first one here on Audible, I bought it with the discount.

Unfortunately, the reader is awful - she sounds like she's reading to 3rd graders. And her voice is too old for the main character, so as a listen, it was a disappointment. (It was so much sexier in my mind, and kind of BDSM sinister, which didn't come across in the audio version at all.)

I recommend reading this series instead, especially since book 2 is available at Amazon now, and you can always buy the Audible version at a discount later.

Embodiment of Love/Hate

I struggled not to like this book. I mean, like, I really didn't want to like it. Mia originally seemed like such a weak character that it took me until about halfway through the damn story to get that she wasn't the typical romantic heroine - she was a realistic one. She finds herself in situations that are totally out of her depth and instead of rushing headlong into things she asks questions and tries to make the right decision not based on how she feels alone but on the actual information presented to her. She doesn't just roll with the situation, and it's that push back that made the book so hard to get through and ultimately great.

Loved and it did have a good political lesson.

If you could sum up Close Liaisons in three words, what would they be?

Great love story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Close Liaisons?

Only the rich have the option to eat the food that is denied to the masses. This is what would happen if the government got complete control. They would have the very things denied to us, or at least the rich elite would. In this particular story it was a certain kind of food source the Krinar could afford that most humans could not. If the author was trying to make a statement about animal food sources and its effect upon the environment, she did, but she also proved what would happen if the govt. stepped in to stop the access to animal food sources. We would starve while the elite would feast with cute little 20 year girls.

Which character – as performed by Kathleen Godwin – was your favorite?

Liked them all.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for that.

Any additional comments?

Interesting story idea.

Great plot and characters...bad sex scenes

I almost quit listening to this book part way through because the sex scenes were redundant and so unrealistic it was difficult for me to get into the story (I do love a good erotic novel, but didn't find it in this book). But I persevered, and found myself really enjoying the character development and the plot. The characters, unlike the sex scenes, were believable and as realistic as you can get in science fiction. It hooked me enough to download the sequel.

Close Liaisons

Loved the book Audible brought it to life. I like Sufi This book was not what I thought but I loved it and Audble brought to life and made it so much better