Star Cruise: Marooned

A Sectors SF Romance, Book 4

By: Veronica Scott

Narrated by: Michael Riffle

Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Meg Antille works long hours on the charter cruise ship Far Horizon so she can send credits home to her family. Working hard to earn a promotion to a better post (and better pay), Meg has no time for romance.

Former Special Forces soldier Red Thomsill only took the berth on the Far Horizon in hopes of getting to know Meg better, but so far, she's kept him at a polite distance. A scheduled stopover on the idyllic beach of a nature preserve planet may be his last chance to impress the girl.

But when one of the passengers is attacked by a wild animal, it becomes clear that conditions on the lushly forested Dantaralon aren't as advertised - the ranger station is deserted, the defensive perimeter is down...and then the Far Horizon's shuttle abruptly leaves without any of them.

Marooned on the dangerous outback world, romance is the least of their concerns, and yet Meg and Red cannot help being drawn to each other once they see how well they work together. But can they survive long enough to see their romance through? Or will the wild alien planet defeat them, ending their romance and their lives before anything can really begin?

©2015 Jean D Walker (P)2016 Jean D Walker

will delight romance lovers

Part of the crew and passengers on a shuttle are suddenly marooned on Dantaralon, a planet where most of the wildlife is poisonous. They were offered an exotic vacation but they are abandoned on a world with multiple life-threatening dangers.

This is the second book by Veronica Scott I read, and in this case I felt that the science fiction setting was more of an excuse than anything else. In fact, the whole story could have been about a ship abandoned on a deserted island and attacked by pirates. There was adventure, there was romance, but I missed the science fiction that I was looking for.

The story started slow and took a lot to build up, just to suddenly end. The book is just under five hours, and I felt that it missed a one or two hours to have a polished end. Not that I wanted the book to be longer, but somehow it felt unbalanced.

The main characters are flight attendant Meg and former Special Forces soldier Red. The secondary characters were flat, and I even missed some development on Meg and Red. We get a bit of their background but just as side notes to the story. The dialogs felt artificial, like the love story in this book. It could be just me, but sudden romances and forever love promises born out of a dare situation are just not realistic, just like the love and sex scenes described in this book. I will not get into details, but believe me, in real life it never happens like this.

Something that makes me cringe is all the damsel in distress thing going on in these books. True that Meg is quite auto-sufficient, but her values are presented in contrast with the ones of the other main female character, presented as the typical damsel in distress, always making mistakes and being generally weak. Red will try to save the women in this book, especially this character that needs to be protected at all costs because she is quite useless. I would have not expected this from a female writer on this century. Meg is very capable, but again, I do not like the idea of using a weak female character to make others shine.

Michel Riffle did a decent job narrating the story, but it took me by surprise that Meg was interpreted by a Mary Fegreus. It could have been okay, but it was just confusing that this was done with just one of the female characters. True that the other women did not have many lines, but this just felt a bit weird. Also, this female narrator interpretation was quite flat, and her speed higher than Riffle, which sounded artificial.

It was an entertaining read that will delight romance lovers. If you are a science fiction reader, this book may not be enough for you.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Adventure!

If your looking for adventure than this is the book for you. It has some nice actions scenes and will they make it moments. Not much in romance but some.

Honestly, kind of good and kind of bad....

The world building and tension is really tight and well-done, although the dialogue is like eating oatmeal when you’re in need of a steak, particularly between the male and female leads. Real blah.
I didn’t have a clue the girl was remotely attracted to the hero. That’s supposed to be a high point in a romance, isn’t it? There was nothing. Not a clue.
Michael Riffle as narrator was good. But his counterpart had no expression in her voice at all. Really, she sounded the same whether being chased by alien spiders or held in the arms of her lover. What was up with that? Couldn’t someone have coached her?
The story’s got some exciting circumstances and it’s a short listen, so I was okay with it. I give it a three because of that and because of Michael Riffle.

Poor Female Narration

If they had gone with a different female narrator it would have been MUCH better. Unfortunately, she’s so robotic that it really takes away from the story. 😢

Page turner with a Star Trek vibe

The narration was interesting as the two actors not only narrated their character's point of view sections but also their respective dialogue. I would have liked to spend a little more time in Meg's head, but overall this is an imaginative, Star Trek vibe page turner that had me listening in my driveway...not wanting to turn off the book until I found out what happened next.

none

love it
enjoyed the author can't wait for more of her books
love the whole story
and action

Kept me hooked, from start to finish.

If you could sum up Star Cruise: Marooned in three words, what would they be?

Author Knows Passengers!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Star Cruise: Marooned?

Passenger threatening to sue to the cruise line. I wanted to laugh out loud, so hard, I think I've been on a cruise with that passenger.

Which character – as performed by Michael Riffle – was your favorite?

I can't pick one character to call my favorite, Meg and Red had such great interactions, and kept their cool in every situation, if I were ever on a cruise like that, I'd want them to be my crew.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed, I fretted for our characters... and I thought a few got exactly what was coming to them, can you say Karma?

And again nope.

This is the second book I tried from Veronica Scott. I'm so disappointed as I was really looking forward to it. but again the female narrator. Jesus, find someone with some talent.