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Thursday, June 21, 2018

#NewRelease Jadrian: A Badari Warriors SciFi Romance by Veronica Scott & Review


I'm so happy to welcome Veronica Scott back to my blog, especially when she has a new release. I'm fascinated by this new series featuring genetically-engineered warriors. I read the first two and couldn't wait until Jadrian came out. Veronica's books are an automatic one-click for me. At the end of Veronica's post, see my review of Jadrian.

JADRIAN: A BADARI WARRIORS SCIFI ROMANCE (SECTORS NEW ALLIES SERIES BOOK 3)
By Veronica Scott

Thanks for having me as your guest today!

I’d never written an actual, sequential series with an overarching plot arc before but late last year I decided to give it a try. I’ve written any number of scifi romance novels that are loosely connected by virtue of occurring within my Sectors civilization of the future, but this is the first time I’ve deliberately set out to tell the bigger story as well as individual romances in each book.

I’m enjoying the process and I hope the readers are having fun along with me.

I’m not ordinarily a person who does outlines or any detailed planning, which works fine for standalone books. I usually know who the hero and heroine are, the opening scene, the final scene and one or two major scenes along the way. The rest comes to me as I write the book. But if I was going to write a series, I had to make sure each novel advanced the big arc as well, so I had to do a certain amount of advanced planning. Not so much that my Muse would rebel and quit! (I’m very superstitious about my Muse.)

I originally was a bit timid about the planning, mostly in case my readers didn’t like the series as much as I hoped, and I thought it might go three books. Ha! Once I got into telling stories about my genetically engineered warriors, the alien scientists who created them, the kidnapped human colonists and especially the human women who have the potential to become mates for the Badari, I didn’t want to stop. Luckily I’m getting great feedback and people seem to be enjoying the books and the Badari. So now JADRIAN is book #3, I’m working on three more books (!) and none of them are the final volume. And of course I have more ideas for novels. I do have the end game in mind and know roughly how the last novel will go. Of course nothing but Happy Ever After, because this is romance!

Even when I do write the last book in the basic series, I can always write more books with my Badari warriors.


The blurb:  Taura Dancer has been pushed to her limits by alien torturers known as the Khagrish and is ready to die when suddenly the lab where she’s held as a prisoner is taken down by an armed force of soldiers.

The man who rescues her from a burning cell block is Jadrian of the Badari, a genetically engineered alien warrior with as many reasons to hate the Khagrish as Taura has. This set of shared past experiences and the circumstances of her rescue create an unusual bond between them.
Safe in the hidden base where Jadrian and his pack take her, Taura struggles to regain her lost memories and overcome constant flashbacks during which she lashes out at all who come near. Only Jadrian can recall her from the abyss of her visions and hallucinations.

As the war against the Khagrish continues, it becomes increasingly critical to find out who she really is and how she can help in the fight. Until she can control her terrors and trust her own impulses, Taura’s too afraid to pursue the promise of happiness a life with Jadrian as her mate might offer.
When he’s captured by the dreaded enemy, will she step forward to help save him, or will she remain a prisoner of her past?

This is the third book in a new scifi romance series and each novel has a satisfying Happy for Now ending for the hero and heroine, not a cliffhanger. Some overarching issues do remain unresolved in each book since this is an ongoing series but romance always wins the day in my novels!

The excerpt, in which Jadrian gives Taura an explanation of the place she’s found herself:

“The enemy doesn’t seem to suspect we might be hiding out here (in the sanctuary valley). The Khagrish aren’t on the planet to colonize, only to conduct their perverted version of ‘science’  on a location where their home world won’t be polluted. So they’ve no reason to explore, fortunately. We patrol the surrounding terrain as thoroughly as we can on foot with our small forces.”

“I can see I’ll have a ton of questions once I feel better.” She sank into her chair gratefully. Her legs trembled, and her vertigo was beginning to worsen. The implications of various things he’d said whirled through her mind, as if she was trying to catalog the information according to some taxonomy from her previous, unremembered life. Anxiety mounted inside her as her pulse raced in time with her thoughts. “We’d better keep it simple for now, soldier. Are all of the people here escapees from the Khagrish labs?”

“Yes, a hundred or more humans, and the members of the two Badari packs. We find more people to rescue all the time.” He smiled at her.

“And I’m grateful, believe me. Has anything been heard from the Sectors?”
He shook his head. “We don’t know where we are in relation to your Sectors, and we have no spaceship. For now the resistance amounts to us, here on our own. Have you gotten any memories back? Are you from the Amarcae colony, like Dr. Garrison was?”

She kept her gaze on the lake in the distance, wishing he wouldn’t ask questions. Not knowing the answers unsettled her and fear of learning things she wouldn’t like worried her even more. Tapping her forehead with her index finger, she said, “A clean slate. I remember the basics of life, reading, writing, how to use a fork, but nothing about myself or my past. Just a big blank wall.”

“And the situation scares you?”

His gentle question was more perceptive than she’d expected from this big buff warrior, and Taura looked at him more closely.

Jadrian put his hand over hers on the arm of the chair. “Whatever’s there, locked in your mind, has no power to hurt you,” he said. “I expect you’ll remember eventually; especially if you let it happen naturally, don’t push yourself. In the meantime, start a new life here with us.”

Reclining in the chair and tilting her head to catch more of the sun’s gentle rays, she said, “You make it sound so simple.” A dark cloud of depression hovered at the edge of her consciousness and Taura did her best to shove the mood away. Concentrate on the beautiful setting and the warmth of your companion, girl.

“I’m not trying to minimize your situation—I apologize if I sounded callous.” He shrugged. “I’m in favor of continually moving forward, not thinking too much about the past. You survived what was done to you. If you’re from the colony, someone will recognize you.”

“No one has yet, according to Dr. Garrison. She thinks I might have been a passenger on a hijacked ship brought to this world.”

“We do have a few people who fall into that category. We don’t know how many humans the Khagrish have enslaved, actually. At first we believed there were about two hundred, from the colony only, but in recent raids we’ve found indications there might be more.”

“And more of you?”

He shook his head. “As far as we know, the Khagrish only created Badari warriors in the one lab.  Which is a blessing from the Great Mother— no others were forced to endure the living hell and tortures imposed on us. The Chimmer commissioned the experiment in the first place and were prone to demanding terrible tests and capricious changes. The Khagrish were always only too happy to implement new protocols, the more grueling for us, the better in their eyes.”

Buy Links:  Amazon    iBooks   B&N    Kobo      Google

Author Bio and Links:

USA Today Best Selling Author
“SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog

 Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances!
 She read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”




Aydarr, first in the Sectors New Allies series, is on sale for 99 cents.


Diane's Review of Jadrian: A Badari Warrior

You've read the blurb, so you have a good idea of what the story is about. What you don't get from the blurb is the emotion you feel as you follow Taura on her journey. Although the story is named after the hero, it's more about Taura, a human who was captured and tortured then rescued from her prison. The terror she must have felt as the Khagrish did unspeakable things to her wrenched my heart. But that's not the worst. She can't remember who she is or anything about her past. Can you imagine the fear?

Her rescuer, Jadrian, is the only person she trusts. Though she's taken to a medical facility, it reminds too much of the lab where she was tortured. Will these people do the same? Flashbacks have her lashing out at anyone around her until, for their own safety, she's restrained. That is too much like what the Khagrish did to her. More terror. Only Jadrian can help.

In all of Veronica's books, her characters are well-drawn. Their strengths and their vulnerabilities make those characters believable and sympathetic. Taura may seem like a vulnerable character, but she has strengths she can't remember yet are revealed as she deals with her amnesia and the aftermath of torture. Jadrian is first and foremost a warrior. Fierce, strong. Yet, we get glimpses of his past that enable him to empathize with Taura. The reader sees his own vulnerability. As Veronica says above, the end is no surprise--definitely a Happy For Now. How Veronica gets Taura and Jadrian to that point tore my heart as I  feared for their happiness. This is one powerful story.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for having me as your guest! I always love being here :) I was really touched by your review and I'm so pleased you enjoyed the book - I did feel that Jadrian and Taura were a special couple with their individual backstories and challenges and I'm so glad that came through in the story.

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    Replies
    1. My pleasure sharing your newest release. Jadrian and Taura are a special couple. I was totally captivated by their story. Wishing you much success with this book.

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