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Tethered
She can kill with a kiss. But can assassin Tyree also heal one man's grief, and bring peace to a galaxy threatened by war?
For Tyree of the Su, being an assassin isn’t simply something she was trained for. It's the sole reason for her existence. A genetically enhanced clone—one of many in Refuge—she's about to learn her secluded lifestyle, and that of all her kind, is under threat by a race capable of neutralizing their special talents to leave them defenseless.
For Zander D'joren, being a diplomat has not only cost him his appearance, but also the love of his life. Scarred, grieving, he must nonetheless continue in his role as co-delegate to the fearsome Tier-vane or risk a conflict that could only end one way.
Now both of them need to keep each other alive and maintain a perilous deception long enough to renegotiate the treaty with the Tier-vane, or throw their people into a war that could wipe out Terrans and Inc-Su alike. But there's more at stake than humanity, whether true or modified. Can the love growing between them save them both? Or merely hasten their destruction?
A science fiction romance novella, previously released by Breathless Press 24th July, 2014.
For Tyree of the Su, being an assassin isn’t simply something she was trained for. It's the sole reason for her existence. A genetically enhanced clone—one of many in Refuge—she's about to learn her secluded lifestyle, and that of all her kind, is under threat by a race capable of neutralizing their special talents to leave them defenseless.
For Zander D'joren, being a diplomat has not only cost him his appearance, but also the love of his life. Scarred, grieving, he must nonetheless continue in his role as co-delegate to the fearsome Tier-vane or risk a conflict that could only end one way.
Now both of them need to keep each other alive and maintain a perilous deception long enough to renegotiate the treaty with the Tier-vane, or throw their people into a war that could wipe out Terrans and Inc-Su alike. But there's more at stake than humanity, whether true or modified. Can the love growing between them save them both? Or merely hasten their destruction?
A science fiction romance novella, previously released by Breathless Press 24th July, 2014.
138 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2014
2 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Pippa Jay
21 books209 followersPreviously an Analytical Chemist & stay-at-home mum, Pippa Jay is now a Science Technician who writes scifi and supernatural stories to engage the emotions. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment looking after her chickens, creating cosplay for humans and dolls alike, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 30 years and three not-so-little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.
Pippa Jay occasionally blogs at Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a quadruple SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), the 2015 EPIC eBook awards, the 2015 RWA LERA Rebecca (2nd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).
You can stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
****Please do not send me review requests, event invites or recommendations****
Pippa Jay occasionally blogs at Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a quadruple SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3rd place), the 2015 EPIC eBook awards, the 2015 RWA LERA Rebecca (2nd place), and the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2nd place).
You can stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.
****Please do not send me review requests, event invites or recommendations****
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 11, 2015
4.5/5.0
Listing every superlative from “Amazing” to “Zesty” might just do this novella justice!
Read full review in the 2014/2015 Holiday issue of InD’tale Magazine.
Listing every superlative from “Amazing” to “Zesty” might just do this novella justice!
Read full review in the 2014/2015 Holiday issue of InD’tale Magazine.
July 5, 2015
Romance and intrigue
Diplomats, warrior aliens, clones, treaty negotiations, murder, scars, and sex assassins. Yes, that's right sex assassins. Who'd ever thought a story with that mix could be highly entertaining?
Diplomats, warrior aliens, clones, treaty negotiations, murder, scars, and sex assassins. Yes, that's right sex assassins. Who'd ever thought a story with that mix could be highly entertaining?
December 19, 2014
Originally published at Reading Reality
Tethered is a high-stakes romance between two people who have to discover the depths of their own hearts and the secrets of their identities while dodging assassination attempts and trying to cement a treaty between two interstellar factions who are both capable of tearing the universe apart.
After all, they've done that bit before. The treaty is supposed to keep them from doing it again.
Tyree is a member of the secretive Inc-Su race. While descended from humans, the Inc-Su broke away centuries ago to develop their ability to kill through sex. Inc=incubus, and Su, in context, is short for Succubus. The Inc-Su can absorb a person’s life force during sex. Fairly spectacular sex, so their victims die in ecstasy.
The Inc-Su are a race of contract assassins. In between assignments, they all live together on Refuge, a planet that may indeed be a refuge, but is also a prison. Inc-Su do not live away from Refuge and its rules, unless they are so flawed that they do not possess the Inc-Su powers.
Mirsee was a flawed Inc-Su. She served as a diplomat for the Terrans and even life-bonded with her fellow diplomat, the human Zander D’joren. Mirsee is dead at the hands of mysterious assassins, and the treaty that she and Zander worked so hard for is about to collapse, throwing the universe back to a space-spanning war between the Terrans and their allies, and the feline, predatory Tier-vane.
There is one hope - the Inc-Su can send Mirsee’s clone-sister, Tyree, to take her place as ambassador. Only the intimate members of Zander’s party can know the difference, or the treaty will be declared null and void before it can take effect.
Tyree has two assignments; flawlessly substitute for the sister she never knew she had, and protect Zander and herself from yet another assassination attempt before the treaty is signed and ratifies.
Falling in love with Zander is not part of the assignment. It is not even a likely outcome, as Zander is still mourning for her sister, and Tyree doesn’t have a frame-of-reference for what love is.
Tyree doesn’t do a very good job at most of her assignment. She never seems to be able to sniff out the assassination attempts before they happen - again and again. She even falls in love with the scarred but resolute Zander.
In the moment of victory, she is lost. Zander is left to determine if the treaty was worth the cost of losing the woman he loves. Again.
Escape Rating B+: There were a LOT of things I really enjoyed about this story, and a few things that make me quibble.
In science fiction romance (AKA SFR) both the worldbuilding and the romance have to work equally well for the story to be a solid A Rating. Tethered comes close, but there were just a couple of things…
The romance in this story is between a man who has lost his bondmate to a terrible tragedy, and that woman’s clone-sister. So Tyree looks exactly like Mirsee, and she has to for the diplomatic deception to work.
Tyree is not anything like Mirsee, they just look identical. So Zander ends up falling for his late wife’s identical twin. The growing emotional and sexual tension between Zander and Tyree does sell the romance, but...there’s never a scene where they talk, or Zander talks to himself or whatever, about his change of heart.
He really did love Mirsee. How much of his love for Tyree is based on their iidentical appearance? What changed his heart? Has he just healed in 6 months (possible) or is it, as another book I read called it “foxhole love”. They are stuck in a desperate situation and only have each other for comfort.
Zander is an admirable man. It is easy to see why Tyree falls for him. What is difficult is her acceptance that he loves her and isn’t transferring his love from her “sister” to her without dealing with the consequences. If she does accept it, I wanted more internal dialog, or even external dialog, that she had considered the risks. He hurts her once by calling her Mirsee in a private moment, so this issue doesn’t feel resolved.
On the other hand, she gets kidnapped the second the treaty is signed, so there isn’t a lot of time to deal with crap after their job is done.
The way that Zander was able to rescue Tyree, involving sudden and remarkable revelations about her parentage, felt a bit deus ex machina. In other words, terribly, terribly convenient. She needs to be rescued, very desperately, but the solution was too easy, even if emotionally difficult.
Because the story is relatively short, I wanted more explanation of the current state of the universe than there was time available. How did the Inc-Su split off from the Terrans, and why? The internal politics of both the Terrans and the Tier-vane needed a bit more detail to understand why they reached this state of near-war.
At the same time, the constant state of tension produced by the frequent assassination attempts kept me turning pages furiously to find out what would happen next. There is so much going on in this universe, and I want to see more.
Tethered is a high-stakes romance between two people who have to discover the depths of their own hearts and the secrets of their identities while dodging assassination attempts and trying to cement a treaty between two interstellar factions who are both capable of tearing the universe apart.
After all, they've done that bit before. The treaty is supposed to keep them from doing it again.
Tyree is a member of the secretive Inc-Su race. While descended from humans, the Inc-Su broke away centuries ago to develop their ability to kill through sex. Inc=incubus, and Su, in context, is short for Succubus. The Inc-Su can absorb a person’s life force during sex. Fairly spectacular sex, so their victims die in ecstasy.
The Inc-Su are a race of contract assassins. In between assignments, they all live together on Refuge, a planet that may indeed be a refuge, but is also a prison. Inc-Su do not live away from Refuge and its rules, unless they are so flawed that they do not possess the Inc-Su powers.
Mirsee was a flawed Inc-Su. She served as a diplomat for the Terrans and even life-bonded with her fellow diplomat, the human Zander D’joren. Mirsee is dead at the hands of mysterious assassins, and the treaty that she and Zander worked so hard for is about to collapse, throwing the universe back to a space-spanning war between the Terrans and their allies, and the feline, predatory Tier-vane.
There is one hope - the Inc-Su can send Mirsee’s clone-sister, Tyree, to take her place as ambassador. Only the intimate members of Zander’s party can know the difference, or the treaty will be declared null and void before it can take effect.
Tyree has two assignments; flawlessly substitute for the sister she never knew she had, and protect Zander and herself from yet another assassination attempt before the treaty is signed and ratifies.
Falling in love with Zander is not part of the assignment. It is not even a likely outcome, as Zander is still mourning for her sister, and Tyree doesn’t have a frame-of-reference for what love is.
Tyree doesn’t do a very good job at most of her assignment. She never seems to be able to sniff out the assassination attempts before they happen - again and again. She even falls in love with the scarred but resolute Zander.
In the moment of victory, she is lost. Zander is left to determine if the treaty was worth the cost of losing the woman he loves. Again.
Escape Rating B+: There were a LOT of things I really enjoyed about this story, and a few things that make me quibble.
In science fiction romance (AKA SFR) both the worldbuilding and the romance have to work equally well for the story to be a solid A Rating. Tethered comes close, but there were just a couple of things…
The romance in this story is between a man who has lost his bondmate to a terrible tragedy, and that woman’s clone-sister. So Tyree looks exactly like Mirsee, and she has to for the diplomatic deception to work.
Tyree is not anything like Mirsee, they just look identical. So Zander ends up falling for his late wife’s identical twin. The growing emotional and sexual tension between Zander and Tyree does sell the romance, but...there’s never a scene where they talk, or Zander talks to himself or whatever, about his change of heart.
He really did love Mirsee. How much of his love for Tyree is based on their iidentical appearance? What changed his heart? Has he just healed in 6 months (possible) or is it, as another book I read called it “foxhole love”. They are stuck in a desperate situation and only have each other for comfort.
Zander is an admirable man. It is easy to see why Tyree falls for him. What is difficult is her acceptance that he loves her and isn’t transferring his love from her “sister” to her without dealing with the consequences. If she does accept it, I wanted more internal dialog, or even external dialog, that she had considered the risks. He hurts her once by calling her Mirsee in a private moment, so this issue doesn’t feel resolved.
On the other hand, she gets kidnapped the second the treaty is signed, so there isn’t a lot of time to deal with crap after their job is done.
The way that Zander was able to rescue Tyree, involving sudden and remarkable revelations about her parentage, felt a bit deus ex machina. In other words, terribly, terribly convenient. She needs to be rescued, very desperately, but the solution was too easy, even if emotionally difficult.
Because the story is relatively short, I wanted more explanation of the current state of the universe than there was time available. How did the Inc-Su split off from the Terrans, and why? The internal politics of both the Terrans and the Tier-vane needed a bit more detail to understand why they reached this state of near-war.
At the same time, the constant state of tension produced by the frequent assassination attempts kept me turning pages furiously to find out what would happen next. There is so much going on in this universe, and I want to see more.
August 1, 2015
Note: This novella contains triggering subjects: rape, murder, being drugged and helpless.
Tyree is from a race that can kill people with sex. Said race makes clone creches, and Tyree is asked to stand in for another member of her creche to complete a diplomatic agreement. Mirsee did not have Tyree's assassin abilities and lived as a dignitary, marrying the human diplomat Zander D'joren. Tyree now must masquerade as Mirsee until the treaty is concluded. She develops romantic feelings for Zander, which add complications to her mission.
Tyree is quite complex. She has ideas about what is appropriate for her and others and starts the story something of a prideful bigot. Her skills have kept her in good standing, but she's asocial and rude. Her emotions are turbulent and brutal, her attempts to handle them clumsy because Su aren't supposed to have emotions and feeling is new to her. The nightmare scene is troubling to her as it was to me. She may be a trained assassin, but her vulnerability is touching. She doesn't make a very good guard, but she's not trained as one. Tyree grows to understand Zander and some other humans, and it broke my heart (in a good way) to watch her grow, hurt, and be hurt. I want to know how she will deal with the world after the story's end, because her life changes so drastically.
Pippa Jay uses evocative language. It's a cut above the usual and immersed me in the setting. Nature, smells, tactile impressions are sprinkled in so the reader feels along with Tyree, almost in her body. I felt 'there' with everyone. The environments and secondary characters are detailed and compelling in their mysteries. This is an important factor to me. I didn't cry, but I felt longing, horror, fear, and tenderness during the course of the story. That's what does it for me: getting punched in the emotions.
I questioned why a grieving Zander falls in love with Tyree so quickly. We don't know the details, because although the story is third-person, it is all from Tyree's perspective. Zander is not a complete cipher, but he can easily distinguish between his late wife and Tyree. So what does he find compelling about her?
The end felt a little premature. Events with a great deal of emotional impact happen and I can only guess at the fallout. My hope is that the story continues so I can spend more time with the protagonists, Visaya, and Pevanne. Perhaps even with or from Zander's perspective? He's got to be experiencing some upheaval too.
Tyree is from a race that can kill people with sex. Said race makes clone creches, and Tyree is asked to stand in for another member of her creche to complete a diplomatic agreement. Mirsee did not have Tyree's assassin abilities and lived as a dignitary, marrying the human diplomat Zander D'joren. Tyree now must masquerade as Mirsee until the treaty is concluded. She develops romantic feelings for Zander, which add complications to her mission.
Tyree is quite complex. She has ideas about what is appropriate for her and others and starts the story something of a prideful bigot. Her skills have kept her in good standing, but she's asocial and rude. Her emotions are turbulent and brutal, her attempts to handle them clumsy because Su aren't supposed to have emotions and feeling is new to her. The nightmare scene is troubling to her as it was to me. She may be a trained assassin, but her vulnerability is touching. She doesn't make a very good guard, but she's not trained as one. Tyree grows to understand Zander and some other humans, and it broke my heart (in a good way) to watch her grow, hurt, and be hurt. I want to know how she will deal with the world after the story's end, because her life changes so drastically.
Pippa Jay uses evocative language. It's a cut above the usual and immersed me in the setting. Nature, smells, tactile impressions are sprinkled in so the reader feels along with Tyree, almost in her body. I felt 'there' with everyone. The environments and secondary characters are detailed and compelling in their mysteries. This is an important factor to me. I didn't cry, but I felt longing, horror, fear, and tenderness during the course of the story. That's what does it for me: getting punched in the emotions.
I questioned why a grieving Zander falls in love with Tyree so quickly. We don't know the details, because although the story is third-person, it is all from Tyree's perspective. Zander is not a complete cipher, but he can easily distinguish between his late wife and Tyree. So what does he find compelling about her?
The end felt a little premature. Events with a great deal of emotional impact happen and I can only guess at the fallout. My hope is that the story continues so I can spend more time with the protagonists, Visaya, and Pevanne. Perhaps even with or from Zander's perspective? He's got to be experiencing some upheaval too.
August 20, 2014
Being a clone and an assassin is all Tyree knows. It is what she was made for and she isn't used to getting involved with others. Her newest assignment may be her hardest yet. She has just learned a secret about herself and her new assignment is to help Zander make a peace treaty. She has to pretend to be his love who was killed and still protect him. Zander has gave everything for his job and just wants to finish it. Tyree may resemble his late love but she is far from being her. Someone doesn't want their mission to pass and will do anything to stop them. While they grow closer to each other so does someone who will kill to stop them.
Tyree is very smart, tough and knows how to get the job done. She doesn't understand what she begins to feel for Zander. She does everything she can to protect him. She doesn't understand a lot about what a relationship is. Zander is really a shell of a man until Tyree gets him to open his heart again. He is tough and doesn't give up easy.
I liked this book and both characters really don't know for sure what is growing between them. Tyree wonders if Zander sees her or his past love and I'm glad she uses her head and has that thought. Both of them put there selves in danger to save the other even when it is Tyree's job to protect Zander. He still jumps in to help her even when he knows e has to stay alive or much will be lost. I love her ability and it was a neat to read about. I have to say I really didn't see the ending coming. Tyree has a horrible time and I wondered if she would survive. Even tough as she is she has a weakness and it just made her more great. If you like a sci-fi book about fascinating people and different abilities I would recommend this one to you.
Tyree is very smart, tough and knows how to get the job done. She doesn't understand what she begins to feel for Zander. She does everything she can to protect him. She doesn't understand a lot about what a relationship is. Zander is really a shell of a man until Tyree gets him to open his heart again. He is tough and doesn't give up easy.
I liked this book and both characters really don't know for sure what is growing between them. Tyree wonders if Zander sees her or his past love and I'm glad she uses her head and has that thought. Both of them put there selves in danger to save the other even when it is Tyree's job to protect Zander. He still jumps in to help her even when he knows e has to stay alive or much will be lost. I love her ability and it was a neat to read about. I have to say I really didn't see the ending coming. Tyree has a horrible time and I wondered if she would survive. Even tough as she is she has a weakness and it just made her more great. If you like a sci-fi book about fascinating people and different abilities I would recommend this one to you.
Read
June 25, 2015I got this book thinking it was going to be a great science fiction/fantasy read but aside from some of the world building it's really just about Love, sex and death. The heroine seem to have sex on the brain alot, she uses it in her work as an assassin. You know, it seems her other heroines from her other books had some substance, but this one is what I'd call a prostitute assassin. Why is that? I really don't want to think what I'm thinking.
This book had the basis to make one kick ass science fiction reads, maybe up there with C.J cheryh's Foreigner series, but the ball was dropped.
Damn, I wanted to love and enjoy this book but I guess this author is just not for me and knowing my friends they would kill me if I recommended this book to them. Sorry Rae, I jumped before I looked.
Oh, I can't buy the, him falling in love with the twin sister of his dead wife who he was so in love with and the heroine isn't too smart if she has no doubts about his feelings for her.
I am so disappointed, especially when it is so hard to find science fiction books that have a dark skinned heroine. This one got a raw deal in her profession, her love life and her chracter.
This book had the basis to make one kick ass science fiction reads, maybe up there with C.J cheryh's Foreigner series, but the ball was dropped.
Damn, I wanted to love and enjoy this book but I guess this author is just not for me and knowing my friends they would kill me if I recommended this book to them. Sorry Rae, I jumped before I looked.
Oh, I can't buy the, him falling in love with the twin sister of his dead wife who he was so in love with and the heroine isn't too smart if she has no doubts about his feelings for her.
I am so disappointed, especially when it is so hard to find science fiction books that have a dark skinned heroine. This one got a raw deal in her profession, her love life and her chracter.
July 29, 2014
Tyree’s world is turned upside down when she learns of her unusual parentage and then is thrown into an assignment unlike any other she’s completed before. Instead of assassinating her target, her mission is to protect Zander, a man grieving the loss of his mate and dedicated to ratifying a centuries old treaty no matter the price.
I really enjoyed this sci-fi romance. Pippa Jay has an elaborate style that paints a vivid world around her characters. The setting is interesting with quite a bit working around the central struggle of the main characters. I felt the turmoil between the characters as I could relate to their struggles, even though they live in a fictional future.
If you haven’t read a sci-fi romance, this is a great place to start!
I really enjoyed this sci-fi romance. Pippa Jay has an elaborate style that paints a vivid world around her characters. The setting is interesting with quite a bit working around the central struggle of the main characters. I felt the turmoil between the characters as I could relate to their struggles, even though they live in a fictional future.
If you haven’t read a sci-fi romance, this is a great place to start!
September 12, 2014
This novella was everything I expect from a Pippa Jay story, with the right mix of action and romance. Only two complaints. It wasn't long enough, and I missed having the hero's POV. The story still worked without it, and it would have been difficult to keep it to the required length by adding Zander. Still, Pippa does an excellent job of showing us Zander through Tyree's eyes.
Pippa has created a very unique world here, with a group of assassins inspired by the incubus and succubus demons of Greek mythology. I want to know more about this world, and hopefully see a full length novel set in it one day.
Pippa has created a very unique world here, with a group of assassins inspired by the incubus and succubus demons of Greek mythology. I want to know more about this world, and hopefully see a full length novel set in it one day.
December 15, 2014
liked this a lot. I enjoy her style and the British influence in her work. This was interesting in that it raises questions about preconceived notions, social morays, and how those can differ across societies and even species. Love, sex and death were among the top contenders. Well written and an enjoyable read. I did feel the ending could have been flushed out more. It felt a bit rushed, but overall great job.
February 12, 2015
1.5 stars. Not putting it on the poop shelf because it's not fundamentally godawful, but it certainly wasn't what I'd hoped for. Just a very flimsy novella - a potentially interesting universe props up a poorly developed plot. Also the sex scenes disturbed me because they skim the lines of consent and I just can't even with that shit. I'd been really looking forward to trying out Jay's work, too. Oh well~.
June 4, 2015
I'll be honest; it's been a while since I read this book - almost a year, in fact! What I can remember is that this story is everything you'd expect from Pippa Jay: a coherent plot, likeable, vivid characters, and twists and turns aplenty.
And probably the most important factor of this story, for me? It's set in the same universe as Pippa Jay's Traveller series (Keir).
And probably the most important factor of this story, for me? It's set in the same universe as Pippa Jay's Traveller series (Keir).
June 24, 2016
4stars... inspite of the fact that Tyree is sent as replacement of Mirsee, her 'twin' (podmate, batchmate, or whatever they're calling), to ... Mirsee's husband (they're intergalactic diplomats). Interesting world, and politics.
not-for-me
January 1, 2017I like Pippa's stories. I'm not finishing this one due to personal preference ie I don't like story lines where the heroine (or hero) is an identical match to a dead significant other.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews