"Your reaction is understandable. Because you're never going to get as close to one of your other friends as you and I are going to get. We're going to sleep in the same bed, shower at the same time, eat, sleap and breathe each other until your boundaries are completely stripped away, Green eyes, because that's the only way to guarantee you're thinking of the target that's about to shoot our Needle down instead of me standing behind you whispering in your ear."
"I'm not talking about hearts and flowers and walking on the beach and candlelight dinners. Relationship, partnership - call it whatever you want but for better or worse we're stuck with it. We both signed the papers and they put us together. And I promise you, Newbie, nothing but death is going to tear us apart."
Chaz Brighton wants to be a Needle gunner, but when he arrives at Lunar Academy stationed on Mars, he discovers the secret behind how the Needle is piloted. He is drawn to a tall, dark and scarred Needle pilot Ferron, who soon enough becomes his new partner. But Chaz struggles to accept what being qualified to be a Needler means for him, as well as to learn and adapt to the way Needlers do things socially and privately.
"Do you know what will get you killed quicker than anything else when you're out in space?" he asked, his breath brushing through the loose curls at the side of Chaz's neck.
"I know what's gonna get you killed. Get off me, man!" Chaz felt ready to panic now. This son of a bitch Ferron had him and obviously didn't intend to let him go. Worse, the proximity of the other man's lean muscular form seemed to be doing something strange to Chaz's body. Something wrong and unnatural.
"Boundaries," Ferron continued, as though Chaz wasn't rigid in his arms demanding to be released. "Your personal boundaries are more likely to get you killed than any of the targets or even the Saudeber ship cluster. Because if you can't let go of your boundaries, you can't do your job. How many targets do you think you've missed since I put my arms around you?"
I loved the concept and the characters, and I found this author's writing style engaging. Dialogue flows naturally and the tension that builds up slowly made me swallow this book within 24 hours.
Chaz's internalized homophobia is so deeply rooted and his denial is drawn-out until the very end of the book, and while I thought this was quite realistic, I personally found it difficult to read (this book is big on dub-con, so be warned). What helped me push through was how Ferron, despite his intimidating appearance, was as gentle and patient with Chaz as their circumstances allowed him to be. Considering that, I wasn't prepared for a non-con (even though now I feel like I should have been, considering the tone of the epilogue) that happened at the culmination of the story, which was followed by third act breakup. I was a little let down by it, honestly, as I thought the author was teasing us for so long towards Chaz's acceptance of his sexuality (and even that acceptance ended up being dub-con in a way). If the non-consent situation was going to happen anyway, it might as well have happened earlier in the book.
Still, despite not being a fan of dub/non-con, I still enjoyed many parts of this. There's also a little bit of praise and handtimacy (descriptions of hands or intimacy involving hands - if you've read some of my older reviews, you know what I'm talking about) which are one of favorite things to read.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'd definitely warn you that dub-con & non-con are in the core of this story.
°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*
*General Notes*
-sci-fi, set in space, fighting aliens, Needle starship, pilot x his gunner
-erotic novella
-Not sure about characters' age, but I'd take a guess that Chaz is 18 ("the youngest recruit the Academy has ever seen" - I sure hope he's not younger than 18) and Eric is 4 years older than him.
-forced proximity, only one bed trope...
-third act breakup
-CWs: homophobic slurs, internalized homophobia, dub-con between MC and LI, off-page rape of a side-character (in the past), described suicide of a side-character (in the past), attempted rape of MC (stopped before it happened), non-con between MC and LI...
*Intimacy Notes*
-Top/bottom/verse:strict? Chaz bottoms and Ferron tops; Ferron is willing to bottom, but it doesn't happen as both MCs prefer keeping strict roles.
-Kinks/sex notes: dub-con & non-con; handjobs, BJs, fingering, edging, exhibitionism, 69, cockwarming (in mouth), "just a tip" situation, rimming...
-Other:
・some praise and handtimacy
・nicknames: Green Eyes, Newbie, babe...
・"Don't touch him. He is off limits." situation
"Your reaction is understandable. Because you're never going to get as close to one of your other friends as you and I are going to get. We're going to sleep in the same bed, shower at the same time, eat, sleap and breathe each other until your boundaries are completely stripped away, Green eyes, because that's the only way to guarantee you're thinking of the target that's about to shoot our Needle down instead of me standing behind you whispering in your ear."
"I'm not talking about hearts and flowers and walking on the beach and candlelight dinners. Relationship, partnership - call it whatever you want but for better or worse we're stuck with it. We both signed the papers and they put us together. And I promise you, Newbie, nothing but death is going to tear us apart."
Chaz Brighton wants to be a Needle gunner, but when he arrives at Lunar Academy stationed on Mars, he discovers the secret behind how the Needle is piloted. He is drawn to a tall, dark and scarred Needle pilot Ferron, who soon enough becomes his new partner. But Chaz struggles to accept what being qualified to be a Needler means for him, as well as to learn and adapt to the way Needlers do things socially and privately.
"Do you know what will get you killed quicker than anything else when you're out in space?" he asked, his breath brushing through the loose curls at the side of Chaz's neck.
"I know what's gonna get you killed. Get off me, man!" Chaz felt ready to panic now. This son of a bitch Ferron had him and obviously didn't intend to let him go. Worse, the proximity of the other man's lean muscular form seemed to be doing something strange to Chaz's body. Something wrong and unnatural.
"Boundaries," Ferron continued, as though Chaz wasn't rigid in his arms demanding to be released. "Your personal boundaries are more likely to get you killed than any of the targets or even the Saudeber ship cluster. Because if you can't let go of your boundaries, you can't do your job. How many targets do you think you've missed since I put my arms around you?"
I loved the concept and the characters, and I found this author's writing style engaging. Dialogue flows naturally and the tension that builds up slowly made me swallow this book within 24 hours.
Chaz's internalized homophobia is so deeply rooted and his denial is drawn-out until the very end of the book, and while I thought this was quite realistic, I personally found it difficult to read (this book is big on dub-con, so be warned). What helped me push through was how Ferron, despite his intimidating appearance, was as gentle and patient with Chaz as their circumstances allowed him to be. Considering that, I wasn't prepared for a non-con (even though now I feel like I should have been, considering the tone of the epilogue) that happened at the culmination of the story, which was followed by third act breakup. I was a little let down by it, honestly, as I thought the author was teasing us for so long towards Chaz's acceptance of his sexuality (and even that acceptance ended up being dub-con in a way). If the non-consent situation was going to happen anyway, it might as well have happened earlier in the book.
Still, despite not being a fan of dub/non-con, I still enjoyed many parts of this. There's also a little bit of praise and handtimacy (descriptions of hands or intimacy involving hands - if you've read some of my older reviews, you know what I'm talking about) which are one of favorite things to read.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but I'd definitely warn you that dub-con & non-con are in the core of this story.
°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*
*General Notes*
-sci-fi, set in space, fighting aliens, Needle starship, pilot x his gunner
-erotic novella
-Not sure about characters' age, but I'd take a guess that Chaz is 18 ("the youngest recruit the Academy has ever seen" - I sure hope he's not younger than 18) and Eric is 4 years older than him.
-forced proximity, only one bed trope...
-third act breakup
-CWs: homophobic slurs, internalized homophobia, dub-con between MC and LI, off-page rape of a side-character (in the past), described suicide of a side-character (in the past), attempted rape of MC (stopped before it happened), non-con between MC and LI...
*Intimacy Notes*
-Top/bottom/verse:strict? Chaz bottoms and Ferron tops; Ferron is willing to bottom, but it doesn't happen as both MCs prefer keeping strict roles.
-Kinks/sex notes: dub-con & non-con; handjobs, BJs, fingering, edging, exhibitionism, 69, cockwarming (in mouth), "just a tip" situation, rimming...
-Other:
・some praise and handtimacy
・nicknames: Green Eyes, Newbie, babe...
・"Don't touch him. He is off limits." situation
