Rapture's Mist, by Cinnamon Burke

I've just finished a futuristic, Rapture's Mist, by Cinnamon Burke, about which I knew nothing about when I bought it. I've absolutely no idea why I did so, but I'm glad I did.

Tynan Thorn's austere life as a recluse comes to an abrupt end when he lays his eyes on the ravishing Amara, who has purposely entered his world in order to broaden his horizons.

Rapture's Mist accomplished its mission in that it completely drew me in and had me living in its word. The basic plot is that the heroine, Amara, is a pilot sent to the Earth to fetch the hero, Tynan, so that he can get to a Peace conference in time. Apparently the 5 corporations which rule space have come to a point where war is a possibility, and Tynan, a well known philosopher, has been selected to represent one of these corporations in the conference.

Tynan is a Guardian, part of a group concerned with recording the history of the world up until the 20th century (the book is set in the 23rd). They live in The Keep, a restored medieval castle, and they lead the life of medieval monks. Since Tynan has lived there all his life, and the Guardians are only male, he's never even seen a woman.

The book starts as Amara fetches him to take him to the Confederacy headquarters for the conference, and the first half or so is a very enjoyable road romance. They have quite a few adventures on their way (some pretty scary, like being boarded by space pirates), but the forced proximity ends up affecting them quite soon, and the romance is really nice here. Tynan is, of course, a virgin, while Amara is quite experienced, and the role reversal was very enjoyable to me. I really liked both, especially Amara, who was pretty kick-ass.

After they reach the Peace conference, the book changes a bit and we become embroiled in the whole process of the conference negotiations, which was surprisingly interesting. We are also brought into contact with the plotting and machinations of Amara's boss, Orion, who as well as being her former lover, was raised in the Keep and for years was Tynan's nemesis. I enjoyed this part slightly less, because there was a lot of back and forth between Amara and Tynan... he's jealous of Orion, he pushes her away, when he goes back for her she's the one who's offended. I thought this part ran a bit too long and could have been tightened a bit.

Also, some of Tynan's reactions here were a bit childish and juvenile, and I thought there was something in Amara's accusation that he was still allowing a childhood sense of rivalry to influence his relationship with Orion. Oh, he was right to mistrust Orion, but he certainly didn't go the right way in convincing Amara of what Orion was.

Still, even this part was fascinating to me, and the book was ultimately a success. A B+.