Caroline Linden‘s review of Hidden by Eve Kenin
Science fiction romance released by Shomi 1 Jul 08

Sometimes you come across a book that’s just impossible to accurately describe. Like Eve Kenin’s HIDDEN: “It’s a book set in a post-apocalyptic future, in Siberia…about a woman who was raised in a lab…and there’s a deadly plague that turns people into cannibalistic zombies…and ice pirates…and oh yeah, a rogue scientist who studies philosophy while he tries to save the world.” Screams romance, no? Think again, because this is not only a fabulous read, it’s taut, sexy adventure at its finest.

HIDDEN zooms back to the Northern Wasteland introduced in DRIVEN, the bleak frozen place Earth has become after a series of (probably nuclear) wars. It’s unforgiving and nearly lawless, with pirates and evil masterminds and rebels circling each other in a brutal struggle. Human life has both advanced and regressed, with impressive medical advances balanced against the utter social decay that has pushed large parts of humanity to the edge of survival. Just like the heroine and hero.

Tatiana has been a medical experiment most of her life, raised by computers and subjected to all sorts of procedures that leave her with some seriously enhanced physical abilities. Of course, it’s also left her with little experience of how humans behave and interact. When she finally escapes from the lab, she sets off on a quest to destroy the people who almost destroyed her, Gavin Ward and a scientist called Tolliver. Gavin Ward, she knows where to find; he’s trying to find–and dissect–her just as hard as she’s trying to avoid him. But Tolliver is a mystery, and yet the key to her desperate attempt to stop a debilitating virus, manufactured from her own genetic material, from being unleashed by Ward on his enemies. And yeah, she plans to waste Ward in the process.

Tristan is a rebel, hiding out in the Wastes with a dangerous mission of his own–nothing less than saving the human race. Unlike Tatiana, he’s deeply alive to emotion and empathy, and knows just how much Ward’s plague threatens humanity, even beyond just bringing death and suffering to its victims. When Tristan’s path crosses Tatiana’s, it’s intrigue at first sight for both of them. After spending her entire adolescence locked in a dungeon (oh my God! Can you imagine?!?),Tatiana feels the first pull of sexual attraction in her life, and watching her deal with it, trying to figure out how to be human and a woman, was quite moving. Inside Tatiana’s highly logical, genetically enhanced body beats a very human heart after all. And while Tristan notes her ethereal eyes, silky hair, and tight figure, it’s the almost superhuman way she dispatches two tough ice truckers twice her size that really snares his interest. Unusual girl, he thinks.

Honey, you have no idea.

Can I just say that’s possibly what I loved most about Tristan? His first thought was not how he wanted to get her into bed, it was, “Damn, that girl’s good in a fight.” Tristan’s no fool, and although Tatiana does appeal to his sex drive, the instant respect he has for her was fabulous. He feels responsible for the small band of rebels hiding out with him, and the fact that he doesn’t have to worry about Tatiana–in fact, that he can even lean on her from time to time–puts their relationship ahead of many couples’ (and not just romance novel ones). Also, although the story is weighted more toward action and adventure than most romances, the romance is pitch-perfect between these two warrior souls. When the only way out of a tight spot is a long climb up a laser-shielded elevator shaft, Tatiana is the one better equipped to do it. Tristan not only agrees to this, not only boosts her up so she can get started, he tells her the most important thing: come back to me. Nope, no sweet, tender “I love you,” but a command that nonetheless expresses perfectly how he feels without beating anyone over the head about it.

Because these two are perfect for each other just as they are. There’s no excess emotional outpouring on either side, just a realization that they each want the other at their back. For once the cover illustration is amazingly accurate. And the pacing is relentless, with no wasted scenes. This is a book that you open intending to read a few chapters, and then look up to realize you’ve read the whole thing almost without stopping to breathe. You can’t help cheering for Tristan and Tatiana as they fight what’s worst in humanity, to find–and save–what’s best.

HIDDEN is romance for the adventurous. If you lusted after Han Solo, this book is for you. If you wanted to be out fighting the dragon instead of locked in the ivory tower, this book is for you. It’s DRIVEN with an added philosophical touch, action and adventure with a jolt of red-hot romance.

Grade: Solid gold A

Summary:
Tatiana has honed her genetic gifts to perfection. She can withstand the subzero temperatures of the Northern Waste, read somebody’s mind with the briefest touch, and slice through bone with her bare hands. Which makes her one badass chick, all right. Nothing gets to her. Until she meets Tristan. Villain or ally, she can’t be sure. But one thing she does know: he has gifts too-including the ability to ramp up her heart rate to dangerous levels. But before they can start some chemistry of their own, they have to survive being trapped in an underground lab, hunted by a madman, and exposed to a plague that could destroy mankind.
Read an excerpt here

Shannon C.’s review of Hidden by Eve Kenin
Science fiction romance released by Shomi 1 Jul 08

Eve Kenin’s Driven introduced us to a post-apocalyptic future in a bleak northern climate where truckers were kings of the road. In Hidden, Ms Kenin returns us to that world, and we get to see another aspect of this society. In fact, though Driven was an excellent book, I liked Hidden better.

Tatiana, the sister of Wizard from Driven, has a three-step plan. She needs to find someone named Tolliver. Then she needs to find Gavin Ward, a very literally mad scientist who has designed a plague using some of Tatiana’s genetic material. Ward also tortured Tatiana and manipulated her for years. She needs them both to be dead, because the plague they’ve created would devastate the Northern Waste. What she is not counting on is to be confronted with a settler named Tristan with compelling blue eyes, or with a group of violent, mutated reavers, or falling in love.

I really liked Tatiana. She is a kick-ass heroine who still managed to be completely vulnerable in certain places. She has her issues, and I thought that they were dealt with well. She never had any TSTL moments, and I loved her discovering a sense of compassion. Plus, she’s just fascinating. Like her siblings, she was raised pretty much by a computer, and her only emotional contact has been with the people whose thoughts she can read. She doesn’t always understand proper interaction, which can make for some pretty intense scenes.

Tristan, the unsettling settler that she meets, is an equally compelling hero. I don’t recall having run into a hero with such a profound mystical streak in a while, and I liked his strong sense of duty and honor. I did figure out his big secret quite a while before Tatiana did, and there were a few moments where I thought that his actions perpetuated a conflict where that wasn’t necessary.

I was drawn into the plot, actually staying up late at night to read the second half of the book. There were moments of chilling suspense, and Kenin does a great job with creepy atmospheric details. I would have preferred that Gavin Ward, the book’s central villain, weren’t such a complete one-note psycho, and I really hope that if Ms. Kenin continues the series she won’t keep trotting out these villains in every. single. book.

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book. It’s not quite a keeper for me, but I very much enjoyed reading it, and I think anyone who enjoys science fiction and romance will definitely appreciate it. I think the experience of reading this book will be enhanced if you’ve read Driven, but I don’t think it would be too difficult to pick up and read as a standalone.

Grade: B+

Summary:
Tatiana has honed her genetic gifts to perfection. She can withstand the subzero temperatures of the Northern Waste, read somebody’s mind with the briefest touch, and slice through bone with her bare hands. Which makes her one badass chick, all right. Nothing gets to her. Until she meets Tristan. Villain or ally, she can’t be sure. But one thing she does know: he has gifts too-including the ability to ramp up her heart rate to dangerous levels. But before they can start some chemistry of their own, they have to survive being trapped in an underground lab, hunted by a madman, and exposed to a plague that could destroy mankind.
Read an excerpt here

Shannon C.’s review of Driven by Eve Kenin
Futuristic romance published by Shomi 28 Aug 07

I’d heard quite a lot about this book when the Shomi line from Dorchester started, and since Ms. Kenin’s sequel is already high up on the list of books that Sybil thinks I need to read, I thought it would be good to unearth this book from my TBR and give it a go.

The world of the story is a post-apocalyptic one, with the government being manipulated heavily by Duncan Bane, the head of Jansen Trucking Company. The Jansens practically own the highway, and nobody travels without the Jansens’ leave. Raina Bowen, an independent trucker, has already had her dealings with the Jansen company, and now wants only a temporary trucking pass so she can compete in the race to Gladow Station, where she hopes to win a huge prize that will keep her sister Beth safe and out of the clutches of Bane. What she doesn’t count on, though, is the complication of Wizard, whom she was supposed to meet in order to get her passes. After Wizard is attacked by Jansen truckers, Raina rescues him, and the two embark on an adventure that will pit them against Bane, and force them to acknowledge their attraction to each other.

I liked Raina a lot. Unlike a lot of kick ass heroines who have chips on their shoulders, I found Raina’s reasons for her attitude to make perfect sense. She’s never really known emotional support, and she doesn’t like depending on others. I understood that, and I loved watching the cracks slowly build in the armor that she has built up for herself.

Wizard is a great match for her. He, too, has secrets, although I figured out what they were long before Raina did. Still, despite his past, he comes off as a very tender, sexy man, and I loved watching him discover love. Naturally, when these two damaged people come together, their union is explosively passionate.

The secondary characters were introduced well, and though I hope some of them get their own stories, I never felt that the sequel-baiting was obvious. My only real quibble with characterization was that I found Duncan Bane to be over the top in his villainousness. The only thing he could have done to make himself appear even more cheesy would have been for him to kick a puppy.

The plot is exciting and moves along at a brisk enough pace that I was able to enjoy it. The climactic scenes were just as exciting as one could hope for, and the story resolves itself in such a way that it’s obvious there will be a sequel, though the main story of Raina and Wizard is over for now.

This book has everything I enjoy in my paranormal romance–a well-realized and unusual setting, two great and compelling characters, and lots of action. It didn’t quite have that spark that indicates an A book and it took me just a shade too long to get into it, but when I finally got invested, I very much enjoyed the story and definitely think it deserves the praise it has received.

Grade: B

Read other reviews of this book from Alicia and Gwen

Summary:
ROAD WARRIOR
Raina Bowen knows she can handle herself just fine against anything the harsh Northern Waste throws at her. Until it throws her an enigmatic stranger called Wizard. First, she has to haul him out of a brawl he can’t hope to win. And next, her libido is shooting into overdrive at the feel of his hard body pressed against hers on the back of her snowscooter. But there’s something not quite right about this guy. Before she can strip bare Wizard’s secrets, they’re lured into a race for their lives, battling rival truckers, ice pirates…and a merciless maniac with a very personal vendetta.
Read an excerpt

Hidden by Eve Kenin, new from Shomi out in **July 2008**

Tatiana has honed her genetic gifts to perfection. She can withstand the subzero temperatures of the Northern Waste, read somebody’s mind with the briefest touch, and slice through bone with her bare hands. Which makes her one badass chick, all right. Nothing gets to her.

Until she meets Tristan. Villain or ally, she can’t be sure. But one thing she does know: he has gifts too- including the ability to ramp up her heart rate to dangerous levels. But before they can start some chemistry of their own, they have to survive being trapped in an underground lab, hunted by a madman, and exposed to a plague that could destroy mankind.

Prologue

Sub-basement, Janson Transport Head Office, Port Uranium, January, 2088

Blood had its own scent. Metallic, sharp. Faintly sweet.

Tatiana raised her hand to her cheek, beyond pain, almost beyond thought. There would be more. With Duncan Bane, there was always more.

To make you stronger. To make you invincible. Bane’s justification. And the simple truth. But Tatiana wasn’t like Wizard or Yuriko. She didn’t recover as quickly as her siblings. She bruised easier. Her bones broke where Wizard’s and Yuriko’s bent to absorb the force.

And Bane had been particularly brutal this session.

“Because you are soon to go on your first mission,” he explained in that soft, soft cultured voice, pacing a straight line before the three of them. He paused, touched Tatiana on the shoulder. She shuddered, but knew better than to pull away. “This will ensure that you are ready, that you survive. You”-he spun toward Wizard-”will be the commander, and a commander must be able to make rapid decisions.”

Another step, and Bane stood in front of Yuriko. Running his finger along her cheek, he smiled as she jerked away. “So decide now, Wizard. Who will be subjected to ten more minutes?”

Tatiana choked back a plea. Please. I can’t. I can’t-

She shook her head, struggled to focus. The room felt too big, too bright, and this all felt so familiar, like she had been here many times before. She knew what Wizard would say even before the words left his lips.

“Me. I will take the ten minutes.”

She let out a dry sob. Wizard. Her brother, so logical even in this. He would take the blows because he was the most physically resilient. And because he would stand before her and take them in her stead.

Yuriko was like him. Clean and linear in thought and action.

But Tatiana…

Bane laughed as he stared at Wizard, the sound hollow, echoing off the bare walls, echoing in her darkest dreams.

Yes, just a dream. It must be.

“You are the commander,” he said. “The fastest. The strongest. You have the best chance of finishing your mission. I may send you out tonight, before you have time to heal, though. Choose the weakest, Wizard. A good commander knows when to calculate the odds, when to sacrifice for the good of the mission.”

“Wizard…save her. Please. She has a chance,” Yuriko’s normally cool tone was laced with despair, with pain, and Tatiana’s heart shattered as it did each time the nightmares sank her to this place, to the deep dark of her soul, the coldest part of her memories. Because in begging Wizard to save Tatiana, Yuriko had doomed herself.

Bane would set loose his brutality on her.

Trembling, Tatiana swayed on her feet, her swollen lips working as she tried to form the words…What words? Did she mean to offer herself to Bane’s fists, or to sacrifice her sister?

Again came the eerie, frightening sensation of familiarity and the terrifying knowledge that she had lived these moments again and again, that the outcome was always the same.

The walls around her shimmered and danced, and she heard voices, saw lights. They were wrong. They had no place here.

She had no place here. None of it was real.

Heart racing, palms damp, Tatiana began to run, her feet pounding against the cold stone floor, hard, fast, only she didn’t move at all. Her limbs pumped as hard and as fast as they could, and still she stayed in one place, trapped in the past.

She only needed to pull free, come awake, and they would be gone, the pain, the memories, the horror. But neither the bonds of sleep nor the terrors that dwelled in her memories eased to set her free. They held her in tight tendrils that dragged her back and pulled her into a place she had no wish to be.

Wizard…save her. Please. She has a chance.

Yuriko’s voice, low, urgent.

Bound in the barbed web of events that had played out long ago, Tatiana thrashed and flailed. A dream. A dream. It was only a dream.

“Calculate the odds,” Bane ordered.

Tatiana’s breath came in short, huffing pants. She couldn’t push any sound past the lump in her throat. Coward. She was a coward. Weak.

Hazy, unfocused, she shifted her gaze to Wizard. Silently she pleaded for…what? What did she want him to do? What could he do?

The outcome was always the same. She had been powerless to change it then, powerless to change it now.

“Choose.” Bane whispered the word against Wizard’s ear.

For the first time in her recollection, her brother hesitated.

Choose. Choose. Choose.

And then Bane’s face melted like wax in a flame, shifting, changing, until it was a different man who chained her, a different man who stood looking down at her wanting to master her, to use her, to twist what she was for his own gain.

She had thought Bane the face of purest evil. But she’d been wrong. So wrong.

Gavin Ward. Dr. Gavin Ward.

He was here for her. Her time was up.

Sweating, screaming, Tatiana bolted upright, the dream so real that she smelled the stink of her own fear, felt the sting of the blows in her cheek, her jaw, as though they had landed minutes rather than years past. Felt the pain of knowing that her weakness had cost her sister her life.

Yuriko. Oh, God. Yuriko.

Dragging her knees up, Tatiana wrapped her arms around them, and lowered her forehead. She closed her eyes, shuddering in the cold and the darkness, fighting the memories, the anguish, the fear.

A nightmare, she told herself. Only a nightmare.

But it wasn’t.

Because as she raised her head, she saw him, there, in the shadows, just beyond the bars that caged her. Gavin Ward was there. Watching.

And the light glinted off the scalpel in his hand.

© Eve Eve Silver 2008. All rights reserved

** doesn’t it just make you WANT it now… don’t worry July isn’t THAT far away… and if you haven’t picked up Driven yet WHAT are you waiting for? Do keep in mind you do NOT HAVE to read Driven by Eve Kenin before reading Hidden. They take place in the same world are NOT sequels.

But if you are now dying to read this and haven’t read Driven yet, check out our reviews here and here. You can thank us later .

Alicia’s review of Driven by Eve Kenin
Sci-Fi/Speculative Romance released by Shomi on 28 Aug 07

Have you ever let a book get pushed off and pushed off? Not for any good reason, you just don’t get to it? When you finally read it did you ever really regret not reading it sooner? Sybil keeps asking me, “Have you read Driven, yet? You’re gonna’ love it!” Do I have to tell her she was right, again, or can we just keep this between us?

I finally picked up Driven because I wanted to get Sybil off my back it read before Hidden. I am now kicking myself for waiting because this is an awesome book. Plot, characters, dialogue, setting… all wonderful. Not to mention, finally I got a Shomi that’s not in first person!

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Driven is a fast paced book. Things start happening at the very beginning and they don’t ever stop for long. The way
Kenin describes the scenes kept me enthralled. The massive machines these people were using to move across the arctic waste were real to me. They are almost characters in the story. The futuristic advances were just unusual enough to fascinate me but never enough to get in the way.

Raina is a tough woman. She’s a loner because she’s sick of losing people she cares about. She also has to keep a low profile because she’s hiding from a very powerful person. She just wants to enter this race, win the prize money and scoot outta’ town. Things aren’t going to go exactly the way she has planned.

Wizard, the hero, is unusual. You get the feeling he’s a little odd when you meet him. He only gets more so as you get to know him. That’s okay, though, because he’s great in the story and perfect for Raina. Quirky heroes are a passion of mine, especially when they have a strong moral code, are tough on bad guys and have a soft spot for kids. So what if he needs to learn a little about the definition of “romance”? (This last part refers to a scene that made me laugh until tears were streaming down my face.)

I usually try to list some of the good qualities of a book and some of the bad. I just can’t think of anything to put in the minus column, here. Maybe that it didn’t jump into my hands and demand to be read sooner?

Grade: A+

Read Gwen’s review here.

ROAD WARRIOR. Raina Bowen knows she can handle herself just fine against anything the harsh Northern Waste throws at her. Until it throws her an enigmatic stranger called Wizard. First, she has to haul him out of a brawl he can’t hope to win. And next, her libido is shooting into overdrive at the feel of his hard body pressed against hers on the back of her snowscooter. But there’s something not quite right about this guy. Before she can strip bare Wizard’s secrets, they’re lured into a race for their lives, battling rival truckers, ice pirates…and a merciless maniac with a very personal vendetta.

Read an excerpt.

Driven by Eve Kenin is the most recent title from the new Shomi line published by Dorchester. And it is the first book in the line to not use 1st person, so if that has been holding you back from trying Shomi out. Go and read the first chapter, it will leave you wanting more.

Something Dorchester is getting better and better at is bringing nifty special features to the readers. Some are amusing, some are informative, some are silly but most of them give you a better idea of if you would like the book.

A lil inside info on Driven from Eve Kenin

If I had to sum up SHOMI in three words, I’d say: Innovative. Riveting. Romance.

If I had to sum up DRIVEN, I’d use the line my editor coined: post-apocalyptic, trans-Siberian trucker tale. Surprising, and a little out there? Yeah, just a little.

The truth is, this story kinda took me by surprise. When I started DRIVEN, I was writing dark historical Gothics (under the name Eve Silver) and a futuristic, kick-butt tale laced with sci-fi is about as far to the other end of the spectrum as a person can get.

Read the rest here and if you haven’t already, go check out Gwen’s review.

You can find all the Shomi posts from the the Shomi author guest days (and some info on upcoming Shomi books) here.

Gwen’s review of Driven by Eve Kenin
Futuristic romance published 28 Aug 07 by Shomi/Lovespell

Holy icicles, Batman! This futuristic/sci-fi/urban-like romance was a total treat to read! The heroine is a kickass, vulnerable but competent woman named Raina. The hero is an emotionally buttoned-down, kickass but controlled hunk named Wizard. And in this book, they kick ass and take names together, all while falling in love and, naturally, saving a large portion of the world.

When the book opens we find ourselves in the not too distant future of an Earth that has gone thru a few cataclysmic changes in weather and government. Raina Bowen is alone in this post-apocalyptic world, an independent trucker in a world driven by Big Government and even Bigger Business. She has a spine of steel and a moral code she won’t break for anyone, including herself.

Fate and some Machiavellian planning throws her together with Wizard. He’s almost as alone in the world as Raina and is driven by his own internal demons. He’s a hyper-trained assassin who has compartmentalized himself so much, he almost seems a cyborg. We find out he’s just a good looking, slightly odd guy with a non-traditional upbringing. Wizard wants to use Raina to help him catch a really bad guy – a bad guy who also happens to be Raina’s enemy and worst nightmare.

The story unfolds and unfolds and unfolds. You’re never left thinking, “C’mon, get on with it already.” In fact, you almost want it to slow down a bit to let us see more Raina & Wizard action. But, somehow, Kenin finds a balance between emotional development, character development, and plot development, all while telling a rockin’ good tale.

If you’re an urban romance fan, an action romance fan, or a sci-fi romance fan, you’ll LOVE this book. Even if you’re not sure if those are the genres for you, I still recommend this book. It’s some hellagood storytelling. Two weeks ago, if you had told me I’d like a book about “truckers” this much, I’d have laughed and said no way. If I had kept that mindset, I’d have missed one of the better books I’ve read this year.

Grade: A

Here’s the book blurb:

ROAD WARRIOR
Raina Bowen knows she can handle herself just fine against anything the harsh Northern Waste throws at her. Until it throws her an enigmatic stranger called Wizard. First, she has to haul him out of a brawl he can’t hope to win. And next, her libido is shooting into overdrive at the feel of his hard body pressed against hers on the back of her snowscooter. But there’s something not quite right about this guy. Before she can strip bare Wizard’s secrets, they’re lured into a race for their lives, battling rival truckers, ice pirates…and a merciless maniac with a very personal vendetta.

Read an excerpt (it’s the kick-butt first chapter – it will leave you breathless).

Next up for this author:
1 Oct 07

Tell me what to expect from Shomi in three words…

Ground-breaking. Riveting. Romance.

I see SHOMI books as romance at the cutting edge, romance with unique and previously unexplored elements. I know, I know, that’s more than three words, but how to contain my excitement about this line within the boundaries of limited space, LOL!?

What attracted you to the line… 

I wrote DRIVEN before I ever heard about SHOMI. This was the story that allowed me to explore character development and growth in a frozen wasteland, an environment so barren and sterile that it was an enormous contrast to human emotion. I knew when I wrote it that the book might have trouble finding a home because it was so different than my other work, but I was driven to write it nonetheless. (By the way, that’s how I came up with the title. Not only did it suit the story, but it suited the process that was involved in the writing of it.)

When I gave this manuscript to my amazing agent, she was determined to find the right placement for it. She was the one who found the editor this story needed to have, the editor whose enthusiasm for this book matched my own. And it was my brilliant editor who recognized that DRIVEN was meant to be a SHOMI book. When she told me about the line, the vision for it, the idea of edgy romance where anything is possible, my heart started to pound. This was it. This was DRIVEN‘s home.

Is your story a Romance? Where are you on the ever popular HEA debate?

Yes, my story is a romance, and a kick-butt, action-adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, futuristic, alternate-reality tale. But it is a romance. I started reading romance novels when I was a teen, and those books, complete with the HEA, have helped me through the black moments of my life. I love reading romance. I love writing romance. And I love the HEA. Right now, I have no desire to write endings any other way.

What is a Kick Ass Heroine?

A kick-butt heroine is one who can handle absolutely anything. Not that it’s easy for her… but she’ll find a way to handle it. Her physical strength and ability to take care of herself is only part of the package, though. She has incredible mental acuity and strength of character; these traits allow her to face the most insurmountable obstacles. And she has failings, human weaknesses and hidden frailties that make her all the more appealing. Raina Bowen, the heroine of DRIVEN, has her share of failings, and that’s why I like her so much, respect her, enjoyed every moment of getting to know her.
What’s up next for you? And why will I want it NOW!

In addition to Eve Kenin’s DRIVEN, due on shelves September 2007, I have two other books coming out in the summer/fall, written as my alter ego, Eve Silver.

First up is DARK PRINCE, a brooding, historical gothic tale set on Cornwall’s coast, coming August 2007. Then in October 2007, my first dark, sexy paranormal, DEMON’S KISS will hit shelves. Check out excerpts of all my books at http://www.evekenin.com or http://www.evesilver.net

I’m hard at work on my next Eve Kenin book for Shomi, as well as another Eve Silver gothic, and book two of my demon series.