No Master

In the third entry of her Bounty series, d’Abo promises more than she delivers. When former sex slave Zain Strand set out on a mission of revenge, he expected it to be a one-way trip. However, his captain, Korbin, rescues him from certain death and joins Zain’s travel throughout the galaxy. Together they go undercover to infiltrate and destroy a slave-trader meeting, but doing so puts them closer together and makes them more vulnerable than either man is prepared to be. While the erotic content is exciting, the possibilities of fantasy become limited and unfulfilling by the realistic depiction of sexual slavery. And though the resolution is expected, it feels muted and unconvincing due to an array of compromises and denials that occur throughout the narrative. Though the book is serviceable, it fails to reach its potential in terms of emotional and romantic payoff. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (June)