The Last Marine Sci-Fi/Romance
Cara Crescent Books
December 23, 2015
298
Review by Charlayne Elizabeth Denney
Reviewer for the Paranormal Romance Guild
Earth has gone utopia under Alfred Parnell. His ability to persuade others has resulted in the world governments, and their militaries, uniting under him into the United Nations. Now all military are the Blue Helmets, all people living happy, clean, and free.
But Griffin Jude Payne knows this is all a lie. As a U.S. Marine, the last Marine, he has been involved in removing undesirables from the Earth, putting them in rockets to the planet of Asteria. The old, the sick, those who don’t agree with the Parnell government all go to the ultimate prison off-world.
He knows how ruthless Parnell is, he’s not blinded by the man’s persuasion, especially not after the U.N. fragged the base where Griffin lived and worked. Now he knows there’s only one way to stop what is happening—kill Alfred Parnell.
But that didn’t stop it. Parnell’s death just got him caught and convicted and sent to Asteria.
In the ship with him, in the escape pod when the ship caught fire, is Prudence Angelica Parnell, the alien wife of the late Alfred Parnell. When they land on Asteria, she takes off across the hostile desert to find a way to start a new life and Griffin follows her to help her. His aim is to get her settled, find his brother, and go back to Earth to end the false utopia that her husband had built up.
But Angel is the hitch in that plan, everything about her screams sensuality and Griffin’s body keeps telling him that she’s “the one”. Try as both might, they are drawn to each other and when they do find Griffin’s brother, the choice of what to do looks like it may just have to change.
The Last Marine is a very good combination of science fiction and romance. Griffin is the usual big, strong, determined Marine, Angel is the soft yet tough woman who is destined to turn his heart. While the love story is pretty much typical romance fair, the strength of the characters carries the storyline well and makes you want to root for the couple, even if Griffin’s plan to go back and start the war would pull them apart.
There is one caution: she goes into detail about some of the sick things Parnell and his brother do to gain and keep control of Earth. It’s not pretty and it can be disturbing. The fact that Cara Crescent doesn’t shy away from those things gives the reader the reasons to dislike the utopia.
The Last Marine is a lovely read.