Title: Hellcat’s Bounty
Series: Rosewood Space Western, Book 1
Author: Renae Jones
Genre: Science Fiction, F/F Romance
Sensuality Rating: Steamy
Source: bought
Published: October 7, 2014 (self-published)
The hellcat of Rosewood station is the best of the best. Anelace Rios is a good old-fashioned troublemaker, fiercely independent, and best of all, a steady hand with a flamethrower. Carnivorous amoeba are slowly taking over the half-abandoned mining port, and the freelance exterminator rakes in big bounties killing them off—then she spends those bounties in a grand way. Work hard, play hard.
Meidani Sintlere's reputation is exactly the opposite of her wild friend. She's the station’s hardworking black market doctor. She’s shy. She's nice. She's got a weakness for imported chocolate and pastel dresses. And she gets mad as a sani-vacced cat when Anelace shows up missing chunks of skin.
The hellcat never lacks for a willing partner. Even so, Meidani's got notions to cut to the front of the line and stay there. She upends everything Anelace knows about good girls and the bad girls who don’t deserve them, and in a blisteringly hot night they go from friends to lovers.
But their new closeness forces the kind of reckoning even tough Anelace can't escape unscathed. She thrives on her job, relishes the payoff, but now she's endangering more than her own adrenaline-junkie hide—every run risks Meidani’s happiness. For the first time, Anelace is risking her shot at love.
Reviewed by: Lesley
Why I Read This Book: Lesbian space western. How could I not want to read this book?!
What I Liked: I was so optimistic about Hellcat’s Bounty. I love a sci-fi that’s gritty and dirty rather than stark and shiny. This has a classic old western feel but is set in space with an alien amoeba-creature foe. I really, really wanted to like this one. And I did like some of the elements of the world Jones has created. There were some interesting moments and settings, but they just weren’t strong enough. Anelace’s scene clearing the station farm was exciting, unique and interesting. And there was also one particularly a well done sex scene between Anelace and Meidani where their emotions are ramped up and the chemistry is hot. Unfortunately, that’s where it stopped for me.
What I Didn’t Like: On the surface it sounded like everything I could want: fun, sexy, quirky, grimy. However, it just seemed to come up short for me. The characters fell flat with Anelace falling into the tough-as-nails, risk taking, love-em-and-leave-em mold, and Meidani taking up the innocent, timid, emotional spot. I wanted more depth from both of them, as it was they came off as somewhat cookie-cutter in their roles. It seemed like there might have been more to Meidani’s character trying to come through, but we only get the story from Anelace’s POV and see Meidani through her perspective. I think getting Meidani’s POV too might have helped round it out a bit.
I also felt like there wasn’t enough build up to the relationship between Anelace and Meidani. They weren’t together, they went on a date, then we flash forward to them being in a full-fledged relationship. It just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. This, in addition to a relatively weak plot, left me disinterested.
Overall Impression: I was so excited about a space western with a lesbian romance, but Hellcat’s Bounty was just not strong enough for me. I needed more from the characters, a stronger plot, and a more fleshed out romance.
Lesley’s Rating:
I'm really sorry to hear that this one didn't work out. I was really excited when I first started to read this review. Like you said, "Lesbian space western. How could I not want to read this book?!" I'm a very character driven reader, if the characters aren't good, I won't like it. Oh well, better luck next time.
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