Veronica Scott
Best Selling Science Fiction & Paranormal Romance author and “SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happily Ever After blog, Veronica Scott grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.
I picked ESCAPE FROM ZULAIRE for my giveaway (a signed paperback copy) because it's a 2014 SFR Galaxy Award Winner and it was the write-in final entry for the annual Dear Author/Smart Bitches version of March Madness for authors...so let me thank everyone again for writing the book into the contest! And on the 20th of March 2014, you can vote for the book to win its bracket in Round One, if you'd like, but only from midnight to noon. I'll put the url in a comment below once they open up the voting. But for now and even after the 20th, it's your chance to win the book!
This novel was loosely inspired by the Sepoy Incident of 1857 and the fascination I've always had for what it would be like to suddenly find yourself in the middle of a war, with the very people you'd trusted now the ones trying to kill you. But set in the far future on an alien planet!
Here's the story:
Andi Markriss hasn’t exactly enjoyed being the houseguest of the planetary high-lord, but her company sent her to represent them at a political wedding. When hotshot Sectors Special Forces Captain Tom Deverane barges in on the night of the biggest social event of the summer, Andi isn’t about to offend her high-ranking host on Deverane’s say-so—no matter how sexy he is, or how much he believes they need to leave now.
Deverane was thinking about how to spend his retirement bonus when HQ assigned him one last mission: rescue a civilian woman stranded on a planet on the verge of civil war. Someone has pulled some serious strings to get her plucked out of the hot zone. Deverane’s never met anyone so hard-headed—or so appealing. Suddenly his mission to protect this one woman has become more than just mere orders.
That mission proves more dangerous than he expected when rebel fighters attack the village and raze it to the ground. Deverane escapes with Andi, and on their hazardous journey through the wilderness, Andi finds herself fighting her uncomfortable attraction to the gallant and courageous captain. But Deverane’s not the type to settle down, and running for one’s life doesn’t leave much time to explore a romance.
Then Andi is captured by the rebel fighters, but Deverane has discovered that Zulaire’s so-called civil war is part of a terrifying alien race’s attempt to subjugate the entire Sector. If he pushes on to the capitol Andi will die. Deverane must decide whether to save the woman he loves, or sacrifice her to save Zulaire.
