Love and War

The Complete Series, Books 1-5

By: R. A. Stefan

Narrated by: Gwendolyn Druyor

They’re fighting on the same side.

They just don’t know it yet.

Skye Chantrell has just escaped a war zone. She’s carrying the stolen antidote to a deadly bioweapon.

When her damaged shuttle crashes on a remote lunar outpost, she’s captured by the leader of a rogue group of alien vigilantes. Now her people’s survival - not to mention her own - rests in the hands of the Seven Systems’ most feared and hated fugitives.

Hunter Tarthasian and his ragtag band of revolutionaries have every reason to hate the corrupt Ilarian Regime. Branded as criminals, hunted like animals, they’ve holed up in an abandoned outpost to plan their next move.

The last thing they need is a female human civvy with a terrible secret crash-landing on their doorstep. Especially when she starts to awaken feelings in Hunter that have no place in his life as a rebel leader.

Feelings that could very easily get all of them killed.

Join USA Today best-selling author R. A. Steffan for this sizzling new sci-fi romance series.

Buy the complete boxset today, and follow five fearless rebels through a futuristic dystopian nightmare as they work to stop genocide plotted by an evil dictator. They never expected to survive the revolution - much less find love along the way.

Strap in tight, because all's fair in love and war.

©2019 OtherLove Publishing, LLC (P)2019 OtherLove Publishing, LLC

good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

Exciting SFR set

This five-volume edition of the Love and War series is chock full of scifi action and romance. The mission is to overthrow an alien regime, and the people to make it happen are a group of humans and aliens who will do anything it takes, risking life, limb, and so much more.

Each story could stand alone, but since they are built upon each other, it is best to read or listen to them all. It will give you your best experience, and the pacing is so fast, it’s a breeze to experience it all.

Because these books come from RA Steffan, they have things that are hallmarks of her style. The action can be swashbuckling, even in space. The main characters are damaged but find understanding in their love interests. The sex scenes are always well-written and truly forward the plot. Each of the couples in the five books features people from different species. Their love-making style is also appropriately different while still fitting the rules of the world.

There might be some readers who hesitate to try this book because it does have a romance aspect, but you’ll get fun scifi romps through topics like virology, bioethics, nanotechnology, espionage, and diplomacy. The characters never lose sight of the big plot: saving each other and saving a planet from a horrible dictatorship.

The audiobook is narrated by Gwendolyn Druyor, who is the go-to voice of RA Steffan. Druyor is an excellent narrator. I found her voices for Cade and Drax too close to each other (a very tight in the jaw sound with those characters). Otherwise, everyone sounded unique, and she is so good that it’s like listening to a radio play.

Yes, I recommend this. You’ll get to learn a large cast of people who care for each other and the world. If you have also read Steffan and Woolf’s Circle of Blood series, it has a similar feel despite different genres. (Circle of Blood can be considered paranormal or fantasy.) If you liked the writing in one of those series, definitely listen to the other.

loved it

Love and war was an epic series, with twists and turns. Loved the writing, loved the narration. Gwendolyn really brings the book to life with different accents and tones .

Wonderful!

Love and War don’t go hand-in-hand, but with this series, they certainly do!

It was so hard to put this series down, and I certainly didn’t want it to end. Sky’s story was so sweet, Ryder’s was a beautiful memorial, Pax’s so unexpected, Ash’s was heartbreaking and tear-jerking, and Kade’s funny and sweet as well.
Through it all we see the characters grow and thrive, even though some of them have such harsh hands dealt to them, even if it was by their own hands...
Between the fast pace, the steamy sex, and amazing plot, I would definitely recommend!

War with some love stories

This was such a well conceptualized story that flowed from one to another. I was not sure about this book because there was only a summary of the first book. The war storyline was very consistent in the book and the love stories were a small part of it. The characters were relatable and deeply flawed. The diversity of the character and love stories was endearing . The author interweaves a cultural and society aspect to the story bringing it to life and it felt real.The story is about a colony in which humans coexist with an alien species. There is an ongoing civil war including xenophobia and genocide.

1. Hunter and Skye m/f
2. Temple and Ryder m/f
3. Pax and Nahleen mf
4.Ash and Draven m/m
5. Kade and Isadora m/f

Ash and Draven was my first m/m and it was so well written that this was probably the most romantic book albeit it contains graphic sex abuse scenes that could be triggering. Honestly I cried for Ash and Draven.
All the books were excellent but if I had to pick my favorite stories were book 2,3 and 4. The war story was pretty consistent in the book and sometimes the love stories felt like a side show. The author only develops the character till they hook up then moves on swiftly to another story. There are many tensions left unresolved though it’s HEA guaranteed.

My favorite stories were book 2,3 and 4.

The narration was well done and Gwendolyn diversified her voice for each character. Though the vfid sounded like they were from Russia or the eastern block.

Action packed

R.A. Steffan is a story telling wizard. After listening to The Horse mistress series and loving it, I jumped at the chance to review Love and War. It's very different from The horse mistress but just as good. It's definitely action packed with a budding romance. Oh and knotting!! Gwendolyn Druyor is the perfect match for R.A. Steffan because she is a voice wizard. She gives each character a different voice effortlessly and this book has about 6 MC's. I received this book at my request in exchange for an honest review and I'd absolutely recommend using a credit. It's books1-3 so you get 3 for one credit but honestly even if it was just one of them I'd still recommend it. Oh and if you've not yet listened to The Horse Whisper, it's worth a credit too

Title is on the nose - collection is well worth it

“… help me get this blasted shoulder back in its socket, so I can kick your … A”
Ash: “If you need your arm for kicking, I think you’re doing it wrong.”
This series didn’t start off quite right for me. Perhaps it was because book 1 starts off like many alien romance books, with a human damsel and the notorious criminal Rook, a dark, dangerous alpha alien. Thus, I was waiting for the sizzle, but was disappointed with the unsexy voicing for Rook/Hunter and the weepy, overly emotive voicing for Skye. I wanted camp and smolder, but instead got sarcasm and angst.
I also craved more detail for the setting, alien culture and foils, but instead only got breadcrumbs about a world now home to two refugee alien species, human and Viithii, with the Viithii extremists turning the planet against the humans.

Ash: “ bonus points for not beating around the bush, I suppose. Big penalty for lack of tact.”
Having completed the series, I can’t tell you much about the aliens’ culture or appearance, except as it relates to their private parts, bed play, and mating customs. There’s very little screen time with villains, leaving mostly the faceless Regime for our MCs to go up against. The world-wide conflicts get wrapped too quickly and conveniently. The love also came awfully quick for the four out of five pairs that first meet as each book progresses.

And yet…

“Witness my deep and abounding sympathy,” Ash said, expressionless.
By the end of book 1, I was crafting my okay rating. Then, book 2 got its hooks in me. By book 3, I had mad respect for the original characters. Book 4 was a jagged little pill in the best heart-wrenching way.
When book 5 ended, I immediately wishlisted the author’s other series. This isn’t campy alien romance or hard sci-fi; this is sci-fi love and war with fantastically original plots, couples, and sex (albeit generally only one full-on scene per book). There’s a strong science element, with drones, experimental drugs, and cyborgs. Also, the tone of each book varies and yet also contributes to an overall Firefly vibe, which is to say mostly an adventurous ride with some mouth to bite the dark bits.

⛔️ Warnings: it’s powerfully and respectfully done, but there’s plot lines involving sex abuse, lost children/parents/etc, torture and war (the title of the series should be a clue). Most of the treatment is outweighed by the romance and action, except in book 4, where getting past sexual trauma is central to the romance.

Book 1 Antidote: human Skye, alien Hunter, aka The Rook⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s Mission Impossible as the rogues try to avert bioengineered catastrophe.

Book 2 Antigen: alien female Ryder, human male (and Black/Asian) Temple⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shades of Guardians of the Galaxy’s prison break.

Book 3 Antibody: alien (and telepath) Nahlene, cyborg Pax⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A little on the cerebral side, but I dug the ride down the rabbit hole, and the horror vibe.

Book 4: Antihelion: alien gutter rat Draven, human (and favorite series character) Ash ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ash has taken one honey trap mission too many, but Draven is just the alien to salvage his soul.
This MM romance is the darkest of the five books, but also the most powerful.

Book 5: Antagonist: human (and former soldier) Isadora, alien (and silver fox) Kade⭐️⭐️⭐️
The romance involving Kade, a drug addicted former POW, is a long, slow burn that feels more secondary to wrapping up the war plot, which happens too quickly to pack an emotional punch. I was also a little disappointed that the previous couples had such small roles in this finale book. The ravages of war aren’t sufficiently balanced with action or humor.

awesome series

As always the Authors imagination and world building makes the story. The narrator is also exceptional .

Great series

Fell in love with all of the characters and how they stumbled along in their relationships. It was nice to see couples together as the storyline moves along in each book. I’m in the middle of the last book, Book 5, but had to stop and share.

Too much grief and trauma for me.

Alas this series has too much drama for me.
I made it halfway through book 4 before I gave up. (listened to some other books in between to try to break up the drama)
Of the 3,5 books I’ve listened to, each and every one is drenched in grief, trauma and/or guilt. Even the sex scenes revolve around (overcoming) these negative emotions.
This prevented me from fully enjoying the story, romance and sex (I did like the alien anatomy/ knotting part)

For me there was too little humor, lightheartedness, fun, positivity, feel-good stuff.
There is already so much negativity and drama in real life, this series was not a good match for me right now.

The narration is excellent.
I did find that after hours and hours of listening, some male voices irritated me a bit.
As long as those characters were side characters it didn’t bother me at all (them having less lines), but when they became the main character of the next book, the gruffy (and in 1 case cyborg) voices were a bit too much for me.

I did listen to almost 30 hours, so I’m definitely not saying this is a bad series. Not at all.
If you like/ don’t mind drama in your sci-fi romances, you should definitely check this series out.
Getting the entire series for just 1 credit is a very nice deal.

I got this Audio Book for free (thanks!). I'm voluntarily leaving this review.
Opinions and ratings are my own and not influenced by how I got the Audio Book.