Vanessa Brooks is an author I usually associate with historical romance so it’s exciting to see her hanging out in the Sci Fi speculative fiction section of the virtual bookstore. She absolutely does not disappoint.
Their Possession is set 300 years from now in a world depleted and scarred from multiple wars, Alisha has only ever known a cosseted world in The Hive, a high-tech sky city populated and ruled by women. Unbeknownst to Alisha, another civilization exists directly below her on the surface of the Earth.
When Alisha literally plummets into that world, she has a lot of learning to do. And fast. Luckily, Brett and Hudson, two brothers who rescue her from her fallen sky pod are the very men to teach her. These lessons often come by way of a good old-fashioned spanking. This is a Vanessa Brooks novel, after all. And, as always, she delivers beautifully when it comes to ensuring her heroine gets repeatedly and deservedly spanked.
Women are in short supply on Surface World, which is bad news for the future inhabitants but great news for lovers of reverse harem stories. Wives are expected to have multiple husbands (or ‘husdoms’ as they are pleasingly called throughout the book) in order to do their bit for ensuring the world gets repopulated. (And also ensuring that everybody gets lots of hot, sexy sex all the time.)
Alisha is assigned to Brett and Hudson for a month-long trial period. And what a busy month she has! in addition to all the spankings and three-way sex with her husdoms, she has to learn the ways of her new society, discover the truth about her old world, uncover secrets and basically become Saviour of the World. Luckily with the support (and supportive spankings) of Brett and Hudson, she rises to the challenge admirably.
Brooks has put everything in place for future books in this series. The book ends with the possibility of other Hive women voluntarily opting for the lifestyle that Alisha had thrust upon her. The world-building in ‘Their Possession’ is neatly done with the promise of more reveals down the line.
The two worlds depicted do seem tiny though. It’s hard to imagine the joint populations of The Hive and the surface community consisting of more than a few hundred people. Human beings are, it seems, as rare as white rhinos in 2310. No wonder everybody is obsessed with breeding!
This book is a delight from beginning to end. The fast-moving sci fi plot and copious amounts of sex and spanks are well balanced and integrated and both are integral to the story. It left me both satisfied and fizzing with anticipation at the prospect of re-joining this well-drawn world in future books. More please!
Their Possession is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Great review Etta. Well done, Vanessa. This sounds like a great read.