Review: Turbulence

Turbulence by Lyn Gala

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




I'm the second review on The Romance Review
Fans of Serenity, this is a story for you. Did you like Jane on Serenity? I did. In TURBULENCE, it appears Ms. Gala took a page out of Serenity and created Jaqcs, inspired by Jane.

Jacqs is a man without any pretense. What you see is what you get with him. His sense of logic is refreshing. He's the kind of guy where you always know where you stand. He is also a person who lives in the moment. When he doesn't understand something, he figures it out or determines it isn't worth the time spent. What is really impressive about Jacqs is his ability to work through an issue and make a decisive decision. While a reader could say he is extremely prejudice with the stereotypes he believes, that would be an oversimplification. He is actually very open-minded. He makes up his mind. If new information comes available, he will work through it and determine if he needs to change his stance. I love Jacqs.

Jacqs is a man who does not suffer fools lightly. He is the one who will fight for those who are weaker. A lot of it can be attributed to how he grew up. It's heartbreaking. Yet he isn't a victim. Nor did he turn into someone like his tormentors. Instead, he stuck to his morals even when he probably could have taken the easy way out. He's a man of ethics stuck in a world of selfish lying wimps. I pity Jaqcs and his lack of pretense to help him ease through life. He possesses absolutely no social lubricant. One passage really stuck with me about him when he describes how he doled out justice:

"I dragged him up to the water reserve and shoved his head under. Each time I waited until he lost his breath, until he had to stare at a cold, wet death before I pulled him out. And then I explained that those refugees felt exactly like that--like they were drowning and gasping for one more mouthful of air, never knowing when they weren't going to come up again. (p. 86)"

Ms. Gala does an excellent job world building as well as character building. This world is bleak with aliens overrunning the humans. The humans are losing. Families are torn apart. Despite all of this, there are still humans who persist in making the world a better place.

While this could be a doom and gloom sob story, she balances it with humour and glorious sex. The sex in this story is appealing because it's a journey of erotic awakening. There are many different types of "sexual" categorizations. It's more than just heterosexual, homosexual or bi-sexual. While people are starting to use the terminology pansexual, Ms. Gala invents a few more which are interesting. Is it splitting hairs? Perhaps, but it's fun to see her lexicon and determine where a person fits. For example, this new term "steno" caught my attention. A steno is someone who is attracted to a certain characteristic. It could be physical or not. Turns out, I think I'm just like Jacqs. We are both interested in the same type of person.

Jacqs' love interest is Commander Zeke Waters. Zeke is a war veteran and absolutely divine. When he and Jacqs gets it on, it is fireworks every time. Ms. Gala does a great job of building the sexual tension before she lets it explode. The sensual explosion is delicious and with just the right amount of frequency. By the end of the story, I'm completely enamoured of both Jacqs and Zeke. They are the type of men I wish more people would aspire to be.

While there probably isn't a sequel, it would be fabulous if there would be one. I'd love to read more about Jaqs and Zeke, even if it were just a sexy novella. This sci-fi m/m romance is highly recommended to those who love alpha men with hearts of gold.


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