In the chaos that was my reading list this last year, I almost forgot this book, and that would have been a big mistake. I’m an early admirer of the M/M sci-fi/fantasy novels by Stephanie Burke, and I’m still eagerly waiting for the third instalment in her Space Opera series; Stephanie Burke was among the first, and few, authors of mpreg stories I read, and the quality of her stories are always well above the average. Even if her novels are funny and light romances, you can clearly understand that there was a good research and plotting behind it, a thing that is proved in this same book, at the end you will find a good bibliography helping you understand where Stephanie Burke took inspiration for this original M/M romances.

The story is for sure out of the ordinary: in a fantasy/futuristic world, Astika, a mythological creature from India with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a snake, who can shift in a secondary fully human form, meets his mate in Baltimore (how I like the combination of an ordinary city with fantasy characters); Taza is a sea horse, who can, like Astika, shift in a fully human form, preserving some characteristic from his original form: pretty and huge eyes, long colourful mane and the ability to carry children!

Basically Astika is the unwilling savior of Taza, he was simply talking in a bar when Taza decided that Astika’s back was the right place to attach himself and hide from the man who is hunting him. When Astika, trying more to defend himself than Taza, helps the bartender kicking out the villain, Taza decides Astika is his savior: between the married and un-dead bartender and the unmarried and handsome Astika, the choice is simple and logic. No matter that Astika doesn’t want a mate, he saved Taza and now he is responsible for him. And when it comes out that Astika is as much as noble as Taza (the only heir to an undersea kingdom), the arranged marriage is sponsored also by Astika’s parents, he has no escape.

Truth be told, nor Astika or Taza are really strong and independent heroes, actually they resemble more spoiled rich brats and together they are a pair that will lead for sure to funny situations, while trying to running away from different types of pretender and at the same time spending their “honeymoon” exploring their body differences. The story was mostly light, at times arousing, and for sure original; even if you are usually not a fan of sci-fi/fantasy genre, if you like pretty twinkies, I recommend this one, even if one of the twinkies (Astika) is 7 feet tall!

http://www.loose-id.com/Absolute-Perfection.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Absolute Perfection
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (September 14, 2010)

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Cover Art by Christine M. Griffin