Femme Metal

Alexandra Novona, called Captain Steel, pilots her ship, the Femme Metal, of highly trained extraction specialists; she does the job without fail and is damn good at it to boot. She delivers escorts to the brothel-ships and does so with little thought to what happens to them after she gets her money. When, during her and her girls’ celebration for a mission well-accomplished, she meets an alien Yithian, she is first stunned at his boldness, then aroused at his obvious skill. Interrupted by a disturbance caused by her girls, somehow the Yithian slips away in the crowd, leaving Alex disgusted with herself and on fire for this strange man.

Upon returning to the ship, she’s amazed to discover a new job waiting for her and her crew. This one will earn her enough to retire on, but it’s much more dangerous as she’s to seize and deliver someone from a race she’s never before captured. But something goes horribly wrong, and the captor becomes the captured...then the real story begins.

Nathalie Gray’s Femme Metal is a fascinating and otherworldly tale of aliens, lust and betrayal. Alex is an incredible character, all prickly crabbiness and deadly skill, while Sekmeth is magnetic and dangerously talented. Watching these two was like watching a joust – you know there’s going to be a big crash in the end, but you can’t tear your eyes away. Lushly evocative with incredibly detailed eroticism, Femme Metal pleases as Nathalie Gray weaves riveting and delicious main characters with a plot line worthy of a re-read or four. I’d love to see the supporting character Kim get her own book; she was well-drawn and had unplumbed depths. Put Femme Metal on the top of your “To Be Read” pile and just see if your new favorite color isn’t blue when you finish reading it!

Reviewed by: Michelle