"Sizzling romance, super Sci-Fi tale!!"

Barry, in her first book, shows control, a strong voice and the magical ability to conjure marvelous characters. She 'sees' her alien worlds so she is able to make the readers see them and experience them as well. UNEARTHED is first class romance, but it is also first class science fiction.

Tess' and Cohl's adventure is so charming, so steamy, one of those that lingers in the mind and heart long after the book has been put down. Ms. Barry shows a brilliance for humour and timing, an uncanny ability to add that touch to a tense situation without it slipping over into farce. She creates strong characters that leap off the page and pull you into a super adventure, fraught with space aliens, personal robots with an attitude, tense battles, and a quest that rivals the search for the Holy Grail.

Life moves along rather bumpily for Tess Mackenzie. She does not have very high hopes. Plans for a singing career are heading in the right direction, she has her Darth-Vader-in-fur tomcat to love, her car is still running - barely - and she has just been paid. Then Mr. Ugly-Mugger steps in her path demanding her money, and suddenly, life spins out of control. Fortunately, just as things are starting to get distressing, Tess is rescued. He is tall, dark and handsome. He is everything a woman could dream about with only one wee draw back: he is alien and he just kidnapped her! Tess knew with her luck there HAD to be something wrong with him!

Now hurtling through space, Tess awakens to a new sense of reality. Aliens DO exist. Still, Tess is not too thrilled with the adventure. She has a cat to feed and a career on the edge of taking off, and while sexy space aliens bring to mind all sorts of questions, she would just as soon be returned to terra firma ASAP!

Cohl Travers, the sexy alien in question, has no intention of doing as Tess asks. He explains he abducted her for a reason - to save his father's life. He is a seeker, a finder of lost treasures. On a planet near his, two brothers rule. Not content with ruling half of their world, they both want complete control. One faction asked Cohl to find an amulet famed to bring peace and power to a ruler. He refused, so they kidnapped his father and are holding him hostage until Cohl delivers the lost treasure. Only, locating the amulet is just half the problem. He must have a singer with a precise pitch and quality of voice to sing a song to release the amulet from where it is magically held. And Tess is that singer, the only one in the whole universe with the perfect voice.

Grudgingly, Tess finally agrees to help with finding the amulet, but without Cohl telling her how dangerous the trek could be or that if she fails to sing the song precisely it will result in her death. Oh, well, leave it to a male to neglect 'small details' such as your life hanging by the thread. Nice to know some things do not change even though you are flying through space. However, Tess soon comes to realize the biggest threat is to her heart!

Tess is so charming, so down to earth. She does not want much, just to get back to her cat and her singing career, but she cannot stop herself from being drawn to Cohl. Budding hopes of a romance are nearly dashed when she learns Cohl is a runaway prince from the planet near the warring one. But the heart does not listen. Cohl regrets he is forcing Tess to help, but has little choice with his father's life in the balance. But kidnapping Tess brings a lot of complications. The opposition has found out he is going for the amulet and will do anything to stop him, including kidnapping and killing Tess. Worse, he is feeling really guilty for taking Tess from her life. And despite growing attraction, an attraction he fears is love, he will not stop until his father is freed, risking his life and Tess' in the quest.

It just does not get any better than this!

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted July 12, 2003

Author Interview

Winner of 2003 PEARL Award
- Best Science Fiction Romance

Summary

Life on Earth was just getting interesting for Tess MacKenzie. She'd postponed her singing career to support the family business and after eight long years, she finally earned her chance to shine. Her band was hot, her songs were rocking and Tess was on her way to becoming a star.

Things were definitely looking up.

That is until Cohl Travers, alien extraordinaire, swoops out of the night sky and snatches her off her planet. When he says he desperately needs her voice for a dangerous cosmic mission and the fate of two planets hangs on her song, she figures one of them is in for some serious therapy. Tess soon finds herself up to her neck in smelly bad guys, a robot with a superiority complex, an ancient Amulet that could end her singing career permanently and a man who can burn her from the inside out.

Cohl Travers thought he was free and clear of his destiny to become the next ruler of his planet. But when the warring Trakas abduct his father and hold him hostage for the Amulet, Cohl is dragged back to a fate he does not want with a woman he cannot ignore.

Together, they might defeat the Trakas -- but what is Cohl supposed to do about the feelings that Tess has unearthed in him?