Cold Seduction – Zoe Ashwood

Ice Planet Rendu
3

She escaped Earth and ran across galaxies…into his arms. Hanne won’t return to Earth. Ever. No matter that the rest of the human delegation is flying back from Rendu and she is one of the few humans to remain on this strange, frozen planet. What awaits her back home is way worse than any ice storm…or the brooding alien general she can’t stop thinking about. Lhett knows he’s far from being anyone’s idea of a happy ending. His scars are enough to send people running, and his moods scare away the rest. But he can at least make sure that the stubborn human scientist doesn’t die on his watch, even if she drives him crazy with her visits to the planet’s steamiest appliance store. When the heat between them rises to battle even the brutally cold nights, Hanne and Lhett discover that some scars don’t show up on skin. And opening old wounds is more painful than they ever imagined. Can love between a human woman and a hulking alien male beat the odds?

This book contains:

Mentions previous cheating in a relationship
Very detailed descriptions of domestic violence (emotional and financial control, not physical abuse)
Brush with death
Description of a massacre.

Hanne escaped her prior relationship by finding a place on the expedition to Rendu. In a bid to keep the freedom she’s found, she chooses to stay on Rendu and make a life for herself. She’s incredibly stubborn and refuses to allow others to help her, even when she desperately needed, thanks to the trauma she’s experienced in the past.

Lhett is an army general, stoic, very closed off and doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t feel like he deserves to have a happy life, but does everything he can to ensure the safety of those he loves and cares about. While we don’t find out why he’s as scarred and closed off as he is until right near the end, he has a very good reason for keeping to himself.

Hanne has decided not to return to Earth and begins making a life for herself on Rendu. She’s fighting her attraction to Lhett in every way and is finally giving in when her past catches up to her and threatens everything she’s achieved and possibly even everyone on Rendu.

Lhett is consumed with guilt for actions in his past but also can’t seem to keep himself away from Hanne even though he doesn’t understand her at all. He just wants to keep her safe, yet everything he does seems to push her further away.

As the final book in the trilogy – and long awaited too! – we round off the partnering up of the ad Naals brothers with yet another tricky situation that could put the new alliance with Earth in danger. Only this time the danger isn’t an orchestrated political game, it’s a personal vendetta.

To begin with, it was just your regular two stubborn characters refusing to communicate to find their way to each other. But as we learn more and more about each of them, the drama unfolds and suddenly you’re sucked in and can’t put the book down because you don’t know how they’ll work through it.

I was a bit worried that because of how much time had passed between the first two and this final book, it might be a bit disjointed and might not have the same political intrigue, action and romance as the others. But I shouldn’t have worried. Zoe pulled it off and I could barely put it down once I started it.