Hungry

Title: Hungry
Author: Helen Louise Caroll
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: Paranormal M/M, sci fi, fantasy
Length: short story (Amber Kiss, 5k Words)
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Summary Review: A short story with all the elements I look for – terrific characters, good dialogue, excellent pacing, and hot sex that really rocks.

THE BLURB

You can never tell what’s going to come through the Tube: alien tourists, strange artifacts, or one particular alien who’s been feeding your sexual fantasies…

Sometimes a man gets a craving that only one thing will satisfy. Leon has one of those cravings now. As the guardian of a galactic travel device, he meets many aliens, only to see them head off into the vast universe before he can get to know them better. It’s a lonely job that gives Leon a lot of time to think. And to fantasize.

And for the past three years, the subject of Leon’s fantasies has been one Endil Taoi-Sothica, a sexy and tattooed alien linguist who’s never looked twice at him.

Or has he?

This night, Leon decides to find out if Endil’s been hungry for the same thing…

THE REVIEW

This is the second short story that I’ve read by this author in a few days and she definitely knows how to write ‘shorts’. I thought that A Special Birthday reviewed here might be a fluke but I enjoyed Hungry even more. This story definitely had a lot of paranormal elements, unlike the first one which needed just a touch of magic.

As depot manager or guardian on a tiny island on Northern Lake Huron, Liam Galdone’s job was his life and it was a lonely one. Except for an annual inspection, the only time he met anyone they were passing through the Tube on their way to somewhere else, but one traveller had made an impression on him, Anthropological linguist Endil Taoi-Sothica, an alien being about whom he had fantasized for years. On this day there was an unscheduled visitor, and since it was Leon’s job to meet and greet, he went to the Tube to find out which important alien had arrived. When he saw a familiar figure, Liam was overjoyed.

Normally each visitor came through the Tube naked as a condition of the Tubing process, and although he had seen thousands of naked aliens, Endil’s body in a fully aroused state had the power to stimulate him beyond imagination even though he knew that arousal was one of the side effects of Tube travel.

It seemed that Endil had an excellent reason for visiting which he was wasn’t prepared to share right at the moment, but Liam was so overcome all he could think about was his hunger for the alien who made his body sing. But fraternization between guardians and visiting aliens was forbidden so no matter how much Liam wanted Endil he could not do anything about it, however Endil did not appear to be under any such constraint and made his desires clear by showing Liam how hungry he was, and not for food.

This is one of the most unusual stories that I have read and the sexual encounter was definitely the most extraordinary, and I won’t reveal why, except to say that you will be as amazed as I was. The sex was hot and steamy and really out of this world, and the two characters were so incredibly vibrant that their their emotions were leaking. Helen Louise Caroll is such a wonderful writer that she can convey with a growl what other writers need an entire sentence to express.

The characters were exciting, especially Endil, and I was very sorry when the story ended because I wanted a lot more of him and Liam. The emotions were high as they spoke to and made love with each other and I think you will love this unusual story as much as I did. Science fiction and fantasy was one of the first genres that I read growing up, and it’s still my top favourite so I was excited about this story and the world building, both of which I thought were excellent, especially for a short story.

I have two more books to read by this author and I’m really looking forward to them. If you’re in the mood for an unusual science fiction story try Hungry. I strongly recommend it as a short story that works, with two three dimensional characters who definitely are in another dimension. For romance readers, there is a HEA.