Review: Prime Obsession
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2010
For centuries, the Prime have been battling their brutal enemies, the Antareans.  Facing extinction as they struggle against escalating Antarean attacks, the proud warrior race begins the process of uniting with the Galactic Alliance to ensure their future.Captain Wulf Caradoc, as the heir of the Prime leader, is expected to assist with negotiations on behalf of his people.  The secret, secondary part of his agenda is to look for his gemate, the genetically ideal mate that will be bonded to him mentally, physically and emotionally until the end of his days.  The ambassadorial team he is assigned to escort is attacked by space pirates hired by Prime malcontents.  Despite their skillful defense tactics, Wulf, his crew, and their charges are in danger until Alliance forces can reach them.Captain Melina Dmitros is a top-notch Galactic Alliance officer who's paid her dues.  After receiving a distress message from the Prime ambassador party, she steps in to aid them.  When she finally meets the future Prime leader face-to-face, she is ambushed by the biological force of the Prime mating urge.  She is his gemate, his fated match and a Lost One.  Her body will not allow her to survive without him, regardless of how she feels.  Wulf is willing to do whatever it takes to claim and protect his mate so that they may persevere against their enemies.The action kicks up a dust storm in chapter one of Prime Obsession that never settles!  I was convinced that Captain Dmitros was a first-rate adrenaline junkie from all the non-stop battles.  I rarely encounter a novel with multiple action scenes per interval.  Melina takes on bad guys, dodges hits, sniffs out/repairs sabotages, and keeps time with her man.  It's all in a day's work for a woman that knows her way around the Prime as well as the Galactic Alliance.  Wulf is growls and nibbles when it comes to his mate, although he's more than earned his formidable Prime warrior and sex machine title.  However, Melina is always center stage and in the thick of it all.  I started to feel that she was beginning to upstage her man.  Ok, ok.  Admittedly, I do prefer strong, accomplished female antagonists.  Still, Melina proved a bit overwhelming at times.Wulf's growling seemed uh, well...ridiculous after a while.  I've read novels with alpha males expressing their protectiveness this way, yet the constant repetitiveness became excessive and silly after a while.  Of course, it was a relief to have Wulf take charge after watching Melina prove just how tough and skilled she is over and over again. I could better appreciate the developing relationship.  The author does an amazing job of revealing the awakening gifts from a gemat-gemate pairing. Once I got a grasp on the dynamic, it was okay for the plot to charge ahead.Prime Obsession is a fast-paced space opera outfitted in shiny new gadgets and modern characters.  If you're looking for a sci-fi novel brimming with loads of techno jargon, intergalactic intrigue and angst, you've come to the right place.  Melina and Wulf's chemistry decimates small planets.  The "foreplay" preceding their first time together behind closed doors covers way too much ground; it dangled on the storyline string a tad longer than I would have preferred.  The romance and dialogue occasionally feels dated, although I could appreciate some truly cute moments.  Monette Michaels' narrative style is clean and precise with crisp visuals that flow easily from scene to scene.  All in all, it's fun to be kept on the edge of your seat for the bulk of the ride.  That's no easy feat in a story with so many subplots and secondary characters.  If this is just the first installment, then the next episode will have to put in some major overtime to keep up.PatriceReviewed for Joyfully Reviewed