Review: An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride

Genre: LGBT Science Fiction/Space Opera 

"As a general rule, you won't find the love of your life while you're on your knees under a table." -- Helios Dayspring 

Pasha is a slave, whoring for travelers at the most dangerous bar on Warlan. He has no memory, no future of his own, yet deep inside Pasha knows that that he is meant for better things. The day that Pasha spots the dangerous pirate in the bar, he knows that he mustn't let the stranger slip away, regardless of what he must do to attract his attention. 

Captain Griffin Hawke spent the greater part of a decade searching for his lost king, only to find Helios Dayspring crouched between his knees, swathed in the robes and shackles of a whore. Though he is appalled by the downfall of his king, the hardened officer finds himself falling for the allure of the sensual creature who has taken his place. Returning Helios to his position on the throne is the only right thing to do, yet Griffin knows that in doing so, he risks losing his lover forever. 

"A whore is a whore is a whore, unless he's something else completely. I guess I must be an uncommon whore." -- Helios Dayspring

Space opera. The ultimate space opera was the only place my head went only in this rendition Han and Luke would get it on. It started off so good. We meet Pasha and he's a slave to U'shma. Slave boys don't get to have erections. They are to serve the customers so you know what that means. Chastity!!!! 

In case you don't know, I'm a fan of chastity. A big un. 

Pasha's working one night when the rakish Captain Griffin Hawke. He looks like a pirate with the eye patch/all black/leather outfit thing going and he's not very… verbal. 

I'm dig dig digging it. There's some sort of strange connection between the two and the pirate enters into a wager with U'shma to win Pasha for 24 hrs. Turns out they know each other and Pasha has an odd case of retrograde amnesia. About two whole seconds later the chastity came off. *pause* Why is the chastity ALWAYS the first to go? WHY??? I will say the chastity got replaced by quite a bit of frottage so I can't be too fussy. Still… *huffs*

The space opera begins and there is a ton of world building. Several characters are introduced and I've since learned this is a book one in a series-the foundation book. Many of the characters seem promising, but I found myself getting increasingly bored as the story progressed. Honestly, I think it's a me problem rather than a book problem. The writing's good as the story of Helios/Pasha unfolds and he gradually regains bits and pieces of his memory. Ordinarily, I like anything even remotely having to do with Star Wars but this just didn't resonate with me as much as I was hoping it would.

A copy was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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