Review: Love in Retrograde by Charlie Cochet

Enthusiastic, play-it-safe Kelly Sutton is an American intern at the Photonic Royal Society in New London. He’s been working on Project Mars for over a year, a mission kept so secret by the Society even Kelly doesn’t know exactly what it is. What Kelly does know is his contribution to the task will benefit mankind, and that’s enough for him.

Kelly’s world turns upside down when concerns over his mentor's behavior lead Kelly to investigate and stumble upon a wicked truth. What is supposed to be a project to advance human life turns out to be an endeavor capable of mass destruction. The terrifying reality forces Kelly to choose between looking the other way to keep his job, as he’s always done, or risking his career and even his life to do the right thing by saving the man who’s captured his heart.

Kelly is an intern hoping to advance his career by being part of Project Mars. After overhearing an argument between the two Doctors heading the project, Kelly is taken to the secure section where he discovers Project Mars is actually a human, biologically engineered to be a super-soldier. He does not expect to be confined to Mar’s living quarters, or start caring for this weapon.

This was a fun adventure/love story. As a novella it is a quick read, but the world building and character development is enough to give the illusion of a longer read. None of this story drags, and the quiet before the storm is sweet.

The erotica wasn’t all it could have been but I’ll forgive it because the rest was thorough enough. The plot development and character development was great for a novella. I think it could have been broadened just a bit to give it that edge, but what was there was good enough to know the writer has skill in bringing a fleshed out story.

The action portion was a little too fast paced which took away from the story. Even though this is science-fiction, more would have been better. More explanation of what Mars was doing during the action, more explanation on the villains and their purpose, and more about the supporting characters. These all seemed to be a bit stifled. Obviously I enjoyed this enough to want more, which speaks for itself.

I would recommend this to sci-fi fans, who enjoy genetically engineered humans, conspiracies, and some shoot ‘em up action.

A copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review

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