“This is a proximity alert. The alien vessel will be within tractor range in one minute.”
The soothing calm of Henrietta’s voice settled around me. Rousing myself from my stupor, I stood. I was still the chief mechanic and AI engineer of this ship. I had to conduct myself as such. Standing orders required that I had to be in the bay when the other ship came on board. It’s called the ‘just-in-case’ scenario. And rightly so, there might be anything, mechanical or not, set to explode.
As I walked down the corridor I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of tragedy, of having walked this way before, of committing the same crimes as were about to be committed. I tried to shake the feelings. The closer to the bay I walked, the worse they became. I leaned against the side of the corridor, bathed in sweat. Other crew members passed me and looked at me strangely.
I pushed myself away from the wall, my determination hardening around me like a shell. I needed to know what lay behind these feelings, and also what lay behind the bay door. There was an obvious connection; it was as if my feelings were centered inside there.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I was dragged through a side access into a supply closet.
“What the…” I began as two able hands began to grope me through my blue government uniform. I knew those hands. “What do you think you are doing?” I breathed to the only man I had made love to in five years. And while we had an on-again, off-again relationship, I could always say that it was interesting. Aidan Chapel was one gorgeous hunk of a man with curly should length dark hair and aqua eyes with a muscle toned body that many of my shipmates wanted for themselves.
He told me once that the reason that people perceived him as handsome were his eyes in combination with his olive complexion. Add in his hair and he looked like Adonis. I smiled to myself…and he was all mine…not once in five years had he looked at any one else. And I never tried to second guess fate on this issue.
“What does it feel like I’m doing?” Aidan spun me around to him and looked me over while holding me against the wall. “You are one beautiful woman.”
I gazed into his amazing aqua eyes and smiled. I met Aidan when we first board the Lanko together as ship’s engineers. While I rose steadily through the ranks, Aidan contented himself with being the chief communications engineer. The first thing that I remember seeing were his legs…he wore shorts…which were very non-regulation then and now. And I liked his ass…it happened to be one of his most admirable traits…along with those aqua eyes.
His mouth swooped to mine, nuzzling and nibbling my lips and moving across my cheek to my ear. Delicately he blew warm air into that sensitive part of my body, making me shiver with delight before coming back to my lips. He traced their fullness with his tongue finally slipping inside the warm recesses of my mouth, allowing the passion to build slowly within my groin and other sensitive parts. It took everything I had to pull away.
“We really should go,” I whispered as his mouth licked my neck.
“We have time for a quickie,” he murmured and slowly unzipped my uniform. Unzipping the crisp fabric apart all the way down the front of my body allowed him access to the microfiber undershirt covering my breasts and stomach. Gently, his large hands moved under the material to tweak first one then the other nipple of my very sensitive breasts. This man knew all my erogenous zones.
“We really shouldn’t,” I breathed as his mouth leaned down to continue his assault on my body.
“Who says that I ever do what I’m supposed to?” he murmured against my skin.

Fallon Montgomery is one of the best AI and mechanical engineer the IUA has but that doesn’t stop her from having her mind erased and things happen that has her wondering if she is losing her mind. When her ship finds a pod and brings it aboard, things get ugly quick. Fallon is on a mission: to save herself, she first has to find what the heck happened to her because someone is gunning for her and she has no idea who or what. Can Fallon find a way to get her memories back and solve the mystery before time runs out for her and humanity?

FLUKE is a delightful novella set in distant future. Ms. Crain does a great job keeping the reader entertained throughout the pages and the mystery of Fallon’s missing memories is one that had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the way the characters interacted with the secondary characters and Ms. Crain’s writing left me spellbound till the very end.

FLUKE tells the story of Fallon Montgomery, a brilliant engineer, trying to figure out why her mind feels like someone scrambled it. Her memories are feeling more and more forced yet things are not adding up as Fallon finds herself drawn in a struggle that will leave her no choice excerpt tp fight to stay alive and discover the truth about what happened to her. Aided by her lover Aiden, she races against the clock as enemies come out and she is forced to rely on no one but herself. I love the dynamics of Fallon and Aiden’s relationship. Ms. Crain delivers two strong characters that complement each other and the reader really feels their connection even as they dodge bullets and mad men.

Ms. Crain’s first in her Orchard Series delivers a pulse pounding ride that will leave you breathless. With a climatic ending that has you going “OH MY GOD!” to captivating characters, FLUKE delivers a story that will keep you highly entertained and on the edge of your seat. Run to grab this book and get ready for a space ride of your own. I am sincerely hoping there is more in this series coming from Ms. Crain as some of the secondary characters were very intriguing.

Reviewed by Dawn, Love Romances Cafe