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Shana of Themis has
managed to avoid the one thing she doesn't
want: conception and childbirth. She's only got another try to go,
before she
can return to what matters to her.
Unfortunately, Captain
James Alexander answered a fake
distress call and has been taken captive by the Amazonians as a 'child
giver'. He
thinks only of escape until he meets a reluctant captor in Shana. Can
he
overcome centuries of tradition and turn the tables?
This reviewer was
initially hopeful that Ms. Porter's story
was going to be of a different flavor when James told Shana he had no
wish to
be a daddy. However, it was disappointing to see the same old
cliché used by a
guy to get the upper hand on the girl: get her pregnant and force her
into
submission after it was initially made clear that neither wanted
children.
This reviewer also found
the "hero's" overt use of
the term "baby-doll" to be insulting and demeaning, though his intent
becomes clearer in this short story that he has no respect for Shana,
or the
fact that she is willing to risk her life to do what she feels is right.
In the end, the "hero" is
no better than the
Amazonian women in his treatment of Shana, who has had her doubts and
disliking of her people's ways. She has tried to be as honorable and
fair as
she could to the "child givers" she's been assigned to meet in the
past, but in turn when she does find one that seems to be different,
she is let
down, degraded and demeaned.
This reviewer would find
it difficult to recommend this
short story to her fellow readers.
Reviewed
by Niniri Theriault for The Road to Romance
December
28, 2004
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