Blog Tour Review: Tundra 37 – Aubrie Dionne

Tundra 37 – Aubrie Dionne
Series:  A New Dawn #2
Release Date:  February 7, 2012
Publisher:   Entangled Publishing
Page Count:  288
Source:  Provided by Publisher
Buy the book at: Amazon 

Gemme is a hi-tech matchmaker who pairs the next generation of Lifers aboard the Expedition, a deep space transport vessel destined for Paradise 18. When the identity of her lifemate pops up on her screen, she’s shocked that he’s the achingly gorgeous and highly sought after Lieutenant Miles Brentwood, a man oblivious to her existence. Believing everyone will think she contrived the match, she erases it from the computer’s memory. Just as comets pummel the ship and destroy the pairing system forever. With the Expedition disabled, the colonists must crash land on the barren ice world of Tundra 37 where Gemme is reassigned to an exploratory mission, led by Lieutenant Brentwood. Only in the frozen tundra does she understand the shape of his heart and why the computer has entwined their destinies.

Gemme is the matchmaker on the ship Expedition and is used to following rules and doing as she’s told.  She’s not one to rock the boat.  So when she see her name pop up on the matchmaking list and it has her life mate as the up and coming Lieutenant Mile Brentwood, so thinks it wrong and deletes the match.  Soon after, the ship is hit by comets and forced to crash land on the frozen planet Tundra 37.  Gemme is picked to be part of the exploration crew that must leave the ship to find the vital element needed to run the ship’s engines.  Terrified, Gemme learns she’s got a courage she never knew she had and the ability to contribute to those in her community as something more than a matchmaker. 

Miles Brentwood has an ear with the Seer’s, the centuries old twins who run the ship.  After the accident with the comets, he begins to suspect more is going on than he is being told, but he doesn’t immediately question his orders.  He takes his team of four out on their mission.  Soon Miles is given a secondary mission to complete, one that must be done is secret from 2 of the other team members.  To find a genetic anomaly and bring it back.  He begins to question what they are doing on this secret second mission while he fights an unexplainable attraction to Gemme.  But soon he begins to realize that something is up with what they are sent to retrieve and it may not be for the good of the ship or their community.

 Together, Miles and Gemme have to learn that sometimes it is good to question the establishment and do what you feel is ultimately right, not just for yourself but for the good of everyone.

The second book in the Sci-Fi series, A New Dawn, was a little on the out there scale for me.   The storyline with Gemme and Miles and their crews journey to complete both mission was excellent.  I found myself wanting more and more of the foursome on the page because I enjoyed them so much.

Where the book took a weird turn for me was with the Seer’s and the orb.  The present and past flip flopping and how that storyline related to where we were today (or not) just did not capture my interest.  I hate to say it, I would speed read through those section just to get onto something more interesting.  I just felt we could have gotten away with a little less of how the twins got to where they are now.

As with Paradise 21, there isn’t a hot romance between Miles and Gemme.  Instead the story focuses on the characters trying to save themselves and the rest of the ship’s crew along with solving the mystery of the orb and why the Seer’s want it.  Most of the story was very engaging and kept my interest…with the exception of the Seer part.