An enjoyable read with great characters willing to let their guard down even in dangerous circumstances. The plot was well-paced and engaging.

Good sci-fi world, with an interesting plot that makes an enjoyable read. Also good to know that this might become a trilogy as the places are highly resonant. Excellent research on bikes and off-readers, those scenes really came alive. I think I would have been a tiny bit less trusting of one of the characters, at the beginning, the middle and the end! Given that the other character is leader of the resistance you imagine a bit more caution would have been instinctive. The forgiveness was pretty quick too. But each to their own and I guess the redeeming power of love was at work, plus lust, and we all know how that can turn a woman’s head.

Aurelia is a refugee smuggler in a world where people are only allowed one child. More than that and your extra or secret kids go to a ruthless, prison like boarding school. A victim of that system, Aurelia gets others to freedom. When a mysterious woman with no memory turns up around their camp, Aurelia is suspicious, but Blue seems kind, and she wants ro help, and as the two grow closer Aurelia may just let down her guard a bit. Will Blue’s true identity tear them apart? Dun dun dunnnnn.

I enjoyed this one. The plot moves quickly. I’m always a fan of a handsome/pretty stranger narrative, and I really admired Aurelia and her friends. I was rooting for everyone and was also invested in the outcome of the bigger mission and Aurelia and Blue’s relationship.

There are some twists and turns that keep the plot moving foward and interesting. The romantic tension is solid, and the characterization is on point. No complaints with this one, and I appreciated diving into this dytopian world for a bit. It was a nice escape from some of the dense nonfiction I’ve been reading of late.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The first in a series of 3, not quite post-apocalyptic, but definitely a backdrop that resembles nothing like today. I like this idea of creating a different point of view of the world instead of the usual tropes we see in post-apocalyptic themes. Our two heroes blend their worlds together until Blue regains her memories. The fallout and end of the book is a rollercoaster of action and intrigue for our couple. I’m definitely looking forward to more in this series. I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Recently, I have been trying to read some romances that fall outside of my normal comfort zones and Renegade's War for sure fall into that category. For me it had suspense, action and romance (but more of the first two mentioned). It was for sure an entertaining read. And I admit that I would like to read more from this author.

Aurelia runs a group called the Tallawens. She was abducted as a toddler and has grown up in the oppressive country of the Slawes. Their main purpose is to help people leave the country of the Slawes for the free country of Sandslot. After a recent run from freedom, Aurelia and others in her group comes across a unconscious woman who will later remember her name as Blue. Of course Aurelia and her crew are skeptical because the Leaders of the Slawes are always looking to infiltrate the Tallawens. And so the story goes.

Even though this romance falls into a category that I don't often read, I liked that it was not overly done on the Sci-fi side of things. As I read Renegade's War, I found it easy to understand what was going on. I think it did help that a reference to when this was happening which put things into perspective. Though alot of this romance focused on action and suspense, it had just the right amount of romance for this type of book. The two mains had chemistry and just had a good fit. There wasn't much sex in this one, but honestly I think the scene it did have was well written and done tastefully for this type of romance.

After I finished this one, I found some things surprised me and other things didn't. It was a great mix. If I had to change anything I might change the ending just slightly. After everything that happened, I think I wanted just a tad bit more.

4 stars.

This arc was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

Wow, great read! This book takes place in a country where you do not want to live. It had the feel of North Korea and the China one-child-policy in the mix. The feeling this book gave me was like I was "in on it", going on a mission with our hero. Said hero is very likeable by the way and has a good back story which also provides her with the right incentive to do what she and the Tallawins do.

An exciting mix where two worlds meet because of memory loss. I like that plot twist most of the times, but it's also tricky: what do you do when the memory returns.
In this case, Brooke handled that very well and it gave just the right amount of tension towards the finale of the storyline.

This book is an exciting page-turner. There is also romance in it, but it is clearly secondary and doesn't take away to much attention from the exciting story. My first Gun Brooke experience is a great one!

I was so swept away by this book I finished it in a single day. The action scenes had me on the edge of my seat, the dystopian setting was creative and well built without being too far fetched to be believable. The lead characters had great chemistry and were both multi-faceted and relatable characters. The ending was a bit abrupt so I’m hoping this will become a series and we will hear more about what happened to the characters.

I've always enjoyed Gun Brooke books and as usual, she doesn't disappoint.
Aurelia is a freedom fighter who was kidnapped from her home at a tender age of four. While on her way home from a mission she discovered a badly injured woman ( Blue). Blue was very mysterious and suffered from Amnesia and only knew her name. I loved the main characters. they were strong , brave. caring and selfless. The relationship between the secondary characters and Aurelia was beautiful and unbreakable. The only down side for me was that I felt the intimate relationship between both women was rushed and not fully developed. Regardless, it was a nice read and I enjoyed it very much. I recommend...

I received a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Bold Stroke Books and Gun Brooke< Renegade's War

From the very first chapter Renegade’s War proved to interesting. A story about two women finding love while fighting to escape a rigid government? Sign me up!

On the return from a rescue mission, Aurelia and her crew, the Tallawens, come upon an individual, Blue, beaten so badly to have lost their memory. As Blue struggles with their memory loss, and desire to fit in with the Tallawens, Aurelia struggles with whether or not to trust this newcomer with not only herself but also her entire mission—helping people escape from an unjust livelihood in Klowdyn.
As Blue regains her memory and learns that they represent the very enemy that the Tallawens fight against daily, will they remain loyal to the cause, and Aurelia or will they turn their back on new found love?

Ambiguous. That’s the only word that I can use to describe my reaction to this book. I enjoyed coming back to this story after a long day at work but I do not know that if I had a choice to re-read this book that I would. Initially, the premise was interesting. Of course, I wanted to read about two women falling in love but the downfall for me was that the book felt a bit rushed. One moment the Tallawens were rescuing another band of people and then all of a sudden it was endgame, which also fell flat.
Despite my reaction, seeing that there is limited queer books in science-fiction, I’m would totally recommend it.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first in a new trilogy for Brooke, I love her sci-fi books, but this is more of a dystopian style, and I really enjoyed this as well.

The MCs here are Aurelia, who was kidnapped as a child and taken to a neighbouring country where she was held prisoner in a boarding school, and Blue, a mysterious stranger that Aurelia and her team find on the side of the road. She’s been beaten and has amnesia. Aurelia and her team smuggle refuges back into her home country and Blue joins the team while she tries to regain her memories.

The two MCs spend a lot of time together, both are compelling characters, and I enjoyed their connection with each other. I did think the relationship unfolded a little quickly, but giving the environment and circumstances they were living in, it seemed plausible. It wasn’t hard to work out what Blue’s backstory was, and it was interesting to see how it played out. There’s also some interesting secondary characters to round the story out.

I had some issues about how the plot towards the end played out, but since this is the first in the series, I assume books 2 and 3 will fill in some of the bigger holes in the plot here. This felt like a fairly complete story on its own though. 4 stars

I love dystopian novels and movies because it shows the authors imagination. This book is about Aurelia and Blue. The novel, like most other in this genre, focuses on the story and the main characters mission, purpose and fight so while I loved that part of the book and give it 5 stars for originality, the story, And the the dialogue. But the romance part of this would get maybe 2.5 stars because interaction between the two MC’s. This is why these books need to be longer so that both stories can be told well, IMO. All in all, this was an enjoyable read.

Renegade’s War by Gun Brooke is an interesting dystopian/speculative fiction/romance novel set on what I would call an alt-Earth. It is very similar to our world with democratic style governments as well as at least one very repressive dictatorship. The renegades or Tallawens are fighting an underground war with Klowdyn, the repressive regime. Their mission is to help dissidents escape Klowdyn. On one of these missions, Aurelia DeCallum (the leader of the Tallawens) and her crew find a woman badly beaten and take her back to their camp. When she wakes, the woman has amnesia, remembering that her name is Blue, but little else.
Thus begins an adventure and a possible romance that could lead to happiness or disaster for Aurelia, Blue, and the rest of the renegades.

Ms. Brooke has written an adventure story that is close enough to our world to feel familiar in many ways. The idea of a government like Klowdyn is rather frightening, since it is so easy to see examples of this regime in real life. Not only did Ms. Brooke do an excellent job with world building, she created characters that are well developed and easy to connect with. I especially liked how she handled Blue as she lives with the Tallawens and then the angst she has to go through as her memory returns.

I’ve liked every book I’ve read so far by Ms. Brooke, and this one is a definite addition to that list. This story is filled with action, adventure, romance, and intrigue. If you like books with all of those elements that are set in a dystopian alt world, then you want to read this novel.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I am quite a fan of this author so my opinion will tend towards positive because she has earned it. That said, this story is the first in a series that is set in an imaginary land, but that could be some territory of our world in the current era or even in the second half of the last century.

In it, a group of people, the Tallawen, is dedicated to taking people out of a country called Klowdyn, where they live under a repressive government, to take them to neighboring Sandslot, which is a free and democratic country.

The story has action and emotion in many of its parts and the two main characters, Aurelia and Blue, are two strong and brave women, fairly fascinating, here I will not reveal their secrets, better go find them.

For me it was a very promising first part of the series, so I hope the next one will not be long in coming, I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next.

This was a fun read. I’m a pretty big fan of Brooke. I think I have read around 16 of her books and I’m always excited when she puts out a new release. I really like that Brooke bounces around between plain romance and spec-fic with romance. Brooke is one of the few lesfic authors who write a lot of sci-fi which I really appreciate it. But I was even more excited about this book than I am about her sci-fi books because this was dystopian instead. I love a good dystopian story but they are just as rare if not rarer than a post-apocalyptic story in lesfic. While these two categories are way to uncommon, we are lucky that the few we get are normally really entertaining. I’m happy to say that I had a lot of fun with this one.

This book reads really well. When Brooke is on a roll you don’t even notice the time and before you know it the book is over and you stayed up way too late. This is a pretty quick read already, but the nice fast pace just makes the book flyby even more. I meant to only read a few chapters tonight before bed but instead I finished the whole thing because I did not want to stop.

I really liked the premise about an underground group of people helping others to cross into the country next door which represents freedom. I also liked the amnesia plot. I don’t know what it is but I always love a good amnesia plot. I like that we learn about the character as she learns about herself. We don’t know if she is there to help or hurt the other characters which added a wonderful level of tension throughout the whole story.

I was also a fan of the sweet romance. While it moves a little quickly, and with so much else going on the romance is not the star of the book, I still felt it was sweet and enjoyable anyway. I really liked the characters and was hoping for a HEA so I found myself forgiving a few bumps that might have bothered me a little bit normally. I just had fun reading this and I was completely entertained. When I’m like that I’m just not as critical because I am enjoying myself.

If you are a Brooke fan or a dystopian fan I would recommend this. There are so few dystopian WLW books around that you don’t want to miss this. This book was a lot of excitement mixed with a little sweet that just made me happy. This was good entertainment and I hope we don’t have to wait long for Brooke’s next book.

Good sci-fi world, with an interesting plot that makes an enjoyable read. Also good to know that this might become a trilogy as the places are highly resonant. Excellent research on bikes and off-readers, those scenes really came alive. I think I would have been a tiny bit less trusting of one of the characters, at the beginning, the middle and the end! Given that the other character is leader of the resistance you imagine a bit more caution would have been instinctive. The forgiveness was pretty quick too. But each to their own and I guess the redeeming power of love was at work, plus lust, and we all know how that can turn a woman’s head.

Really fun action, thriller book. Quick read, the action just sweeps you along. Rebels, heroes, undercover operations gone wrong. I'll be reading this one again!

Set in a fictional dictatorship, Aurelia is the young leader of a group of rebels who smuggle refugees out of the dictatorship of Klowdyn. One day on the return trip to their mountain camp, Aurelia and her group come across the beaten and unconscious body of a woman called Blue. Blue has concussion-induced amnesia, but as she heals, Blue slowly becomes incorporated into the workings of the group. As hand Aurelia become closer, one final mission deep into Klowdyn - and some ill-timed memory return - leaves everyone in danger from the Klowdynian authorities.

**I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Aurelia was taken at the age of four and held captive she escapes and has dreams of finding her home. She becomes the leader of crew called Tallawens who is selfless and helps as many people escape Klowdyn government.

When Aurelia and crew finds a unconscious beaten woman she hesitant as well as others leaders in trusting this person. As the women heals and her memories starts to comes back they are shock to learn who she really is and she must chooses where her loyalty lies.

This was really good sci-fi story that you understood the motivation of each characters the action was right on point imagine if the world was like this and you had to step up would you do it help everyone or would you just be a follower. Nice plot the romance was great it wasn’t force it kinda remind me of the show The 100 although it’s with a different premise but this totally can be great movie on sci-fi or even Netflix.


I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Renegade’s War starts strong and ends strong. The action is steady and the romance builds nicely. It is a sci-fi/dystopian story that centers around a group of rebels called the Tallawens. They are led by Aurelia DeCallum who has a mission of bringing as many as she can to safety and freedom on the outskirts of life. Klowdyn operatives kidnapped Aurelia at the age of 4 and forced her into a life filled with oppression and absent of choice. When Blue enters into their lives, Aurelia is hesitant and suspicious, as are all of the Tallawen leaders. Blue was found in need, beaten and broken with no memory of who she was. As her memory improves, Blue has to choose between her past loyalty and her current reality.

The story moves quickly. The world Gun Brooke creates is an easy one to understand. The motives of the characters make sense in the context of the story and all the actions each took felt authentic, they earned their decisions. The framework of the world is consistent and the storyline felt like it flowed easily. The peripheral characters were three dimensional and added to the story without pulling from the romance and main plot.

The epilogue is worthwhile and closes some loops in the story so I do recommend reading it. Overall, nice romance with believable relationships and a creative world for it all to happen within. I cared about the characters and got caught up in the suspense. This is my first Gun Brooke’s book and I am looking forward to reading more.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.com