Across the Wire by Stella Telleria
Publication date: November 4th 2013
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction

When Mia Mitchell, a hardcore but lonely former Marine, steps into an alley to pull some thugs off an unlucky foreigner, she walks into a fight she expects. What she doesn’t see coming is the foreigner making her a job offer any sane person would refuse. So, she takes it. She thinks she’s headed for some third-world country; instead she’s mysteriously transported to an Earth-like parallel world. That’s a mad left-hook.
Mia discovers a matriarchal dystopia where freedom doesn’t exist and fighting for it means execution. Lethal force bends all to the law; women fear for their families and un-wed men suffer slavery. Mia’s job is to train an underground syndicate of male freedom-fighters for a violent revolution. However, the guys don’t want a pair of X chromosomes showing them the way.

Eben, an escaped slave, is encouraged by Mia to become a leader among the men. But when he turns his quiet determination on her, it spells F.U.B.A.R. for cynical Mia. Their unexpected connection threatens more than her exit strategy; it threatens the power struggle festering with in the syndicate.

Haunted by nightmares and post-traumatic stress, unsure who to trust or how to get home, Mia struggles to stay alive as she realizes all is not what it seems.

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I've never read anything like this before, this was a unique concept. The story is set in a parallel universe that is polar opposite to our own. It is ruled by women and men are oppressed. Men are owned by women either by marriage, as a concubine or a servant. The women are tall, muscular and taught to fight. Slim, pretty, boyish men are deemed attractive and are often castrated in order to retain their boyish looks. The author did an amazing job of world building.

The story is told from alternate points of view, Mia and Eben's. I preferred Eben's point of view, I can't put my finger on why, perhaps because there seemed to be more emotion from his point of view.

Mia, an ex marine, has been taken to the parallel universe to train a group of male freedom fighters. She's great at getting the men to band together as a team and overcome some of their submissiveness. Emotionally she's not quite as strong as she appears. She suffers with guilt over things that happened in her past and is afraid to let anyone get too close to her.

Eben has lived his whole life as a mine slave. He's considered unattractive in his world due to his large build and masculine features. For years he's been taking care of his friend, Gavin. Unlike Eben, Gavin has feminine looks and has used his looks to his advantage. The dynamics between Eben and Gavin are interesting, there is some resentment on both sides that is never fully resolved in this book. I hope it will be explored more in future books.

I loved all the characters and I suspect Gabriel and Lance will feature more in later books, I loved those two. Although Mia and Eben are attracted to each other, nothing really happens between them until right at the end of the book. It didn't exactly end on a cliffhanger, but things were left unresolved to be explored in the sequels.

I really enjoyed this and couldn't put it down. I look forward to reading the sequels and  recommend this to anyone who enjoys dystopia.

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All my life I’ve dreamed of stories or have had my nose buried in one. I live in Edmonton, Canada with my husband and my weird sense of humor. Across the Wire is my first novel.

I love old war movies, dystopian fiction, and any story with action, a good plot, and characters I'd get into a fight at the pub for. Not that I'm a brawler or anything. Unless you think that out-of-print book or vintage piece at the thrift shop is going home with you instead of me. Then, my friend, the gloves are off. 

Some say if you have your nose buried in a book, you're missing out on life. I say my nose is buried in a book because one life is not enough.

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As Part of this blog hop, I had to choose which of the eight books appealed most to me based only on the cover and title. I chose 'She Belongs to Me' because the cover leads me to believe it's a romance, which is my favourite genre to read. I thought the cover was simple, eye catching and I love the colour. The title suggests the story might be about possessive love and as I enjoy dark romance this was my favourite of the eight.