A Star Called Home by Marina Landry 💕 Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Sci-Fi Romance)

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Jul Kisling's heart aches for the homeless children living beyond her office window. Her father, Chancellor of the Third Quadrant of Akila, refuses to use his power to help them. Frightened but determined, Jul secretly searches for transportation to bring some of the children to a newly-colonized planet.

Marc Prejean is an out-of-work, out-of-money Earth starpilot living on the land of his Cajun ancestors. Wrongfully convicted of smuggling and recently released from forcedsleep, he reluctantly agrees to Jul's proposition. His desperate situation, the betrayal of his wife and brother, the loss of his starpilot license, and his stolen six years have left Marc angry and withdrawn.

Marc and Jul begin a journey of agonizing mistrust, smoldering sexual desire, and the shared goal of safeguarding the twelve children. Pursued by ruthless adversaries on both sides of the law, they soon realize they are delivering the children into even greater danger.

Hearing her voice break as her sadness eclipsed her anger, the wave of her compassion flew straight into him. He looked around at the small, dirty faces, remembered their quiet ways. Now he understood why they didn't act like other children. "But why are you taking them to Orum?"
He knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left his mouth. She seemed to curl inside herself, her eyes darkened with wariness, her fingers clutching the bedsilks at each side of her.
"No need to tell me anything you don't want," he said roughly. "I promised you no questions, and I still mean it. It's none of my business."
Gradually, she relaxed her grip on the silks. "I understand you must be curious. Just, please, don't ask me that, again. I'm sorry."
The regret in her voice prevented Marc from being offended, but she obviously didn't trust him. Well, he didn't know what was going on, but he knew one thing: no child was going hungry on his ship. "I'll need some help carrying everything."
"I'll help, Stackit."
Marc turned to see a tall, lanky teen-age boy. At least, he was pretty certain it was a boy under the nondescript clothes and chin-length ropes of hair. Did he say help stack it? Stack what?
"I'm Sev. Moldest. They trust me. Make me myth you to marry the mood."
The words coming out of this boy's mouth seemed like they should make sense, but they just didn't. Was this some kind of Akilan dialect? Marc turned to the professor again.
"The others will trust Sev to carry their food. He's right. You should take him with you."
So she'd understood what he'd said. Why did he talk that way? What did trust have to do with carrying food? Marc was struggling to make some sense of it when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down at a husky child with a plascord for suspenders. He was chubby in comparison to most of the others who were much too thin. The boy thrust his round chin up and said rapidly, "I'm Brad. I wanna help." Marc could see the eager gleam in the dark eyes, and the pink tongue darting out to wet his lips. This boy was very hungry. Dammit, he should have offered to feed them the night before.
"Come with me," Marc ordered, his jaw tight in frustration. "You, too, Sev."
He stormed back to the bridge. When he looked back, Sev was talking quietly to a very agitated Brad, still in the corridor. Clearly, the younger boy wanted desperately to find the food, but he didn't trust Marc.
"Brad, come here."
The boy shook his head and squirmed away from Sev's hand on his shoulder.
"I can mandolin myself, Stackit," Sev offered.
Stack it again? In a flash, Marc got it. Pile it. Pilot. Okay, he'd solved one convoluted puzzle. Now, what to do about Brad? He was making the boy more afraid and withdrawn the more he insisted.
"Sev, you and I cannot manage all of this food by ourselves. We need someone else to come tell the computer which kinds of food to make. I'm thinking someone like Brad would be the best. What do you think?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brad walk back toward Sev. The teenager cleverly did not look at the younger boy as he took a step forward and said, "Brad would be best, but we might mask one of the mothers."
Quickly, Brad grabbed Sev's hand and tugged him forward. Marc sighed. This was exhausting. Talking to these kids was like navigating blue crab traps. How did she do it? He looked further down the hall and his chest tightened. Jul Kisling was gaping at him.
Marc guessed the criminal low-life was exhibiting more humanity than she expected from "his people."
He walked stiffly to the panel next to the right rear portal where the computer sent the food from the automated galley. "Belle, send up six servings of each: number two, oatmeal bars; number ten, pork strips; number eleven, beef strips; every type of fruit we have."
Marc slammed the depression to open the wall panel, retrieved several containers, and handed them to Sev and Brad. Sev loped back to the cabins balancing boxes and pouches in his arms. Brad seemed frozen to the floor. Grace, what now? He remembered the raw hunger he'd seen in the boy's face.
"Brad, I need you to go sit down and try some of this here food. Tell me which kind tastes the best."
The boy folded himself to the floor and started eating. He kept his eyes on Marc, obviously expecting the food to be taken away at any moment. Marc turned his back to Brad and ordered juice, crystal water, and soy drinks.
Sev rushed back with that jerky lope Marc was gradually getting used to. The young man was grinning widely, and Marc found himself grinning in return. He handed him another armload of food containers and pouches of drinks.
The next time Sev returned empty-handed, Brad stood next to him with his grubby arms reaching to help. Marc handed the young boy several drink pouches. Once they'd had their fill, he swore, he was talking to that woman about why she let them stay so filthy.
When Sev and Brad went through the portal with the final loads of food and drink, they closed it behind them.
Marc had never noticed how uncomfortably silent the main cabin could be.

Marina Landry has gained attention in both the romance and science fiction communities for her heart-warming, emotionally intense, character-driven stories. Her debut novel A Star Called Home (Desert Breeze Publishing) has consistently received five out of five stars on multiple online book review sites. Marina has taught language arts and mathematics in south Louisiana for 18 years. She speaks on the craft of writing and teaches all levels of writers online. Though her education has not followed a typical path nor timeline, she has Masters Degrees in Education of the Academically Gifted, Secondary Mathematics Education, and Adult Education.