Agreha Wyld’s cozy lifestyle comes to an end when telepath Dhemon Haaro Denler shows up on her doorstep to make her an offer she can’t refuse.  The Sector Guard is in need of her talents and she’s just been recruited to save lives.  What’s a shape-shifter girl to do when she’s stuck on a backwater planet?  Take the off-world plunge, of course!  Add her marriage of convenience to Haaro, along with the ins-and-outs of her new gig, and at first, it seems it’s smooth space sailing. Yet when Aggie’s attraction to her destined Dhemon husband kicks it, she’s forced to reevaluate the situation. 

Inventive new worlds, fascinating cultures, cool technology and awesome aliens are what I’ve come to associate with Viola Grace’s Sector Guard, Champions, and Terran Times universe.  The good times keep rolling whenever I immerse myself into her books.  Running Wyld has all the humor, action, and creativity I associate with this series, although I couldn’t put my finger on what was missing for me this go round.  Aggie is talented, feisty and frisky, Haaro, quite, um, Dhemonic, yet the sexual tension faltered on intensity.  Once they tumble into the sheets it seemed almost anticlimactic.  I’m more disappointed at myself than the author, whose work is always brilliant.  As a reader, I felt as if I had failed her on some level after finishing this latest installment.   Had I lost the spark?  I wanted to recapture the energy and excitement, and by the time my brain absorbed it all, it simply fizzled.  The Sector Guard series is tapered to fit into the mainstream area which could account for my adjustment.  All in all, I’d like to find my way in reading more of this series.  As for the savvier crowd, I’m more than certain they will devour every page with enthusiasm.  There’s a lot to come that’s been compressed into the narrative that’s sure to be revealed in the next segment.  I’ve no doubt that Ms. Grace will make it worth our while, by adding another generous sprinkling of cameos of characters from earlier stories and lots of unusual scenarios.