The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The author’s name “S. E. Smith” is written at the top in white capitals. The book title “Merrick’s Maiden” is written at the bottom in larger white capitals. Smaller white capitals below it reads “Cosmo’s Gateway Book 5”. The cover art shows a shirtless man on top of a woman in a red dress in an intimate embrace. /end]

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Content Warnings:

• Kidnapping
• Confinement
• Torture (of main male MC)
• Drugging
• Experimentation (on characters)
• Sex and Sexual Content
• Guns and Gun Usage
• Attempted/Plotted rape of male main MC -TBC
• Violence
• Pregnancy- TBC
• Death- TBC

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Summary:

Merrick Ta’Duran is the powerful leader of the Eastern Mountain Clan on the Prime world of Baade. His people, known as the Ghosts of the Forests, live high in the Eastern mountains. Merrick feels the weight of responsibility as the males within his clan become desperate to find mates among the few remaining females. When word comes that a new species has been discovered, he knows he must do what is right for his people – even if it means traveling to a strange, alien realm to do it.

Merrick’s world changes when he is injured and captured by a ruthless group of humans. Drugged and held against his will, he is the subject of experiments and testing as the humans try to discover where he came from and duplicate his strength and ability to heal quickly. After months of captivity, he fears his life will end on the strange world until one chance encounter gives him hope.

Addie Banks’ world has been one of silence since a devastating illness when she was sixteen. Determined to stand on her own two feet, she goes to school during the day and works at night to put herself through college. Her life unexpectedly changes when she stumbles across something she wasn’t supposed to see while at work. Now, she hears a voice in her head – and it is driving her crazy. Her only hope for peace is to help the creature talking to her escape from the men holding him.

Merrick knows the female who helps him is his bond mate. She may deny it. She may fight it. She may even try to run from it. It won’t matter. She is his and he will do everything he can to convince her, hold her, even kidnap her if that is what it takes to make her realized that they belong together.

Will Addie hear the love and longing in Merrick’s voice? Can she trust and accept the new life he has to offer? Or, will a ruthless killer silence him before she gets a chance?

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Notes:

The female MC loses her hearing due to contracting spinal meningitis at the age of 16. I believe there’s an author’s note in the beginning that details Smiths’ own familiarity with the illness and watching her father live with it.

Also, and spoilers ahead for the ending, I’ve seen a couple of reviews that would suggest the female MC may regain her hearing at the end of the book. I am unsure as to how, or how true this is, but be warned it may fall into the “miraculously cured” disability trope.

This is the fifth book in the Cosmo’s Gateway series. There are seven books in total, and another one to be published.

There is an audiobook.

There is an ebook. There is a kindle edition.

Here is a link to the author’s website.

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Archivist Comments:

The person who submitted this left a short note mentioning how explicit it was.

Apparently the aliens in this are actually quite human-like. That hasn’t necessarily gone down well with some readers, but others don’t seem to mind it.

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