An easy book to read once you get into the mindset that this is a standard alien abduction romance.

Alison is an everyday Jane who wakes up learning she has been abducted and sent to auction at an alien planet. After being purchased and just before she is about to be raped by insectoid looking aliens she is screaming out and is heard by Torhuk who comes to save her.

After saving Alison Torhuk thinks she is a breed of alien that his race is meant to protect with their lives. So, he does. All the while fighting is urge to bond with her (since he is meant to guard and not bond with this race).

The standards alien/human romance tropes abound. The communication problems, the need to protect at all costs the human by the alien hero, and of course you have the aliens discovery of sex that is phenomenal as compared to the others of his race.

It was surprising though that the heroine wasn't TSTL and didn't spend the whole book resisting any attraction to the hero. She also didn't spend the book crying and whining to go back to earth. She basically took stock of her situation and made the best of it. Also, I was surprised that there wasn't a lot of graphic sex. There were no overly descriptive accounts of weird alien body parts and how they are much better and different or larger than humans. There are actually fade to black scenes.

Also, this story went on past what I thought would be the ending. Not that it was too long or ended past where it should, but once the main struggles were over, I thought the story would be done. However it continued into a new arc that set the stage for the rest of the series.

It reminded me of that reality show "The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team" where for the first few series the show focused on the process of trying out and continually rehearsing and practicing until the total girls trying out for the team get worked down to the remaining members who are finally selected to become permanent members. However, once these girls are finally chosen the season ends. You don't see them go through actually being a cheerleader, you just see how they got there. A few seasons in the producers decided to continue past that and film through the first football season. So now you have the girls making the team and then you see their life as a cheerleader. Long analogy for this book, but I thought that it would be over once the couple had overcome their problems and struggles and it would be over, but it wasn't you got to read about their life afterwards.

Anyway it was a good book, but I probably won't read it again. However, I did read the next in the series - which I will write up a review for later.
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This is what sci fi romance should be. This wasn't just "Mars Needs Women!" like so many entries in this subgenre are. This story had logical clear world building and aliens who look and more importantly act alien. The story is told in alternate chapters from the hero who is the alien and the heroine who has been captured from Earth by slavers. The hero saves her because he thinks she is a princess of a race which his people revere. There is a language barrier so she is frightened and pretty mystified about what is going on. But since he saves her from the guys who bought her who were trying to rape her she considers him at least a better option. They learn to care for each other while on the run on the slave planet.

I dropped one star because I felt the story lost a bit of its luster after they got to the planet where all the other girls showed up. It took the focus off the main couple plus I would have preferred to read the stories about the other women in their own books without the spoilers provided by this one.

On the whole though I would almost giddy with the enjoyment this well done story provided. On another note, as another reviewer stated, the title of this one does the book a disservice. It is just so generic and the cover doesn't help either. I hope there are many more books in the series, sign me up! ( )

3.5 stars
I enjoyed the story set up, the romance and the world building. However, there were a few times when the violence was too much for me. ( )

I've just had one of my first very stressful school weeks this semester so I decided to pick up this more out there, yet easy to read romance as a form of stress relief. I'll basically read any romance that sounds interesting to me, including weirder non-human romances like this. I didn't expect too much going in to this book and I ended up pleasantly surprised. Though I think I went into this with a pretty open mind, I thought I might have some problems because romances where there is a communication barrier have been really frustrating to me in the past. Luckily, a translator was introduced fairly early on and the story became much more interesting to me after that point.

Our main couple got together pretty early on in the book but I didn't mind that because there was a lot of external conflict that kept the story interesting as well as a few conflicts caused by misunderstandings due to cultural differences. I definitely enjoyed reading the dynamics in this relationship. The over-protectiveness and possessiveness in this book is something I would absolutely hate in a real life relationship but I always really enjoy reading a romance where a partner is protective over the other partner, especially if there is a real danger. If you're looking for a book with that dynamic, you may like this story.

This book was great as a relaxing read during this stressful week. If you're looking for an easy to read romance with a lot of plot, I would recommend this one. I probably won't continue with this series, at least not right away, because I have so much to read but I did enjoy this. ( )

So this was an interesting sci-fi romance read and this is one for the aliens that look like aliens crowd.
This story centres on Arokh a gladiator prime of the Rakhi and Angie who has been kidnapped from earth and taken to be sold on a slave planet.
So in a case of mistaken identity or in this case species, Arokh mistakes Angie for an abused gryfala a princess his kind have an almost instinctual trust with despite there lower status.
He rescues her from her buyers and vows to keep her safe while escaping from the planet.
There's a language barrier and with this part of the story, its all instinct and trust as the two gradually become acquainted and learn about the other.
he is fascinated by Angie as she, in turn, returns this sentiment.
So this part of the story was my favourite and I loved it.
Especially when he went all primal scent-marking Angie, what should have been Ewww was so very much Ahhh.
Now the second half of this I has some slight issues I felt that Angie had somewhat of a personality transplant.
She was forever making mountains out of molehills and acting erratic.
I had questions like why didn't she reveal the truth about herself when she realised they had mistaken her actual species.
I also thought she should have set firmer boundaries with the added hobs and I was slightly worried that this was maybe heading down a reverse harem route.
Thankfully it wasn't and to clarify I have nothing against reverse harem itself this just didn't give off that vibe initially and it didn't feel right for this story and the character dynamic.
I just felt that Arokh was getting a pretty raw deal and Angie should have been completely team Arokh and show more trust and loyalty towards him.
I was definitely team Arokh all the way and thought Angie needed to step up.
So I adored the pure alienness of the hero and how he was utter gaga for his girl.
I read this in one sitting and this was a great start to this series with some fabulous world-building.
I will certainly be checking out more from this author in the future.
Final thought bloody adore the new cover of this and I would have picked this up for that reason alone it's visually stunning.
This one gets my seal of approval as despite some nitpicks from me I still really enjoyed it.
got this one with my Kindle unlimited subscription.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )