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9 reviews for:
Loved in Space
J. Thompson, Donna McDonald, Susan Hayes, Eve Langlais, Cara Bristol, Mina Carter
3.81 AVERAGE
9 reviews for:
Loved in Space
J. Thompson, Donna McDonald, Susan Hayes, Eve Langlais, Cara Bristol, Mina Carter
3.81 AVERAGE
Kissed by he Alien Mercenary - [a:Mina Carter|2920063|Mina Carter|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1555264412p2/2920063.jpg] 5 stars.
Part of the Warriors of Lathar series, the latest installment in a series that features earth women (mostly military) finding romance among alph males unused to independent woman. Tightly written, romantic, suspenseful, and steamy.
Mate Abduction [a:Eve Langlais|3431194|Eve Langlais|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1436867848p2/3431194.jpg] 3 Stars.
Raised by aliens, Clarabelle goes looking for humans and boyfriend only to end up captive to a big purple guy. The author's feisty heroines are usually LOL, but Belle was just annoying.
Krash: Dakonian Alien Male Order Brides [a:Cara Bristol|4136271|Cara Bristol|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1536502017p2/4136271.jpg] 4 Stars.
Investigative reporter, Cyan, is assigned to expose the Alien Male Order Brides as a hoax. Instead, she finds that the big, sexy, horned guy, Krash really is an alien. One on a mission to save his planet. I really enjoy this series when I need some light reading, and Dakonians are my favorite horned guys. That said, Cyan isn't my favorite heroine. For someone who deals in facts, it took her way to long to face facts.
Chance of a Lifetime [a:Susan Hayes|452583|Susan Hayes|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] 5-stars.
The author's Drift books fluctuate between 3.5 and 5 stars for a variety of reasons. The character of Chance, a female cyborg, put this firmly in 5-stars. I love a brilliant heroine with issues, and a story where she finds a man strong enough to be with her, and decent enough to treat her well.
Ashland 297: The Alien Agenda [a:Donna McDonald|249590|Donna McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1410966068p2/249590.jpg] 4.5 Stars.
This was my first story by the author and it was surprisingly different. It's hard to review without spoilers, but the aliens are very alien, and while the the hero/heroine get the HEA, the story is really a mystery/political thriller.
Note: I bought this on pre-order and tore through it as soon as it hit my ipad.
Part of the Warriors of Lathar series, the latest installment in a series that features earth women (mostly military) finding romance among alph males unused to independent woman. Tightly written, romantic, suspenseful, and steamy.
Mate Abduction [a:Eve Langlais|3431194|Eve Langlais|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1436867848p2/3431194.jpg] 3 Stars.
Raised by aliens, Clarabelle goes looking for humans and boyfriend only to end up captive to a big purple guy. The author's feisty heroines are usually LOL, but Belle was just annoying.
Krash: Dakonian Alien Male Order Brides [a:Cara Bristol|4136271|Cara Bristol|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1536502017p2/4136271.jpg] 4 Stars.
Investigative reporter, Cyan, is assigned to expose the Alien Male Order Brides as a hoax. Instead, she finds that the big, sexy, horned guy, Krash really is an alien. One on a mission to save his planet. I really enjoy this series when I need some light reading, and Dakonians are my favorite horned guys. That said, Cyan isn't my favorite heroine. For someone who deals in facts, it took her way to long to face facts.
Chance of a Lifetime [a:Susan Hayes|452583|Susan Hayes|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] 5-stars.
The author's Drift books fluctuate between 3.5 and 5 stars for a variety of reasons. The character of Chance, a female cyborg, put this firmly in 5-stars. I love a brilliant heroine with issues, and a story where she finds a man strong enough to be with her, and decent enough to treat her well.
Ashland 297: The Alien Agenda [a:Donna McDonald|249590|Donna McDonald|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1410966068p2/249590.jpg] 4.5 Stars.
This was my first story by the author and it was surprisingly different. It's hard to review without spoilers, but the aliens are very alien, and while the the hero/heroine get the HEA, the story is really a mystery/political thriller.
Note: I bought this on pre-order and tore through it as soon as it hit my ipad.
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of stories. I started with authors I knew and went from there. My favorite story is Mina Carter's Kissed by the Alien Mercenary. I really enjoy the Warriors of the Lathar series and this quick read was no exception. Lizzie has found herself in a whole new world and I enjoyed seeing her find her way with a little help from Saal. I thought their romance sweet with unexpected twists along the way. My second favorite story was Chance of a Lifetime by Susan Hayes. This story is part of her Drift series which I haven't read but I wasn't lost reading this quick read. I really enjoyed Erik. He has been unexpectedly caught by Chance. Chance who is hiding even as she fights for freedom. I loved that Erik decided she was his and romanced and protected her...even from his family. This is a wonderful read from Ms. Hayes and I look forward to diving into this series from the beginning.
5 is not enough stars!
KISSED BY THE ALIEN MERCENARY takes us back to Lathar, I love the mythology that the Lathar seeded Earth and we are like distant cousins. The thing I don’t like is their Caste system, I mean the universe has enough haters. Lizzie’s presumptive higher class makes her out of Saal’s league. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Their story is a sweet romance with a couple of twists for angst and action and a heartwarming short read.
In Chance of a Lifetime the Drift welcomes an unusual cyborg. Chance Smith is not a soldier, doesn’t know how to fight, and is a veritable youngster. When she catches the eye of Nova Club security guard Erik this could be very bad, because she has secrets. I LOVE the Drift, the cyborgs, the humans, and all of the funky aliens. I’ve read about it so much I feel at home in these stories. But instead of the usual fast passed action, this tale is a sweet sexy falling in love story with just enough angst and some cool sci-fi twists.
Krash brings us back to the Drakonian world and the Intergalactic Dating Agency, but neither Krash nor Cyan are really looking for a mate. Two broken hearted people and fate takes over. I really like the integrity of the Drakonians. They’re just looking to rebuild their world and do the right thing. And this tale makes us a part of that journey.
Ash 297 sort of wraps up the Cyborg storyline of Dr. Kyra Winters and Peyton313, who had been trying to find all of the cyborg soldiers to reintegrate them into human society. The heart of this tale though is a second chance love story that is so moving I just wanted to sob at one point. Dia is so well portrayed I felt her pain. For a short read this sci-fi story checks all the big story boxes.
The title Mate Abduction is somewhat misleading. Clarabelle’s Awakening might be more accurate, because when Clarabelle goes looking for a human boyfriend she finds maybe human is not what she needs. I love these characters. Clarabelle is a bad@$$. Thyos is tough, sensitive, honorable, gorgeous even if he has a tail, and everything Clarabelle needs but doesn’t know it yet. This story has some action, so much angst, and made me laugh out loud. Great read.
In Betraying Ko’ran Terrans, having created cyborgs called Altorians to protect Terra, now want to get rid of them. Like they’re not sentient living beings. When Ko’ran meets Bethany, while on the run, both of their worlds are turned upside down. The storyline has some intriguing twists. The characters are well developed and steal your heart. I hope we get more of this world.
KISSED BY THE ALIEN MERCENARY takes us back to Lathar, I love the mythology that the Lathar seeded Earth and we are like distant cousins. The thing I don’t like is their Caste system, I mean the universe has enough haters. Lizzie’s presumptive higher class makes her out of Saal’s league. But the heart wants what the heart wants. Their story is a sweet romance with a couple of twists for angst and action and a heartwarming short read.
In Chance of a Lifetime the Drift welcomes an unusual cyborg. Chance Smith is not a soldier, doesn’t know how to fight, and is a veritable youngster. When she catches the eye of Nova Club security guard Erik this could be very bad, because she has secrets. I LOVE the Drift, the cyborgs, the humans, and all of the funky aliens. I’ve read about it so much I feel at home in these stories. But instead of the usual fast passed action, this tale is a sweet sexy falling in love story with just enough angst and some cool sci-fi twists.
Krash brings us back to the Drakonian world and the Intergalactic Dating Agency, but neither Krash nor Cyan are really looking for a mate. Two broken hearted people and fate takes over. I really like the integrity of the Drakonians. They’re just looking to rebuild their world and do the right thing. And this tale makes us a part of that journey.
Ash 297 sort of wraps up the Cyborg storyline of Dr. Kyra Winters and Peyton313, who had been trying to find all of the cyborg soldiers to reintegrate them into human society. The heart of this tale though is a second chance love story that is so moving I just wanted to sob at one point. Dia is so well portrayed I felt her pain. For a short read this sci-fi story checks all the big story boxes.
The title Mate Abduction is somewhat misleading. Clarabelle’s Awakening might be more accurate, because when Clarabelle goes looking for a human boyfriend she finds maybe human is not what she needs. I love these characters. Clarabelle is a bad@$$. Thyos is tough, sensitive, honorable, gorgeous even if he has a tail, and everything Clarabelle needs but doesn’t know it yet. This story has some action, so much angst, and made me laugh out loud. Great read.
In Betraying Ko’ran Terrans, having created cyborgs called Altorians to protect Terra, now want to get rid of them. Like they’re not sentient living beings. When Ko’ran meets Bethany, while on the run, both of their worlds are turned upside down. The storyline has some intriguing twists. The characters are well developed and steal your heart. I hope we get more of this world.
Loved Mate Abduction!
This compilation of sci-fi romances was great! I purchased the book for Eve Langlais’ contribution and was not disappointed! (Though I really didn’t care for Clarabelle at all. She was such a speciest brat!) Her story alone was worth purchasing this book!
This compilation of sci-fi romances was great! I purchased the book for Eve Langlais’ contribution and was not disappointed! (Though I really didn’t care for Clarabelle at all. She was such a speciest brat!) Her story alone was worth purchasing this book!
I have read Kissed by the Alien Mercenary by Mina Carter. It was a fantastic read! I absolutely loved it! It is written very well and I adored the characters. We finally get to see Lizzie wake up and find her happy ending. There is a sweetness to Lizzie and Saal as they find their happy ending. I loved how things developed between them and it was great to see Saal find his happy ending as well. The story is fairly explicit but not too much as there was just other things going on. It fit the story and the length very well. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to go back to the Lathaar and am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Hooboy. I have no idea what I will rate this collection, but I've decided to rate each story separately and average it from there.
Here we go!
This is a substantial collection of sci-fi shorts for a very low price ($0.99 Amazon), and no matter how this rating turns out, it's worth the entertainment value, but OUCH. This would have paid out more for the authors as a KU offering. Exposure kills, ladies.
I do not want to kill everyone with a wall of text; all reviews are hidden behind spoiler tags to save you from scrolling until the end of time. You're welcome.
01: Kissed by the Alien Mercenary- Mina Carter A Warriors of the Lathar Novella
Now the story itself wasn't bad. It was rather cute with a While You Were Sleeping meets Sleeping Beauty feel to it, even if neither main character particularly struck me and stuck with me after. They were rather generic Good People. Only one day later, I'm having trouble remembering much about them except that they're both rather pretty, and he's apparently low class and undesirable as a family member to the Lord Healer jerkwad. It's not a bad story, it's just not particularly memorable or remarkable. Mars needs women. They take women. And so forth.
So. This gets 3 stars. If you're a fan of this series, you'll probably get more enjoyment out of it than I did.
02: Mate Abduction by Eve Langlais
Mate Abduction is a slightly different take on the Fated Mate Trope, set someplace far away from Earth, featuring a remarkably bratty and stubborn human female main character, Clarabelle, and Thyos, the male saddled with her. The universe this is set in was rather interesting, though a bit grim. Apparently non-Earth worlds take recycling to the extreme, and I had to wonder about the smells Clarabelle and her abductee sisters are saturated in every day...as well as many concerns about who was for dinner. Eep. The fact that everyone has to train so hard and be vigilant all of the time sounded genuinely exhausting. It was pretty remarkable how well the girls as a whole had adapted to this extreme life style.
But Clarabelle is over it. She's sick of not seeing other human faces. She just wants to go back to a life where she shops at the mall and makes out with boys in the back of cars. She thinks she's in her mid-20s, and she wants a boyfriend. Not a mate. Not a baby daddy. Not any of the available to her right now alien dick. No one that isn't 100% human. She refuses to settle. So she embarks on a quest: to find the impossible.
I spent a lot of time in this story wanting to bop Clarabelle on the head, because it baffled me that she could be in space for approximately a decade and refuse to adjust at all. Other than taking well to the violent lifestyle to stay alive, she refuses to use measurements of time or language choices that would help her fit into her surroundings better. The idea that she still stubbornly insists on seeing everyone and everything else around her as Alien and Wrong blew my mind. Honey, you are the alien here. Not them. I got a really strong sense that had Clarabelle stayed on Earth, she would be a xenophobic piece of work. She's the white lady the internet is meme-ing and giving an alliterative nickname to. Not a great look, but not all characters are likable. So alas, this is a story with a highly unlikable heroine. One who got cemented in this rosy view of Earth that has so little basis in reality that you know she was an idiot teenager when she was abducted. Every time she insisted that the sexes are mostly equal here, I could not hold back a snort. Oh...child. The things you never knew.
She is, however, wicked with knives and no fainting damsel in distress. I really loved her long-suffering sighing, "must we really do this?" attitude towards fights while she proceeded to kick a lot of ass. So high fives for that.
I will say that the race she and her friends ended up with amused me to no end. Ishtara is a delightful secondary character who had me laughing at her pointed—though somewhat mean—insights and direct manner. At one point in a conversation arguing with Clarabelle about going on her quest, she rightly points out that if the girls are simply looking for dick, it can be ordered in. There are several compatible species who can knock them up. I nearly died from cackling. I think I would really like these women if I could survive their culture long enough to hang.
But alas, I am soft, slow, and cresting over that hill very soon.
So. Thyos. I would have loved more of this story to get some more world building where his culture is concerned. I want to know more about that tree, darn it!
Thyos is the leader of his clan and failing them. There's a special clan tree of life that gauges the health and prosperity of the group and theirs is dying. Through no real fault or lack of effort on his part, but until he's mated and working on churning out some offspring, the tree will continue to wither and die, taking the clan with it. But Thyos has visited every clan on his world at least twice, and he has the scars to prove it. His fated mate is simply not there. Luckily—unfortunately?!—for him, his goddess, Karma, drops in to tell him he needs to go on a quest out in space to find his mate. She's out there. Oh, and she's going to be a real challenge to reel in, so best of luck to him. Thyos is super unamused and tries to resist fate, but everything lines up perfectly to send his butt off planet and on a half-hearted search for an alien mate who none of his clan will be thrilled about.
Thyos finally finds Clarabelle on one of the space stations and then fights a very long uphill battle with her all because...oh no, the boy has a tail and not-human eyes but he and his planet/culture are otherwise literally every single thing on her checklist of what she wants.
I wanted a lot more of this story or the universe it takes place in. Karma (as in Karma's a bitch) and Murphy (hello, Murphy's law) were interesting and left me wanting to know more about what exactly they are. I just know that Ishtara was in the know and not impressed with them.
3.5 stars despite the idiot sandwich FMC.
03: KRASH: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides #7- Cara Bristol
Another Mars needs women + Fated Mates story, this time featuring less-human horned males from a far off ice world (not Hoth, wrong author for the joke, I know) who are losing a substantial number of their already dwindling population to emigrating for participation in a dating service on Earth.
Overall I liked this story, but again, I really didn't care for the FMC, though for different reasons than the previous short.
The FMC in this one is a Strawman Skeptic, which always gets under my skin and makes me wonder if those who create them have ever had actual conversations with flesh and blood skeptics/atheists/freethinkers or just the weird caricatures of them portrayed online and in various media. As someone who is a skeptic, I had a very hard time relating to either Cyan or her boss, who were simply just ...jerks who looked down on everyone whose views differ from theirs just a little. And asshole is the default personality of the Strawman Skeptic, so this isn't coincidental and exactly why I've labeled it as such. We just like to piss in everyone's Cheerios and delight in it. I guess. Or something. And for being a professional debunker, Cyan really lacked any resources and tools necessary—most importantly a lack of bias—to effectively do her job. So this story was frustrating for me. Without the Strawman Skeptic personality, she wasn't left with much of anything to identify her with.
Krash was a fairly generic hero for these kinds of stories with his own chip on his shoulder that makes him cynical and unpleasant. He's also set in his mindset but is somewhat more tolerable. For a species that puts so much emphasis in a true mate and the physiological response involved, he sure was slow on the uptake.
This story also utilizes an OW who was frankly, confusing in her motives and utilization...as well as inconsistencies in the author's established universe lore. If Dakonians have one soul mate, how can females randomly break the bond to then be with other males? They all get one soul mate, why would anyone even do that if they had theirs? How would a bond form if they're not soul-mates? Why use this as a plot device in the first place? Oh right...everyone hates sluts. Thumbs down for that bit.
3 stars. Please stop feeding me idiot sandwiches now, thank you.
While the first half of this anthology was alien romances, this second half has a cyborg theme.
04: Chance Of A Lifetime-Susan Hayes
COaL is cute and pretty sweet. Erik is human but nano-enhanced, a bouncer at a bar/casino on a space station, and Chance is a unique rogue cyborg on the run. The two together are pretty adorable. Erik is a somewhat generic ex-military alpha male type, but he has some fun dialogue and fits nicely into the hero role. Chance and the cyborgs in this story are interesting. They all seem to perform computations/probabilities, but they seem very human otherwise. And Chance is very sheltered and inexperienced compared to most.
The conflicts for this story are rather weak and resolve rather quickly, and the issue with Chance was more confusing than anything else. It's never explained why she was placed in the sanctuary planet in the first place——nor why they were so insistent she had to go back. As a standalone, there's some missing background info on the history of the cyborgs—especially female ones—that might have added more to the story, but this is pretty cute and enjoyable to read.
It was...nice. 3 stars.
05: Ashland 297: The Alien Agenda Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined, Book 7-Donna McDonald
This one is harder to discuss without giving away the plot. So.
Dia. Interesting older heroine. She's in her late 40s at the start of this book, her husband has been MIA for 10 years, she's still looking for him, but she has a guy or two to keep her company in the mean time. She's an astronaut, global celebrity, and total badass. A really enjoyable and unusual character for the the SFR genre which is obsessed with 20 year olds.
There is a MMC, but he comes into play way later in the story. Much of this one left me confused about what exactly was supposed to be happening because it's so much dialogue with characters who are not the mains setting up the events for the main characters. Again, something I've been conditioned to not expect from most SFR. It drove me batty until Dia clicked into place and things moved forward from there.
There's no sex in this story and no romance to build. It's a story about love and the lengths someone will go to be with the one person they're perfectly in sync with, even after a very long time apart. What happened to the MMC and his demonstrated devotion? Swoon-worthy.
This was an interesting piece of short fiction that gave me some things to think about. 4 stars.
06: Betraying Ko'ran An Altorian Cyborg Novel-by J Thompson
Man. This story. Where do I even start with it? Hot mess on a plate is probably the most accurate way I can describe my feelings towards it. So let's dissect that.
✏︎ At least half of this book is wasted in back-tracking via multiple perspectives. Duo or multi perspective POVs can be a fun way to tell a story, but didn't work here. So much of this was simply rehashing the same event from another POV but not adding anything then advancing the story just a little bit before doing it again. Successful POV swapping tends to do a short overlap then move ahead from the current character's POV, but this was...gratuitous and awkward. I'm willing to hazard only about 40% of the content in this story is the story line. The rest is rehashing it 2-3 times. It's really jarring and irritating to read about an event, then go to the next chapter and find yourself back in that exact same event with all of the same dialogue. Over. And over. And over. Maybe only rehash where it counts and then move ahead, yeah?
✏︎ The second half of this story has so many grammar errors, typos, and other editing issues I lost track. It's...really bad. Did this get rushed to meet a deadline?
But he also knew that his female, he grinned. She was most definitely his. Would never put up with being left behind.
I...whut?
But he also knew that his female—she was most definitely his—would never put up with being left behind. He grinned.
FTFY
It was hard to focus on anything else with these distractions.
2 stars. Please, not again.
Here we go!
This is a substantial collection of sci-fi shorts for a very low price ($0.99 Amazon), and no matter how this rating turns out, it's worth the entertainment value, but OUCH. This would have paid out more for the authors as a KU offering. Exposure kills, ladies.
I do not want to kill everyone with a wall of text; all reviews are hidden behind spoiler tags to save you from scrolling until the end of time. You're welcome.
01: Kissed by the Alien Mercenary- Mina Carter A Warriors of the Lathar Novella
Spoiler
One of my most common complaints that will be voiced for this anthology is how many of these stories are not truly standalone and are confusing to get into for someone—like me—who hasn't read any of the other works to understand the world they are set in and is 100% unfamiliar with the characters. Some past events are hinted at with enough detail to fill in the blanks and accept them, but there was a lot in this story that left me baffled and trying to understand what exactly was going on. It seems to be some odd regency meets higher-tech mercenary mash-up?Spoiler
Bex McLynn's The Ugly Dukeling did this more successfully, IMHO.Now the story itself wasn't bad. It was rather cute with a While You Were Sleeping meets Sleeping Beauty feel to it, even if neither main character particularly struck me and stuck with me after. They were rather generic Good People. Only one day later, I'm having trouble remembering much about them except that they're both rather pretty, and he's apparently low class and undesirable as a family member to the Lord Healer jerkwad. It's not a bad story, it's just not particularly memorable or remarkable. Mars needs women. They take women. And so forth.
So. This gets 3 stars. If you're a fan of this series, you'll probably get more enjoyment out of it than I did.
02: Mate Abduction by Eve Langlais
Spoiler
Langlais is the one author I was already familiar with in this collection, but I've read only her shifter fiction to date. This story was an actual standalone which was a big positive in its corner.Mate Abduction is a slightly different take on the Fated Mate Trope, set someplace far away from Earth, featuring a remarkably bratty and stubborn human female main character, Clarabelle, and Thyos, the male saddled with her. The universe this is set in was rather interesting, though a bit grim. Apparently non-Earth worlds take recycling to the extreme, and I had to wonder about the smells Clarabelle and her abductee sisters are saturated in every day...as well as many concerns about who was for dinner. Eep. The fact that everyone has to train so hard and be vigilant all of the time sounded genuinely exhausting. It was pretty remarkable how well the girls as a whole had adapted to this extreme life style.
But Clarabelle is over it. She's sick of not seeing other human faces. She just wants to go back to a life where she shops at the mall and makes out with boys in the back of cars. She thinks she's in her mid-20s, and she wants a boyfriend. Not a mate. Not a baby daddy. Not any of the available to her right now alien dick. No one that isn't 100% human. She refuses to settle. So she embarks on a quest: to find the impossible.
I spent a lot of time in this story wanting to bop Clarabelle on the head, because it baffled me that she could be in space for approximately a decade and refuse to adjust at all. Other than taking well to the violent lifestyle to stay alive, she refuses to use measurements of time or language choices that would help her fit into her surroundings better. The idea that she still stubbornly insists on seeing everyone and everything else around her as Alien and Wrong blew my mind. Honey, you are the alien here. Not them. I got a really strong sense that had Clarabelle stayed on Earth, she would be a xenophobic piece of work. She's the white lady the internet is meme-ing and giving an alliterative nickname to. Not a great look, but not all characters are likable. So alas, this is a story with a highly unlikable heroine. One who got cemented in this rosy view of Earth that has so little basis in reality that you know she was an idiot teenager when she was abducted. Every time she insisted that the sexes are mostly equal here, I could not hold back a snort. Oh...child. The things you never knew.
She is, however, wicked with knives and no fainting damsel in distress. I really loved her long-suffering sighing, "must we really do this?" attitude towards fights while she proceeded to kick a lot of ass. So high fives for that.
I will say that the race she and her friends ended up with amused me to no end. Ishtara is a delightful secondary character who had me laughing at her pointed—though somewhat mean—insights and direct manner. At one point in a conversation arguing with Clarabelle about going on her quest, she rightly points out that if the girls are simply looking for dick, it can be ordered in. There are several compatible species who can knock them up. I nearly died from cackling. I think I would really like these women if I could survive their culture long enough to hang.
But alas, I am soft, slow, and cresting over that hill very soon.
So. Thyos. I would have loved more of this story to get some more world building where his culture is concerned. I want to know more about that tree, darn it!
Thyos is the leader of his clan and failing them. There's a special clan tree of life that gauges the health and prosperity of the group and theirs is dying. Through no real fault or lack of effort on his part, but until he's mated and working on churning out some offspring, the tree will continue to wither and die, taking the clan with it. But Thyos has visited every clan on his world at least twice, and he has the scars to prove it. His fated mate is simply not there. Luckily—unfortunately?!—for him, his goddess, Karma, drops in to tell him he needs to go on a quest out in space to find his mate. She's out there. Oh, and she's going to be a real challenge to reel in, so best of luck to him. Thyos is super unamused and tries to resist fate, but everything lines up perfectly to send his butt off planet and on a half-hearted search for an alien mate who none of his clan will be thrilled about.
Thyos finally finds Clarabelle on one of the space stations and then fights a very long uphill battle with her all because...oh no, the boy has a tail and not-human eyes but he and his planet/culture are otherwise literally every single thing on her checklist of what she wants.
I wanted a lot more of this story or the universe it takes place in. Karma (as in Karma's a bitch) and Murphy (hello, Murphy's law) were interesting and left me wanting to know more about what exactly they are. I just know that Ishtara was in the know and not impressed with them.
3.5 stars despite the idiot sandwich FMC.
03: KRASH: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides #7- Cara Bristol
Spoiler
Yeeeeah. Part of a series, again, meaning there's a lot of world building missing in this short since it's assumed the reader already is familiar with this universe. This one is less confusing and more straightforward than the first story in the anthology.Another Mars needs women + Fated Mates story, this time featuring less-human horned males from a far off ice world (not Hoth, wrong author for the joke, I know) who are losing a substantial number of their already dwindling population to emigrating for participation in a dating service on Earth.
Overall I liked this story, but again, I really didn't care for the FMC, though for different reasons than the previous short.
The FMC in this one is a Strawman Skeptic, which always gets under my skin and makes me wonder if those who create them have ever had actual conversations with flesh and blood skeptics/atheists/freethinkers or just the weird caricatures of them portrayed online and in various media. As someone who is a skeptic, I had a very hard time relating to either Cyan or her boss, who were simply just ...jerks who looked down on everyone whose views differ from theirs just a little. And asshole is the default personality of the Strawman Skeptic, so this isn't coincidental and exactly why I've labeled it as such. We just like to piss in everyone's Cheerios and delight in it. I guess. Or something. And for being a professional debunker, Cyan really lacked any resources and tools necessary—most importantly a lack of bias—to effectively do her job. So this story was frustrating for me. Without the Strawman Skeptic personality, she wasn't left with much of anything to identify her with.
Krash was a fairly generic hero for these kinds of stories with his own chip on his shoulder that makes him cynical and unpleasant. He's also set in his mindset but is somewhat more tolerable. For a species that puts so much emphasis in a true mate and the physiological response involved, he sure was slow on the uptake.
This story also utilizes an OW who was frankly, confusing in her motives and utilization...as well as inconsistencies in the author's established universe lore. If Dakonians have one soul mate, how can females randomly break the bond to then be with other males? They all get one soul mate, why would anyone even do that if they had theirs? How would a bond form if they're not soul-mates? Why use this as a plot device in the first place? Oh right...everyone hates sluts. Thumbs down for that bit.
3 stars. Please stop feeding me idiot sandwiches now, thank you.
While the first half of this anthology was alien romances, this second half has a cyborg theme.
04: Chance Of A Lifetime-Susan Hayes
Spoiler
Now this one I believe is also a continuation of a series, but the lack of background didn't hurt it as much as some of the others. The story works well enough by itself to feel self-contained.COaL is cute and pretty sweet. Erik is human but nano-enhanced, a bouncer at a bar/casino on a space station, and Chance is a unique rogue cyborg on the run. The two together are pretty adorable. Erik is a somewhat generic ex-military alpha male type, but he has some fun dialogue and fits nicely into the hero role. Chance and the cyborgs in this story are interesting. They all seem to perform computations/probabilities, but they seem very human otherwise. And Chance is very sheltered and inexperienced compared to most.
The conflicts for this story are rather weak and resolve rather quickly, and the issue with Chance was more confusing than anything else. It's never explained why she was placed in the sanctuary planet in the first place—
Spoiler
surely agoraphobia isn't seen as a dangerous trait worth trapping someone on a planet until the end of time forIt was...nice. 3 stars.
05: Ashland 297: The Alien Agenda Cyborgs: Mankind Redefined, Book 7-Donna McDonald
Spoiler
Y'all are killing me with these series novellas. Seriously. This universe was rather disturbing from what little I saw of it, I'm good with not understanding the context of some of the horrors discussed in the opening chapters.This one is harder to discuss without giving away the plot. So.
Dia. Interesting older heroine. She's in her late 40s at the start of this book, her husband has been MIA for 10 years, she's still looking for him, but she has a guy or two to keep her company in the mean time. She's an astronaut, global celebrity, and total badass. A really enjoyable and unusual character for the the SFR genre which is obsessed with 20 year olds.
There is a MMC, but he comes into play way later in the story. Much of this one left me confused about what exactly was supposed to be happening because it's so much dialogue with characters who are not the mains setting up the events for the main characters. Again, something I've been conditioned to not expect from most SFR. It drove me batty until Dia clicked into place and things moved forward from there.
There's no sex in this story and no romance to build. It's a story about love and the lengths someone will go to be with the one person they're perfectly in sync with, even after a very long time apart. What happened to the MMC and his demonstrated devotion? Swoon-worthy.
This was an interesting piece of short fiction that gave me some things to think about. 4 stars.
06: Betraying Ko'ran An Altorian Cyborg Novel-by J Thompson
Spoiler
This one seems to be a standalone.Man. This story. Where do I even start with it? Hot mess on a plate is probably the most accurate way I can describe my feelings towards it. So let's dissect that.
✏︎ At least half of this book is wasted in back-tracking via multiple perspectives. Duo or multi perspective POVs can be a fun way to tell a story, but didn't work here. So much of this was simply rehashing the same event from another POV but not adding anything then advancing the story just a little bit before doing it again. Successful POV swapping tends to do a short overlap then move ahead from the current character's POV, but this was...gratuitous and awkward. I'm willing to hazard only about 40% of the content in this story is the story line. The rest is rehashing it 2-3 times. It's really jarring and irritating to read about an event, then go to the next chapter and find yourself back in that exact same event with all of the same dialogue. Over. And over. And over. Maybe only rehash where it counts and then move ahead, yeah?
✏︎ The second half of this story has so many grammar errors, typos, and other editing issues I lost track. It's...really bad. Did this get rushed to meet a deadline?
But he also knew that his female, he grinned. She was most definitely his. Would never put up with being left behind.
I...whut?
But he also knew that his female—she was most definitely his—would never put up with being left behind. He grinned.
FTFY
It was hard to focus on anything else with these distractions.
2 stars. Please, not again.
Kissed by the Alien Mercenary: Warriors of the Lathar by Mina Carter
Sleeping Beauty in Space! With added Lathar hotness. Think redeemed former misguided purist meets coma patient twin sister of the lead healer's wife!
Mate Abduction by Eve Langlais
Clarabelle is determined to find human males for her and her adopted sisters to marry. That is not going to be easy when Earth is supposed to be "protected". She just didn't reckon on fate giving her a mate, who a bit scalier than she imagined!
KRASH: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides by Cara Bristol
Alien debunker gets matched with Dakon renegade, who wants his people to return home before there is no-one left to go home to.
Chance of a Lifetime by Susan Hayes.
Betraying Ko’ran by J Thompson
Bethany and her husband were kickass pilots. But he died trying to protect her. She had to rebuild her body and her life. Then when the local camp of cyborgs gets hit she comes face to face with either her worst nightmare or best chance for a new start.
Cyborgs, Aliens, Cyborg-Alien hybrids. More than enough to get all your sci-fi loving juices flowing!
Sleeping Beauty in Space! With added Lathar hotness. Think redeemed former misguided purist meets coma patient twin sister of the lead healer's wife!
Mate Abduction by Eve Langlais
Clarabelle is determined to find human males for her and her adopted sisters to marry. That is not going to be easy when Earth is supposed to be "protected". She just didn't reckon on fate giving her a mate, who a bit scalier than she imagined!
KRASH: Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides by Cara Bristol
Alien debunker gets matched with Dakon renegade, who wants his people to return home before there is no-one left to go home to.
Chance of a Lifetime by Susan Hayes.
Betraying Ko’ran by J Thompson
Bethany and her husband were kickass pilots. But he died trying to protect her. She had to rebuild her body and her life. Then when the local camp of cyborgs gets hit she comes face to face with either her worst nightmare or best chance for a new start.
Cyborgs, Aliens, Cyborg-Alien hybrids. More than enough to get all your sci-fi loving juices flowing!
I’d like more of these stories.
Kissed by an Alien Mercenary
I actually enjoyed this. I’ve never read this series. The world building was interesting. It does suck to be poor on any planet. I liked the twins. Good humor.
Abducted Mate
“and he waited for her to get eaten.” Not a very chivalrous mate. I liked the world building, especially the Zonians.
Krash
This author thinks up the most intriguing situations. Funny and witty. Poor Krash just stole my heart. So glad the exodus is slowing down.
Chance of a lifetime
Loved Chance the gentle, predictor cyborg. This family makes me want to read more about this station. Very interesting. I will.
Ashland 297
This was so good. Dis and Ashland just make me want to swoon. I’m definitely going to read more from this author.
Betraying Koran
Man this story made humans look crappy again. When are there going to be books about humans doing good?
Some scenes were repeated,does the author struggle with dual POVs? This was my favorite story of them all. I went to look and see if there was more on these Altorians. Sadly no but I’ll keep looking. Great world building and interactions.
Kissed by an Alien Mercenary
I actually enjoyed this. I’ve never read this series. The world building was interesting. It does suck to be poor on any planet. I liked the twins. Good humor.
Abducted Mate
“and he waited for her to get eaten.” Not a very chivalrous mate. I liked the world building, especially the Zonians.
Krash
This author thinks up the most intriguing situations. Funny and witty. Poor Krash just stole my heart. So glad the exodus is slowing down.
Chance of a lifetime
Loved Chance the gentle, predictor cyborg. This family makes me want to read more about this station. Very interesting. I will.
Ashland 297
This was so good. Dis and Ashland just make me want to swoon. I’m definitely going to read more from this author.
Betraying Koran
Man this story made humans look crappy again. When are there going to be books about humans doing good?
Some scenes were repeated,does the author struggle with dual POVs? This was my favorite story of them all. I went to look and see if there was more on these Altorians. Sadly no but I’ll keep looking. Great world building and interactions.
A mix of tones in this one—I liked the more upbeat/pew-pew-pew styles of Hayes and Langlais, and struggled a bit more with the stories full of threatened potential rape and outright depictions of torture. But fans of both lighter and darker science fiction romance will likely have less issues with that.