I grabbed C.C. Coats’ novel, Claimed, off of the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Earth is over populated. Leo’Nya Zesiro is one of the pilots charged with finding and cataloging new “housing options”. Life is lovely, at least until her vessel is attacked and she finds herself stranded on a newly discovered, un-cataloged planet. On a planet where males out number females 1-7.

Erol knows from the beginning that Leo’Nya is the female he’s been waiting for… now he has to keep her from leaving until she realizes it. Leo finds the beauty and peace she’s always longed for, but there are hidden dangers on Nur. The men might do all the cooking, but they also tend to steal you, that is if they can kill your current owner. If she can stay alive, she might just make it home in one piece. At least if she can manage not to fall in love with the caveman who’s trying to keeper her.

Review:
The plot line of this book could have easily travelled into dangerous and distasteful gang bang territory. I’ll say upfront that it doesn’t. It doesn’t even spend all that much time in the realm of the unpleasant. Yes, Leo’Nya Zesiro finds herself claimed, or kidnapped, more than once. Yes, not all of those kidnappers are nice people…aliens…whatever. And yes, even the kindhearted, noble men are incredibly chauvinistic. It’s a cultural thing. But the primary thrust of the book is about one man’s incredible love (OK, and lust) for one woman and the lengths he would go to in order to gain her love in return (OK, even if that means forcing it in return). It’s sweet, really…and steamy. There is lots of steamy.

Leo is a strong-willed heroine, without going overboard into suicidally obstinate. I’ve seen a lot of such women in the PNR genre, women who simply protest too much instead of seeing to their own self-preservation. I liked this about Leo. I also liked that she was willing to acknowledge her own torn emotions. Erol was simply wonderful. He did seem utterly unable to consider that as an off-worlder Leo wouldn’t know of, let alone instantly acquiesce, to his way of doing things. But even as he failed to explain her situation to her he also gave his absolute all to honestly protect and please her. Who can’t appreciate that? I also liked the way his species ‘phased’ into utter badass predators. It was kinda like taking the whole alpha things one step further. Though predominantly side characters I loved Avi and her crew, as well as Erol’s brothers to a lesser extent.

I know that a 2nd book, Bound, is due out later this year and that’s a good thing. Rather than being focused solely on Leo and Erol’s blooming romance this book also included quite a bit of planetary politics and minor characters whose presence seemed to serve no purpose to the current story. My guess is that they are important to a bigger storyline yet to come. It’s a little dissatisfying to finish a book and not know how some of the thread tie off in the end, so I’m glad to know there is more to come. All in all I was pleased. The text could do with another pass with the editorial brush, but as I enjoyed the book I was willing to overlook the errors.