I received a copy of Vigilance, by Etta Pierce, in a Renegade Romance Book Box. This is book two in the Intersolar Union series. I reviewed book one, Convergence, here.
Still reeling from the upending of her life, Dr Amelia Ahlberg finds herself the sole physician of the new human colony on Yaspur. Luckily, a medical delegate was assigned to help her settle in after the trauma of the Paramour. When a young girl falls ill because of a common flower, Amelia begs him to take her on his research excursions into the jungle. She needs to learn how to care for her people first hand.
But Ezraji Zarabi is confusing. He’s erratic, distant, and increasingly hot-headed. He refuses, leaving her to fend for herself as the stress threatens to crack the good doctor’s reality. When she starts to hallucinate, she has to wonder…Is it her? Or is it him?
Amelia’s instincts are put to the test. Does she trust the one person that’s always there when she needs him, or does she question why he’s there in the first place?
I like the characters in this book. The series is interesting because the aliens are truly alien, and I very much like that about them. I enjoyed seeing Ezraji’s alien instincts come to the fore. He’s lovely and sweet and trying his best to do the right thing. Amelia, too, is doing her best in a challenging situation, and I appreciate that she is clearly able to learn and grow with new information and experiences.
However, where is the actual romance? There is no romance here. Nor is there any significant spice. So, it’s not erotica where sex (rather than romance) might be the point. This is intended to be a slowish burn romance, but it isn’t. The reader never really gets to see any of it. The closest we come is an accidental chemical attachment that Ezraji tries to hide. We barely even see the two interacting with each other. Yes, Ezraji goes above and beyond to protect her. But she’s unaware of that. Yes, she decides to give a relationship a try, and he’s happy with that, and the reader is led to expect an HEA. But we see none of it. I felt very little attachment to the characters, even if I liked them, and had no investment in the relationship. And what good feelings I was left with at the end of the story were destroyed by the epilogue, which appears to be the hook for the next book in the series.
All in all, I didn’t hate it, and the series seems interesting. But I was only actually so-so on the actual story as told.
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