Tag Archives: Mars Needs Women

Book Review: Freeing Luka, by Victoria Aveline

I received a copy of both Choosing Theo and Freeing Luka (by Victoria Aveline) in a monthly Renegade Romance box. I had already read the first one. So, you can find the review of Choosing Theo over here.

Luka has spent his life researching fertility in the hopes of discovering a cure for the Clecanians’ low birth rates. After years of working tirelessly with little progress, he becomes enraged when he uncovers a sinister plot to abduct compatible species from their home planets. But before he can tell anyone what he’s discovered, he’s captured, drugged, and thrown in a cell.

It’s just Alice’s luck that when she finally begins to get her life on track, she’s kidnapped by reptilian creatures and forced into a cell with a fierce incoherent alien for some kind of breeding experiment.

Even though they aren’t able to communicate, Alice and Luka find solace in each other’s company. As the days drag on, it becomes harder to keep her heart locked away, until she can’t help but wonder what a life with Luka might look like outside their dark prison. When an opportunity to free herself, Luka, and the other human prisoners presents itself, Alice takes it.

Once free, can Alice and Luka’s tenuous relationship survive on this planet? Will the evil men that held them prisoner ever see justice? And can they play a part in the rescue of the other women being held captive around this strange new world? Alice knows only one thing for certain—her life will never be the same again.

Honestly, I found this milquetoast and was bored with it. There was so very much that could have been done with the plotline that the author set up, and Aveline chose to do almost nothing. So little that I’m almost irrationally angry about it. Alice is abducted and thrown in with an alien who does not speak her language. We see an encounter or two, and then weeks pass. Then they escape and don’t see each other for a while, then they… go on a few earth-like, unexciting dates, and the end. I mean, it was as dull as dishwater. Yes, Luka is sweet in the way he wants to be loved, and Alice, who has historically been a doormat, finds her spine in space. But this was a disappointment, I’m afraid. Because most of that seems to happen off-page and then we’re told about it. Meh, what a waste of a gorgeous, if inaccurate, cover.

Other Reviews:

Bianca’s Book Review: “Freeing Luka” by Victoria Aveline

Book Reviews: Warriors of Luxiria (#1-3), by Zoey Draven

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In this month’s Renegade Romance box, I received a copy of the first 3 books in Zoey Draven‘s Warriors of Luxiria series: The Alien’s Prize, The Alien’s Mate, and The Alien’s Lover.

Kate Harper finally had it all back on Earth: her dream job, an amazing best friend, and an apartment completely void of her cheating ex. But when she wakes up chained on an alien planet known as the Pit, her whole reality flips upside down. Here, aliens fight to the death for the right to claim a human female. Even worse? She realizes she’s up for grabs.

Vaxa’an, the Prime Leader of Luxiria, has a duty to his people: ensure their dwindling race’s survival. Infamously ruthless and deadly, the Luxirian knows he’ll have no trouble claiming a female at the Pit. What he doesn’t expect to find is his fated mate, with her lush curves and haunting eyes that call to him, and he’ll stop at nothing to claim her.

When Kate becomes the warrior king’s prize, her only goal is to return to her old life. Certainly not to fall for an overbearing barbarian with a wicked tongue, whose determined to make her his own.

The Alien’s Prize:

*Sigh*
I think there may have been a time when I would have been more tolerant of this book. I have generally been amused by the whole “Mars Needs Women” plot device. Unfortunately, I live in America, where women are currently being stripped of autonomy and rights, and I happen to be studying Fundamentalist/Evangelical style Complementarianism. So, literally all I could think when reading this was how much the plot-line of King-Male takes an unwilling woman, sets out to fuck her into compliance/gracious submission, and then baby-trap her, and she turns out to be happy about it, matches the whole Complimentarian mythos. I just couldn’t really suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy it.

Outside of that, I think the whole thing moved too quickly. Kate adapted too easily, Vaxa’an was nowhere near caring enough about the difficult position she was in, and sex was used as a panacea in situations it did not fit. It all just felt really flat.

The Alien’s Mate:

Meh. I suppose I liked it more than the first book in the series, but like the first book, I found myself bored with the story here. The heroine, Kate, simply doesn’t do anything. The MMC goes off and does council stuff: fights, rules, makes decisions, etc. Kate? She sits at home, occasionally plays archivist, and grows a baby. She does nothing of note, literally, to the plot. Boring…and rushed. Draven even managed to squeeze human/alien gestation into 3 or so months.

The Alien’s Lover:

OK, look, I admit I’m not loving this series. I’m honestly surprised I made it to the 3rd volume (2nd couple). But, as you can see, I had the first 3 stories in a compilation, and I was determined to finish the ‘book.’ However, moving to a new couple helped a lot. The first and second volumes of the series are about the same couple, and I found them dead dull and was seriously ticked that the FMC just doesn’t do anything but exist.

Beks here is at least an active participant. She has agency and makes decisions and DOES THINGS. She decides what she wants and then actively pursues it. Yes, Lihvan does more, knows more, has more agency, and the vast majority of the tension in the story could have been cleared up with a conversation rather than assumptions. (Plus, the story plot points are basically exactly the same as in book one.) But I wasn’t as bored or irritated as I was with Kate and Vaxa’an’s storyline. So, I liked it more. That’s not to say I liked it a lot. There’s not much to it, and it’s made up of fairly cliched tropes. But I liked it better than the previous two.

I do technically have the next three stories in a 2nd compilation, and I’ll read it at some point. But I’m walking away from the series for the moment.