Tag Archives: sci-fi romance

dark worlds mates

Book Review: Heart’s Prisoner and Dark’s Savior, by Olivia Riley

I received a copy of Olivia Riley’s Heart’s Prisoner and Dark’s Savior in this month’s Renegade Romance Book Box. As an unrelated sidenote: since these are special edition covers, I’ll mention that I like them a lot less than the original covers. They are significantly (and disappointingly) less nuanced and detailed, and basically look like a cheap knock-off of the original.

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heart's prisoner special edition cover

He’s not like anything Lana has ever encountered.

Asset X: Massive, deadly, a little terrifying to say the least. A devilish warrior. And a killer. Captured on a hellish world after attacking a military campsite and now imprisoned in a state-of-the-art cell inside one of the military’s top bases–Lazris.

And Lana has been assigned to “study” him. To learn his secrets and gain his trust, if he is ever allowed to set foot out of his cell. As a top behaviorist, it is the biggest hurdle of her career.

Asset X–or Xerus as he is called–won’t give up his secrets easily. He is difficult, elusive, and–dare she say–unfathomably alluring…despite his seething demeanor and hard, frightening physique.

Something subconsciously draws her to him. Something wildly irresistible. Even if his wicked smile and needful gaze could just be a ploy to win her trust and escape his cell.

She shouldn’t think of him like that. He is an alien after all. And possibly their enemy.

For Xerus claims he is on a mission. A mission to destroy. And he cannot afford to fail. If he dares let Lana get close, dares open his cold heart to her, she could compromise everything.

my review

I generally enjoyed this, so long as I don’t think too deeply about it. If I did, I’d have to admit that there are a lot of plot holes, and the editing is pretty shoddy. But, so long as I’m determined to overlook these facts for the escapism, I think this is a sweet, low-spice, fairly low-angst read. Lana is smart and shows a backbone when she needs to. Xerus is a paint-by-numbers alien romantic lead, but I liked him all the same.

hearts prisoner photoI did struggle a little with two things that could be covered under plot holes, but I feel compelled to mention them since they especially annoyed me. One, Lana sends Xerus out to essentially run errands for her in the middle of what should be dangerous and frightening times. This very effectively undermined Riley’s attempt to build tension in the plot. Second, Lana’s willingness to give up her own culture and completely take on Xerus’ slaps of toxic patriarchy’s insistence that women, when they marry, give up who they are and become of-their-husband. Sure, I’m not reading Alien Romance for exemplary feminist takes. But I still call out our culture’s BS when it stands out so starkly in my entertainment.


dark's savior cover

A chance encounter can change everything.

When Aly joined the Grayhart mission to find advanced civilizations within deep space, she didn’t expect to be captured far from home and taken to Xolis–a galactic empire like none ever seen, ruled by the nillium–a powerful race with a serious god complex.

Now outsiders, Aly and her team of explorers are sent to the darkest place within Xolis: Lethe Maws. A mining city on a planet home to outcasts, slaves, and monstrous creatures lurking in the deep dark.

And home to the Dark One, a dangerous exile even the nillium fear, living at the bottom of the mines where all are warned never to go.

When Aly runs into the legendary alien in a very unlikely place, what she finds is no monster but a large, mysterious, nillium male with fierce silver eyes, who makes her heart race.

But though the nillium outcast had reached for her, desiring to touch her, fascinated by her as she was of him, Aly soon learns he’s not looking to be friends or possibly something more.

For what Aly doesn’t know is the Dark One–known by his kind as Ryziel, son of the nillium’s now dead ruler–isn’t looking for love or a mate. He’s looking to get off Lethe Maws for good and return home to his brother, the only family who accepts him for who he is, the only one who matters.

But the human woman brings out a darker part of him that he can’t control–something he never thought possible. As he is determined to escape, he struggles to understand his need for her. A need to protect her. A need to claim her. But determined not to let her get too close lest she be his undoing.

Try as he might to keep her at a distance, Aly will become the one thing Ryziel needs to be free.

my review

Meh, this was fine, I suppose. It was structurally almost exactly the same as book one. The same darks savior photo“I’m pushing you away for your own good,” the same skeevy male attention, the same cardboard male romantic lead, the same sort of plot that keeps the two apart for most of the book, etc. This probably wouldn’t have made the books feel so generic if I hadn’t read them back to back. But I did, so…

I like Aly well enough. I thought the world interesting-ish. I like the shadow Ryziel casts. But that’s all I can call it. I don’t feel like the reader gets to know him well, and, honestly, I never really felt the spark between the two of them. All in all, this was a pretty middle-of-the-road read. I didn’t hate it, but I won’t remember it next week either.


Other Reviews:

Bookishly Nomes: Dark World Mates Series Reviews

 

 

 

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Book Review: His Human Assistant, by Michele Mills

I picked up a copy of Michele MillsHis Human Assistant as an Amazon freebie a while back.

his human assistant cover

I’m a corporate whistleblower running for my life, so I take the first job I can find off planet.

Now I’m a lowly assistant for some rich devil named Hannibal Hellstone? And when I say “devil,” I mean DEVIL. As in this guy’s skin is dark red, he has shiny black horns, sharp fangs, silver-tipped claws and a barbed tail. This Hyrrokin is scary AF and his eight-year-old son looks just like him. And, he has a sharp-toothed, three-headed, fire-breathing “dog” at his side.

*gulp*

I’m supposed to live with my new boss?

I don’t know anything about kids. And I don’t like pets. But, jeez, this guy is hawt. And his kid is sweet too. My heart cracks open for them—and their “dog.”

Hannibal starts throwing heated glances my way. But if this honorable soldier knew the real me, the girl with the checkered past, would he still want me? Oh well, it’s not like this is going to get serious—he’s told everyone he’s never, ever, going to marry anyone ever again.

This is good, right?

That’s what I want too…right?

my review

Honestly, I was just bored by this. I appreciated the plus-sized, smart, capable heroine who takes the lead in the end, but the writing is prosaic and repetitive. (And there are some strange word choices… *cough* teats?!). The plot is bland and uninteresting, and the romance is sub-par.

Mostly, however, the characters don’t get to know one another (or not in a manner that the reader feels). So, what he seems to fall in love with is her body and all the ways she can be of service to him (his business, his son, and his dog), which is just ick, in my opinion. I don’t even know what she is supposed to have fallen in love with.

I have too many other books to read to bother with the rest of this series (even though I think I own some).

His Human Assistant Photo


Other Reviews:

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Book Review: When Darkness Falls, by Marian Pattechat

I picked up a copy of When Darkness Falls, by Marian Pattechat as an Amazon freebie.

When Darkness Falls cover

Miya plans a break from work, but first she has to survive her latest piloting job. Which is sure to kill her… unless she breaks the hot alien prisoner out of the cargo hold.

Miya was supposed to be enjoying a well-deserved holiday on a sunny resort planet. But instead of sipping alien cocktails in her new bikini, she is stuck in her pilot seat transporting some edgy soldiers and their mysterious cargo to a backwater system.

The fact that said cargo is a guy with looks that set her heart racing and a voice that gives her tingles in all the right places is no consolation. Maybe because the sexy alien is a prisoner so dangerous they keep him caged, cuffed, and under guard. Or perhaps because he keeps claiming everyone is going to die unless Miya sets him free.

Yeah, sure. Like she would fall for that. This is going to be one boring, uneventful space trip on her perfectly safe ship… Right?

my review

First off, that cover is a travesty. Just saying.
This was cute. It’s kind of alien insta-love meets Riddick. The H and h run around surviving whatever randomness pops up, finally have an evening together to consummate their love, then a happily ever after in the form of an epilogue. It’s not overly spicy. There’s some humor here and there. And the writing is pretty good. I’d read another Pattechat book.

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