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allingoodtime's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I mistakenly skipped this novella, thinking it wouldn’t add much to the overall series. As I was reading Barbarian’s Hope I realized I was wrong. I wanted to know Claire’s story. I still enjoyed that book, but I knew I was missing something so I went back to read this one.
First of all, Bek is a jerk. At times his attitude seems to be a big deal, yet at other times it seems to be looked at like it’s just his personality and his tribe tends to ignore it. I have to tell you that if you have a hard time reading one character belittling and acting extremely possessive and overbearing toward another character you will want to skip this one. It’s a wonderful story, but I can see it being triggering. I was a bit disappointed the author didn’t go all in with declaring Bek abusive because in my eyes he is.
There are a lot of viewpoints in this story. Personally, I was reading it specifically for the Claire/Ereven parts and I was not disappointed. We don’t get to know Ereven very well, but it’s obvious he is kind and caring and head-over-heels for Claire. There is a sweet timidity to how the relationship unfolds that makes my heart happy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse
robinwritesallthethings's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
What It’s About: The humans have been on the ice planet for a while now, and they miss holidays, so they invent one for everyone to celebrate together.
Spice Level: There’s not a ton of spice in this one because it focuses more on the holiday, but there is one scene that, while a little fast, is pretty fun.
Realism: I love the idea of the humans inventing a holiday to introduce some more of their traditions to the ice planet. The reintroduction of Claire, who was really just an annoying side character previously, rounds her out and makes her likable, and also deals with the idea of what happens when someone doesn’t resonate and then feels taken advantage of.
Trope Alert: An abusive relationship and fake dating make brief appearances.
Trigger Warnings: An abusive relationship is depicted in parts of this one, and there’s a difficult birth scene.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Pregnancy
missbliss's review against another edition
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Feels Like Smutty Alien Barbarian Lifetime Christmas Movie
This story jumps from Georgie and new character Claire's perspective. So no male POV in this short read. As always explicit sex scenes shown throughout, though I did not find them quite as compelling as the last stories. We do get a window into not all relationships being happy and healthy with Claire being in an emotionally abusive dynamic with the male Bek she has been seeing/staying with despite not having resonated. So was interesting to see how this is brought up in a tiny community and see Claire's perspective on her understanding of why she is in this relationship. All of these stories are always very hard HEA so moments of tension feel brief and quickly resolved but was a shift from the typical description of the relationships between the human women and Sa-khui men. This story greatly focuses on all the human women wanting to bring earth traditions like holidays to Not-Hoth and trying to explain and share this with the Sa-khui. There is also lots of discussions of the new babies and childbirth. The pacing felt slightly slower, the laughs less entertaining, and the story overall less engaging. It is a quick read and very much adds to the development of the world but definitely not a story I would ever feel compelled to revisit and my least favorite of the series so far (I am following a reading list from the author's website that incorporates all the series in this universe).
This story jumps from Georgie and new character Claire's perspective. So no male POV in this short read. As always explicit sex scenes shown throughout, though I did not find them quite as compelling as the last stories. We do get a window into not all relationships being happy and healthy with Claire being in an emotionally abusive dynamic with the male Bek she has been seeing/staying with despite not having resonated. So was interesting to see how this is brought up in a tiny community and see Claire's perspective on her understanding of why she is in this relationship. All of these stories are always very hard HEA so moments of tension feel brief and quickly resolved but was a shift from the typical description of the relationships between the human women and Sa-khui men. This story greatly focuses on all the human women wanting to bring earth traditions like holidays to Not-Hoth and trying to explain and share this with the Sa-khui. There is also lots of discussions of the new babies and childbirth. The pacing felt slightly slower, the laughs less entertaining, and the story overall less engaging. It is a quick read and very much adds to the development of the world but definitely not a story I would ever feel compelled to revisit and my least favorite of the series so far (I am following a reading list from the author's website that incorporates all the series in this universe).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Sexual content
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
booksandmagic's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Emotional abuse
kloughlin's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content
Minor: Domestic abuse
yaoipaddle's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Cute story beats that get me excited to read the series again. I just skip all the porn because it is… very repetitive. I think I liked this cause it had comparatively little couple stuff to a full book or the honeymoons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Moderate: Domestic abuse
martamae77's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Pregnancy
Minor: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
robinsong's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Animal death, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
gabbybabe's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Emotional abuse
now_booking's review against another edition
emotional
relaxing
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
This is a good “holiday special” sort of catch up book to sort of give an update on the original main human players in No-Hoth as they create a new holiday tradition there. There’s also a sub-plot of Claire’s toxic relationship with Bek and her finding support in Ereven as she tries to overcome habits learned in her childhood from her mother’s toxic relationships and find happiness. Overall, not a necessary book in the series but if you’ve already read and liked the first 4, you’ll probably want to check it out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Bullying
Minor: Domestic abuse