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courtney_saba's review
5.0
5 easy stars. What a fantastic story!
Loved the characters, the plot, the setting, the pace, the dialogue, the writing style, the dark circumstances, the author's willingness to show Simon's morally gray tendencies, and the scintillating slow burn between Simon and Gemma. Despite my complaints below, I enjoyed this so much, so I'm ignoring obvious flaws.
1) I wanted more detail. Simon's age, the worldbuilding, the history, whatever the Great Invasion was, the Rix species and their culture, Simon's abilities and his "energy" flares, the timeline/year, and more about Simon himself.
2) the villain wasn't as scary as the author wanted us to think bc there wasn't enough detail. And I was tired of everyone calling him doctor. That title indicates respect, and our MCs have zero of that for him.
3) the abrupt ending. Without giving away any spoilers, I just thought the story ended quite abruptly. Especially since the author made some choices in the last section that indicated a possible epilogue or more tied up loose ends.
4) despite how much I loved the writing, the section, chapter, and paragraph jumps were stark, choppy, and disorienting. Sometimes I was so lost at the beginning of these areas, and that took me out of the story.
5) I believe it needed one more run through by an editor bc I found some severely obvious grammar and word choice mistakes. I wish I could've been the editor bc I found every single mistake easily.
Again, this book is a 5 star read to me bc I was genuinely engrossed in the story and with our main characters, despite my complaints above, and so I shoved everything aside bc the author drew you in and hooked you so well on the core and raw story.
This author is amazingly skilled. I'm looking forward to her other works. And I'm so sad to be leaving luscious Simon! Wish there was more of him.
Would I reread this book? Oh, yes. The culmination of Gemma and Simon's relationship was worth the wait. Whew! So hot.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. The slow burn and romance aspects were clearly there, but the story actually had substance and a plot. It was also seriously written, with some humorous dialogue, but no immaturity or ridiculous alphaholeness or stupid scenes. Every scene meant something, and so it was elevated levels above so many other alien and romance novels. It wasn't just smut and it didn't lack in intimacy between our characters. Those raw scenes between Gemma and Simon were my favorite moments. So the author created a balanced story here, and this book deserves more hype, hands down.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
TW: violence, murder, attempted rape (not by hero)
Loved the characters, the plot, the setting, the pace, the dialogue, the writing style, the dark circumstances, the author's willingness to show Simon's morally gray tendencies, and the scintillating slow burn between Simon and Gemma. Despite my complaints below, I enjoyed this so much, so I'm ignoring obvious flaws.
1) I wanted more detail. Simon's age, the worldbuilding, the history, whatever the Great Invasion was, the Rix species and their culture, Simon's abilities and his "energy" flares, the timeline/year, and more about Simon himself.
2) the villain wasn't as scary as the author wanted us to think bc there wasn't enough detail. And I was tired of everyone calling him doctor. That title indicates respect, and our MCs have zero of that for him.
3) the abrupt ending. Without giving away any spoilers, I just thought the story ended quite abruptly. Especially since the author made some choices in the last section that indicated a possible epilogue or more tied up loose ends.
4) despite how much I loved the writing, the section, chapter, and paragraph jumps were stark, choppy, and disorienting. Sometimes I was so lost at the beginning of these areas, and that took me out of the story.
5) I believe it needed one more run through by an editor bc I found some severely obvious grammar and word choice mistakes. I wish I could've been the editor bc I found every single mistake easily.
Again, this book is a 5 star read to me bc I was genuinely engrossed in the story and with our main characters, despite my complaints above, and so I shoved everything aside bc the author drew you in and hooked you so well on the core and raw story.
This author is amazingly skilled. I'm looking forward to her other works. And I'm so sad to be leaving luscious Simon! Wish there was more of him.
Would I reread this book? Oh, yes. The culmination of Gemma and Simon's relationship was worth the wait. Whew! So hot.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. The slow burn and romance aspects were clearly there, but the story actually had substance and a plot. It was also seriously written, with some humorous dialogue, but no immaturity or ridiculous alphaholeness or stupid scenes. Every scene meant something, and so it was elevated levels above so many other alien and romance novels. It wasn't just smut and it didn't lack in intimacy between our characters. Those raw scenes between Gemma and Simon were my favorite moments. So the author created a balanced story here, and this book deserves more hype, hands down.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
TW: violence, murder, attempted rape (not by hero)
kzimm2024's review
4.0
Found this recommendation by Ruby Dixon- really good story (almost a 5).
It is gritty and a sad, hard world but I appreciate the lightness and humor our heroine Gemma has and her interactions with Simon. She gets to talk to him in a completely irreverent manner which (of course) takes him by surprise. Slow burn story.
This story is greatly detailed, and practical I might say, considering our heroines' debate to herself about trying to smuggle yogurt into the prison using the body cavities most people try to use. Too funny.
You cheer for the good guys, hate the bad guys and the aliens are well described and interesting- especially the Little Green Man. The prison was portrayed well but I think the best part was how Simon became alive when Gemma came along. They became each others' reason to live.
It is gritty and a sad, hard world but I appreciate the lightness and humor our heroine Gemma has and her interactions with Simon. She gets to talk to him in a completely irreverent manner which (of course) takes him by surprise. Slow burn story.
This story is greatly detailed, and practical I might say, considering our heroines' debate to herself about trying to smuggle yogurt into the prison using the body cavities most people try to use. Too funny.
You cheer for the good guys, hate the bad guys and the aliens are well described and interesting- especially the Little Green Man. The prison was portrayed well but I think the best part was how Simon became alive when Gemma came along. They became each others' reason to live.
magnafeana's review
3.0
3.75 stars rounded up down!
Let’s get started, shall we?
In a world similar to the Elysium series, the wealthy have fled for space while the working class and all its aliens remain on Earth where they struggle to make a living.
Enter out FMC Gemma (h). Working in a prison with little money and food, she stays with her reluctant extended family after her disaster back home left her orphaned and crippled. Gemma had high hopes her brother will return for her as she held him get to the Promised Land, but when his letter back to her does nothing but trample her expectations, she realizes she truly is alone.
Well—perhaps not as alone as she thinks.
She meets the MMC Simon (H) after being transferred into an alien sector of prison. While the inmates and coworkers are trouble, weakened Simon the Rix makes Gemma’d job worth it as she grows emboldened in nursing him back to help. But in doing do, she discovers how truly unfair the galaxy can be.
Let’s talk about this one the literary front.
A few grammatical errors and some extra letters that didn’t belong, but it was more like something that would raised an eyebrow than make you DNF.
This is a character-driven story. The inmates and Ruby felt diverse, but the side characters had been given deliberate one dimensions that made them offputtingly cartoonish. It was as though the intention was to uplight the FMC’s grace and compassion by villainizing every person and every thing around her, which felt like the author didn’t trust the audience to understand that the world was cruel.
The constant sexual assault does happen in war. But was it necessary to get the point across here?
The dialogue felt connected at some points and unrealistic at another. When the character tones would take a Shakespearean shift, it broke my immersion on thinking, Why would X character even say that?
The ending felt flat. Because this story adhered to western story telling of the three arc structure with the exposition ➡️ rising action ➡️ climax ➡️ falling action ➡️ third act ➡️ finale, this story seemed not be able to pull strong and settle for what its second and third act would be or about its conclusion.
Open-ended endings are a great move and one I prefer. But this story felt like there should have been two to three pages more to feel like a well-received ending.
Pacing on this story had the right amount of action and intimacy. Though the back half of the story felt very quick.
From a personal standpoint.
I didn’t find Gemma a strong FMC, especially when she self-described herself as “compassionate”. Simon was right in her over-analysis, but all her questioning made no sense considering she was disabled and also didn’t like to be judged. Her naïveté toward her situation made no sense, given the state of earth in this story.
When writing a maiden, virtuous heroine, it can’t feel strong. It has to make sense within the context of the story. And hers felt like an overkill to truly depict how compassionate she was. I more would have bought she was a prison nurse, new on the job, and had yet to experience burnout. If that was the case, her attitude would have matched and I would have believed it.
Her savior complex toward an alien? It made me go Sure, Jan.
This is all from third person limited so we have no inkling of Simon’s thoughts, but I was fine with that. He was a very straightforward character.
Overall, this was an SFR, and it is what it is. The steam felt like PNR insta-lust/matebone, and I skimmed through it.
Solid 3 ⭐️ read.
Let’s get started, shall we?
In a world similar to the Elysium series, the wealthy have fled for space while the working class and all its aliens remain on Earth where they struggle to make a living.
Enter out FMC Gemma (h). Working in a prison with little money and food, she stays with her reluctant extended family after her disaster back home left her orphaned and crippled. Gemma had high hopes her brother will return for her as she held him get to the Promised Land, but when his letter back to her does nothing but trample her expectations, she realizes she truly is alone.
Well—perhaps not as alone as she thinks.
She meets the MMC Simon (H) after being transferred into an alien sector of prison. While the inmates and coworkers are trouble, weakened Simon the Rix makes Gemma’d job worth it as she grows emboldened in nursing him back to help. But in doing do, she discovers how truly unfair the galaxy can be.
Let’s talk about this one the literary front.
A few grammatical errors and some extra letters that didn’t belong, but it was more like something that would raised an eyebrow than make you DNF.
This is a character-driven story. The inmates and Ruby felt diverse, but the side characters had been given deliberate one dimensions that made them offputtingly cartoonish. It was as though the intention was to uplight the FMC’s grace and compassion by villainizing every person and every thing around her, which felt like the author didn’t trust the audience to understand that the world was cruel.
The constant sexual assault does happen in war. But was it necessary to get the point across here?
The dialogue felt connected at some points and unrealistic at another. When the character tones would take a Shakespearean shift, it broke my immersion on thinking, Why would X character even say that?
The ending felt flat. Because this story adhered to western story telling of the three arc structure with the exposition ➡️ rising action ➡️ climax ➡️ falling action ➡️ third act ➡️ finale, this story seemed not be able to pull strong and settle for what its second and third act would be or about its conclusion.
Open-ended endings are a great move and one I prefer. But this story felt like there should have been two to three pages more to feel like a well-received ending.
Pacing on this story had the right amount of action and intimacy. Though the back half of the story felt very quick.
From a personal standpoint.
I didn’t find Gemma a strong FMC, especially when she self-described herself as “compassionate”. Simon was right in her over-analysis, but all her questioning made no sense considering she was disabled and also didn’t like to be judged. Her naïveté toward her situation made no sense, given the state of earth in this story.
When writing a maiden, virtuous heroine, it can’t feel strong. It has to make sense within the context of the story. And hers felt like an overkill to truly depict how compassionate she was. I more would have bought she was a prison nurse, new on the job, and had yet to experience burnout. If that was the case, her attitude would have matched and I would have believed it.
Her savior complex toward an alien? It made me go Sure, Jan.
This is all from third person limited so we have no inkling of Simon’s thoughts, but I was fine with that. He was a very straightforward character.
Overall, this was an SFR, and it is what it is. The steam felt like PNR insta-lust/matebone, and I skimmed through it.
Solid 3 ⭐️ read.
whitneykelley's review
5.0
Super good slow burn alien romance. I couldn’t put it down. Single POV (F).
The trope is a darker sci-fi version of Taming Demons for Beginners by Annette Marie. (I liked the pacing of this one a little more, though it has a distinct lack of baked goods!) In both cases, I really liked how the main M lead slowly opens up as he starts trusting main F.
Two quibbles:
1. The MF lead has some reservations about some ethical issues....then seems to drop all concerns because....no good reason?
2. The ending is abrupt. I would normally expect an epilogue. But everything resolved so it’s fine, I guess?
The trope is a darker sci-fi version of Taming Demons for Beginners by Annette Marie. (I liked the pacing of this one a little more, though it has a distinct lack of baked goods!) In both cases, I really liked how the main M lead slowly opens up as he starts trusting main F.
Two quibbles:
1. The MF lead has some reservations about some ethical issues....then seems to drop all concerns because....no good reason?
2. The ending is abrupt. I would normally expect an epilogue. But everything resolved so it’s fine, I guess?
gwynt's review
4.0
interesting read. I thought there were a lot of holes in terms of practical world-building, but engaging and the dialogue was well fabricated. I would read others by her.
escapismseeker's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
abbey_mundt's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.75
lullalili's review
3.0
writing this review a few chapters before the actual ending but I got spoiled already from the other reviews I’ve read lol.
Unpopular opinion but I preferred the first half of the book more than the second, even though the second was technically more interesting and fast-paced.
I just feel like the first half of the book actually develops stuff and lives up to the whole “slow burn” thing but second half? random sex for no fuckin reason (i had to skip them bc I just didn’t have it in me to tolerate it), random drama for the sake of action, and I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the MC and ML ngl, it felt extremely one sided but I guess this could be due to the fact the entire novel is in MC’s POV.
There were some few notable “romantic” lines from Simon that would’ve gotten me blushin and shit like a little girl…if I actually got emotionally invested in this story lol (which, for the record, I didn’t really tbh bc Gemma lowkey annoyed me).
Some minor nitpicks (mild spoiler alert?) bc I focus on the wrong details often lol:
The author took the time to write about how Simon regrew his nails from the stubs but nothing about his teeth, so every time Gemma was getting her monster kink on about how sexy or whatever Simon was, I was just like “so is he still toothless orrrr???? Are we just forgetting that he was basically a wrinkly skeletal vegetable for a solid 30% of the book before y’all wanted to start boning him orrrrr???????
Also what happened to Ruby??? I feel like after we just…never hear about Ruby or even her child again lol. Hell, we didn’t even hear about what happened with the Harry Potter Dursley’s ass family that Gemma lived with. Maybe it comes up in the final few chapters but as I write this review, nothin about them lol.
Oh as to why Gemma lowkey annoyed me, I definitely find her more tolerable than your average romance heroine but she’s the typical “way too nice/soft for her own good” MC in a post-apocalyptic world. On the opposite end, the overly “badass not like other girls” MCs also annoy me. Why can’t romance novels ever find an in-between? ugh. Anyways. Gemma, baby girl, you are living in a fucking wastelands, there is no place and time for you to be screaming at ur alien boyfriend for killing people for both his and YOUR survival. SMH.
I found this book through Reddit thread recommendations and I saw that many people considered this a bleak/depressing novel, but I feel like I didn’t feel like that with this?? Perhaps I’m so used to those very long series of books with even worse circumstances, or just chinese length novels which is a whole ‘nother beast lol (1k pages sheesh), but I feel like this book was very tame for a supposedly “dark” or depressing book. Hell I didn’t even tag it under my “dark-but-not-depression” shelf.
Anyways 2.5 stars, but I’ll round it to 3 because it kept me interested enough to actually finish it, rather than drop it like I normally would when I’d get too annoyed to finish the book lol.
Unpopular opinion but I preferred the first half of the book more than the second, even though the second was technically more interesting and fast-paced.
I just feel like the first half of the book actually develops stuff and lives up to the whole “slow burn” thing but second half? random sex for no fuckin reason (i had to skip them bc I just didn’t have it in me to tolerate it), random drama for the sake of action, and I didn’t really feel the chemistry between the MC and ML ngl, it felt extremely one sided but I guess this could be due to the fact the entire novel is in MC’s POV.
There were some few notable “romantic” lines from Simon that would’ve gotten me blushin and shit like a little girl…if I actually got emotionally invested in this story lol (which, for the record, I didn’t really tbh bc Gemma lowkey annoyed me).
Some minor nitpicks (mild spoiler alert?) bc I focus on the wrong details often lol:
The author took the time to write about how Simon regrew his nails from the stubs but nothing about his teeth, so every time Gemma was getting her monster kink on about how sexy or whatever Simon was, I was just like “so is he still toothless orrrr???? Are we just forgetting that he was basically a wrinkly skeletal vegetable for a solid 30% of the book before y’all wanted to start boning him orrrrr???????
Also what happened to Ruby??? I feel like after
Spoiler
arlo got killed and Simon escapes the prisonOh as to why Gemma lowkey annoyed me, I definitely find her more tolerable than your average romance heroine but she’s the typical “way too nice/soft for her own good” MC in a post-apocalyptic world. On the opposite end, the overly “badass not like other girls” MCs also annoy me. Why can’t romance novels ever find an in-between? ugh. Anyways. Gemma, baby girl, you are living in a fucking wastelands, there is no place and time for you to be screaming at ur alien boyfriend for killing people for both his and YOUR survival. SMH.
I found this book through Reddit thread recommendations and I saw that many people considered this a bleak/depressing novel, but I feel like I didn’t feel like that with this?? Perhaps I’m so used to those very long series of books with even worse circumstances, or just chinese length novels which is a whole ‘nother beast lol (1k pages sheesh), but I feel like this book was very tame for a supposedly “dark” or depressing book. Hell I didn’t even tag it under my “dark-but-not-depression” shelf.
Anyways 2.5 stars, but I’ll round it to 3 because it kept me interested enough to actually finish it, rather than drop it like I normally would when I’d get too annoyed to finish the book lol.
bookish_caprice's review
5.0
Remarkable story!
I loved this book! The slow world and character building made the connection with MC much more deeper. I love it when the authors are able to make you feel all the kinds of emotions with their writing.
This book is for someone who likes plot first and romance second. This is not a book where it's all about romance and smut.
This author is now my favourite! I'm very happy to see new book release set in the same world - Sky Song.
I loved this book! The slow world and character building made the connection with MC much more deeper. I love it when the authors are able to make you feel all the kinds of emotions with their writing.
This book is for someone who likes plot first and romance second. This is not a book where it's all about romance and smut.
This author is now my favourite! I'm very happy to see new book release set in the same world - Sky Song.