Reviews

After reading the first chapter (intriguing but slow), I went to skim a few reviews and realised this 1) is a very slow burn and 2) has more sci fi than romance, so it's probably not the book for me.

ozettegirl's review against another edition

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3.0

Gemma works at a prison and lives with relatives who don’t care for her, waiting for an old boyfriend to send for her to leave Earth. Orphaned and lonely, she is open hearted and kind to everyone she meets. She is transferred to a new floor of the prison that houses aliens and starts taking care of one alien especially who caught her eye.

It’s a decently good book. Slow- no insta love here - in fact the romance is secondary to Gemma’s character, the differences of the alien, their growing bond and the struggles of two disenfranchised creatures in bad situations.

I liked it. I liked the slow pace and the consistent feel off the writing and the world building. But even as I finished it (wish we had an epilogue of life on Simon’s world!) ... I thought to myself ‘not a reread book’.

It’s good and solid but it doesn’t ... have a feeling of joy. Gemma and Simon struggle and struggle hard! And they totally earn their happy ending and I’m sure they’ll have one. But there’s a missing ... spark in the story for me. A lighter swifter story I might have circled back to, for fun and clever world creation— a deeper story that gave me a feeling ‘Gemma overcomes in a way that’s inspiring’ would bring me back. But this ... ? For some reason, I left the book with a heavy feeling. Like ... life is a terrible struggle and it probably won’t turn out right.

rosieplecko's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Addicting read!

Content Warnings

smk5495's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I think about this book so so often. I’ve read it multiple times. I cried happy tears at the end. 5 stars isn’t enough.

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