4.42 AVERAGE

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Maybe my favorite of the series!  sikthand was such a deep character with so many reasons for his actions, without getting bogged down. Chefs kiss!

Another banger by Victoria Aveline.

This was great, on par with the maxu one. It did feel like maybe something was missing when it came to exploring the city and other characters, and I would have liked more scenes with the main characters together instead of individually.

 I tried listening to the audio version - it was great except the narrator sounded like Tina Belcher when doing the main characters voice so I had to stop. 

Another stunner. Easily competing with Choosing Theo for me. Can't wait for the audiobook so I can listen to it every two months like Theo lol if you haven't read this series, please do. Variety of personalities and physical characteristics for FMC and MMC. Not for you if you don't enjoy a little possessiveness, obsessive behavior, or miscommunication tropes.

Look a five star alien romance isn’t about the writing or the plot, it’s the vibes. And boy, did I enjoy the vibes here. The middle books in the series took a bit of a slump for me, but this one was a delight.

I hope there is more to come in this series. I loved this book. It was a stalker romance, but alien fated mates. I did not want the book to end. I loved the characters, the pairing, it had suspense, and spice that added to the plot. It was perfect.

I did have a question as I was reading it. Why was it never discussed what would happen if she was recognized by someone other than the king once Sophia and the king were engaged? I get that as a reader of fated mates, it's fairly obvious that at some point, the king would recognize her. But the characters did not know that.

Even better than Fejo's book !
Clearly the best so far but I'm a role player and I did a few LARP so I'm biased.
Sikthand isn't complicated to understand when you know is past and Sophia is a very understanding and compassionate human but she also understands politics. She knows how to play the game and how to study her role because she did this for years just for fun. Being thrown on another planet with different rules and laws is not so different.
I appreciated how the plot was so important in this book even though I would have loved just a bit more smut.
challenging slow-paced
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I’ve reached the conclusion that this series is not for me. I tried the first book and was generous with my 3 star rating because it was my first book by the author.

I’d been told I could jump straight to the last book and I did that because it made so many booksta and booktok best of 2024 lists…

I was able to jump straight to this book, but I disliked it even more than the first book in the series. 

- cringe dialogue
- non-existent world-building
- plain, bare bones, boring language that reminded me of Hemingway’s sparse prose- but not in a good way.
- zero relationship development and flat character arcs. 

emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes