Reviews with content warning for Violence - When She Belongs

I almost DNFed this a few times at the start because Jerrok was a bit too mean of a grump for my tastes. But he softens up a bit around the 20% mark and that’s when I started to enjoy this. He’s a big marshmallow inside, and Sophie is just pure sunshine. They’re both suffering from a lot of trauma and find a haven in each other. Very sweet romance, although a bit too long and circuitous (which I'm gonna blame on it starting life as a serial).

I loved seeing Bethiah again, she’s such a fun character!

Content Warnings

alisoun's review against another edition

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dark slow-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

4.0

Boy oh boy this was a long one - it's literally taken me four months to finish. Tbh I think it was a bit TOO long.
Regardless of length I adored Sophie and Jerrock. They were incredible, deep, amazing characters.
This book is really dark especially compared to Ruby's normal books!

Content Warnings

bookedinsideout's review against another edition

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4.5

It’s the long-awaited (for me), very much adored When She Belongs! I so loved the isolated feeling of the two of them on the abandoned space station with Sleipnir the carinoux. Even in a world that can be awful and ugly, these characters carving out space for love and happiness and belonging is so hopeful and necessary. I especially loved the care and respect that went into learning each other’s boundaries and working on healing together. The lack of angst is perfect for me, though the concern that they might have to part with Sleipnir lasted a little long!

While not all of the answers are given in this book (what exactly happened to the va Sithai brothers), I can forgive that since they’ll get their own books and it’s a pretty cool idea to write a book as a serial even if I would be too impatient not to read the whole thing at once.

Unfortunately for a book with generally good disability representation (dealing with pain, prosthetics, sick care, etc.), I was disappointed to see the word “invalid” used… twice. First Sophie: “you’re having to take care of me like I’m an invalid” when she burned her hands, and then later Jarook telling Sophie that he’s “not an invalid” when she tries to help him with something. That’s just not a word we should be using, for what I feel are obvious reasons. Having a disability doesn’t make someone an “invalid”, nor does needing help or a break or care of any kind. I’m excited to read Zakoar’s story, the prosthetic surgeon who has prosthetics and a metal spine himself, but I’m really hoping not to see that word again, especially in a contemporary story.

My plan was to take a break from the Rubyverse after this book, but now I feel like I have to quickly read the Corsairs (which would be kind of like a prequel for me) so that I can then find out what happened to the va Sithai’s with the Corsair Brothers and then re-start the Ice Planet Barbarians and intersperse that with Ice Home… stat!

Content Warnings

beebookcandle's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

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