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imanzoe's review
5.0
This is my favorite book so far in the series!! Think this book did a great job describing when dealing with grief and loss.
mahaliathenerd's review
5.0
This was everything!
This novel is a heart-gripping tale of three beings who come together to make an unconventional family. It is also an F/F/M triad which was another breath of fresh air when it comes to alien abduction romances. I loved Ky the most because she was the anchor and badass with a knife.
I read it out of order, and it was still amazing. It's a great standalone too
This was beyond enjoyable!
There are TRIGGERS of rape, PTSD, death during birth, death of a baby.
This novel is a heart-gripping tale of three beings who come together to make an unconventional family. It is also an F/F/M triad which was another breath of fresh air when it comes to alien abduction romances. I loved Ky the most because she was the anchor and badass with a knife.
I read it out of order, and it was still amazing. It's a great standalone too
This was beyond enjoyable!
There are TRIGGERS of rape, PTSD, death during birth, death of a baby.
greystory's review
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Going into this, I thought for sure this was going to be a hard sell and I would be writing a review at the end debating on whether they redeemed Xuvri or not.
Instead, this is easily my favorite of the Venora Mates books, I absolutely loved Kythea, and came to really enjoy Esme and Xuvri. Xuvri was actually very cute, sweet, and loving??? He did everything right in his attempts to make up for his behavior and redeem himself. I liked him even better than Nuzal, especially given that Xuvri has the injections partially to blame for his behavior in addition to the terrible sociocultural brainwashing.
Kythea was a BADASS!! Wow, what a great character. She was a healer and priestess from her village and a gentle, caring soul but when need be, she was immediately ready to kick ass and take names. She was also the bossy dominating one of the triad, which worked wonders for the early dynamic in getting Xuvri and Esme to find common ground and Esme to feel remotely safe and comfortable enough to even consider the relationship. It worked so well and I was very pleasantly surprised. It made sense that she, as someone who is confident in who she is, would need to be the strong one in the group since the other two are learning about themselves and going through very big transitions in their life. She never had to sacrifice one partner or one of her strengths for the other or any nonsense like that, either.
I wasn't sure how we'd see Esme from the last book but it's clear she's been through some Extra Trauma (tm) above and beyond the awful experimentation everyone went through and is having a rough time. She goes through some healing but her relationship doesn't magically heal her trauma and she clearly will need more time and energy put into that as time goes on. I appreciate that other alternatives for healing from trauma are mentioned, like animal therapy. It was a bit of a bummer that this trauma largely defines her character but she did get some other moments and peeks into who she is beyond what has happened to her, especially as she starts looking forward into defining and thinking about who she COULD be in this new unexpected future.
Xuvri. Hoo-boy, Xuvri is a lot. He battles his own demons throughout the story, both internal (learned behavior, the brainwashing, self-doubt and insecurities) and external (the injections, facing the people he's hurt). It was handled pretty well and we also get to see glimpses of Xuvri struggling to establish a clear picture of who he is outside of his role assigned to him by the Kaia. My favorite parts of Xuvri were when he was starting to take steps towards that new life. I surprised myself when I ended up teary eyed at the end of the book.
My one gripe is that, although it's made clear that Laurie was more consenting than Amanda had assumed from her perspective, we still 1) don't see anything from Laurie's perspective (why couldn't she have kept a journal or written letters home or something so we could get her side of the story?) and 2) I disliked that Xuvri's redemption had to come at the cost of the death of a female character. (It kind of ties into the trope of the suffering male character and his manpain born from some kind of violence, trauma, or death of a female character in his life.) It's not used in quite the same way as I'm used to seeing it in tv shows and movies nor is it as egregious, but it still low-key annoyed me that it existed. I felt like it was at least balanced by having this triad feature two female characters.
SPEAKING OF THAT - I was also pleased that the spice scenes involved the two female character engaging in sex with one another and not just the male character. Given the lack of the male characters really interacting with each other sexually in the first two books (which also made no sense canonically) then I wasn't sure what to expect here. There wasn't anything that made me wince or do a double take and both Kythea and Xuvri were very patient and considerate of Esme.
I'm hoping characters introduced and events started in this book imply a book five and possibly hints at a wider cultural paradigm shift among the Grutex and Venium. We shall see!
Instead, this is easily my favorite of the Venora Mates books, I absolutely loved Kythea, and came to really enjoy Esme and Xuvri. Xuvri was actually very cute, sweet, and loving??? He did everything right in his attempts to make up for his behavior and redeem himself. I liked him even better than Nuzal, especially given that Xuvri has the injections partially to blame for his behavior in addition to the terrible sociocultural brainwashing.
Kythea was a BADASS!! Wow, what a great character. She was a healer and priestess from her village and a gentle, caring soul but when need be, she was immediately ready to kick ass and take names. She was also the bossy dominating one of the triad, which worked wonders for the early dynamic in getting Xuvri and Esme to find common ground and Esme to feel remotely safe and comfortable enough to even consider the relationship. It worked so well and I was very pleasantly surprised. It made sense that she, as someone who is confident in who she is, would need to be the strong one in the group since the other two are learning about themselves and going through very big transitions in their life. She never had to sacrifice one partner or one of her strengths for the other or any nonsense like that, either.
I wasn't sure how we'd see Esme from the last book but it's clear she's been through some Extra Trauma (tm) above and beyond the awful experimentation everyone went through and is having a rough time. She goes through some healing but her relationship doesn't magically heal her trauma and she clearly will need more time and energy put into that as time goes on. I appreciate that other alternatives for healing from trauma are mentioned, like animal therapy. It was a bit of a bummer that this trauma largely defines her character but she did get some other moments and peeks into who she is beyond what has happened to her, especially as she starts looking forward into defining and thinking about who she COULD be in this new unexpected future.
Xuvri. Hoo-boy, Xuvri is a lot. He battles his own demons throughout the story, both internal (learned behavior, the brainwashing, self-doubt and insecurities) and external (the injections, facing the people he's hurt). It was handled pretty well and we also get to see glimpses of Xuvri struggling to establish a clear picture of who he is outside of his role assigned to him by the Kaia. My favorite parts of Xuvri were when he was starting to take steps towards that new life. I surprised myself when I ended up teary eyed at the end of the book.
My one gripe is that, although it's made clear that Laurie was more consenting than Amanda had assumed from her perspective, we still 1) don't see anything from Laurie's perspective (why couldn't she have kept a journal or written letters home or something so we could get her side of the story?) and 2) I disliked that Xuvri's redemption had to come at the cost of the death of a female character. (It kind of ties into the trope of the suffering male character and his manpain born from some kind of violence, trauma, or death of a female character in his life.) It's not used in quite the same way as I'm used to seeing it in tv shows and movies nor is it as egregious, but it still low-key annoyed me that it existed. I felt like it was at least balanced by having this triad feature two female characters.
SPEAKING OF THAT - I was also pleased that the spice scenes involved the two female character engaging in sex with one another and not just the male character. Given the lack of the male characters really interacting with each other sexually in the first two books (which also made no sense canonically) then I wasn't sure what to expect here. There wasn't anything that made me wince or do a double take and both Kythea and Xuvri were very patient and considerate of Esme.
I'm hoping characters introduced and events started in this book imply a book five and possibly hints at a wider cultural paradigm shift among the Grutex and Venium. We shall see!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Rape, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
little_miss_darkness's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.25
Which one is more damaged?
I like how honest Xuvri is about his past. He makes no excuses. But despite everything, this just feels like a repeat of the same as the previous book in the series. It doesn't seem like there is any novel story to be told.
I like how honest Xuvri is about his past. He makes no excuses. But despite everything, this just feels like a repeat of the same as the previous book in the series. It doesn't seem like there is any novel story to be told.
readerpaige's review
3.0
My review is certainly not the gospel and I recommend all readers to give this book a chance and make up their minds themselves. This book is extremely well written and anything less than three stars should be a crime lol. The plot is easy to follow, but also complex. You really get the sense that this is a well-thought-out world.
The reasons I couldn't go higher in ranking:
(all my own, you might feel differently)
1) I don't think two broken people should be together. Even if it's on an alien planet lol. The human had ptsd from rape and captivity and the male alien was dealing with pseudo drug addiction. They kept accidentally setting each other off. He kept reacting badly to her because of the drugs --->it kept reminded her of the men that took her and this keeps happening until their just tossing the trauma ball back and forth. That left the female alien playing band-aid and it's what led to my second nope.
2) The female alien was just so lovely. Ky was her name. She was acting as their emotional support animal. Meanwhile, she taking care of them, I'm wondering who's taking care of her. She deserved so much more from both of them. It's so easy to take advantage of people like her who are natural caregivers. Maybe if they thought about her more and did more to show they appreciated her, I might feel different. But I just felt like she was the water constantly putting out their emotional fires.
3) It was exhausting living in Esme's head. There was so much turmoil and tension in every word. And rightfully so, I must add. She couldn't breathe outside those events and neither could I and I was just a reader. That might be a plus for many. I just didn't enjoy it. She felt this way for 90% of the book with no let-up. It's why I wasn't satisfied with the sex scene at the end. It amounted to, this is a thruple, so let's have sex as a thruple. No, Ky wasn't the one who you cut off from your body to erect a wall. Alien dude deserved that attention on his own when she was finally ready to give herself to him. It should have just been the two of them at least for the first half of the sexual event before Ky joins in.
The reasons I couldn't go higher in ranking:
(all my own, you might feel differently)
1) I don't think two broken people should be together. Even if it's on an alien planet lol. The human had ptsd from rape and captivity and the male alien was dealing with pseudo drug addiction. They kept accidentally setting each other off. He kept reacting badly to her because of the drugs --->it kept reminded her of the men that took her and this keeps happening until their just tossing the trauma ball back and forth. That left the female alien playing band-aid and it's what led to my second nope.
2) The female alien was just so lovely. Ky was her name. She was acting as their emotional support animal. Meanwhile, she taking care of them, I'm wondering who's taking care of her. She deserved so much more from both of them. It's so easy to take advantage of people like her who are natural caregivers. Maybe if they thought about her more and did more to show they appreciated her, I might feel different. But I just felt like she was the water constantly putting out their emotional fires.
3) It was exhausting living in Esme's head. There was so much turmoil and tension in every word. And rightfully so, I must add. She couldn't breathe outside those events and neither could I and I was just a reader. That might be a plus for many. I just didn't enjoy it. She felt this way for 90% of the book with no let-up. It's why I wasn't satisfied with the sex scene at the end. It amounted to, this is a thruple, so let's have sex as a thruple. No, Ky wasn't the one who you cut off from your body to erect a wall. Alien dude deserved that attention on his own when she was finally ready to give herself to him. It should have just been the two of them at least for the first half of the sexual event before Ky joins in.
ashes891's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
4.25
mousegoddess's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
5.0
I'm not sure how to write a review for this. It hit so many sweet spots for me, particularly with how trauma is treated. Love isn't a magic wand but it absolutely can help healing. Delicious book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence
Moderate: Violence
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