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kataleen1989's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
fast-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? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Minor: Violence and Blood
kb33's review against another edition
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
This isn't a spoiler because it's talked about in other books, but here's a TW/content description for those who wonder if they should skip this book: Asha and Hemalo had a baby who was born early and only survived a few hours. Their grief tore them apart, and they are separated at the beginning of this book. The death of the infant is not described on page, but it is frequently mentioned, and Asha's grief is described in detail. This is a spoiler: In the epilogue there is a detailed childbirth scene of their second child, who is born healthy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy, Grief, Sexual content, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Violence
Minor: Toxic relationship and Injury/Injury detail
missbliss's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Missing Spice, More Emotions, Confused POV
I feel conflicted writing this review and this will come down to what you are wanting from an IPB book because this one is very different. Ruby provides lots of notes in the end of the ebook as she always does explaining her why for many of the things I have issue with and I both get it but also was left unsatisfied. To start with since we are always locked into human female POV's in the mainline stories I was very excited to have a full length story of the two Sa-Khui individuals Asha/Hemalo. But that's not what happens, we get a story that is shared POVs of Asha and....Claire. One of the human women who got a POV in a novella. So I will be honest I felt miffed pretty immediately that the alien Asha immediately had to share her story with a human female. Ironically Asha's talks so much about feeling like an outsider who is not needed or wanted with all the human females around and honestly I was getting this feeling in her own book. Like her story with Hemalo is not interesting enough on it's own and needs a human female in it to make it interesting or relatable. Now Ruby stated she felt this was what she needed to do as a way to lighten the mood of the story and that she did not get much as an author from Hemalo so he has almost zero POV in this story but honestly I kept feeling like Ruby felt uncomfortable writing from the POV of an all alien couple and uncomfortable about writing so in depth about the grief of the death of a child. Which anyone who listens to this should know this goes very deeply into grief and depression surrounding a newborn dying. With such a heavy topic the weird switches to this BFF Claire storyline and holiday celebrations felt clunky and forced which I never feel with Ruby's books. This book almost felt like one of the shorts but not as smooth. There was more time scattered to world building in regards to the Metlacks being more human like, and Bek and his character development. There is very little spice in this story with nothing really even being mentioned until the last quarter of the story (chapter 15 of 19 chapters). And for the first time in this series the sex scenes felt more like checking off a list than being unique and character building. The scenes felt rushed, only one scene of actual sex the three other scenes were brief moments of fooling around and none had the same heat I normally find in the series. Ruby said in the after story notes she did not hear much from Hemalo and it shows I don't feel connected to this couple as much which was odd because I felt deep empathy for their experience and journey as a couple. But I felt like Ruby almost was struggling with the depth of emotion with this couple's story and kept herself and therefore the audience a little apart from these characters. There is character growth for sure but we sadly also get some feelings of hand waving of time from several days later to a 3 year jump forward. And I think in some ways that is what this book feels like a bit of a hand wave compared to the other stories. Again Ruby notes this is a device because the next story will feature Farli and she needed to be an adult for that story to be appropriate but it kind of makes this book feel like a Marvel movie-just a bridge to get to the next installment. The narration is steady in it's quality but I left this volume feeling a bit bewildered. I hate to say it but frankly I think folks could skip this one especially if newborn death and grief is too much for you and definitely if you were looking for a more typical spicy IPB volume. This story might have worked better as a novella but again I was sad because this was a story I had been looking forward to. I know others clearly love this story and don't mind the difference but I know these reviews are a way for folks to share their personal thoughts in case others might relate or so they can better know what to expect and decide if that is what they are wanting. I still love this series and am continuing on but this was the first time I genuinely felt a little meh at the end.
I feel conflicted writing this review and this will come down to what you are wanting from an IPB book because this one is very different. Ruby provides lots of notes in the end of the ebook as she always does explaining her why for many of the things I have issue with and I both get it but also was left unsatisfied. To start with since we are always locked into human female POV's in the mainline stories I was very excited to have a full length story of the two Sa-Khui individuals Asha/Hemalo. But that's not what happens, we get a story that is shared POVs of Asha and....Claire. One of the human women who got a POV in a novella. So I will be honest I felt miffed pretty immediately that the alien Asha immediately had to share her story with a human female. Ironically Asha's talks so much about feeling like an outsider who is not needed or wanted with all the human females around and honestly I was getting this feeling in her own book. Like her story with Hemalo is not interesting enough on it's own and needs a human female in it to make it interesting or relatable. Now Ruby stated she felt this was what she needed to do as a way to lighten the mood of the story and that she did not get much as an author from Hemalo so he has almost zero POV in this story but honestly I kept feeling like Ruby felt uncomfortable writing from the POV of an all alien couple and uncomfortable about writing so in depth about the grief of the death of a child. Which anyone who listens to this should know this goes very deeply into grief and depression surrounding a newborn dying. With such a heavy topic the weird switches to this BFF Claire storyline and holiday celebrations felt clunky and forced which I never feel with Ruby's books. This book almost felt like one of the shorts but not as smooth. There was more time scattered to world building in regards to the Metlacks being more human like, and Bek and his character development. There is very little spice in this story with nothing really even being mentioned until the last quarter of the story (chapter 15 of 19 chapters). And for the first time in this series the sex scenes felt more like checking off a list than being unique and character building. The scenes felt rushed, only one scene of actual sex the three other scenes were brief moments of fooling around and none had the same heat I normally find in the series. Ruby said in the after story notes she did not hear much from Hemalo and it shows I don't feel connected to this couple as much which was odd because I felt deep empathy for their experience and journey as a couple. But I felt like Ruby almost was struggling with the depth of emotion with this couple's story and kept herself and therefore the audience a little apart from these characters. There is character growth for sure but we sadly also get some feelings of hand waving of time from several days later to a 3 year jump forward. And I think in some ways that is what this book feels like a bit of a hand wave compared to the other stories. Again Ruby notes this is a device because the next story will feature Farli and she needed to be an adult for that story to be appropriate but it kind of makes this book feel like a Marvel movie-just a bridge to get to the next installment. The narration is steady in it's quality but I left this volume feeling a bit bewildered. I hate to say it but frankly I think folks could skip this one especially if newborn death and grief is too much for you and definitely if you were looking for a more typical spicy IPB volume. This story might have worked better as a novella but again I was sad because this was a story I had been looking forward to. I know others clearly love this story and don't mind the difference but I know these reviews are a way for folks to share their personal thoughts in case others might relate or so they can better know what to expect and decide if that is what they are wanting. I still love this series and am continuing on but this was the first time I genuinely felt a little meh at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Child death, Miscarriage, and Grief
Minor: Violence
robinsong's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Animal death, Grief, and Infidelity
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