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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
WARNING: this is both a review and a justification (pleading for understanding) for the material being reviewed. If you have no interest in my pitiful explanations, skip to the numbered section.
If you aren't sure what a "squawk" is, start watching the YouTube video at 0:15:
https://youtu.be/EY12_P2Es3g
That, my friends, is a squawk.
The reason for this squawk is b/c I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel. YES, I vehemently oppose anything that resembles reader-shaming, and I feel equally strongly about owning what you love . . .
The problem is that sometimes I deliberately read things I do not love. o.O
I'm typically better at it. I manage to read enough not-alien-smut that it's not an issue--
-I know there are a lot of reviewers who MUST review every, single thing they read, but I'm not one of them. #cantstopwontstopreading
I write reviews when I have something to say, so if a book is MEH, I (might) leave it at that.
BUT. Life is life, and last week I ran around cleaning my house like a crazy person, b/c impromptu visit from my dad, and I was pretty much elsewhere for the entirety of October (but hubs was home), so there was a LOT that needed cleaning.
It was stressful. I was full of stress.
So I read mediocre, independently published alien smut and nothing but mediocre, independently published alien smut.
Also, I watched Lin-Manuel Miranda and co. sing the opening number from Hamilton over and over again, but that's neither here nor there. I only mention it b/c THERE'S MORE TO ME THAN MY WEIRD FIXATION WITH ALIEN SMUT. *wails*
Actually, the main reason I caved and decided to sort of review GRIM, is b/c damn everybody (who also reads alien smut) seems to love it.
Me . . . Well, it scratched the itch, BUT:
1. The editing was truly awful.
Even for an indie. The content wasn't bad, but the grammar and syntax . . . Ye gods.
It got better as the series continued (b/c, YES, kept reading, b/c weird alien comfort food), but even by book 3, the woman still hadn't figured out that proper nouns are meant to be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma (or two).
2. It's feminist, my ass.
And for the record, it's about as deep and profound as it is feminist.
Mars Tornian needs women, b/c 500 years ago, their ruler offended their goddess, so she she cursed them all into being unable to regularly birth females, and their current population is now a 200:1, male to female ratio.
BUT.
A human female was rescued from another species---the Bad Guys---and, hot dog, it seems she's breedable with the HAWT alien warrior god (figuratively, not literally) she immediately hooked up with.
Now all the boy aliens want one.
So they go get some (HA).
Only Earth females are completelybetter different than Tornian females. Tornian females are gold diggers who only stay with a male until he breaks the bank in his efforts to keep her, then she moves on to her next sugar daddy, leaving behind any offspring that resulted from the union.
Earth females love their offspring and are horrified by the Tornian female lifestyle. And some of them can't help but begin to care for these perfect male specimens, b/c really, they're just unloved little boys, right?
*rolls eyes*
I'll admit that in hindsight I can see possibilities, but the execution was so heavy-handed that anything meant to be thought-provoking was lost in the lack of subtlety.
Beyond that, it was business as usual: well-hello-seven-foot-tall-hunk-of-manflesh-oh-look-at-that-we-just-met-but-already-we're-procreating-YAY, misunderstandings, conflict due to cultural differences, but-we-find-a-way-to-make-it-work-b/c-we-all-secretly-want-romanticized-VIKING BARBARIANS-in-our-beds-OMG-I-LOVE-ALIENS.
And they all live HEA.
I can't explain the fixation, but there's no denying that it exists, and if you share the fascination, you can do much worse than GRIM. Just be aware of what you're in for (tropes on top of clichés of top of hideous grammar). But who cares? B/c aliens, I love 'em. *shrugs awkwardly*
WARNING: this is both a review and a justification (pleading for understanding) for the material being reviewed. If you have no interest in my pitiful explanations, skip to the numbered section.
If you aren't sure what a "squawk" is, start watching the YouTube video at 0:15:
https://youtu.be/EY12_P2Es3g
That, my friends, is a squawk.
The reason for this squawk is b/c I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel. YES, I vehemently oppose anything that resembles reader-shaming, and I feel equally strongly about owning what you love . . .
The problem is that sometimes I deliberately read things I do not love. o.O
I'm typically better at it. I manage to read enough not-alien-smut that it's not an issue--
-I know there are a lot of reviewers who MUST review every, single thing they read, but I'm not one of them. #cantstopwontstopreading
I write reviews when I have something to say, so if a book is MEH, I (might) leave it at that.
BUT. Life is life, and last week I ran around cleaning my house like a crazy person, b/c impromptu visit from my dad, and I was pretty much elsewhere for the entirety of October (but hubs was home), so there was a LOT that needed cleaning.
It was stressful. I was full of stress.
So I read mediocre, independently published alien smut and nothing but mediocre, independently published alien smut.
Also, I watched Lin-Manuel Miranda and co. sing the opening number from Hamilton over and over again, but that's neither here nor there. I only mention it b/c THERE'S MORE TO ME THAN MY WEIRD FIXATION WITH ALIEN SMUT. *wails*
Actually, the main reason I caved and decided to sort of review GRIM, is b/c damn everybody (who also reads alien smut) seems to love it.
Me . . . Well, it scratched the itch, BUT:
1. The editing was truly awful.
Even for an indie. The content wasn't bad, but the grammar and syntax . . . Ye gods.
It got better as the series continued (b/c, YES, kept reading, b/c weird alien comfort food), but even by book 3, the woman still hadn't figured out that proper nouns are meant to be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma (or two).
2. It's feminist, my ass.
And for the record, it's about as deep and profound as it is feminist.
BUT.
A human female was rescued from another species---the Bad Guys---and, hot dog, it seems she's breedable with the HAWT alien warrior god (figuratively, not literally) she immediately hooked up with.
Now all the boy aliens want one.
So they go get some (HA).
Only Earth females are completely
Earth females love their offspring and are horrified by the Tornian female lifestyle. And some of them can't help but begin to care for these perfect male specimens, b/c really, they're just unloved little boys, right?
*rolls eyes*
I'll admit that in hindsight I can see possibilities, but the execution was so heavy-handed that anything meant to be thought-provoking was lost in the lack of subtlety.
Beyond that, it was business as usual: well-hello-seven-foot-tall-hunk-of-manflesh-oh-look-at-that-we-just-met-but-already-we're-procreating-YAY, misunderstandings, conflict due to cultural differences, but-we-find-a-way-to-make-it-work-b/c-we-all-secretly-want-romanticized-VIKING BARBARIANS-in-our-beds-OMG-I-LOVE-ALIENS.
And they all live HEA.
I can't explain the fixation, but there's no denying that it exists, and if you share the fascination, you can do much worse than GRIM. Just be aware of what you're in for (tropes on top of clichés of top of hideous grammar). But who cares? B/c aliens, I love 'em. *shrugs awkwardly*
Unexpectedly great book. I really enjoyed learning about this society. The plotting is well done. The book made the kids unrealistically well behaved which seems like a missed opportunity for chaos. I like that the characters you're supposed to trust are obviously trustworthy, and the evil characters are obviously evil. It makes the book feel safe.
I know I can be a PITA about spelling and grammar errors in the books I read. Generally, though, I'm pretty forgiving if the story is entertaining enough. In this case, however, the mistakes were so numerous and so egregious that they overshadowed the story.
The book was riddled with mistakes in spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and basically all the fundamental conventions of writing. There were sentences that made no sense, appearing to be either partially edited thoughts or a botched speech-to-text draft which was not edited. Characters changed names mid-story. In short, as far as the mechanics of writing are concerned, it was a mess.
It's really a shame.
Based on the sheer number of glowing reviews from readers, it's clear Ms. Eidem can weave a story, and frankly, that's the hard part. Grammar and spelling can be taught, but the imagination and creativity that go into crafting characters and a tale cannot. Many of the mistakes in the text could have been caught by simple measures such as reading the text aloud to catch errors easily missed by skimming, a step taken by most authors in editing their work. If she really sucks at grammar and spelling, Eidem could have a trusted beta reader go through the manuscript to pick up many of the other problems. It's really not that difficult to take care of these basics. We're not even talking about a professional editor who deals with more complex issues.
Writing a book is hard. Why ruin all that effort with such carelessness? Ms. Eidem owes it to her readers and to herself to take the time to do at least some basic editing of her work and let her stories shine without the distraction of so many sloppy mistakes.
The book was riddled with mistakes in spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation, and basically all the fundamental conventions of writing. There were sentences that made no sense, appearing to be either partially edited thoughts or a botched speech-to-text draft which was not edited. Characters changed names mid-story. In short, as far as the mechanics of writing are concerned, it was a mess.
It's really a shame.
Based on the sheer number of glowing reviews from readers, it's clear Ms. Eidem can weave a story, and frankly, that's the hard part. Grammar and spelling can be taught, but the imagination and creativity that go into crafting characters and a tale cannot. Many of the mistakes in the text could have been caught by simple measures such as reading the text aloud to catch errors easily missed by skimming, a step taken by most authors in editing their work. If she really sucks at grammar and spelling, Eidem could have a trusted beta reader go through the manuscript to pick up many of the other problems. It's really not that difficult to take care of these basics. We're not even talking about a professional editor who deals with more complex issues.
Writing a book is hard. Why ruin all that effort with such carelessness? Ms. Eidem owes it to her readers and to herself to take the time to do at least some basic editing of her work and let her stories shine without the distraction of so many sloppy mistakes.
4/5 stars. Solid book and delivers exactly what it promises to: an easy quick read with some alien romancing
I have re-read this book more than once. The charcters are entertaining, the spice is appropriate, the setting nice. I especially love the inclusion of children. The h is a bit on the meh side, but her justifications and reasoning make plenty of sense and I never minded it. Grim himself is on the commandeering side, but I really enjoyed how it was made a focal point of the relationship his need to learn, compromise and communicate.
Then why the missing star? The plot drags on. While I understand their need in the story, some of the hiccups that the couple encounters are just redundant and it may feel like the pacing drags in parts.
Overall, a solid read I would definitely reccommend, especially for the fans of communication in their romance books.
I have re-read this book more than once. The charcters are entertaining, the spice is appropriate, the setting nice. I especially love the inclusion of children. The h is a bit on the meh side, but her justifications and reasoning make plenty of sense and I never minded it. Grim himself is on the commandeering side, but I really enjoyed how it was made a focal point of the relationship his need to learn, compromise and communicate.
Then why the missing star? The plot drags on. While I understand their need in the story, some of the hiccups that the couple encounters are just redundant and it may feel like the pacing drags in parts.
Overall, a solid read I would definitely reccommend, especially for the fans of communication in their romance books.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Writing seems a bit stilted or at least the audiobook male narrator made it seem so. The audiobook was well produced with male and female reader for different characters. There were even background sounds added. Overall good story line, not too focused on sex, mostly focused on the plot line.
Series: Tornians #1
Rating: 5 stars - I loved it!
Lisa Miller is visiting her husband's grave when she is kidnapped by aliens. The aliens expect her to comply and be willing to join with one of their males when they reach Tornian. She isn’t unattached though, she has two little girls at home that she refuses to leave. She makes a deal with the fearsome warrior in charge to go back for them. King Grim never expected to have a female after he became scared, but now he has a female and children who are gifts from the Goddess, and he will do everything he can to keep them.
I have read this book so many times at this point that you would think I would be bored by now but I love it more each time (I have read it every year since 2015). This book is one of my go-to book to read when I am in a reading slump, feeling depressed, or just can’t figure out what to read. Something about Grim and Lisa’s story just makes everything feel better. I know a lot of people have issues with the editing and some of the story plots but I don’t notice them because I am so entranced by the story, even after all this time.
Lisa and Grim’s story is one filled with cultural differences, love, and danger. I loved everything about this world and characters. I love how caring and protective Grim is of Lisa and their daughters. Having this huge scared warrior who knows nothing about children being attentive and caring for the children is adorable. Lisa is a strong, caring, and protective woman. She is truthful and honest with everyone and really knows how to make people feel better about themselves and the situation.
Overall, I love this book as much as I did the first time and I know I will read it again in the future.
This review was originally posted at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
Rating: 5 stars - I loved it!
Lisa Miller is visiting her husband's grave when she is kidnapped by aliens. The aliens expect her to comply and be willing to join with one of their males when they reach Tornian. She isn’t unattached though, she has two little girls at home that she refuses to leave. She makes a deal with the fearsome warrior in charge to go back for them. King Grim never expected to have a female after he became scared, but now he has a female and children who are gifts from the Goddess, and he will do everything he can to keep them.
I have read this book so many times at this point that you would think I would be bored by now but I love it more each time (I have read it every year since 2015). This book is one of my go-to book to read when I am in a reading slump, feeling depressed, or just can’t figure out what to read. Something about Grim and Lisa’s story just makes everything feel better. I know a lot of people have issues with the editing and some of the story plots but I don’t notice them because I am so entranced by the story, even after all this time.
Lisa and Grim’s story is one filled with cultural differences, love, and danger. I loved everything about this world and characters. I love how caring and protective Grim is of Lisa and their daughters. Having this huge scared warrior who knows nothing about children being attentive and caring for the children is adorable. Lisa is a strong, caring, and protective woman. She is truthful and honest with everyone and really knows how to make people feel better about themselves and the situation.
Overall, I love this book as much as I did the first time and I know I will read it again in the future.
This review was originally posted at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
1.75
Everything, and I mean everything, is overdramatized. My eyes hurt from rolling my eyes too much. Can't take these people seriously. I'd just have to call it a comedy skit or something.
Everything, and I mean everything, is overdramatized. My eyes hurt from rolling my eyes too much. Can't take these people seriously. I'd just have to call it a comedy skit or something.
Sex 6% into the book. Not convincing. And I hated the simplistic language she used with her children.
Overall, the book turned out to be a fairly good SFR with a well constructed plot and an interesting political intrigue, but I must say that I was expecting much more from a book with an average of 4.1 stars.
Where did the book dissappoint?
First star was lost for the portrayal of the two main characters. I have expected that having a single mother as a heroine and adding her two little daughters into the mix would introduce a delicious twist to the love story and a delicious complication for the hero. Sadly, that didn't happen. The love story followed a well used path of numerous other SFRs, with predictable behaviours and unimaginative dialogues.
The second star was lost due to very bad editing. And as much as I am willing to forgive an occassional spelling mistake (after all we are not perfect), I am afraid I can't be equally forgiving when it comes to grammar especially when there are missing words and mixed tenses in a sentence. I know self-publishing can be a challenging business but dear Authors please take extra time to ensure that your story reads well. Some of your Readers will inevitably turn out to be grammar nazis and point out all those unnecessary mistakes.
Where did the book dissappoint?
First star was lost for the portrayal of the two main characters. I have expected that having a single mother as a heroine and adding her two little daughters into the mix would introduce a delicious twist to the love story and a delicious complication for the hero. Sadly, that didn't happen. The love story followed a well used path of numerous other SFRs, with predictable behaviours and unimaginative dialogues.
The second star was lost due to very bad editing. And as much as I am willing to forgive an occassional spelling mistake (after all we are not perfect), I am afraid I can't be equally forgiving when it comes to grammar especially when there are missing words and mixed tenses in a sentence. I know self-publishing can be a challenging business but dear Authors please take extra time to ensure that your story reads well. Some of your Readers will inevitably turn out to be grammar nazis and point out all those unnecessary mistakes.