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katiekeske's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I feel like this book was therapeutic for me. The descriptions of events, the flashbacks, and intrusive thoughts felt real, and I'm so glad that Callie had the strong but gentle and patient mate that is Z.
This story is a healing journey and an emotional slow burn romance between a sexu@lly traumatized woman and her alien rescuer. It does not sugar coat things, and it also discusses the trauma and choices that other characters have gone through.
This is not a book with a fun adventure. The two characters are confined to one place for most of the book. It was different than other books I've read, and I am glad I read it. I cried, I laughed, and I loved the characters.
I've read four of Amanda Milo's books so far, and I continue to be impressed with how well she writes the male aliens' POV. They feel so real and alien, but relatable at the same time.
I would take off maybe half a star rating for one scene that I think could have been handled better between Callie and her friends and their mates. I feel like they were very pushy in front of Z and everyone about a very sensitive topic. It did help move things along... But I cannot imagine real friends talking to a r@pe survivor about that in that way.
I see other reviews saying that this gets pro-life, but I didn't get that feeling. I was surprised by
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Medical content, and Death of parent
Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Abortion
The heroine is r@ped before being rescued by the hero. Later in the book there is a surprise pregnancy from the r@pe. Another female character who was r@ped discusses her choice of an abortion later in the book.greystory's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Overall, I enjoyed the book quite a lot. Zadeon and Callie were an interesting dynamic and their relationship was very, very different from Arokh and Angie in book 1. I cried reading this a lot because the story is pretty heavy, emotional, and haunting as Callie and Zadeon (but mostly Callie) work through some serious shit. When all is said and done, there is still a happy ending and there are moments and scenes of sweetness and hope throughout the story that are made all the more nice and appreciative by the nature of being littered between pain and suffering. This is well and truly a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven story.
This is absolutely not a 2nd book you can read without reading book 1 as there are a lot of things that aren't bothered to be explained again. Occasionally Callie will learn something new-to-her that was covered before when Angie learned it in book 1 but, for the most part, you're thrown into the world of Rakhii and Gryfala and hobs right away. There is a bit of a recap at the beginning from Callie and Zadeon's point of view of events in book 1 but the focus is on their experiences at the time and not on catching up or informing the reader (which I actually appreciated).
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Car accident, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
chelseavk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual violence, and Violence
As a side note: since I am reading this 4 years after it was written I have to say I don't appreciate the second epilogue. To put a cliff-hanger/ teaser out there like that, with the understanding that there are a few more characters who will have their stories told before getting back to this, I don't appreciate looking down the line of books that have come out up to now and seeing that not only is that list of characters not done, but other stories from characters I haven't heard of do have books out. It looks like the author made a promise but then got side tracked and that adds perhaps years of delay (which is very frustrating for me). If I had read this back when it first came out I wouldn't have minded. I would just have been looking forward to getting there (but the side tracks would have irritated me and the more side tracks there were, the more upset I would have gotten). Perhaps I will feel differently as I continue with the series, but it is pretty discouraging from where I am standing.kc1234's review
2.0
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, and Kidnapping
Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts