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greystory's review
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
5/5 I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I squealed "that's so cute!" out loud, I cried (no seriously - At one point I was sobbing). I loved it.
If I was mildly annoyed by Maggie's lack of professionalism and understanding of cultural differences in New Guy (book 2), Anna completely blows that out of the water in book 3. She literally has a blackout drunk one night stand in chapter 1, which she regrets and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The book could have been titled "I had a one night stand with an alien and now I have to live with the consequences."
Now, that in and of itself might not be an issue. Like, it's hella unprofessional but she's not even a DETI employee and the aftermath could be handled like adults. Right?
Unfortunately, Volon customs combine with Anna's COMPLETE refusal for any kind of cultural understanding is the source of friction and it gets really old, really fast. She's unreasonable and refuses to even consider or offer any kind of compromise. Once she starts to actually catch feels, there's on longer any real need for that but it was frustrating getting there. I couldn't help but feel like there had to be a better way that was a healthy balance between respectful of cultural differences and still offering some resistance in a healthy way that would sort of trigger the fighting response Volons praise in this scenario.
In spite of all of that, I did find Anna likable as a character. It helped that whether I liked or her not, she felt REAL. Like a genuine person whose life I just happened to be reading about. And to be fair, her lack of professionalism aside, she does get kind of shit on here and there in the book. Sorry, Anna.
I really liked Khy for most of the book. Less so during the parts where his actions made me sob (rude) but the sheer joy in the ending kind of made up for it. He was realistic similar to Anna - genuine, deeply unsettled both by the trauma of losing their homeworld and the reality of trying to make a living on this strange new world, the bone deep tiredness of dealing with that reality after four years and the weird looks and whispers and stares and being treated differently, but also the pieces of happiness and joy he managed to carve out in that time, friends he'd made, coworkers he got along, human customs he got used to, and so on. There was just SO MUCH.
Despite this book being almost 450 pages, I felt like there was less of that filler detail in this book than the last one. There was still some, and definitely some bits could have been cut out and a solid plot would remain, but I liked the whole of it as is.
Finally - Shout out to the amazonian Volon female Kona. She was such a minor character at the end there but I was immediately smitten. Very happy for her and her Volon which shall remain unnamed in this review. ;)
(On a sidenote, the whole book I kept wondering a few things about the Volon. If they're a plains based society, why aren't they being relocated to plains geographical areas? Wouldn't that make the most sense instead of building weird indoor campfires?
Also, would their mating customs not be possible as potentially some kind of skill-based competition? It might not have the same impromptu effect but if the skills and fighting stuff are the most important parts, surely having a scheduled competition or something could work right? I'm totally thinking of some combination of your typical mating runs in fiction and the gladiator style of rounds of competition from Strange Love by Anne Aguirre - but less deadly or severe and with the tests obviously catered to something that makes more sense for the Volon. Has seriously nobody thought of something like this or is this just not something that would work for them?
It's stuff like this that makes me wonder how much DETI is really doing to help the refugees long-term. It sounds like all of their focus is really on just getting them to Earth and the ensuring they have the basics, then they're SOL on everything else for the rest of their lives. This does eventually get addressed at the end of the book - in the epilogue - and it's about fucking finally! It means it's at least 5 years, possibly longer, that this was an issue, not even counting the 2 years it takes to travel to Earth from Teiss in the first place. Like nobody ever thought about this? It's kind of like in book 1 when Lois wasn't aware of orphans existing. It's a bit of a 'wtf' moment.
PS - If you feel like this is asking of too much for an alien romance, keep in mind this is nearly 450 page book, 3rd in a series, with a lot of detail about the alien races, culture, and their home planet. There's a lot of emphasis on the characters and story about remembering their culture, adjusting their customs, etc.)
If I was mildly annoyed by Maggie's lack of professionalism and understanding of cultural differences in New Guy (book 2), Anna completely blows that out of the water in book 3. She literally has a blackout drunk one night stand in chapter 1, which she regrets and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The book could have been titled "I had a one night stand with an alien and now I have to live with the consequences."
Now, that in and of itself might not be an issue. Like, it's hella unprofessional but she's not even a DETI employee and the aftermath could be handled like adults. Right?
Unfortunately, Volon customs combine with Anna's COMPLETE refusal for any kind of cultural understanding is the source of friction and it gets really old, really fast. She's unreasonable and refuses to even consider or offer any kind of compromise. Once she starts to actually catch feels, there's on longer any real need for that but it was frustrating getting there. I couldn't help but feel like there had to be a better way that was a healthy balance between respectful of cultural differences and still offering some resistance in a healthy way that would sort of trigger the fighting response Volons praise in this scenario.
In spite of all of that, I did find Anna likable as a character. It helped that whether I liked or her not, she felt REAL. Like a genuine person whose life I just happened to be reading about. And to be fair, her lack of professionalism aside, she does get kind of shit on here and there in the book. Sorry, Anna.
I really liked Khy for most of the book. Less so during the parts where his actions made me sob (rude) but the sheer joy in the ending kind of made up for it. He was realistic similar to Anna - genuine, deeply unsettled both by the trauma of losing their homeworld and the reality of trying to make a living on this strange new world, the bone deep tiredness of dealing with that reality after four years and the weird looks and whispers and stares and being treated differently, but also the pieces of happiness and joy he managed to carve out in that time, friends he'd made, coworkers he got along, human customs he got used to, and so on. There was just SO MUCH.
Despite this book being almost 450 pages, I felt like there was less of that filler detail in this book than the last one. There was still some, and definitely some bits could have been cut out and a solid plot would remain, but I liked the whole of it as is.
Finally - Shout out to the amazonian Volon female Kona. She was such a minor character at the end there but I was immediately smitten. Very happy for her and her Volon which shall remain unnamed in this review. ;)
(On a sidenote, the whole book I kept wondering a few things about the Volon. If they're a plains based society, why aren't they being relocated to plains geographical areas? Wouldn't that make the most sense instead of building weird indoor campfires?
Also, would their mating customs not be possible as potentially some kind of skill-based competition? It might not have the same impromptu effect but if the skills and fighting stuff are the most important parts, surely having a scheduled competition or something could work right? I'm totally thinking of some combination of your typical mating runs in fiction and the gladiator style of rounds of competition from Strange Love by Anne Aguirre - but less deadly or severe and with the tests obviously catered to something that makes more sense for the Volon. Has seriously nobody thought of something like this or is this just not something that would work for them?
It's stuff like this that makes me wonder how much DETI is really doing to help the refugees long-term. It sounds like all of their focus is really on just getting them to Earth and the ensuring they have the basics, then they're SOL on everything else for the rest of their lives. This does eventually get addressed at the end of the book - in the epilogue - and it's about fucking finally! It means it's at least 5 years, possibly longer, that this was an issue, not even counting the 2 years it takes to travel to Earth from Teiss in the first place. Like nobody ever thought about this? It's kind of like in book 1 when Lois wasn't aware of orphans existing. It's a bit of a 'wtf' moment.
PS - If you feel like this is asking of too much for an alien romance, keep in mind this is nearly 450 page book, 3rd in a series, with a lot of detail about the alien races, culture, and their home planet. There's a lot of emphasis on the characters and story about remembering their culture, adjusting their customs, etc.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Xenophobia, Murder, and Stalking
Minor: Pregnancy and Violence
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