You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by rlbooks8
Alien From Ashes by Gemma Voss
3.0
I've been slumpy and grumpy so avoiding writing a couple reviews, afraid I'll just focus on the negatives for me. But the umpiness (totally a word) is ongoing so I'm going to try and just anyone reading this, take it with a grain of salt.
To start, I wish that the author had done a brief summary of the world or some sort of touch point because this second book dives right into the middle of what's been happening in their world and I was honestly lost. It's been a couple months since I read the first one and maybe I should have done a reread. This book doesn't have a glossary or references like some sci-fi books, just fyi. I do not think that this book stands alone either, it's too interconnected with too many references to events of the first book and the world building is more supportive than foundational.
I liked both Kaye (h) and Kalla (H) and the found family elements of this series continues to be a win for me. I did think that both characters evolved with the events and their fated mate bond. I was very frustrated at the sudden change on Kaye's end though from being angry at an action that Kalla took to being all in on for the relationship. She even thinks about how she's the forgiving type. The I love you's especially jarred me. I felt more transition was needed and overall, I didn't feel that the relationship development and timing were right for this story. There are significant time jumps, including a forced separation that made me feel even less like the couple had the quality time necessary. The fated mates element brought them together and I know that each found qualities to respect and love in the other, but slice of life type moments of them together or time spent outside of the initial angst or the danger moments would have enhanced this for me.
Written in first person, dual POV. No ow drama, tiny om drama from h's ex who doesn't want her back but makes H jealous just by existing and is just an ass. Neither are virgins (small references to past sexual history given).
I did like the steam, this author does spiciness very well imo. The consent is also very good considering that Kaye is not on board with the mate bond initially and that Kalla is equipped with aphrodisiac in his saliva, but is cautious with it. If you're looking for size difference and the whole "will it fit" question, this one right here's got that too.
The couple from book 1 do feature in this book, as do several other side characters who are important for supporting and occasionally knocking sense into the main characters. The young adult that Kaye ends up being guardian over was a precious relationship that I loved. The author also addresses a connection between a character from her other series involving this alien race and Kalla. I both liked that and felt that it needed more fleshing out. What happened with Kaye's friend was also somewhat frustrating because I could see what was going to happen easily but then the actual happenings are going to be in the next book, which didn't stop there from being repeated page time that didn't go anywhere. Again, the umpiness may be at work. What had nothing to do with umpiness was Kaye's whole first marriage situation and how it infuriated me and that's all I'm saying about it.
The ending is HFN and I was glad that Kalla had a new purpose. I had questions though and wasn't sure what was going to happen with Kaye or where they were going to live. I'm assuming all of that is going to be addressed on the side as the series continues and I get it's hard to do extended epilogues sometimes with ongoing series. With the time jumps and the weaker (to me) relationship development, I was hoping for a clearer picture of what that HEA looked like for them.
To start, I wish that the author had done a brief summary of the world or some sort of touch point because this second book dives right into the middle of what's been happening in their world and I was honestly lost. It's been a couple months since I read the first one and maybe I should have done a reread. This book doesn't have a glossary or references like some sci-fi books, just fyi. I do not think that this book stands alone either, it's too interconnected with too many references to events of the first book and the world building is more supportive than foundational.
I liked both Kaye (h) and Kalla (H) and the found family elements of this series continues to be a win for me. I did think that both characters evolved with the events and their fated mate bond. I was very frustrated at the sudden change on Kaye's end though from being angry at an action that Kalla took to being all in on for the relationship. She even thinks about how she's the forgiving type. The I love you's especially jarred me. I felt more transition was needed and overall, I didn't feel that the relationship development and timing were right for this story. There are significant time jumps, including a forced separation that made me feel even less like the couple had the quality time necessary. The fated mates element brought them together and I know that each found qualities to respect and love in the other, but slice of life type moments of them together or time spent outside of the initial angst or the danger moments would have enhanced this for me.
Written in first person, dual POV. No ow drama, tiny om drama from h's ex who doesn't want her back but makes H jealous just by existing and is just an ass. Neither are virgins (small references to past sexual history given).
I did like the steam, this author does spiciness very well imo. The consent is also very good considering that Kaye is not on board with the mate bond initially and that Kalla is equipped with aphrodisiac in his saliva, but is cautious with it. If you're looking for size difference and the whole "will it fit" question, this one right here's got that too.
The couple from book 1 do feature in this book, as do several other side characters who are important for supporting and occasionally knocking sense into the main characters. The young adult that Kaye ends up being guardian over was a precious relationship that I loved. The author also addresses a connection between a character from her other series involving this alien race and Kalla. I both liked that and felt that it needed more fleshing out. What happened with Kaye's friend was also somewhat frustrating because I could see what was going to happen easily but then the actual happenings are going to be in the next book, which didn't stop there from being repeated page time that didn't go anywhere. Again, the umpiness may be at work. What had nothing to do with umpiness was Kaye's whole first marriage situation and how it infuriated me and that's all I'm saying about it.
The ending is HFN and I was glad that Kalla had a new purpose. I had questions though and wasn't sure what was going to happen with Kaye or where they were going to live. I'm assuming all of that is going to be addressed on the side as the series continues and I get it's hard to do extended epilogues sometimes with ongoing series. With the time jumps and the weaker (to me) relationship development, I was hoping for a clearer picture of what that HEA looked like for them.