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A review by courtney_saba
Homebound by Lydia Hope
5.0
5 easy stars. What a fantastic story!
Loved the characters, the plot, the setting, the pace, the dialogue, the writing style, the dark circumstances, the author's willingness to show Simon's morally gray tendencies, and the scintillating slow burn between Simon and Gemma. Despite my complaints below, I enjoyed this so much, so I'm ignoring obvious flaws.
1) I wanted more detail. Simon's age, the worldbuilding, the history, whatever the Great Invasion was, the Rix species and their culture, Simon's abilities and his "energy" flares, the timeline/year, and more about Simon himself.
2) the villain wasn't as scary as the author wanted us to think bc there wasn't enough detail. And I was tired of everyone calling him doctor. That title indicates respect, and our MCs have zero of that for him.
3) the abrupt ending. Without giving away any spoilers, I just thought the story ended quite abruptly. Especially since the author made some choices in the last section that indicated a possible epilogue or more tied up loose ends.
4) despite how much I loved the writing, the section, chapter, and paragraph jumps were stark, choppy, and disorienting. Sometimes I was so lost at the beginning of these areas, and that took me out of the story.
5) I believe it needed one more run through by an editor bc I found some severely obvious grammar and word choice mistakes. I wish I could've been the editor bc I found every single mistake easily.
Again, this book is a 5 star read to me bc I was genuinely engrossed in the story and with our main characters, despite my complaints above, and so I shoved everything aside bc the author drew you in and hooked you so well on the core and raw story.
This author is amazingly skilled. I'm looking forward to her other works. And I'm so sad to be leaving luscious Simon! Wish there was more of him.
Would I reread this book? Oh, yes. The culmination of Gemma and Simon's relationship was worth the wait. Whew! So hot.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. The slow burn and romance aspects were clearly there, but the story actually had substance and a plot. It was also seriously written, with some humorous dialogue, but no immaturity or ridiculous alphaholeness or stupid scenes. Every scene meant something, and so it was elevated levels above so many other alien and romance novels. It wasn't just smut and it didn't lack in intimacy between our characters. Those raw scenes between Gemma and Simon were my favorite moments. So the author created a balanced story here, and this book deserves more hype, hands down.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
TW: violence, murder, attempted rape (not by hero)
Loved the characters, the plot, the setting, the pace, the dialogue, the writing style, the dark circumstances, the author's willingness to show Simon's morally gray tendencies, and the scintillating slow burn between Simon and Gemma. Despite my complaints below, I enjoyed this so much, so I'm ignoring obvious flaws.
1) I wanted more detail. Simon's age, the worldbuilding, the history, whatever the Great Invasion was, the Rix species and their culture, Simon's abilities and his "energy" flares, the timeline/year, and more about Simon himself.
2) the villain wasn't as scary as the author wanted us to think bc there wasn't enough detail. And I was tired of everyone calling him doctor. That title indicates respect, and our MCs have zero of that for him.
3) the abrupt ending. Without giving away any spoilers, I just thought the story ended quite abruptly. Especially since the author made some choices in the last section that indicated a possible epilogue or more tied up loose ends.
4) despite how much I loved the writing, the section, chapter, and paragraph jumps were stark, choppy, and disorienting. Sometimes I was so lost at the beginning of these areas, and that took me out of the story.
5) I believe it needed one more run through by an editor bc I found some severely obvious grammar and word choice mistakes. I wish I could've been the editor bc I found every single mistake easily.
Again, this book is a 5 star read to me bc I was genuinely engrossed in the story and with our main characters, despite my complaints above, and so I shoved everything aside bc the author drew you in and hooked you so well on the core and raw story.
This author is amazingly skilled. I'm looking forward to her other works. And I'm so sad to be leaving luscious Simon! Wish there was more of him.
Would I reread this book? Oh, yes. The culmination of Gemma and Simon's relationship was worth the wait. Whew! So hot.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. The slow burn and romance aspects were clearly there, but the story actually had substance and a plot. It was also seriously written, with some humorous dialogue, but no immaturity or ridiculous alphaholeness or stupid scenes. Every scene meant something, and so it was elevated levels above so many other alien and romance novels. It wasn't just smut and it didn't lack in intimacy between our characters. Those raw scenes between Gemma and Simon were my favorite moments. So the author created a balanced story here, and this book deserves more hype, hands down.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
TW: violence, murder, attempted rape (not by hero)