A review by redhairedashreads
Vigilance by Etta Pierce

4.0

 4 stars - It was really good

Dr. Amelia Ahlberg is the sole physician at the new human colony on Yaspur. Luckily, a medical delegate was assigned to help her settle in and learn the ropes of this new advanced technology. But things quickly change for them when a girl falls ill because of a common flower. 

This book was a lot darker and intense than the previous books. Amelia is struggling to help her people, learn about the advanced medical options available, and deal with her PTSD from being experimented on. She has a combination of flashbacks and hallucinations that really makes her question everything, including her alien coworker Ezraji Zarabi. Amelia’s POVs were intense and very emotional. Pierce does a great job at portraying her paranoia and fears, so much so that it made my anxiety spike and I had to take a short break to remind myself this is just a book. Amelia was a strong and resilient woman who is determined to survive and seeing her struggle with everything really made her character more lifelike. 

“I’ve wanted you a long time, Amelia. You’re sharp-minded, caring, and strong… Even if we never coiled, I’d want you.”

Like the first book, this was a slow burn romance with a lot of new mating rituals that were very interesting. Ezraji is a new type of alien and it was interesting getting to learn about him and his culture. The male Shilipakkari are more obsessive and experience a “coil”, a mating call, that leads to them becoming obsessed and basically addicted to the female's scent and pheromones. When Ezraji realizes he has coiled with Amelia and realizes she isn’t ready for a romantic relationship he tries to avoid her and deal with the coil symptoms by stealing her personal items that smell like her. While this is odd behavior, I wasn’t turned off by it because Ezraji is doing this because he is trying to not pressure Amelia or hurt her. Ezraji was a surprisingly gentle man who just wanted to protect and love Amelia and be loved in return. 

“You’re my home, Ezra. Home is forever.”

Ezra and Amelia’s relationship was just a wonderful slow burn that I couldn’t get enough of. I loved watching these two get to know each other and work together to figure out what is going on. On top of this wonderful slow burn romance, Pierce keeps creating a wonderful rich world that I can’t get enough of. I am very interested in learning more about all these different alien cultures and how they interact. I really can’t wait to read the rest of this series and see how much this world grows. 

Trigger Warnings: on page near fatal allergic reaction; medical experimentation and drugging; on page flashbacks, PTSD, anxiety, hallucinations, and psychotic breakdown; references to human trafficking; mating symptoms that mirror a drug withdrawal