Jager by Jessica E. Subject – Review

Tags

4 stars, aliens, Book Review, Jessica E. Subject, new adult, romance, scifi, series

Review by Riley

About Jager

Jager’s new squad of Defenders has completed training, but the spoiled princess who has grated on his nerves since her first day of training is called back to Hemera for a yearly celebration. When Princess Katrina doesn’t show up, Jager must find her and drag her home, where he wishes she would stay.

Katrina is a Defender, not a princess. And there is no way she wants to return to a planet she hates for some stupid ceremony. Not when she could be out killing Erebus with her squad.

But when a new enemy threatens both their lives, they must work together to survive.

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Review of Jager

Katrina and Jager are both very young. While Jager has been a defender for a while, Katrina is new to the organization and is anxious to prove herself. Her fellow defenders mock her princess status (not cool) so Katrina does everything she can to prove she is not just a princess.

As her squad leader, Jager is supposed to train her. Jager seems to have a hard time training his team which leads me to wonder why he is a squad leader. He really should have had Katrina jumping at his commands rather than doing her own thing. Even if her own thing is to kill every simulated Erebus the training program can throw at her. As a squad leader, Jager has few things to learn.

When Katrina defies orders and Jager follows her, they end up in the clutches of what I would call an evil scientist. This part of the story had potential and I would like to have seen it get more attention. This would have made it more scifi adventure and better balanced out the romance side of the story. To me, everything that happened after that was anti-climactic. However, the evil scientist was not the only threat to their love. Katrina and Jager still had obstacles to overcome.

In Jager, the protagonists are young and the emphasis is on romance. This combination puts Jager in a book genre I would not usually read, but categorizing it this way, I am able to review it at a face value. I would have to label this book at NA romance in a scifi setting. Heavy on emotional conflict for the heroine and hero, the resulting romance is touching and sweet.

The author provided a copy of her book so I could bring you this honest review.

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Alien Mate by Cara Bristol – Review

Tags

4 stars, Adventure, aliens, Cara Bristol, humor, scifi romance

Review by Riley

About Alien Mate

I’m Starr Elizabeth Conner. Earth’s government falsely convicted me of a crime, packed me on a ship with other female felons, and sent us to Dakon, a primitive, frozen wasteland of a planet. Why? Earth needs minerals, and Dakon is desperate for females.

But I’m no barbarian’s ‘mail order bride,’ even if he is super tall, muscular, and the chief of his tribe. He doesn’t want a BBW blonde, either–it’s written all over his chiseled face. He’ll be truly angry if he ever learns what my ‘crime’ was.

I am Torg. I have waited 34 rotations for a mate of my own. With this shipment, I was sure to get a fine, sturdy mate who’ll bear me many daughters. Instead, I receive a small, curvy, pale-haired female who looks at me with anger and fear.

It is only when we ‘kiss’ that I believe things may work out between us. But I’m hearing rumors that Starr and her shipmates are law-breakers. To survive, Dakonians must obey all laws … or be exiled into the frozen wasteland. Just when I have found her, will I have to send my mate to die?

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Review of Alien Mate

Alien Mate is fun, romantic, and sexy. It also has a bit of mystery and danger. It is the perfect light read, taking only a few hours to finish, while filling those hours with scifi adventure and romance.

Just as the British shipped their convicts to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the future, earth ships convicted criminals to a world far away, Dakon. But instead of being shipped to penal colonies, the future transported criminals will be traded for shiploads of a valuable mineral. What’s in it for the Dakonians, who don’t even realize they are getting criminals? They are getting women. Long story, but due to a natural disaster, the planet is 90% men. Ms. Bristol puts her own very entertaining spin on the ‘Mars needs women’ trope.

Torq was late to the choosing of the mates sent by earth and Starr was picked last. I could so identify with being the one chosen last. Being chosen last does not put one in a cheery frame of mind. Starr and Torq end up with each other by default, not by choice. This is a bit of a rocky start. Our heroine and hero need to have some personal issues to work through – to keep things interesting – and the rocky start is just a portion of those issues. The shortness of the novel means that they can’t take too much time to work through those issues. I can’t decide if that was a good thing or not. I often felt Starr caved to Torq too soon, considering her motivations.  But it is a romance, so I knew it would have to happen for a HEA.

Because of the natural disaster, the planet exists in winter and is frozen for most of the year.  For heat, there is only fire. While planet recovery is slow, the natives have adapted. The newcomers are in for a huge change. Interest is added to the story with Starr trying to adapt after of life of comfort on earth. She must also adapt to the clan social structure.

Starr handles the new world with a little fear, but also with an open mind and a healthy sense of humor. One of my favorite scenes is of Starr and Torq discussing men’s horns and penises. (Because it’s funny. That’s all.) The humorous part is when the conversation between Starr and Torq turns to penises and, well, quantity. Torq’s response: “I only have one. Would you like to see it?”

Interactions between Starr and Torq were sweet and hopeful. But there are still problems to overcome and not just cultural issues. These problems keep the story moving along and provide a few surprises to continually freshen the story.

There are four reasons why I decided to read Alien Mate. One – Cara Bristol. Having read this author’s work before, I knew what I was getting into and was happy to get into it again. Two – the author promised (and delivered) humor. It is hard to turn down humor in a scifi setting. Three – SciFi Romance  – of course! And four – 55k words. I often enjoy short novels between longer, more complicate stories. I combined all these reasons and came up with sure, I’d like to read Alien Mate!  I am happy I did!

So, for scifi romance readers looking for a light adventure with romance, danger, and humor, Alien Mate is what I would recommend.

The author provided a copy of her book so that I could bring you this honest review.

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Links

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What Are You Reading This Weekend?

Tags

aliens, Art, audiobook, Jennifer Foehner Wells, reading, romance, scifi, space opera, Vivien Jackson

Blackbirds of the Night by The Photo Guy Darren

It’s spring, it’s been raining all week, and my back yard is a smorgasbord for birds.  I looked out today and, in my back yard, I saw hundreds of blackbirds snacking on the earthworms that had wriggled to the surface.  The birds flew up before I could snap a picture, so I found this piece.  Many of those birds ended up perched in our spruce trees.

Art available at Society6.

I’m almost done with the scifi romance Wanted and Wired by Vivien Jackson.   Not sure what I will start after that.  I am also listening to the audiobook of Remanence by Jennifer Foehner Wells.  Remanence is the follow up to the scifi novel Fluency.  I’m really enjoying this fascinating series about first contact.

 

What are you reading this weekend?