Red

Alien Fairytale Romances

by S.J. Sanders

There were certain truths everyone knew. Never wear red or any other bright color. Make as little sound as possible if one had to be outside the protection of the sanctuary settlements. And never, ever, go out in the wild places alone. The Ragoru dwell within the forests and above all, they crave all things red.

Arie’s life has always been one of playing by the rules. She doesn’t draw attention to herself, nor does she leave her home without her hood that conceals her bright red hair. Her hair is a curse, one that would see her ejected from the only home she’s ever known should anyone find out. When her secret comes to light, she has little choice but to flee into the Great Forest beyond the village walls. With nothing but a bag and a plan to trek through the wilderness to the citadel on the other side of the forest, Arie will defy all conventions and norms to seek sanctuary at her grandmother’s house. Unfortunately, the forest is full of numerous dangers, but none greater than the Ragoru.

When circumstances place her life, welfare, and ultimately her desire, in the claws of a triad of males, Arie discovers that not only are they are not monsters of human imagination but that she is willing to risk everything to find a way to be with them forever. Even if that means severing ties with her grandmother, rejecting the human comforts of the citadel, and facing the horror that descends from the Order of the Huntsmen.

This is a 25k expansion from the 1st edition.
This is a why choose romance with sexual situation and content not suited for everyone. Please check the content warnings at the front of the book.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Aliens, Monster Romance, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Paranormal

410 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 21, 2019

About the author

S.J. Sanders is a mom of two toddlers and one adult living in Anchorage, Alaska. She has a BA degree in History, but spends most of her free time painting, sculpting, doing odd bits of historical research, and writing. While she has more research orientated writing under another pen name, her passion is sci-fi and paranormal romance of which she is an avid reader. After years of tinkering with the idea, and making her own stories up in her head, S.J has began to seriously pursue writing as an author of Sci-fi Romance utilizing her interests in how cultures diversify and what they would look like on a extraterrestrial platform to humans interacting with them and finding love.

She can be found on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Author-SJ-Sa...

And follow her blog at https://sjsandersromance.wordpress.com

Reviews

[Mikaela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an abduction romance. Abduction romances are truly truly awful. What is an abduction romance? Here you go:

Woman: oh noes I’m being pursued for nefarious purposes
Man: I will rescue and protect you
Woman: Awesome, your hot so I’m down with that
Man: Cool cool, just do everything I tell you to do and don’t ask me to explain anything to you because me Tarzan you Jane
Woman: O rly? Mmkay well I’m just gonna predictably go outside because you’re being smothery
Abductor: *yoink*
Abductor: *on brink of raping woman*
Man: Rawr I rescue woman
Woman: I’m so sorry I will never again exert my own agency and will perfectly obey you oh great man
Man: yeh good
Abductor: ahHAH i abduct woman AGAIN surprisingly easily because you are genuinely a rubbish misogenystic protector
Woman: oh dear if only I could possibly help myself but alas I am crippled by my vagina
Man: how dare my play thing be stolen AGAIN! I will rescue and *almost* die in the attempt
Woman: that’s good bc I’m pregnant surprise
Man: awesome, because pregnancy really escalates unhealthy domineering and possessive behavior, so you’re gonna have a real good life
Woman: sigh, I’m so glad you rescued me man because otherwise I might be stuck with a real creeper
EPILOGUE
Woman: how good is our life and 14 children in which I have no career, exit strategy, close personal friends or individual agency?
Man: you love it. I have prowess. Look at my abs.

Thanks but no thanks

[Celestine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't normally review a book I give a one star rating, but I felt this deserved some explanation. At first look, and for the first quarter of the book, it had everything that ticked my column - post-apocalyptic, fairy tale retelling, aliens. But then through the middle and into the end this novel had LOTS that didn't tick my column but somehow manages to not be in the blurb: abuse, reverse harem, alien sex erotica, threatened rape and a physical exam that I just can't...... And, OMG, the typos and extra words and complete lack of editing. This book could have been half as long because it is filled with lots of nothing. The heroine gets zero character development beyond a Red Riding Hood shadow. Finally, the battle scene at the end was over literally in a blink, however the point of this book apparently wasn't the story, but the sex. Bad on me for not looking at other reviews before starting it. Bad on me again for not DNFing this. And bad on the author for crafting a misleading blurb and cover. Just a warning that all the "theys" and "them" in the blurb might imply the society of Ragoru, but those pronouns are actually a triad of males, with six c*cks between them. Plus, 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon? Please.

[Marzipop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright so, I don't see too many tags or shelves about what kind of story this is, so first of all I'll list that out with potential trigger warnings.

Genre
This is a sci fi reverse harem, meaning one lady multiple dudes (alien wolf dudes in this case) nobody has to choose and everyone ends up together. It's good fun if you have no idea what that is. You get your cake and eat it too. This is also a bit of an erotica, there is some gratuitous and detailed alien werewolf smut. As for if it is a happy ending: This has a true happy ending as well.

Trigger Warnings
Violence in gory detail
Near sexual assaults
Violence against women
Torture
Mention of forced sexual interactions
Mention of infant death
Mention of abortion

So, now that that's over let's talk about the book.
I haven't really read a whole lot of smut before, and I found this wasn't too bad. The characters are flat, but still enjoyable. I'm sure a lot of people who get a kick out of alien romance type stuff may enjoy this. This is also a very unique and fun twisted version of the little red riding hood story. You DO have to suspend some of your belief in this, there are a few places where logic seems to defy all reason (like if red hair apparently is so bad why not cut it off) but it wasn't a huge detriment to me.

So. In short, if you like werewolf alien dicks, sexy red riding hoods, alpha lovers, gratuitous adorable affection, and a unique, dark sci fi setting maybe check this one out.

[Somia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 Stars

This was certainly an interesting spin on Red Riding Hood, here the aliens (wolves) are the good guys, and the human huntsman and grandma the villains of the tale.

The heroine Arie lacked a certain oomph and I wish she had had more fire.

A reverse harem romance, this book didn't really work for me. Had to push myself to finish the last 30% or so.

Acquired via KU.

[Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon) · Rating 1 out of 5]

✨ Read for the 2019 KU Shitathon™ challenge - [Halfsies Vol.2: July-December] - over at Maraya's Cave Of Freaking Wonders ✨
◼ Plan A - Book: #8 of 13 ◼

DNF @72%

“I’ve been trying to find the most elegant way to say this, but in light of your declaration I will say one thing: I will be your mate. Rager, Warol, and Kyx, I choose you.”
@44% [Chapter 16]

Ok here's the thing: I went into this expecting full on smut. Smut Overload. I was ready.


But surprise, surprise I got story instead. I was willing to give it a shot, maybe it would be interesting. Or maybe it would just be a trap and the story will turn to full on smut in short order.


Again surprise, it didn't. In fact we get our first sexual situation almost at the halfway point. ◀ That should be a plus right? Normally yes, but not this time cause the story for BORING. Watching paint dry would have been more interesting and I have actually done that so I know.


Then the story turned stupid so I Nope'd my way outta there. Too bad cause it had *le potential*.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd Read (Audiobook)

4.25/5 ⭐️s

This. Was. AMAZING.

The world building, the character growth, the plot, the romance…This book genuinely had it all. I loved Arie and her triad, and I thought SJ did such an amazing job of cultivating each member’s personality and making them unique.

I wish we’d gotten more build-up with the Guild throughout the book instead of being introduced to them at the end, but that’s my only complaint. When I first read this, I thought it dragged on a bit - either I wasn’t in the mood then or listening to the audio helped with that this time around because I thought every part was purposeful and engaging.

So excited to read more from SJ moving forward!

Spice: 3/5 🌶️

[❀ Crystal ✿ - PEACE ☮ LOVE ♥ BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was certainly different than I was expecting. I learned early on I did not take a close enough look at the cover as I was taken aback by the male leads (obviously wolf like in appearance) also had four eyes and four arms. This in no way was a letdown and I liked the surprise. Even more shocking was was their having two dicks..... So three men, two dicks each, that's twelve arms and 6 cocks. I mean damn girl...... ;) I think the author did a great job weaving this world and putting a crazy spin on the Little Red Riding Hood story.
I wasn't put off by the males being non-human, in fact that only made the story more interesting for me. Personally I also notice while reading this their appearance wasn't always on the forefront of my mind. This book is certainly for more open minded people as even the sexy-times got a little out there. Aside from some spelling errors and the heroine making the stereotypical bad choice that leads to her being kidnapped, I really enjoyed the story. It was unique and interesting. I definitely got sucked into this one and would love to see the author tackle other fairytales including RH and aliens, my two loves meshed into one lol!

[Amy Imogene Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

SJ Sanders is definitely a monster romance author that I pay a LOT of attention to—the world structures, the depth of settings, the dedication to the camp-ness of the monster romance at a conceptual level but done seriously within the story—it’s all so good.

Miffs me a bit that the reviews for this are wayyyy harsh. Do some people not understand… that this is a particular batch of niche alien romance tropes? Sigh. Lots of romance tropes are not for everyone, and others are gimmicky as hell (on purpose!). To each their own, but to my fellow monster and alien fans who enjoy Tiffany Roberts, Naomi Lucas, and more… don’t sleep on Sanders.

I still hold Havoc of Souls as my favorite by this author, but Red was a ton of fun!

[Angi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this so much.
The story is about Arie who lives in a world were aliens looking like werewolf’s, called Ragorou, came to earth and are feared by humans. Arie has red hair wich is a bad sign amongst humans since Ragorou seems to like this color a lot. For most of her live she was able to hide that fact but when she gets discovered she gets banned from her village and while traveling through the woods comes across three Ragorou. They turn out to be not what she expected and while traveling with them she starts to develop feelings for them.
I enjoyed this story so much. Thought there was lots of anxious feelings as well since a lot unpleasant things happen. They get their HEA but it’s a tough way till then.
The main characters were great. I liked Arie and I love her Ragorou and they were very cute together and was super happy when they finally had their HEA.
Oh and the steamy scenes were good too.
In general i like that the Ragorou look so very different. They have two pairs of eyes and two sets of arms, they are fury all over their body and they have two blue penises that can be tucked away in kind of a pouch. That’s a lot of doubles.
Something else I liked a lot is that the author showed of that not all of them are good like not all humans are good.
Overall I enjoyed this a lot even thought it played with my emotions so much. I definitely want to read the book of Emala too.

[Grapie Deltaco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the inconsistent pacing, the intensely boring lulls in the story that came about every once in a while, and the repetitive nature of the subplots, this was a very entertaining sci-fi red riding hood romance.

I would’ve liked more of a personality distinction between Warol and Rager as they both functioned as very stoic “alpha” types, but Arie’s dynamic with them and Kyx was very interesting to see, especially in a forced proximity set of circumstances.

I also think that if an author is going to include mentions of wolf alien racism, it should be expanded on further than just the surface level “it’s wrong to discriminate based on fur color” and being met with “yes, it’s very sad. Anyways…” I think at that point, the injection of biases and discrimination based on color should’ve been scrapped and could’ve very easily been left out as it didn’t add anything to the story or development of characters as well as feels forgotten about anyhow. I forgot that the alien wolf racism (colorism ??) was a thing until it was randomly sprinkled in before being forgotten about again. Red hair is deemed holy in the wolf alien culture and black is associated with death. Kyx, the red-haired member of the harem that gains the fur shade from being mixed (with human), is very briefly mentioned to have been gifted more opportunities because of the fur shade than Rager, the pack member with pitch black fur. You can’t just throw in that the biracial alien wolf has higher social currency than the dark, black one so casually and then completely abandon it like it never mattered to begin with.

Beyond these issues that I had, though, I really enjoyed the approach and detail to world-building (beyond the world of the alien wolf beings). There’s entirely new religious systems, governments, and societal dynamics that played into developing our two main groups’ respective cultures and histories.

And the romance, of course, had very sweet and tender moments thrown in with the spice.

CW: explicit sexual content (reverse harem), kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, violence, multiple threats of sex/“breeding” slavery

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red

Wonderful story with an awesome triad with their rya. Fantastic new world that was so well thought out and exciting. I am looking forward to reading the next story in this new world. I would recommend this book and this author.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandmother's house...meets three big beasties in the middle of the Woods





A bit of a fairy tale retelling with some reverse harem sci-fi romance going on.
I enjoyed the read for the most part- but really had to push myself to read the last 30%- not because the Citadel plot was bad or anything, but I kind of lost interest.

But its on kindle unlimited rn so check it out if your looking for something schmexy and alien related.

[BJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like it but I didn't like the weak h, pathetically waiting for her men to rescue her. She sleeps, cries and has sex with them and falls asleep again. They were alien 'wolf-like' creatures, multiple 'bits' but it was mundane, padded with irrelevant and tedious details. There's an evil grandma, issues with her red hair, I get it - it's a play on the fairy tale, but frankly the fairy tale is more interesting, just less gory than this. Barely Ok.

[IvyInThePages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: 2.93 leaves out of 5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Story: 2/5
Writing: 2.75/5
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Retelling/SciFi/Supernatural
Type: Audiobook/Ebook
Worth?: Yeah
Spicy: 3.5/5

Hated|Disliked|It Was Okay|Liked|Loved|Favorited


EDIT: Well found out something that dropped it down a level. Only the alpha makes the babies with her? 1. That is some BS. 2. How the fuck does that even work??

So I rated it a 3.2. There were times when I really couldn't stop laughing and times when I was straight up rooting for these werewolf alien things. I liked the story but home girl always getting kidnapped was annoying as all hell. Then the whole scene with her being with her grandmother... was just kinda... MEH. Though the epilogue hit kinda just right. Glad we got to find out what she was having and what he looked like. Do we know who the father is? Lol. Iunno.

For spicy I give it a 3.5/5 because WOOO all them menbeastthings... just taking turns on that merry-go-round. Lololol I am not one for being touched all that much and 12 would drive me effing nuts in a bad way. But I think we can all agree that we cannot trust no J names, Joshs and Jacks. Lololol

[OneDayI'll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her best yet

Arie has been marked as cursed. Born with red hair in a world afraid of color. Colors have been banished out of fear. Fear that monsters, attracted by the color, would descend upon the humans, bringing death. She kept her hair hidden from everyone, she thought, until someone sought to use it against her after her mother's passing. Desperate to escape him, she took everything of value, burned the rest so the Council couldn't profit off her departure, and ran into the woods. Where the monsters were. But who is more monstrous? The beings eking a living amongst nature? Or the humans and their society built on wealth and greed?

Spoilers ahead.
This is, by far, her best book to date. I've read her Bride series. I've read her Mate Index series. The MI one makes me sad and furious. This one had some of the same elements. Human men are controlling, greedy killers and the alien men are kind and loving protectors. She did allow a few human males to be decent, and a few alien males to be bad- but only because they were crazed due to lack of mates. Mates that humans had killed or were keeping from them. Trigger warnings for sexual assaults. The h is molested, kissed and touched against her wishes. Some of the other women have backstories that include rape, or are the products of rape. Many women, human or mutant, are forced into prostitution to survive. So, these stories may be loosely based on fairytales, but they're definitely the Grimm version. There's the usual contradictions, too. Example: red hair is bad, blonde hair is bad, bright colored clothes are bad. But...red represents their Mother deity and is worn on weddings which are blessed events? I did like that the h wasn't a shrinking violet. She fought her village's ideas, she ditched a would be human mate for his cruelty, she fought her relatives when she was taken from her mates. She didn't have but 1 TSTL moment, which was nice. And it wasn't from running away. It was just walking around past the safety zone, daydreaming made her forget. Which wasn't smart, but not a stupid run through the woods to escape something she didn't need to run from. So, yay! Also, seeing the conditions that the Citadel was in, she didn't just leave the hapless human women to fend for themselves in a futile and sad existence while running off to her HEA. So, while some the same ideas that frustrated me from her other series were carried on into this tale, there were some changes that made me happy to see. Also, the grammar, typos and errors have improved. I was very happy to see the improvements. The author showed promise in her other works, which is why I keep reading her books. The plot lines are good. I would have liked a little more world building, though. There are these mutant humans, different flora and fauna, sleep inducing bugs, and many other things that make it sound like this isn't Earth? It's described as a dystopian. But is this an Earth settlement? Or did something happen to Earth to alter it so? So, a few questions remain, but overall a better story than previous works.

[Country Goose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it, but needs editing....

Great retelling, and I loved the sci-fi twist. It has a very distinct character development, and I enjoyed each personality.

The editing was very distracting, to the point I almost returned the book without finishing. There are WAY too many errors and inconsistency to be anything above a three star. Word replacements happened often. Some I could figure out, few I couldn't and resigned myself to move forward anyway. "Force" was used instead of "first", "through" instead of "threw". Spelling errors weren't as common, but there are several unfinished sentences.

Inconsistencies with time, the characters say it'll take weeks to travel, but they got there within three days of moving, not counting the time spent holed up in a cave during bad weather.

What significance was the honey? She put it in the bottom of her bag, and it was a huge deal that she not take it, and she was worried about being searched, but it was never referenced again. Her father taught her the ways of wild honey bee taming, but she never does. Her medicines, okay. I get those, but the honey thing just dangles. Also, it doesn't make much sense that it's such a dangerous world, and red hair will especially attract the blood rage of the Ragoru, yet the village demands repentance and so on when the odds are she should have died. I don't get it.

[Cee · Rating 2 out of 5]

2021: I decided to re-read this for a challenge and since I’ve come to like other books by this author I thought maybe I’d change my mind. The first half isn’t bad, solid 3 stars or so, but I ended up skimming the last 30% or so. Just wasn’t a fan and felt like too many things were added in. But hey, at least I gave it a try!

2019 dnf: I can't remember exactly where I stopped reading this, but I did DNF it.
I'm not rating this one because... I mean, I don't think it is a bad book, it is one that just wasn't working for me. I'm was enjoying it, but when we finally got to the actual sex parts I realized I didn't want to visualize it. I need my aliens a wee bit more human.
Although I'm not sure how the world ended up in the apocalyptic version it is sooo that was a bit weird trying to understand.

Look, if you like sweet alien romances with some action to them and don't mind suspending belief a bit (seriously why didn't she just cut off her hair???), then I think this is one you'll enjoy.

[Starre 🇵🇸 🍉 · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR: I rarely say this but more sex with werewolves and less plot that’s a little boring and unnecessary


you know it started off fine, you know the classic, girl is alone and runs off into the woods away from weird men, but then finds even weirder men (werewolves) who turn out not to be that weird no matter what society tells you

then girl falls in love with boys (this is a reverse harem though it is not clear from the cover or from the description) after boys save her life and woo her. girl eventually has sex with boys and everything is good until, uh oh.

I don’t mind an uh oh, I do mind when there’s a kidnapping trope that lasts for 30% of the book can we move on please (:

the last 30% introduced so many little details about religion and society that were no present in the beginning, and honestly weren’t needed for a standalone book, like could I get a bit more smut instead of this plot please and thanks. I came here to read about getting it on with werewolves not about ending classism and religious control over the world

on another note, I am quite tired of the alien/monster fucking trope where humans are terrible sexual assaulters and the monsters just aren’t,, especially when I have to read threats of sexual assault from the humans, like we can move on from the trope so the monsters have more to their personalities besides being feminist allies

[Celeste ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

honesty such a fun and adorable story! w the sexiest ragoru triad of all time 😌 3 good fuzzy bois!

[Darbin O’Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love retellings of fairy tales but this was meh. The world was intriguing and I liked the crossover of fantasy/sci-fi. Aliens as more traditional monsters is a nice touch. About three-quarter through the book it finally delivers on the shadow that has been haunting the reverse harem. The finish at first feels rushed but then you realize this is a book that is a part of a series/world and somethings aren't explained, possibly for that reason?

I would recommend to those that are deeply into the flash of monster romances that premier on book tok.

[Bubbles The Book Pimp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red riding hood meets the ‘not so wicked’ wolf x 3... set up as a dystopian scifi romance...this book for me was more of a fantasy reverse-harem fairytale... which in itself is by no means a bad thing. In fact I consider it a very very good thing. Other than the initial explanation there is very little towards the scifi genre that I found in this book..but I was very wrapped up in the story of our ‘Red’ and her wolves that I must admit I wasn’t really bothered by the lack of sci fi.

Interesting concept ( which I would have loved a bit more information and backstory on ) and story plot ( I appreciated the twistiness) however I felt the epilogue was rather abrupt and would have loved just a smidge more.

[Elisaeileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

When a book just checks off everyone of your likes it seems too good to be true. But not this book! It was the perfect balance of romance and I just loved it. I can't wait to hear of your planning to make another triad story with another human women in the future.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good!

I loved this sci-fi spin on the classic Red Riding Hood. It is so well written and the development of the characters is fantastic. It’s another must read by the lovely SJ Sanders!

[María José Bravo Macías · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf'd at 20%

The main character had no personality. NONE. And it was a "relationship" that involved more than 2 so... NO. Not for me. Bye

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started great, took a turn for the worse.

2.5⭐️ rounded up

I really enjoyed the setting of post apocalyptic earth with turmoil between humans and aliens that had to settle there. The play on little red riding hood was fun and I loved the MMCs and their quirks. Arie was a good FMC until about 3/4 of the way into the book when she started making irrational decisions. I didn’t like the rushed ending or the sudden magical solution. It took away from the tender realism of the relationship that Arie had with the ragoru, in my opinion.

Spice: 3ish scenes

Triggers: violence with gore, torture, death (not of MC)

[Gabbibuu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All I dream about is you, but that will be enough until that dream is yours too."

I really liked this twist to the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale. It looks long, but it's really fast-paced. The plot was kind of repetitive, and it was poorly edited, but I never lost interest in the story and, to be honest, I didn't even realize the repetitiveness until I had finished the book. I only missed more angst towards the end, just because I like when plans go wrong.

[jennifer | offmyredcarpet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 // The overall story is engaging and unique up until the 70% mark when it becomes rushed. There’s too many convenient moments to hurriedly bring the story to resolution in addition to an info dump for the religious part of the plot. It’s a shame that this part of the story is so under developed; especially considering it blessedly departs from the typical abduction-trafficking trope that most sci-fi/alien romance are built around.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

TW: Abduction, Torture, Genitalia/Breast mutilation, Violence

I really enjoyed this book!! I’m definitely going to be continuing on with the series!!

Hoe-Athon Prompts: Happily Ever After, Out of this World, Forbidden Pleasures, Monsterfuckers Anonymous

Hoe-Athon Scavenger Hunt Prompts: Tentacle/Monsterfucking, Finger Fucking Good, Three’s a Party, C.M.B.Y.N., A Home Makeover

[Romantically Inclined Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally bonkers. At first I wasn't sure I could get behind the wolf-ness and the four arms and the two sets of eyes thing but they grew on me. The heroes were so sweet and worshipp-y of the heroine and I love the juxtaposition of a kind & sweet mixed with violent & alien. It'll work for me every day.

[Hannah]

DNF 21%... couldn't get into it, might try again later. Does it get better??