Grulen

Svesti Fated Mates #7

by Wavy Martin

Former slave meets recovering amnesiac and new memories are made.

Thirty years ago, the Zuvgran released a virus that killed most Svesti females and rendered the remainder infertile. The Svesti initiate first contact with Earth when their scientists discover that humans and Svesti can interbreed. Humans may be able to save the warrior species that has been protecting Earth’s region of space for a century.

Morgan can’t catch a break. Kidnapped and forced into slavery by aliens, rescued, then she was kidnapped again and experimented on by the Zuvgran. She’s not looking for love, just some peace to recover.

Grulen suffers from amnesia. He knows he has an important mission, but he can’t remember what it is.

Grulen is the seventh book in the Svesti Fated Mates series with a HEA and can be read as a standalone, although it is recommended that the books be read in order for the best experience.

342 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Moonburst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Morgan is finally pursuing her dream to be a teacher, when she is abducted by aliens. She is forced into slavery, released in exchange for her help with Svesti research, then kidnapped and experimented on. Just when she is about to lose hope, she is rescued by the Wing Raiders, a mercenary group. As she starts to recover from her experiences, the Wing Raiders take on a Svesti with amnesia. Can Morgan find her place, her peace, and possibly her heart?

I toggled between boredom and frustration while reading this book. The Svesti Fated Mates series overall struggles with issues from repetition, especially since the first three books overlap so very much. Unfortunately, we are forced to relive what happened on the Invictus yet again, just so we can see Grulen's point of view. This does little to grow or reveal Grulen's character, and is extremely boring, as it interrupts the more interesting and important parts depicting Morgan's past. In fact, this book would have been greatly improved if it was told solely from Morgan's perspective, as Grulen is essentially a useful redshirt who is a bit of a jack of all trades, and spends most of his time with amnesia. As we are going to discover who he was as he slowly got his memories back, all the initial information, and his viewpoint, is superfluous.

Morgan, on the other hand, is an amazing character. She goes through so much, and we barely see any of it at all. It would have been much better to show her adjusting to her slavery, or see how her life was during the year she was on Costonia. All this would have shown her tenacity and willingness to survive. Instead we are given quick little snap shots of her experiences with very little depth. This weakens her character and detracts from her inspiring perseverance.

It also would have been great if we got to see Morgan adjust to living with and develop a relationship with all the Wing Raiders. Unfortunately, all the characters are kept very superficial and we learn almost nothing about them. The lack of emotional intimacy undermines the impact of the "girl time" later in the book.

Finally, the relationship between Morgan and Grulen is possibly the least interesting part of the book, making the two seem like side characters in their own story. The Wing Raiders are extremely interesting, and their various capers are largely held offscreen. While this will help prevent repetition if those stories are told in later books, it just made Morgan and Grulen look useless as all the other characters had important jobs to do while they manned the ship. They just needed something of their own to do that was significant. Otherwise, it would have been better for the mercenaries to just drop the two of them off on Costonia right away, and spend more time delving in the healing process between the two of them.

Overall, I found this to be a frustrating, disappointing read. Morgan is an inspiring character with great potential, and she deserved to be in a better story.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Carole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grulen is the seventh book in the Svesti Fated Mates series and another good Sci-Fi romance in the storyline.

MFC Morgan Calloway an abductee from Earth has been sold into slavery and after time is rescued by Svesti healers who she agreed to spend time on their home world with assisting them in determining the compatibility of human females with Svesti males.

Their own females were lost to a virus spread in their population by enemy Zuvaran.

MMC Grulen Jevax a Svesti Warrior who was sent on a mission to discover the traitor aboard their flagship Invictus who is working with a noble on their home planet to destroy any alliance with Earth has lost his memories after his ship is shot down and he is injured.

The discovery he made hidden in those lost memories.

Poor Morgan though doesn’t catch a break when after leaving Costonia for a safe haven colony her transport is attacked and she becomes an experiment for the evil Zuvaran who are now looking for a virus to destroy human fertility with Svesti!

Thankfully she is rescued again, this time by Wing Raiders, mercenaries for the good.

The author does provide background to this point in the timeline if the other books haven’t been read. But the experience is surely richer if having done so.

Morgan and Grulen finally meet after he saves her from another attempted kidnapping and their romance begins!

I enjoyed the journey taken on this entertaining adventure that was well written with great characterization’s, intrigue, emotion, spice, family dynamics, and friendships that created a wonderful read. HEA

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Shelley G · Rating 5 out of 5]

another fabulous book in this series grulen goes on a secret mission and ends up rescued with no memory of who he is or his previous life. morgan is a human female who has been kidnapped twice now and is rescued by a crew of human and alien mercenaries. grulen ends up on the same ship in order to get home. together a friendship is developed and more is wanted buy grulen has no idea if he has a female waitng for him so doesn't allow anything further. finally they arrive back on his home world and things heat up between them while he recovers upon finding out he is single. will he get his memories back and what will happen when/if he does? u will need to read to find out but it is a well written interesting read with pleny of excitement, danger, friendship, understanding, and much more. a serious real world issue is handled with great delicacy while showing that strength in the face of adversity and survival is possible and trauma can be overcome with love. richly detailed characters including previous stories which enhances to book. some cool plot twists and some spicy moments making it a gripping story. i highly recommend this series.
I received an arc copy from book sirens and this is my honest voluntary review.

[Gleeful Goblin Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gleeful Goblin Review: The blurb for this book is so spot on and had me hooked from the jump: "Morgan can’t catch a break. Kídn@pped and forced into sl@very by aliens, rescued, then she was kídn@pped again and experimented on by the Zuvgran. She’s not looking for love, just some peace to recover. Grulen suffers from amnesia. He knows he has an important mission, but he can’t remember what it is." This was a really interesting story overall, having quite a few twists and turns. It's a dual POV and for each main character there is some bouncing back and forth in regards to timeline. So, essentially we piece together hints about things like how Grulen comes to have amnesia and details about Morgan's ordeal from past to present day. The time jumping can be a little bit confusing but the author does a great job of labeling the who, what, when, where details so for folks who have a better ability than I do to keep those kinds of details straight won't have any trouble. I found the story really engaging, has good world building, and I really enjoyed the book overall. 5/5 Stars

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Grulen and Morgan reach out to each other when they meet in the most dangerous ways. Both have problems with trust and try to find themselves after a part of life with slavery and memoryloss.

The prologue did a lot to remember what happened in the previous books and the overall story aside from the mates finding each other.

I would have liked this story to continu through this book, to me it would have made more sense and would give more body to the book.

Aside from that, this book gave room for more sidecharacters and a break from life on the invictus and Costonia. Some loose ends from previous book come together now and people find their purpose.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this honest review volutarily.

[Rose Seals · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, full of aliens, kidnappings, love, trust issues, survival and memory loss. Morgan is a human that is kidnapped and then placed into slavery, also foe breeding. When saved she meets Grulen who has a few issues of his own, is he can't remember. Morgan is a very strong personality while Grulen has a softer side. It's hard for him not being able to know or remember what his job is or was. As his memory returns so slowly it doesn't feel that it will help with what he needs to do. Curl up and enjoy this story. Would recommend to others.

I received this story and leave this unbiased, honest review.

[LizJ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grulen Book 7 of the Svesti Fated Mates series by Wavy Martin is a great story and a wonderful addition to the series!! Morgan cannot catch a break and Grulen lost his memories, they both have issues, and it was so interesting how their story played out. It was also nice to revisit some of the other characters from previous books, I really enjoy when authors do that, it's like visiting old friends. Highly recommend.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wavey Martin has done again. This was a great read. Usually a series starts to get old the more episodes that the author writes. But this series is very interesting. Morgan and Grulen meet and have a ways to go before they make there connection of love, but it was fun seeing all the past characters in this novel.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. I know there will be a few that complain about going back to the beginning.

A well written, action packed, hot sci-fi romance. This one will take you for a ride with all the twists. I know that my emotions were all over the place, you can go from smiling to crying within a few pages. You also get some closer to the books before.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Chrissi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
For me, the repetition of everything that has already occurred on the Invictus made it a hard slog to get through. We go through all of this and barely skim Morgan's past or how she survived/adjusted to her situations.
Some of the secondary characters almost overshadowed Grulen in my opinion.

[Natassja Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fantastic book. I have loved this series and re read them. I enjoy how the stories are interconnected and events are given from different perspectives without being boring or feel monotonous.
Once again the chemistry and character growth is on point.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[DMA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series of fated mates stories are told in a wonderfully diverse universe! The richness of this universe makes a wonderful back drop to these often gritty as well as loving tales.

Highly recommended!

[Christyn P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes!! I love the Svesti beings. Another awesome one. I wanted to know what happened to Grulen Javex and we found out. Morgan is an amazing hero in her own right. Such a great story. I was there with them. The connection, the hot intimacy, the love. Just well done!

[Sandra Singleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of the Svesti Fated Mates series. Morgan was kidnapped from Earth by aliens who needed human women for breeding. Grulen an alien had a job to do but couldn't remember. Will they have a HEA? A must-read by the author. Waiting for the next book.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting sci-fi romance! I liked it very much. Spicy-sweet, emotional and suspenseful.

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

How males of any species can be stupid 🤣. I enjoyed reading Grulen's journey. The story read very smoothly and I liked the struggles.

[Guylande Jeudy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is amazing, and Grulen's story was a fantastic addition! I absolutely loved Morgan's strength and courage. They complemented each other beautifully, each overcoming immense trauma and emerging even stronger. Overall, it was a wonderful and inspiring read!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.