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Pretty Human
Seeking absolution for his past in a fiery death, a young space force pilot crashes his ship on a desert planet.
When Ellis Ligoria, King of Xol, witnesses a space ship hurtling to the planet’s surface, he rushes to the scene of the crash and joins the search party for survivors. As night descends, a strange compulsion leads him to the site of an underground city. Here he rescues a badly injured Jem. During his recovery, it is discovered that Jem is part Xolan. Not only that, but he’s a genetically submissive variation called a Xolani. Ellis has no desire to care for a Xolani but cannot resist his desire for Jem. Taking him under his protection, he brings him home to his family.
Desperately wanting this new life, Jem claims to be a solitary Vagabond, a loner without family or home. A man nobody wants or is looking for. Safe for the first time in his memory, Jem has hopes for a happy future. He is falling in love with Ellis and adores his new family. All he wants is to live a quiet life as Ellis’ consort, but as his secrets sink him deeper and deeper into a prison of lies, he knows that he cannot hide his true identity forever. Marrying Ellis is a dream come true, but he’ll never escape the brutal man he is running from.
Soon called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice, Jem must fight to stop a powerful monster bent on revenge.
When Ellis Ligoria, King of Xol, witnesses a space ship hurtling to the planet’s surface, he rushes to the scene of the crash and joins the search party for survivors. As night descends, a strange compulsion leads him to the site of an underground city. Here he rescues a badly injured Jem. During his recovery, it is discovered that Jem is part Xolan. Not only that, but he’s a genetically submissive variation called a Xolani. Ellis has no desire to care for a Xolani but cannot resist his desire for Jem. Taking him under his protection, he brings him home to his family.
Desperately wanting this new life, Jem claims to be a solitary Vagabond, a loner without family or home. A man nobody wants or is looking for. Safe for the first time in his memory, Jem has hopes for a happy future. He is falling in love with Ellis and adores his new family. All he wants is to live a quiet life as Ellis’ consort, but as his secrets sink him deeper and deeper into a prison of lies, he knows that he cannot hide his true identity forever. Marrying Ellis is a dream come true, but he’ll never escape the brutal man he is running from.
Soon called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice, Jem must fight to stop a powerful monster bent on revenge.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2016
9 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Kayleigh Sky
23 books121 followersKayeigh Sky is a m/m erotic romance writer.
Kayleigh’s stories are tales of struggle and pain, loss and despair. Love is won in the battle to rise out of the depths of darkness. Victory is in the sweet bliss of happily ever after.
Once upon a time Kayleigh hid out in a cold dark garage reading a book her parents forbid her to read. She was nine years old. The book? Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, a story of love between two men–well, actually the story was a little more complicated than that, but hey, she was nine.
In the dark of the garage, a light, a passion, a sheer joy for love in all its manifestations awoke.
And love between two men–Hot!
Kayleigh’s men are often broken, always brave, and always memorable.
Kayleigh’s stories are tales of struggle and pain, loss and despair. Love is won in the battle to rise out of the depths of darkness. Victory is in the sweet bliss of happily ever after.
Once upon a time Kayleigh hid out in a cold dark garage reading a book her parents forbid her to read. She was nine years old. The book? Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, a story of love between two men–well, actually the story was a little more complicated than that, but hey, she was nine.
In the dark of the garage, a light, a passion, a sheer joy for love in all its manifestations awoke.
And love between two men–Hot!
Kayleigh’s men are often broken, always brave, and always memorable.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 5, 2016
Not an easy or straightforward read, ‘Pretty Human’ is fascinating in its mystery and disquieting in what it says about human nature. Set on a faraway planet, in a distant future, what is going on was not clear initially and took some getting used to. The world building is good and intriguing, the characters are introduced gradually, and the background is revealed slowly enough to maintain a certain suspense while ensuring the flood of information does not overwhelm. The main characters are from very different backgrounds, yet feel drawn to each other, and the truth of what is going on isn’t revealed until the final third of the novel.
Jem is shrouded in secrets, things he is trying to forget, but that will catch up with him, sometimes at the most unexpected moments. At the beginning of the novel he intends to kill himself, but when he doesn’t succeed, forgetting who he is and what he has done is the next best thing. Jem will do anything for his new life, one where he is safe and loved. He discovers that he is part Xolan, a Xolani who is “made to obey”, and while he thinks he wants to be like a Xolani on the one hand, he struggles against it on the other. After all, he is three-quarters human, and I believe his willingness to obey Ellis is an act of desperation, and maybe hope for a new life. The fact that Ellis meets out corporal punishment, in line with the laws that he says he doesn’t believe in, did not sit easy with me. But – by the end of the book I could see why he did it and while I still did not like it, at least there was a certain logic to it.
Ellis is a man living his life out in the open, supposedly without secrets. He has become king at too young an age because his parents died in a car accident. He feels attracted to Jem despite an unwillingness to become tied to a Xolani. But even though he falls in love, he uses a belt on Jem when punishment is required – not something I understood until the very end of the book. Ellis does stand by Jem though, when his past comes to catch up with him, and I have to give him credit for that.
Jem and Ellis do not have an easy relationship. Ellis loves Jem, all of him, while Jem cannot believe or fully trust him. Based on what emerges about Jem’s past, I can’t say I blame him. Jem’s final “test” is as brutal as expected, but the way he reconciles himself with who and what he used to be, then stands up and fights that is well done. Please do heed the publisher’s warnings – abuse, rape, and torture are an integral part of this story and rather graphic at times.
If you like the grittier side of science fiction, if a human discovering he is part alien and born not only to be submissive but also to carry children, and if you’re looking for a read full of mystery, suspense, extremely cruel enemies, and a psychologically and physically challenging fight for freedom of a man who never wanted to be what his enemies made him, then you might like this novel.
NOTE: This book was provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Jem is shrouded in secrets, things he is trying to forget, but that will catch up with him, sometimes at the most unexpected moments. At the beginning of the novel he intends to kill himself, but when he doesn’t succeed, forgetting who he is and what he has done is the next best thing. Jem will do anything for his new life, one where he is safe and loved. He discovers that he is part Xolan, a Xolani who is “made to obey”, and while he thinks he wants to be like a Xolani on the one hand, he struggles against it on the other. After all, he is three-quarters human, and I believe his willingness to obey Ellis is an act of desperation, and maybe hope for a new life. The fact that Ellis meets out corporal punishment, in line with the laws that he says he doesn’t believe in, did not sit easy with me. But – by the end of the book I could see why he did it and while I still did not like it, at least there was a certain logic to it.
Ellis is a man living his life out in the open, supposedly without secrets. He has become king at too young an age because his parents died in a car accident. He feels attracted to Jem despite an unwillingness to become tied to a Xolani. But even though he falls in love, he uses a belt on Jem when punishment is required – not something I understood until the very end of the book. Ellis does stand by Jem though, when his past comes to catch up with him, and I have to give him credit for that.
Jem and Ellis do not have an easy relationship. Ellis loves Jem, all of him, while Jem cannot believe or fully trust him. Based on what emerges about Jem’s past, I can’t say I blame him. Jem’s final “test” is as brutal as expected, but the way he reconciles himself with who and what he used to be, then stands up and fights that is well done. Please do heed the publisher’s warnings – abuse, rape, and torture are an integral part of this story and rather graphic at times.
If you like the grittier side of science fiction, if a human discovering he is part alien and born not only to be submissive but also to carry children, and if you’re looking for a read full of mystery, suspense, extremely cruel enemies, and a psychologically and physically challenging fight for freedom of a man who never wanted to be what his enemies made him, then you might like this novel.
NOTE: This book was provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
February 23, 2016
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.75 stars
Ellis takes Jem home, and thus begins their courtship. This takes time, as per Ellis’ wishes. I liked that. Jem has been so sexually brutalized, eighteen years of abuse at Bellamy’s hand, that he’s unable to sort through his emotions, or even his desires. He feels attraction, but has a metric ton of body issues—to the point that he abhors his own nudity, even as he can appreciate Ellis’ form.
As they move forward and marry, Jem’s secrets are standing between their intimacy. All of this was slowly revealed, with really interesting alien characters taking roles here. Bellamy, of course, appears, putting the nail in the coffin of Jem’s happiness. It seems that an accord will be made regarding the “death” of Jem, but Bellamy is not one to accept a slight, even if he has no love for Jem.
Expect there to be some harrowing bits, where Jem develops the strength to fight for himself, to save himself, if for no other reason than to save his unborn child. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is an mpreg tale? Yep, and I really dug that aspect. I also felt that the depressive episodes Jem experiences are totally in line with his traumatic history. Readers should be aware of the scenes of domestic violence if that is a trigger.
I did have some trouble with the prose. Jem and Ellis tell this tale, and there were times I didn’t know whom was thinking/speaking. Also, there are many internal thoughts and the stream of consciousness was sometimes overwhelming. I felt that the beginning was rough, because I didn’t have a good grasp on the characters. So much action was taking place, and I struggled to keep up. This was especially difficult as Jem was performing a double-double-cross to throw off any people who might be on his trail (BELLAMY!!) and I didn’t have the appropriate context to keep tabs on all of this in the moment.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
3.75 stars
Ellis takes Jem home, and thus begins their courtship. This takes time, as per Ellis’ wishes. I liked that. Jem has been so sexually brutalized, eighteen years of abuse at Bellamy’s hand, that he’s unable to sort through his emotions, or even his desires. He feels attraction, but has a metric ton of body issues—to the point that he abhors his own nudity, even as he can appreciate Ellis’ form.
As they move forward and marry, Jem’s secrets are standing between their intimacy. All of this was slowly revealed, with really interesting alien characters taking roles here. Bellamy, of course, appears, putting the nail in the coffin of Jem’s happiness. It seems that an accord will be made regarding the “death” of Jem, but Bellamy is not one to accept a slight, even if he has no love for Jem.
Expect there to be some harrowing bits, where Jem develops the strength to fight for himself, to save himself, if for no other reason than to save his unborn child. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is an mpreg tale? Yep, and I really dug that aspect. I also felt that the depressive episodes Jem experiences are totally in line with his traumatic history. Readers should be aware of the scenes of domestic violence if that is a trigger.
I did have some trouble with the prose. Jem and Ellis tell this tale, and there were times I didn’t know whom was thinking/speaking. Also, there are many internal thoughts and the stream of consciousness was sometimes overwhelming. I felt that the beginning was rough, because I didn’t have a good grasp on the characters. So much action was taking place, and I struggled to keep up. This was especially difficult as Jem was performing a double-double-cross to throw off any people who might be on his trail (BELLAMY!!) and I didn’t have the appropriate context to keep tabs on all of this in the moment.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
September 9, 2017
Difficult one to grade frankly. The author has got an excellent range of vocabulary, and she succeeds in 'world building'. However her writing style failed to always communicate clearly to the reader what was happening.
Characterisation:
Amal (aka Jem) is a fully fleshed out character. The author success here is using Jem to explore the issue of dealing with being the victim of domestic abuse; within a gay relationship context. While slow to fully flesh out his backstory, I didn't mind. In a way the drip dripping of jem's backstory helped keep me interested.
Problem is the weak characterisations of...well...almost everyone else. Ellis comes across as incredibly two-dimensional, and the villains Bel & Virgil just seem flat and motiveless.
Plot: solid premise, good start. But it got stale for periods around the halfway mark. Then the ending came fast at 80% in. It lacked any real twist, I saw everything that happened coming. A bit obvious. The flashbacks to Jem's abuse at the hands of Bel were suitably dark and macabre adding some emotional investment.
Yet I can't help being deeply uncomfortable at the nature of the 'good' relationship as presented between Jem and Ellis. Ellis effectively takes in a victim of serious long term domestic violence and teaches him 'true love' is obeying him in all ways. Ellis even whips Jem to 'teach him his lesson'. Frankly it didn't seem a million miles away in essence from the fundamental core of Bel's abusive relationship with Jem.
Finally with plot, the author just leaves the enslavement of the Xolani's unaddressed and unresolved- again frustrating.
Difficult one to evaluate. I feel that with a major redrafting there would be more clarity in terms of prose, narrative and a chance to fix the characterisational failings.
I give it a reluctant 3/5. The authors world-building descriptives coupled with the exploration of domestic abuse themes in gay relationship context saved this for me.
Characterisation:
Amal (aka Jem) is a fully fleshed out character. The author success here is using Jem to explore the issue of dealing with being the victim of domestic abuse; within a gay relationship context. While slow to fully flesh out his backstory, I didn't mind. In a way the drip dripping of jem's backstory helped keep me interested.
Problem is the weak characterisations of...well...almost everyone else. Ellis comes across as incredibly two-dimensional, and the villains Bel & Virgil just seem flat and motiveless.
Plot: solid premise, good start. But it got stale for periods around the halfway mark. Then the ending came fast at 80% in. It lacked any real twist, I saw everything that happened coming. A bit obvious. The flashbacks to Jem's abuse at the hands of Bel were suitably dark and macabre adding some emotional investment.
Yet I can't help being deeply uncomfortable at the nature of the 'good' relationship as presented between Jem and Ellis. Ellis effectively takes in a victim of serious long term domestic violence and teaches him 'true love' is obeying him in all ways. Ellis even whips Jem to 'teach him his lesson'. Frankly it didn't seem a million miles away in essence from the fundamental core of Bel's abusive relationship with Jem.
Finally with plot, the author just leaves the enslavement of the Xolani's unaddressed and unresolved- again frustrating.
Difficult one to evaluate. I feel that with a major redrafting there would be more clarity in terms of prose, narrative and a chance to fix the characterisational failings.
I give it a reluctant 3/5. The authors world-building descriptives coupled with the exploration of domestic abuse themes in gay relationship context saved this for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2023
2.5 stars
I really struggled to get to the end of this book. Initially, I was intrigued but that changed quite quickly. I pretty much lost track of what was going on and at times, things got very confusing and didn’t make sense.
Ellis and Jem’s love wasn’t convincing. The lack of trust, connection and the fact that they didn’t really know each other showed through. Ellis didn’t make much effort to really get to know Jem or to understand why he was the way he was. There was definitely a strong pull between them but to me, it didn’t reach its full potential. Their bond failed to capture the depth, trust and love. Their emotional connection was severely lacking.
Poor Jem went from one abuse to another and it wasn’t difficult to figure out how badly he was burnt in the past. He didn’t trust lightly and considering how his ex hubby treated and abused him both physically and emotionally, I can’t say I blame him. He had so many hidden layers that were dying to be peeled back except no one took that time to actually do that.
I found the whole book difficult to get into. There was too much information but not much happening for half of the book.
*I voluntarily read this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else's*
I really struggled to get to the end of this book. Initially, I was intrigued but that changed quite quickly. I pretty much lost track of what was going on and at times, things got very confusing and didn’t make sense.
Ellis and Jem’s love wasn’t convincing. The lack of trust, connection and the fact that they didn’t really know each other showed through. Ellis didn’t make much effort to really get to know Jem or to understand why he was the way he was. There was definitely a strong pull between them but to me, it didn’t reach its full potential. Their bond failed to capture the depth, trust and love. Their emotional connection was severely lacking.
Poor Jem went from one abuse to another and it wasn’t difficult to figure out how badly he was burnt in the past. He didn’t trust lightly and considering how his ex hubby treated and abused him both physically and emotionally, I can’t say I blame him. He had so many hidden layers that were dying to be peeled back except no one took that time to actually do that.
I found the whole book difficult to get into. There was too much information but not much happening for half of the book.
*I voluntarily read this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else's*
May 5, 2018
It was a struggle for me to finish this book and I must admit I skipped over the torture chapters, so not my thing. The plot has a lot of loose ends and open questions but so does life I guess. Anyway, I liked the writing style, the basic story line and the MCs, especially Jem.
February 25, 2016
This review was written for Joyfully Jay Reviews and can be accessed here: http://joyfullyjay.com/2016/02/review...
Jem is a man seeking a new life, one free from the years he’s served as a dedicated, yet battered, spouse to his husband Bellamy. Bellamy wanted to marry his love, Sasha, but he agreed to marry Jem in order to take his place as second-in-command of the Planetary Union. As we learn via flashback, Jem was subject to Bell’s extreme displeasure with a male mate, and Bell repeatedly raped, humiliated, and battered Jem to the brink of near death, and then caused Jem to recover in stasis so he could continue his sadistic brutalization. Jem engineers his own “death” but errs when his derelict ship is sucked into the atmosphere on Xol.
Xol’s new King Ellis is a witness and rescuer when Jem ship crashes. It’s a big problem for Ellis as he’s unwillingly drawn to Jem, who—it turns out—is Xolani, a subspecies of Xolans who are naturally submissive and readily sought for loyal consorts. The first segment of the book is Jem recovering from his many injuries upon impact on Xol. He also learns of his Xolani heritage and has very mixed feelings regarding it. He fears intimacy after his marriage to Bellamy, yet it seems as if he’s imprinted on Ellis, and Ellis on him—each man feels a pull to the other. But Jem has so many secrets to keep, most particularly regarding his history with Bellamy and his ties to the Planetary Union.
Ellis takes Jem home, and thus begins their courtship. This takes time, as per Ellis’ wishes. I liked that. Jem has been so sexually brutalized, eighteen years of abuse at Bellamy’s hand, that he’s unable to sort through his emotions, or even his desires. He feels attraction, but has a metric ton of body issues—to the point that he abhors his own nudity, even as he can appreciate Ellis’ form.
As they move forward and marry, Jem’s secrets are standing between their intimacy. All of this was slowly revealed, with really interesting alien characters taking roles here. Bellamy, of course, appears, putting the nail in the coffin of Jem’s happiness. It seems that an accord will be made regarding the “death” of Jem, but Bellamy is not one to accept a slight, even if he has no love for Jem.
Expect there to be some harrowing bits, where Jem develops the strength to fight for himself, to save himself, if for no other reason than to save his unborn child. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is an mpreg tale? Yep, and I really dug that aspect. I also felt that the depressive episodes Jem experiences are totally in line with his traumatic history. Readers should be aware of the scenes of domestic violence if that is a trigger.
I did have some trouble with the prose. Jem and Ellis tell this tale, and there were times I didn’t know whom was thinking/speaking. Also, there are many internal thoughts and the stream of consciousness was sometimes overwhelming. I felt that the beginning was rough, because I didn’t have a good grasp on the characters. So much action was taking place, and I struggled to keep up. This was especially difficult as Jem was performing a double-double-cross to throw off any people who might be on his trail (BELLAMY!!) and I didn’t have the appropriate context to keep tabs on all of this in the moment.
That said, as I delved deeper and learned about Jem, I really liked this more and more. I wished I had a bit more of Ellis, though. Mostly I see him as Jem’s savior, admirer, protector, and husband. I wished I could have seen a bit more of him in his Kingly context. The first bit had me thinking this was a 3-star book, but getting to the end moved it up to 3.5. Maybe a 4 if you really like sci-fi, as this book is a rather intense sci-fi drama, with a side order of romance. The sexytimes between Ellis and Jem are lovely and tender, and thankfully they overshadow the horrific battery/rape scenes of Bellamy and Jem.
Jem is a man seeking a new life, one free from the years he’s served as a dedicated, yet battered, spouse to his husband Bellamy. Bellamy wanted to marry his love, Sasha, but he agreed to marry Jem in order to take his place as second-in-command of the Planetary Union. As we learn via flashback, Jem was subject to Bell’s extreme displeasure with a male mate, and Bell repeatedly raped, humiliated, and battered Jem to the brink of near death, and then caused Jem to recover in stasis so he could continue his sadistic brutalization. Jem engineers his own “death” but errs when his derelict ship is sucked into the atmosphere on Xol.
Xol’s new King Ellis is a witness and rescuer when Jem ship crashes. It’s a big problem for Ellis as he’s unwillingly drawn to Jem, who—it turns out—is Xolani, a subspecies of Xolans who are naturally submissive and readily sought for loyal consorts. The first segment of the book is Jem recovering from his many injuries upon impact on Xol. He also learns of his Xolani heritage and has very mixed feelings regarding it. He fears intimacy after his marriage to Bellamy, yet it seems as if he’s imprinted on Ellis, and Ellis on him—each man feels a pull to the other. But Jem has so many secrets to keep, most particularly regarding his history with Bellamy and his ties to the Planetary Union.
Ellis takes Jem home, and thus begins their courtship. This takes time, as per Ellis’ wishes. I liked that. Jem has been so sexually brutalized, eighteen years of abuse at Bellamy’s hand, that he’s unable to sort through his emotions, or even his desires. He feels attraction, but has a metric ton of body issues—to the point that he abhors his own nudity, even as he can appreciate Ellis’ form.
As they move forward and marry, Jem’s secrets are standing between their intimacy. All of this was slowly revealed, with really interesting alien characters taking roles here. Bellamy, of course, appears, putting the nail in the coffin of Jem’s happiness. It seems that an accord will be made regarding the “death” of Jem, but Bellamy is not one to accept a slight, even if he has no love for Jem.
Expect there to be some harrowing bits, where Jem develops the strength to fight for himself, to save himself, if for no other reason than to save his unborn child. Oh, did I forget to mention that this is an mpreg tale? Yep, and I really dug that aspect. I also felt that the depressive episodes Jem experiences are totally in line with his traumatic history. Readers should be aware of the scenes of domestic violence if that is a trigger.
I did have some trouble with the prose. Jem and Ellis tell this tale, and there were times I didn’t know whom was thinking/speaking. Also, there are many internal thoughts and the stream of consciousness was sometimes overwhelming. I felt that the beginning was rough, because I didn’t have a good grasp on the characters. So much action was taking place, and I struggled to keep up. This was especially difficult as Jem was performing a double-double-cross to throw off any people who might be on his trail (BELLAMY!!) and I didn’t have the appropriate context to keep tabs on all of this in the moment.
That said, as I delved deeper and learned about Jem, I really liked this more and more. I wished I had a bit more of Ellis, though. Mostly I see him as Jem’s savior, admirer, protector, and husband. I wished I could have seen a bit more of him in his Kingly context. The first bit had me thinking this was a 3-star book, but getting to the end moved it up to 3.5. Maybe a 4 if you really like sci-fi, as this book is a rather intense sci-fi drama, with a side order of romance. The sexytimes between Ellis and Jem are lovely and tender, and thankfully they overshadow the horrific battery/rape scenes of Bellamy and Jem.
February 23, 2016
Rating: 3.5 stars
Pretty Human is a hard book to read. It’s agonizing from the very beginning. All the events are wrap-up in darkness and only little rays of light show through the story. It’s not until the end that the characters find some redemption. The story does have a HEA, but it cost them a lot to get there, and we don’t get too much time to enjoy their happiness.
The main plot is described well in the blurb, and it stays on point throughout the story. The secondary events, however, are all over the place. The story is somehow linear, but we get events from Jem’s past weaved in the dialogues and as flashbacks that take complete chapters. They aren’t hard to follow, but they bring the reader out of the story. There are many twists and turns, mostly wrongdoings against Jem, taking place during the book.
The first twenty-five percent of the story was confusing. I had to re-read some passages to get back on track because of the amount of information provided and the cruelty of some of the events. After this, the book had a better pacing.
The author did an excellent job creating a world for her characters to live and other planets in the galaxy to interact with the book events. We get to see a difference between humans and the many other alien species, as well as their technological capabilities and everyday activities. There’s enough information, sometimes too much, about the surroundings to be able to feel like part of the story’s setting. We get to see what they do and enjoy their awe about it.
Complete review available at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.
ARC provided by Pride Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
Pretty Human is a hard book to read. It’s agonizing from the very beginning. All the events are wrap-up in darkness and only little rays of light show through the story. It’s not until the end that the characters find some redemption. The story does have a HEA, but it cost them a lot to get there, and we don’t get too much time to enjoy their happiness.
The main plot is described well in the blurb, and it stays on point throughout the story. The secondary events, however, are all over the place. The story is somehow linear, but we get events from Jem’s past weaved in the dialogues and as flashbacks that take complete chapters. They aren’t hard to follow, but they bring the reader out of the story. There are many twists and turns, mostly wrongdoings against Jem, taking place during the book.
The first twenty-five percent of the story was confusing. I had to re-read some passages to get back on track because of the amount of information provided and the cruelty of some of the events. After this, the book had a better pacing.
The author did an excellent job creating a world for her characters to live and other planets in the galaxy to interact with the book events. We get to see a difference between humans and the many other alien species, as well as their technological capabilities and everyday activities. There’s enough information, sometimes too much, about the surroundings to be able to feel like part of the story’s setting. We get to see what they do and enjoy their awe about it.
Complete review available at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.
ARC provided by Pride Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
March 20, 2016
I was very wary about this book after reading some of it. This not the kind of book I normally read but I did enjoy it. The reason I gave it a three was because parts of it was confusing and at times I did start to give up on reading it but I pushed through the confusing parts and read on. I am glad I did because it was a good book.
This book has a lot of self hate in it. Jem views himself as a bad person and hates himself most of the time. But I honestly think that the self hate is not because he is a bad person but because of the bad things that happened to him over the years that he had no control over. He blamed himself for the things that Bell did to others and to Jem himself. Like he believed that he deserved the pain that Bell inflicted on him when realistically it was no ones fault but Bell himself.
Jem meets the man that he has dreamed would the one to save him and love him....Ellis. Ellis is a good man that believes in peace and not war but he would fight that war against Bell if it lent saving his husband, Jem, and the father of his children. Ellis has to constantly fight the battles against Jem himself to prove to Jem that he is not to blame for the wrong doings of Bell and that he deserves to be treated good and to be loved as well as love.
In the end this book in my opinion is about how good when's out over evil and that love can and will conquer all.
As previously stated, even though some of the book was confusing, it was still a good read. I enjoyed it and suspect others will also.
Was given this book for an honest review by inked rainbow reads
November 19, 2016
Original review on Molly Lolly
Four stars!
The world building in this story is fabulous. I loved how there’s history included yet done seamlessly so you don’t feel like you’re getting information overload. The scenery is described so beautifully you truly get the sense you’re there. Jem and Ellis love each other deeply and you can feel it coming through in their words and actions.
Some of Jem’s actions and motivations were lost on me. However he has a deeply troubled past so he’s not always completely rational. I loved watching his journey in this story. He goes through so much you ache for him. But he is amazingly strong even when he’s at his weakest. He overcomes things that would kill most people. The final scene was lovely. Getting to see him genuinely happy and feeling worthy of the love and affection he receives if fabulous.
I wanted more Ellis. We get to see inside his head to some extent in this story, but it wasn’t enough. He’s such a well presented character I really connected with him. I wanted to see some more of his motivations and struggles. I’m hoping there will be more books in this world so I can get more Ellis plus more of the other characters too. I will be reading more by Ms. Sky in the future as well. Her voice was wonderful and I hope to see more by her soon.
Four stars!
The world building in this story is fabulous. I loved how there’s history included yet done seamlessly so you don’t feel like you’re getting information overload. The scenery is described so beautifully you truly get the sense you’re there. Jem and Ellis love each other deeply and you can feel it coming through in their words and actions.
Some of Jem’s actions and motivations were lost on me. However he has a deeply troubled past so he’s not always completely rational. I loved watching his journey in this story. He goes through so much you ache for him. But he is amazingly strong even when he’s at his weakest. He overcomes things that would kill most people. The final scene was lovely. Getting to see him genuinely happy and feeling worthy of the love and affection he receives if fabulous.
I wanted more Ellis. We get to see inside his head to some extent in this story, but it wasn’t enough. He’s such a well presented character I really connected with him. I wanted to see some more of his motivations and struggles. I’m hoping there will be more books in this world so I can get more Ellis plus more of the other characters too. I will be reading more by Ms. Sky in the future as well. Her voice was wonderful and I hope to see more by her soon.
February 29, 2016
Wow. Where do I begin to review this book? Most of the book I absolutely loved. LOVED! The depth of the characters and the story telling was out of this world. What holds this book back from earning 5 starts is the main character Jem. They try to say Xolani like Jem aren't slaves - but it's pretty clear they are, and the transformation Jem makes is worrisome. As well his relationship with Ellis seems just as abusive as with Bellamy except Jem seems to 'love' Ellis. Maybe because he is tired of not getting approval and he seems to get it from Ellis? Doesn't make it any less abusive, especially when Jem is repeatedly whipped. (Another annoyance - they don't call it whipping. They call it stripes or something like that and it was confusing to figure out what this actually was.)
Overall good effort.
Overall good effort.
November 8, 2016
This title was originally reviewed for Prism Book Alliance®
I have been in a scifi/fantasy mood lately (in case you haven't noticed). So when Pretty Human came across my desk, I was intrigued. I have never read Kayleigh Sky before, but I love giving new-to-me authors a shot. Not to mention the blurb drew me in. Of course, one of the reasons the blurb drew me in was that it was somewhat mysterious and left me with many questions to which I needed answers.
For complete Review see http://www.prismbookalliance.com/?p=4...
June 19, 2016
loved the story line, the author paints a brilliant picture but the story at times is hard to follow. there is a lot of character jumping and at times it's not clear for a few sentences who's speaking. the story is beautiful and your heart breaks for Jem, Sky does a great job of writting a character split in two emotionally and mentally. a good but at times challenging read.
September 19, 2016
A very different type of story, kind of sci-fi. Basically a study of a young man who has been used by his family and abused. He doesn't really know who he is. This was very complicated and it built slowly. He meets a wonderful man,who happens to be the King of the planet he crashes on but he stands by him.
October 11, 2023
This was really excellent. Well written and intriguing storyline. Full of angst and terror and just a non-stop story.
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