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Beyond Earth #1
Without Hesitation
Without Hesitation is set a thousand years in the future. Earth has become a wasteland. Humans traveled into space to colonize other suitable planets. Labels and stereotypes are a thing of the past and gender and sexual identity are as fluid as love as humans strive to survive. Here we meet Everleigh, the commander of her ship named Nirvana. She is under the control of an evil madman, Caspar, who keeps her family captive. He sends her to Valinor to abduct the Empress Akacia. When she arrives, she is taken back by Akacia’s beauty and when the Empress fights back, Everleigh realizes she has met her match.
**This book is an LGBTQ story with a female/female relationship.**
**This book is an LGBTQ story with a female/female relationship.**
257 pages, ebook
First published June 16, 2017
194 people are currently reading
457 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 17, 2023
I really enjoyed this sci-fi with action and romance!
When Kaci, the Empress of the planet Valinor, is kidnapped, she's handed over to a very cruel man who tortures her to find out more about her deceased father and his top secret DNA/nanite research. When she is rescued and crash lands on another planet, Terronda, she gets to know the love interest a lot more deeply... The fact that she's the original kidnapper does put a spanner in the works.
My first by this author, but I look forward to another!
When Kaci, the Empress of the planet Valinor, is kidnapped, she's handed over to a very cruel man who tortures her to find out more about her deceased father and his top secret DNA/nanite research. When she is rescued and crash lands on another planet, Terronda, she gets to know the love interest a lot more deeply... The fact that she's the original kidnapper does put a spanner in the works.
My first by this author, but I look forward to another!
December 7, 2020
I loved this book but I would have given it 5 stars if it had more sci-fi, fight scenes, and back story. The f/f romance was really good too and is actually a slow burn for the main characters that fall in love at first sight.
Solid 4 out of 5.
Solid 4 out of 5.
November 22, 2017
Expecting one thing and got another. Left a bit disappointed
Perhaps I had the wrong impression going in but my thoughts on the book.
Spoilers:
I thought this book was going to be a swashbuckling story of a space pirate girl battling through the universe with some romance mixed in. What I got was a love at first sight story with sci fi randomly tossed in to make it seem grandiose but for me caused it to fall flat. Empress of a very desirable world but doesn't have ships protecting the planet so a lone ship can threaten it? Same ships transverse the universe in days, they have beam technology that can go long distances, but nanotechnology is cutting edge research? Hundreds of worlds have gathered an alliance together and during a meeting two ships manage to kill off all the leaderships?
While I can suspend reality for a lot of books I feel that this universe suspended reality for the sake of making it easier to create a love at first sight story.
Perhaps I had the wrong impression going in but my thoughts on the book.
Spoilers:
I thought this book was going to be a swashbuckling story of a space pirate girl battling through the universe with some romance mixed in. What I got was a love at first sight story with sci fi randomly tossed in to make it seem grandiose but for me caused it to fall flat. Empress of a very desirable world but doesn't have ships protecting the planet so a lone ship can threaten it? Same ships transverse the universe in days, they have beam technology that can go long distances, but nanotechnology is cutting edge research? Hundreds of worlds have gathered an alliance together and during a meeting two ships manage to kill off all the leaderships?
While I can suspend reality for a lot of books I feel that this universe suspended reality for the sake of making it easier to create a love at first sight story.
December 5, 2020
Although I enjoyed reading this book, it wasn't what I expected. In first person, we flit from one person to another, and back again, and that made my head spin.
In terms of the story, there is strong Insta-love for no discernible reason. The story is very light on SF, it has space ships, but so little of the corresponding technology. I found myself jarred from the story when these technologies were so hard to believe. For example, a planet with no space defences, or any weaponry at all, in spite of previous attacks? Likewise a conference of planet leaders with no defences either. What? Then they rush out of space station and can get away despite some "police" types being after them. What, no defences there either. All in all, it is not terribly good world building, and I wanted that. Most niggles I suppose are down to the world building and lack of SF.
Put that to one side, it was enough to finish and I enjoyed it. I just didn't love it.
In terms of the story, there is strong Insta-love for no discernible reason. The story is very light on SF, it has space ships, but so little of the corresponding technology. I found myself jarred from the story when these technologies were so hard to believe. For example, a planet with no space defences, or any weaponry at all, in spite of previous attacks? Likewise a conference of planet leaders with no defences either. What? Then they rush out of space station and can get away despite some "police" types being after them. What, no defences there either. All in all, it is not terribly good world building, and I wanted that. Most niggles I suppose are down to the world building and lack of SF.
Put that to one side, it was enough to finish and I enjoyed it. I just didn't love it.
February 21, 2019
I really wanted to love this book. It had so much potential, but I have to give it a 3.5 rounded up. There was insta-love, of which I’m not a fan. And the world building was flimsy. I’m still going to try the next book, so we’ll see!
May 12, 2020
Awesome!!
So, I had my doubts about this one. Sometimes sci-fi authors are more worried about "world building" than character development. But this book was amazing! The author does a great job of subtly describing the futuristic society and building strong characters you can grow to love. I enjoyed this and will be looking for the rest of the novels in this series.
So, I had my doubts about this one. Sometimes sci-fi authors are more worried about "world building" than character development. But this book was amazing! The author does a great job of subtly describing the futuristic society and building strong characters you can grow to love. I enjoyed this and will be looking for the rest of the novels in this series.
January 12, 2018
Decent book, I am interested in a sequel.
September 3, 2021
***Very mild spoilers***
Okay, wow, I have a lot to unpack when it comes to this book. It's a great read and really enjoyable. Though truth be told, I was sold a lot on the premise alone, I mean c'mon, enemies to lovers sapphic space romance, what's not to love? And this story certainly delivered and has me eager to get my hands on the rest of the series.
What I really loved was the characters, especially Everleigh. She's the kind of brooding anti-heroine I can get behind. She's got every reason to brood and isn't torturing her love interest for shits and giggles. Akacia, on the other hand, took me a little bit to warm up to because, at times, she comes off a smidge too saintly and perfect to be believable. I would have preferred her to be more morally gray from the start though she does grow a lot throughout the course of the book, and I appreciate that.
One of the things I didn't love was how insta love it was. I mean, I'm a lesbian, so I get it, we find the girl of our dreams and pine and pine until either she falls for us or you know, we continue to pine until death, so I'm not knocking it, it just didn't resonate with me, and I didn't see how they could love each other so much until midway through the book when they are forced to rely on the other for survival. Even then, they still had a mountain of baggage to overcome and seemed to try and overcome it with impromptu make-outs and cuddles. And on paper, that sounds slightly audacious, but I was still here for it regardless. Their chemistry was hot, and I was totally sucked in. Another thing the author certainly does a great job with is throwing curveballs at the characters and us, the reader. This book has lots of great twists and turns, and the action quite simply doesn't let up. There were lots of cool surprises throughout, and I literally could not stop turning the pages wanting to find out what happened next.
However, one of my few quibbles was with the world-building, which seemed a bit lackluster to me, and I didn't get that grand space exploration feeling you'd expect for a science fiction book. Still, I'm not super picky on that. Just it could have used a bit more there. There were a lot of small things I kept going back and rereading, hoping they made sense, and they just didn't - technology and all that seemed all over the place. It seemed a bit far-fetched to believe this book was set a thousand years in the future. If it weren't for space travel and all, it wouldn't have felt very science fictionesque to me. In fact, I had a lot of Firefly vibes throughout, not that I'm complaining. I honestly don't mind making that comparison, but anyway, that was just the vibe and possible influence I got.
Overall, great start, great book. I don't want to sound like I'm nit-picking or complaining because I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the characters, and the ending had me all in my feels, which is all I can ask from my romances. I will definitely continue with this series and pick up other books from this author in the future. It was a solid four-star read, and something tells me the next books will be even better. And I'm super excited to read them.
Okay, wow, I have a lot to unpack when it comes to this book. It's a great read and really enjoyable. Though truth be told, I was sold a lot on the premise alone, I mean c'mon, enemies to lovers sapphic space romance, what's not to love? And this story certainly delivered and has me eager to get my hands on the rest of the series.
What I really loved was the characters, especially Everleigh. She's the kind of brooding anti-heroine I can get behind. She's got every reason to brood and isn't torturing her love interest for shits and giggles. Akacia, on the other hand, took me a little bit to warm up to because, at times, she comes off a smidge too saintly and perfect to be believable. I would have preferred her to be more morally gray from the start though she does grow a lot throughout the course of the book, and I appreciate that.
One of the things I didn't love was how insta love it was. I mean, I'm a lesbian, so I get it, we find the girl of our dreams and pine and pine until either she falls for us or you know, we continue to pine until death, so I'm not knocking it, it just didn't resonate with me, and I didn't see how they could love each other so much until midway through the book when they are forced to rely on the other for survival. Even then, they still had a mountain of baggage to overcome and seemed to try and overcome it with impromptu make-outs and cuddles. And on paper, that sounds slightly audacious, but I was still here for it regardless. Their chemistry was hot, and I was totally sucked in. Another thing the author certainly does a great job with is throwing curveballs at the characters and us, the reader. This book has lots of great twists and turns, and the action quite simply doesn't let up. There were lots of cool surprises throughout, and I literally could not stop turning the pages wanting to find out what happened next.
However, one of my few quibbles was with the world-building, which seemed a bit lackluster to me, and I didn't get that grand space exploration feeling you'd expect for a science fiction book. Still, I'm not super picky on that. Just it could have used a bit more there. There were a lot of small things I kept going back and rereading, hoping they made sense, and they just didn't - technology and all that seemed all over the place. It seemed a bit far-fetched to believe this book was set a thousand years in the future. If it weren't for space travel and all, it wouldn't have felt very science fictionesque to me. In fact, I had a lot of Firefly vibes throughout, not that I'm complaining. I honestly don't mind making that comparison, but anyway, that was just the vibe and possible influence I got.
Overall, great start, great book. I don't want to sound like I'm nit-picking or complaining because I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the characters, and the ending had me all in my feels, which is all I can ask from my romances. I will definitely continue with this series and pick up other books from this author in the future. It was a solid four-star read, and something tells me the next books will be even better. And I'm super excited to read them.
November 11, 2018
I received this book for free through Voracious Readers Only.
Without Hesitation is a fast paced science fiction adventure.
Everleigh and her faithful crew are 'employed' by Caspar, who threatens to kill their families if they don't follow orders. When she is ordered to kidnap Empress Akacia of Valinar, and ends up falling in love with her, they decide to defy Caspar for the first time. After a rush of action, torture, a spaceship crash and surviving on a hostile planet, they have to get rid of Caspar to save Everleigh's and her crew's families.
I really liked the story, at times it felt almost like a dark fairy tale . It was well written and kept me guessing until the final pages.
The ending is pretty much open, so be aware you may want to dive straight into the next book in the series after finishing this one (I know I will!)
Without Hesitation is a fast paced science fiction adventure.
Everleigh and her faithful crew are 'employed' by Caspar, who threatens to kill their families if they don't follow orders. When she is ordered to kidnap Empress Akacia of Valinar, and ends up falling in love with her, they decide to defy Caspar for the first time. After a rush of action, torture, a spaceship crash and surviving on a hostile planet, they have to get rid of Caspar to save Everleigh's and her crew's families.
I really liked the story, at times it felt almost like a dark fairy tale . It was well written and kept me guessing until the final pages.
The ending is pretty much open, so be aware you may want to dive straight into the next book in the series after finishing this one (I know I will!)
July 9, 2021
Has it really been 8 years since I read the Gifted Teens trilogy? Dang.
I was looking back through authors that I've loved over the years and decided to give another one of Talia's series a try and wow. I am so unbelievably glad I did.
I read all four of the Beyond Earth books so incredibly fast. I almost wish the series kept going, just so I could continue reading about Akacia and Everleigh's adventures. The two characters were so easy to fall in love with, and the other characters make quite the impression as well.
I don't even know what I was expecting when I started the first book. All I know is it was so much better than anything I have read in awhile. I was literally addicted by page five. Possibly even sooner than that. I just couldn't stop, and next thing I knew, I'd finished the series.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in a LGBTQ science fiction series. Heck, even if all you're interested in is a good story, I recommend this. It's been weeks since I finished book four, and I still can't get over it.
Brilliant work by the author, I am so happy I got the opportunity to read this!
I was looking back through authors that I've loved over the years and decided to give another one of Talia's series a try and wow. I am so unbelievably glad I did.
I read all four of the Beyond Earth books so incredibly fast. I almost wish the series kept going, just so I could continue reading about Akacia and Everleigh's adventures. The two characters were so easy to fall in love with, and the other characters make quite the impression as well.
I don't even know what I was expecting when I started the first book. All I know is it was so much better than anything I have read in awhile. I was literally addicted by page five. Possibly even sooner than that. I just couldn't stop, and next thing I knew, I'd finished the series.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in a LGBTQ science fiction series. Heck, even if all you're interested in is a good story, I recommend this. It's been weeks since I finished book four, and I still can't get over it.
Brilliant work by the author, I am so happy I got the opportunity to read this!
November 21, 2018
Everleigh is commander of her own ship. Everleigh and the crew of Nirvana are criminals and work for a man named Caspar who is a very evil man. Everleigh and her crew want nothing to do with Caspar but he is holding their families hostage so under the circumstance they have no choice if they want to ever see their families alive again.
Caspar sends Everleigh on a mission to capture Empress Akacia on the planet Valinor. After the Empress is captured and taken aboard the Nirvana Everleigh is smitten with her and has a change of heart. She never wanted to take the Empress in the first place but Caspar has her family. So after she spends time with Akacia and falls for her, Everleigh knows she cannot turn the Akacia over to Caspar. Everleigh and Akacia team up together to find a way to stop Caspar and save their families but first they must find out where Caspar is holding them.
Without Hesitation is a very enjoyable read that pulled me in from the very beginning and kept me hooked right through the whole ride. I really enjoyed following Everleigh and her crew as they flew and jumped from one planet to another. I loved the world that the author created for Without Hesitation and can’t wait to read more about this world and the characters in the next book Painted Skies.
I would recommend Without Hesitation to all fans of science fiction with a little romance on the side.
Caspar sends Everleigh on a mission to capture Empress Akacia on the planet Valinor. After the Empress is captured and taken aboard the Nirvana Everleigh is smitten with her and has a change of heart. She never wanted to take the Empress in the first place but Caspar has her family. So after she spends time with Akacia and falls for her, Everleigh knows she cannot turn the Akacia over to Caspar. Everleigh and Akacia team up together to find a way to stop Caspar and save their families but first they must find out where Caspar is holding them.
Without Hesitation is a very enjoyable read that pulled me in from the very beginning and kept me hooked right through the whole ride. I really enjoyed following Everleigh and her crew as they flew and jumped from one planet to another. I loved the world that the author created for Without Hesitation and can’t wait to read more about this world and the characters in the next book Painted Skies.
I would recommend Without Hesitation to all fans of science fiction with a little romance on the side.
January 22, 2019
An enticing introduction to a sci-fi series with two female protagonists. While tension starts as a fight between the two there exists a mutual attraction which intensifies through incidents which sometimes are not what they seem. It was exciting to read and though I'd like to write more but I'm afraid I would give too much away.
Currently reading
July 29, 2020A Disappointing Read.
I started the book with good intentions of enjoying the story, but I became bored with the storyline in the second chapter of Everleigh and the third chapter of Akceia, but other characters helped push the storyline along with good intentions. Thank You for the entertainment😚😚
I started the book with good intentions of enjoying the story, but I became bored with the storyline in the second chapter of Everleigh and the third chapter of Akceia, but other characters helped push the storyline along with good intentions. Thank You for the entertainment😚😚
October 4, 2025
Really enjoyed, but felt like a bit of a tease, perhaps that’s deliberate to get me to buy the rest of the series. Central characters are well drawn and emotionally complex, some of the world building was a bit rough around the edges and inconsistent, but if you can gloss over that, then a great read.
March 14, 2019
I thought this was a pretty good read with a unique premise. I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships with each other were very believable and emotional. I hope 5he next book ends on a happier note.
June 2, 2023
Help me read more books
Not a bad story, just not for me. I won't be continuing with this series, it's just not my kind of thing. Doesn't give me that awe and wonder I like to have when reading scifi stories.
Not a bad story, just not for me. I won't be continuing with this series, it's just not my kind of thing. Doesn't give me that awe and wonder I like to have when reading scifi stories.
April 27, 2020
Una historia que atrapa, un romance que no aburre.
May 19, 2020
A quick read
I enjoyed it. An interesting premise but perhaps a bit more girl on girl than I’d choose to continue exploring.
I enjoyed it. An interesting premise but perhaps a bit more girl on girl than I’d choose to continue exploring.
Read
May 4, 2021Wonderful story
I have enjoyed this fun filled story of love of an empress and an criminal how they came together when stranded on rough planet.
I have enjoyed this fun filled story of love of an empress and an criminal how they came together when stranded on rough planet.
July 29, 2021
a sweet enemies-to-lovers lesbian love story? sign me up!
August 19, 2021
really i've scrolled thru this book a thousand times and i have no time to read it again. im tring to find new content lately but i give this book 4/5.
I was just too lazy to read it again.
I was just too lazy to read it again.
January 24, 2022
Has potential for all lot of things but not much payoff, the romance is does not seem to flow.
June 28, 2022
Its pretty gay, loved it, love Huxley.
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September 28, 2022Straight up amazing!
This book was by far the best romance book I have ever read, I can't wait to read the other book in the beyond earth series!
This book was by far the best romance book I have ever read, I can't wait to read the other book in the beyond earth series!
January 7, 2024
A light read. Leads into Book 2
September 30, 2025
I did liked it. However, some chapters were a bit dry and I had a hard time reading them. But overall I really enjoyed reading the story.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews