Humanity has used every natural resource the Earth has to give and is now a generation from extinction.
When Bethany is offered a position in the botany lab aboard one of many space stations, she is elated. Not only will she be able to help mankind, but generations of her family will find a home on a new planet. However, everything changes when an explosion hurls her through space and into the arms of five alien creatures who claim she is their Other. For the first time, Bethany feels as if she's found a place of acceptance and love...but it comes at a price. How can she choose between happiness, family, and the survival of humanity?
Life is what you make it and nothing more. This is something I had to come to terms with as I struggled to find my place in this world.
I was born with a learning disability and no one could understand me but my older brother until I was almost eight years old. I was told my multiple teachers and school councilors that I was not going to graduate high school unless I went into a special program. In 2001 I proved them all wrong by graduating with a 3.5 and being accepted into Cal State University, Pomona.
Following the bad advice of my councilor I majored in animal science and after two years I had to drop out. For a while I wondered aimlessly and became homeless before I decided to give school one more try. Enrolling at Fullerton College I picked journalism to major in, why not I loved to read and write. In 2008 I graduated from California State University, Fullerton with my B.A. in Communication with an emphasis on journalism.
Of course life happens and I had to take a year off of everything to take care of my mom and younger brother. I thought I would never recover and would forever play catch up but then my older brother sat me down and told me that I needed to pursue my own dreams. So I started a blog and started posting reviews. It was fun but I was still missing something.
When author Valerie Twombly suggested I try my hand at writing I was skeptical that anyone would want to read stories from my head. I love fantasy and I fall in love with the most unique heroes. So between reading, working and taking care of my younger brother, I wrote my first novel and in 2014 I hit publish.
Not even a year later I have released my second novella and working hard to get the third one out. I have more faith in myself and hope to one day become a full-time author and blogger.
So I would like to tell those who have been told that they will never amount to anything that there is hope. You are only held down by your own limitations. Reach for what you want and fight to hold on to it.
This was an interesting variant on the Mars needs Women trope, with an intriguing universe that allows for many different species. Add in some hawt reverse-harem scenes and you've got a fun a sexy story.
Unfortunately, there were several awkward spots, and more than a few editing errors. I noted them and kept going.
This is the first in a trilogy, and I might try the other two in the future.
Thus was my first read by the author. Earth is on the brink of extinction and a select few specialists have been tasked with saving it or finding new ways to live off-world.
The heroine was a bit annoying, but the other characters were interesting and I enjoyed them working together. I'm curious to find out ehat happened to the other humans the heroined worked with on her ship.
Bethany is working her butt off to save humanity. Warnings were ignored in the name of progress and Earth ran out of time. Space stations were constructed as experimentation centers. The staff on them given various tasks, like Bethany's, to make plants grow in space on the generation ships being built. Because abandoning the planet was going to happen soon. Instead, the station suffers catastrophic failure and her emergency pod gets lost, instead of heading towards Earth. Luckily for her, she gets snatched by friendly aliens. But what exactly are their intentions towards her?
Spoilers ahead. Oof. Where to start. For a fluff read it's passable with a HFN. If you look closer, it doesn't make sense. *Way too much human, specifically American, vernacular. Not a single term other than rotation instead of day is used. All time is given in human increments: second, minute, hour. *They have no advanced medical, but an organic compound that makes their ship, that grows and fuses? Living beings rarely fuse without rejection, or anyone could be a donor universally. *They are different species, but automatically assume they can create viable offspring together? Sure, the guys' species finds mates in other races, but that seems to be within a certain range of space. *Mention bathing and hygiene if characters are going to get busy. Please. Less ick factor for readers. *Many inconsistencies in mentality. Ex: women are worshipped and then mild BDSM. *Human govt that has ruined Earth, hid the fact that life ships weren't viable, and were tossing families into wastelands suddenly capitulates to an alien civilization? No demands to stay in power, no manipulations? *The Nexella (spelled right? I'm bad with names) don't appoint people to make sure that human leaders stay accountable for their actions? Considering how they governed themselves? They won't find many Others (their name for mates since they produce no females) if corrupt humans again try to destroy humanity in the name of greed. *What are the plans for V (can't remember the species responsible for enslaving the humans) since Earth is within/near their territory? *No mention if the kids were found. *No one mentioned aging rates. One of the guy's moms is expecting again. If he's in his 20-30s, and has older brothers, just how long do these people live? And no mention of what their moms look like, where they are from, what all races are compatible, and how so many can be compatible with them. *Why do they produce only males? *Why are the ships' materials only compatible with them? Btw, it shocked Bethany, so it can interact with humans, and I'm assuming the other womens' species, too. *Do none of the other species have any advances other than space travel? If so do the Nexella just not want it, or are the other species not sharing? *The offspring of Nexella and whatever species the Others are are called Nexella. No hybrids? Just pure Nexella? That leaves women as nothing but an ambulatory uterus. Not exactly all a woman wants in life. Do they impart anything to their offspring? *Hooves, claws, fur, tails and fangs... That's an odd mix. Usually hooves are on grazers, claws and fangs are predatory. So how did these features combine evolution wise? I'm assuming they were advantages on their home planet before they went nomad. Predators have claws for a reason, and it usually means running down prey. Also, tails suggest arboreal living, which hooves are NOT suited for. Also, sexy scenes, hooves would leave balancing in certain positions awkward, but never mentioned. They'd also possibly change leg positioning.
This book left me with a hundred questions. I'm probably picking at it too much, but I was always the kid asking "why" and it seems that never left. The reason for the low stars is all I've mentioned above, and the dozens of highlighted errors I left behind.
Earth has used up its natural resources, and now scientists are being sent into space to try and see if humans will be able to grow plants and survive there. When Bethany is given the chance to leave the burnt-out Earth and work in a botany lab on one of the space stations, she jumps at the chance. Soon, she realizes that life on the space stations isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Her coworkers are creepy and she is alone most of the time, but she wants to push through to help her family. Soon, an explosion hurtles her through space. She is rescued by five aliens who claim that she is to be their mate, and she has to make a decision.
This book is very short, but there is a lot of story packed into these small pages. The romance/reverse harem aspects of this novel were definitely fun to read.
My biggest issue with this book was the lack of world-building. I thought that this universe could have been expanded upon so much more. Each of the men had their own stories and even came from different places, and so I expected to be able to visualize their worlds as I was reading. I could not. Eventually, the three characters just started to blur together into one big alien blob. Also, even though Bethany was supposed to have a specific personality, she started to become boring soon as well.
I did like the overall plot and the pacing of the novel, but the lack of worldbuilding and dull characters ruined most of it for me.
I would recommend this book to someone looking for a general reverse harem story, not a fantasy/science fiction novel.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Bethany is trying to save humanity by growing plants in space I believe when her ship has some kind of issue and she reaches an escape pod. The pod is found by a nest of 5 Nexella males in space just as she's running out of oxygen, and from there, they develop a relationship.
Writing alien romance I think is tricky because you have to account for differences not only for language but lots of other regular everyday stuff. When those details are missed or forgotten, it makes the book less than believable which is what happened with this book. Added to it are typos, misused words, grammatical errors, and it's short on information and explanations that would give it the substance it needs to feel like a full story. Too, Bethany doesn't come across as authentic at all. She's a botanist but lacking certain qualities I'd expect from a scientist, principle among them being caution and curiosity. She also has this nature when it comes to humans that comes across as overdone instead of caring. Much of it I would attribute to the author not spending enough time developing her as a character. The romance was not there one moment then full on the next. In general I'd say more time was needed to better develop this one.
I liked the story as a whole, but I was left with a lot of questions. Both in terms of loose ends and general story.
The world building was started but needed to be flushed out quite a bit more. I still don't know what the MMCs look like, other than vaguely cat like. The time jump was never explained (how did her oxygen last 20 years?) or why she was so far off course, or what Alan meant about her image being used by the government as advertising. The romance (spicy and not) left a lot to be desired as well.
The book is in need of a strong edit. I get the impression English is this authors second language, based on the way certain words were excluded or descriptors were rearranged, and I can get over that. What I can't get over is how names were swapped around. The author couldn't keep track of jobs/personalities, and often times would swap the MMCs around in a scene. One would be left with her and the other doing patrols, but then suddenly they were swapped who was where. Braccia/Brax and Marc/Cal were most often mixed up.
As interesting of a species as the Nexella were (Hives and Swarms and Nests intrigued me), the exectuion was lacking enough I won't be continuing the series.
I loved this book! Humans have decimated all of their natural resources on earth and the planet is dying with enough left for perhaps a generation. Bethany is a botanist and she has been accepted to work in a lab in space to help solve the problem of a dying earth and she is over the moon because she will not only be helping her fellow humans but her family and their future generations as well. An explosions sends her hurtling through space into the arms of five alien males who tell her that she is their other or mate. Will Bethany accepting her mates doom earth and its inhabitants and her family to extinction or will her five mates be the answer to saving them all? Get your copy and find out. Enjoy, I definitely did!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I’m a new reader to this author and what a great introduction to her stories. Earth is dying and humans have decimated the resources. Bethany is a botanist when she’s offered a job to go into space to try and help the earth she jumps at the chance. When there’s a major explosion she is hurtled out into space where 5 alien males save her life and tell her she is their mate / other. Bethany is being pulled from both sides, she wants to be with her mates but the earth is her home and where her family is. So what does she choose her mates or a possibility of saving earth for generations to come?. Fantastic read and if you want to know the answer to what Bethany decides then you will need to get this book. I loved this story and I can’t wait to see what this author brings out next. I highly recommend this book it’s well worth the read.
Way too many grammatical errors and way too confusing to finish
I genuinely wanted to enjoy this book. But I found that I got lost almost in the very beginning when this character Bethany met the aliens. Some of it seem rushed, some of it seemed robotic, and some of it just plain didn’t make any sense because of so many grammatical errors. I swear one of the characters named changed to Becca or Brandy. It is like the author didn’t take the time to proofread the writings or to put much effort into the story to make it cohesive.
Finally a BW intergalactic romance I love sci-fi reverse harems but it’s kind of off putting when every female protagonist is of the fairer skin color or it’s always black on black romance etc etc which is why I love your books and the books about the horde by someone named milana jacks I think that’s her name I love when there’s diversity makes me really get into the story because our heroes aren’t just one ethnicity so why should our stories have only one
everything on earth has been used up and the human will end up dying out in a generation so when she gets a chance to go to space and help she jumps at the chance. there is a major explosion and she is blown out into space and she is saved by 5 aliens. will they look after her? will she be able to cope with the changes? see how she deals with her new way of life
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a a reverse harem book with an alien twist. Bethany is a botanist with a mission to save Earth and her family when something goes wrong and she meets her mates. This is a short fast ride that ends with a HFN in the sense you know they will be together forever but you also know there is more to the story.Bethany is a likable heroine and she balances the need to save the planet with her sexual needs. I look forward to the other stories in the series.
THis is a reverse harem with a really smart African American woman who thru a series of unlikely events ends up with a group of alien males who claim her as theirs. THis book is paced well and was very enjoyable to read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
An interesting premise and the characters seemed charming at first coming from all different worlds. But they each ended up blurring into each other and not being all that spunky or discernible when it came to the sexy bits of the novel.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi . Talk about a new world. I enjoyed this Book. And seeing that this is the first book I read from this author. I see myself reading more by Paula.
Good job.
I voluntarily received an advanced copy of this book and I am happily leaving this review.
Loved it. Bethany and other scientists are racing to save the people of earth with the planet is dying. Explosion and an escape pod malfunction leads her to love maybe
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I love how the author use today problem of our world in the book to show our future if we don't change. Destroy our world ozone and natural resources. The love story was beautiful. I am reading book 2 now. This book earn five stars.
"Bethany's Salvation" by Paulina Woods is a rather short but mostly enjoyable read. It definitely fills my need for a BIPOC lead in a fantasy story. I'll definitely be reading more from this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I am so glad that I came across this author. This is the first book that I have read of hers, and I have to say that I'm hooked ! Yup, no doubt about it definitely hooked.
The plot kept me going despite the grammatical and word usage errors I kept running across. I would still be willing to try another story by this author.
The story line is great, what I found frustrating was the lack of good editing/proofreading. The constant inaccurate word usage, misplaced words, sentences that made no sense detract from the overall book. Author needs better readers, editor.
If you're looking for a quick SyFy read her you go. This whole series is really well written. Bethany, the botanist, looking for ways to feed the people on dying Earth finds love in the stars in this reverse harem.
I love this & I can't wait for more. I will be also leaving a review on Goodreads @ Amazon. And letting everyone know about it. So i gave it a 5 Stars.
I'm very intrigued by the ongoing story. I really like Bethany and the different male leads. Would like to hear more from them. Easy read, hard to put down