Gravity

Dark Anomaly #1

by Marina Simcoe

The unpredictable gravity of the mysterious space anomaly knocks me off course. But it's the irresistible pull of its Captain I'm afraid I can't escape.

Sucked into the Dark Anomaly's gravitational field, I crash into the solid mass in its center. It's made of thousands upon thousands of vanished spaceships.

Inside the wrecked bowels of the Anomaly, existence is dark, vile, and deadly. The man in charge holds my life and freedom in his hands.

I hate this place and its crude inhabitants. I hate the Captain even more. However, as time passes, I realize that I'm beginning to love hating him…
_______________________________

Each book in the Dark Anomaly trilogy is a complete love story of a separate couple, with their very own HFN or HEA. However, the main story line arcs across all three books. It is recommended to read them in order.

Gravity, book 1
Power, book 2
Explosion, book 3

Warning: The world of Dark Anomaly is dark. Gravity is a Science-Fiction Romance that contains scenes of intimacy and violence, as well as discussions on topics that may be triggering to some. Intended for mature readers.

Genres: Aliens, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Romance, Dark Romance, Dark, Paranormal

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2020

About the author

Deep, heartfelt romance with a generous sprinkle of spice and a tad of magic.

Newsletter Signup is on www.MarinaSimcoe.com

For illustrations of her books, early access ebooks, bonus stories, and signed paperbacks, please visit the author's Patreon: https://patreon.com/MarinaSimcoe

Reviews

[Bex (Beckie Bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in a new series.
It’s a sci-fi romance and each book follows the same story- arc but features a different couple at there centre so can be read as standalone.
Svetlana a research scientist of an unknown dark anomaly is pulled into the dark space she is studying and then subsequently wrecks her ship upon crash landing there.

She is taken as salvage by the varied brutish aliens inhabiting this dark space and the only thing standing between her and them is their alien captain Vrateus who has attained and has kept his current position by sheer strength of will and his fearsome and brutal might.
He manages to suggest a compromise one that she is definitely not on board with but will have to do anyway if she wants to survive in her scary new reality.

Vrateus try’s to the best of his ability to keep Svetlana alive and in one piece and as she gradually acclimatises she realises just what a precarious position she is currently in and that her only shield and protection here is Vrateus.
This was imaginative and well written and easily managed to keep my attention.

So this definitely kept me on my last nerve throughout and I did find myself experiencing a deep well of inner dread at what could potentially happen in this hotspot of violence and testosterone.

The inhabitants of the dark anomaly are made up primarily of criminals pirates and the dregs of deep space.
Vrateus though was different he was such a conundrum of extremes willing to make the hard decisions to keep order and ruling with an iron and precise control but always looking over his shoulder for the inevitable betrayal.

At the same time, he was almost childlike with wonder when it came to all his new experiences with Svetlana.
He’s a strange mix of innocence and corruption if that makes sense and he was absolutely adorable in all his new discoveries and his curiosity into all that made her who she was.

Considering where he’s grown up surviving it’s actually amazing he’s managed to retain such humanity or whatever the word is for aliens as that’s actually what he is.
Complete with fur tail claws and fangs Vrateus is certainly different but in all else they are compatible.

Vrateus isn’t quite as alpha as I usually like my aliens or men even but I still liked him a lot.
It’s hard to explain but he holds his control in most things but I felt that in the relationship side of things he lets Svetlana take the lead as she has had much more experience and he’s had like none.

He’s also eventually willing to let her assist him in her own protection rather than just blindly standing in front of her if that makes sense.
So yeh more of a beta personality with Svetlana instead of an alpha together there a team.
He’s still top of the food chain outside this but it’s a position he holds out of necessity rather than a great desire to rule as there captain.

Svetlana herself is capable resilient and bar some early resistance to seeing the reasoning behind certain decisions very pragmatic and reasonable.
She’s not prone to hysterics thank god and she knows when it’s wise to listen but also when to act I liked her a lot.

This in itself was ultimately quite slow- burn in nature with a build-up throughout to the main event.
It did work this way and though there’s not great resistance or angst between both the mains this wasn’t instalove either maybe somewhere in-between.
I also wouldn’t necessarily label this dark.
It does deal with some dark themes but the relationship developing at its centre is actually really sweet.
It’s the situation and actions of others that add the danger aspect to this.

I also really liked the finish and set up for the next book which I will definitely be reading.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Gravity



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

[Melanie Recalde · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

I read some reviews before downloading this book and most of the ones I saw where 5* reviews praising it, so I had high expectations.

Before I start I should clarify that I didn’t finish this book, I couldn’t. It really frustrated me.
I read 24% of the book so any spoilers I wrote about are probably on the blurb already.

So the main female character is a human scientist who has gone to research a fairly dangerous “black hole” that in itself it’s ridiculous. She’s in space on her own.

Apparently in that universe there no such thing as crime and humans are protected. So this girl is incredibly entitled and feels like everyone should cater to her needs. I mean I know it’s fiction but really? She’s not even strong or knows how to fight or is tech savvy, any skills she might have are hidden.

That was a little annoying but not as annoying as how she reacts when she gets sucked in the black hole. Turns out said black hole has been sucking ships in for years and they can’t leave. Immediately her ship is cut open and the residents of said black hole want to rape her/eat her. They make their intentions fairly clear and she tried to explain to them that they can’t do that because she’s human and therefore protected.

The Male protagonist shows up and sees that a ton of very scary aliens want to rape her and tries to save her. She tries to reason with him to let her go and he ignores her because what she can’t read the room. A bunch of scary ass aliens want to rape her/ eat her and she thinks they care about her needs?

So the male protagonist manages to save her from being raped to death by promising everyone that she will touch herself while they play with themselves. When he shows her to her room she starts having a go at him for not asking her if she wanted to do that she also tries to convince him to let her go. He explains that she can’t leave their “planet?” The gravity won’t let it happen and that there were more than 700 male aliens there that wanted to have a go with her. She of course doesnt have the intelligence to grasp the concept of lawless planet and continues asking to be let go.

That’s the general gist of it, think barbie lost in space. I’m not saying the male protagonist was any better, it wouldn’t have killed him to tell her how when a ship crashed years ago the women were raped and eaten in less than two hours from crashing. I personally would have told her what would happen if she left to wander off on her own and would have made it clear that if she so chooses to wander on her own I wouldn’t be there to save her when she starts getting raped.

I don’t like writing bad reviews because I know how hard it is to get your stuff published but I really hate when women are portrayed like simpletons. I don’t understand why a grown woman isn’t able to grasp the severity of her situation. Women are the first to see danger and try to adapt but she took being a damsel in distress to a whole new level or stupid. I understand some people will like this book and that’s cool.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

hmm...yeah, no.
The whole non-con aspect wasn't really doing it for me. At all.



Especially because at the end the H didn't seem to learn that what he did was wrong-- by saying the new woman would now be part of the forced orgy/masturbation scenario he just proved that he only stopped doing it with the main h bc he wanted her for himself- not that it was morally and fundamentally fucked up.

Don't know why I even finished this one TBH.

[Marina Simcoe]

The Dark Anomaly trilogy is now complete.
Thank you for coming with me on the journey through the sinister and intense world of Dark Anomaly and thank you for trusting me to lead you all the way to the happy ending.
I hope you enjoyed the ride.

[FlewB'DoobeyDoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brain is mush (10 hour drives through no man land will do that to ya) so I'll make it short N' sweet.

This was certainly not what I was expecting. It was gritty and dark-ish, and left you feeling a surrounding sense of dread throughout a majority of the story. To know there is no escape, you aren't safe anywhere, your only way to survive is to go along with orders to avoid the most horrific death one can imagine.

it's like the alien/outerspace version of the wild wild west, except with aliens that want to sex you up then eat you...and NOT in a good way.

While I feel like the heroine was slightly frustratingly Obtuse at times, and had some thought processing that made me wonder just what in the hell she was doin', I suppose it was something I could look past because I was so thoroughly intrigued with the H. He was the rough,tough space pirate who had suffered much to get to where he was, and who had to face difficult decisions (regarding h) that made you question exactly where this 'romance' was headed. Luckily, the story was told through multiple perspectives, and we learn his reasoning (even though you could literally see a frigin' mile away why he was doing it, but I guess it needed to be more thoroughly explained to our heroine gal...eh)

Holy-ish....I feel like none of this made sense...but I'm too addled to really give a good giddly-gah-daym at the moment, so whatevs.

Now that ending has me intrigued. Wyck showed some interesting behaviors towards the newest crashed female, and one has gone missing along with the convenient disappearance of Malahki the gender less alien (whose species develops their sex anatomy when crossed with their mate).

I wonder who will be next, but either way, I am ready and waiting utmost Impatiently.

Who'd have thought I'd be desperate to get back on the dark, modge-podge spaceship contraption, black whole garbage compactor filled with criminals and beasts who want to sex you, eat you, or both.
Huh...

4.10 Girl-What-You-Calculating-With??-Ain't-No-Tools-In-Sight-TF-You-Thinkin' stars🎇

[Kay ❣ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heroine is tstl, not sure why she can't grasp the situation that she's surrounded by hundreds of feral males.

Apparently "dark" romance means forced public masturbation scenes. Why did we even need to go there? Those scenes were awkward more than anything else.

It takes too long for the couple to find their feelings or whatever you want to call it, and move on from the public display nonsense. Way too much plot for how stupid this story is. It's smut, so what's the deal with all of these extra chapters about subterfuge no one cares about?

[SpeedX · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, this book does come with a warning, when I see a warning for any book I automatically think ‘dark’. Second, everyone read the description of the book so I won’t be reiterating it here. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way;

When I see a book has warning which indicates the book will be dark I’m expecting.....dark. What we have here is slightly grey. I’ve read a lot of dark romances and this book doesn’t make it on my top 20 and even I feel that’s generous. So if your expecting cringe worthy, anger inducing, emotional rollercoaster ride, this is NOT that book.

We have the h, Svetlana, who in my opinion was very irksome, though she comes through towards the end of the book. She came across as a know it all, stubborn and purposefully blind. I think Simcoe did a good job of clearing outlining the situation the h is in, that a good portion of the first half the book wasn’t even needed, but I guess we need something (stubbornness) to prolong the story. Svetlana never became real to me I had no connection to her character, she became a pawn that moves the story along not someone who contributed (if you get what I mean). I never really got WHO Svetlana is.

Anywho moving along, the H...I guess this is where the warnings come into play. Based on circumstances out of his control he had to become someone who was ruthless, cold and focused. Often making decisions that allowed him to retain control of his ‘crew’ even if those decisions amount to murder. In order to keep him and Svetlana safe you’ll see they were necessary even if you don’t necessarily agree. His character had more depth, layers, more real though both characters were still spotty to me, I connected better with him. Btw, if you were wondering, the H is humanoid the only difference between him and human man is his eyes, fur, claws, tail and his wonka bar.

Now, the entire story is played out on the mishmash of ships in space. The world building is nowhere on par with Simcoe’s other works. There is a clear lack in details when it comes to their surrounding, after finishing the book I still don’t have a clear understanding of the environment (maybe she will expand on that in future books). I have an idea (vaguely) of what it’s supposed to look like, we barely got a description of the h besides her havIn long hair and she looks good naked (H’s words not mine). A few pages could have been spared to give us more details, world building contributes to the enjoyment of a book.

Overall I gave this 3.5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing and editing of this dark romance was clean, with no typos but some minor formatting errors that I found in the ARC version of this manuscript. The world building of the Dark Anomaly was a vibrant character in itself, coming to vivid life for me. The characterization was excellent, with both hero and heroine being vibrant, complex individuals with strengths and weaknesses. The development of the romantic relationship was excellent in this novel, with me the reader hating the hero when I first met him, just like the heroine did, but falling in love with him over the course of this novel, just as the heroine did. The pot and pacing was very exciting, with me turning pages rapidly to find out what was going to happen next. There was a medium amount of well justified angst in this novel, so I was able to enjoy the angst. There were also very high stakes, which I typically prefer in my romance novels. This novel used the Enemies to Lovers trope and the Virgin Hero trope. The world building, plot, and pacing were all five stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship were also both five stars. The combined score of this novel was therefore five stars. This novel ended on a Happy For Now ending, which is a big plus for this novel, with an epilogue that was bait for the next novel in the series. I was quite relieved it did not end on a cliffhanger. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy dark sci-fi romances. I am eagerly anticipating reading the next novel in the series when it releases. I will be buying myself a keeper copy of this novel, for sure.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tynna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The threat of rape is there, and there's talk about it happening in the past to characters who are no longer alive. But there's no actual rape in the book.
HOWEVER the h has to suffer through being sexually touched by the H in front of hundreds of males while they masturbate. She physically enjoys it, but hates it in every other way. She never lets herself orgasm. It would have been easy to hate the H because of the situation, but he honestly didn't undersrand why it would bother her. He was raised in an environment where rape, cannibalism, and murder were the norm. So, to him, touching her like that in front of the crew truly was a great idea because it saved her from all of those other things. He had no concept of sexual acts being private. He was completely ignorant; he was not a bad guy.
H was a full virgin. Never kissed, touched, or anything before h. I'm pretty sure it said that his female relatives that died when he was around 8 were the only females he had ever seen, in person, before her. It was very infrequent for him to feel arousal before her, too.

[Elena Esh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing

(No spoilers)
I wanted to like this book.
The idea of different place with special laws on time and matter in the core of the story was interesting but lack of depth and world building ruined it.
Characters were flat, h juvenile and immature (scientist with teenager mindset - come on!). There were attempts to explain it away with different societal norms of where she came from. But again due to lack of details, descriptions and plain world building it fell flat and was totally unbelievable.
H was not much better. Most of the book he looked like a prop to h’s rush and senseless actions.
In a nutshell, what was good:
- idea at the core of the story
- different characters and aliens
What is missing:
- details, details, details
- solid fleshed out characters with history and depth
- improved maturity level of h and H, please
2 stars for the story + 1 star just because I like this author.

[Mel Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maria Simcoe always has fantastic world-building skills. It was fun to step in with her to sci-fi and space exploration.
Svetlana crash lands into hell. Or something close to it. She crash lands into an anomaly of ships that are being mashed together by some powerful force. There are also other survivors. Feral, mean, nasty survivors and their Captain Vrateus who rules with an iron fist to keep order.

The world-building is bright and vivid, easy to see everything in your mind what the characters are seeing and feeling. The characters are real and at times horribly raw. Sometimes they slipped into stereotypical tropes, but I'm just another jerk with an opinion. The pacing was fast and flowed easily. The storyline felt true to what the author was portraying and trying to build with the characters.

I recommend for readers of her other books and those who like a raw sci-fi story that doesn't pull punches.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Nessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

DNF.

I just wasn't feeling this one. The opening just didn't suck me in. I guess I'm just one of the odd ducks and it's weird because I usually enjoy a M.S story.

EDITED REVIEW BELOW ON MAY 2022 :-

ALRIGHT, I ADMIT I WAS TOO HASTY TO JUDGE THIS ONE AND PERHAPS I WASN'T IN THE MOOD BEFORE BUT DAMN, AFTER ATTEMPTING TO READ THIS AGAIN - IT WAS GOOD. AND CUTE. AND SWEET.

I'M A TOTAL SUCKER FOR FIGUREHEAD MALE LEADS OR AUTHORITATIVE MALE LEADS. AND HERE...we've got ourselves a virgin hero. *smirks*

VRATEUS was a well written character in my opinion. I mean, I don't usually fash over characters in detail but, the many things he did really caught my attention, and melted my heart. After losing his family and crashing into Dark Anomaly's gravitational pull, Vrateus is stuck on that unknown orbit and grew up in a very primitive and harsh environment of kill or be killed. As an 8 year old, he vowed to avenge his mother's death and strove to be a learned individual - constantly plotting and learning about his enemies, before he attempted a mutiny and killed the last leader, appointing himself Captain of the Dark Anomaly. 7 years later, a female arrives amidst another crash and becomes a problem in a community of sex-starved male population - most of them degenerates. Vrateus was honorable, intelligent and level-headed, someone you'd want to play on your team. If not for him, all of them would have perished or led a terrible life in D.A. yet all those simpletons never appreciated him improving their quality of life. To Vrateus, everything is about survival, your feelings not withstanding, so when he made our heroine into a sexual entertainment (in order to save her life), Vrateus fails to understand why she wasn't more grateful. You can think of him as a child in a man's body...everything related to a woman is his first, and while he's capable in many ways, his innocence and awe when it comes to love, was just plain adorable. Not my usual cup of tea, but I'll bite.

SVETLANA is a scientist I believe who crash-landed into Dark Anomaly's gravitational orbit and became part of the little ecosystem thriving there. It's as if she's been hurled back into a primitive time when she's rescued by a motley crew of "savages". The author portrayed Svetlana's anxiety and frustration well, and also how she came to misunderstand Vrateus's good intentions. It was nice when she finally understood where he was coming from and didn't become as annoying by attempting to thwart him all the time. The damn man only wanted to keep her alive. Initially I assumed her existence there would prove to be of some scientific help but maybe that will happen later in the series, because right now, Svetlana and Vrateus will have to prevent a mutiny from happening while making sure they come out of it alive.

OVERALL this was entertaining and kept me engrossed mostly. Of course, it would have been more up my alley if there were angst between the MCs, but like I said Vrateus was more of a gentleman type than the aggressive alpha type - if you get my flow. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, and see how and who else will be getting their HEA in this unlikely primitive world they now call home.

[Jannie Cv · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astounding new book!
In a setting scarily bleak, love grows and blossoms into something strong and wonderful. Finding herself in a untenable situation, Svetlana does what is needed. She is an admirable character, as is Vrateus. I love their spirit, and the way in which they find solutions to their dilemmas. Sometimes, compromise is necessary. It’s a fascinating story, and I am intrigued to see what will happen in the next books in the series.

[Nike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always Ms. Simcoe broke the mold with this one, a fresh completely new romance that has it all!! Action, adventure, hot scenes, and the best anti-H ever!!
I have to confess that it took a min to warm up to this book, mainly because of the h attitude at the beginning, but she redeems herself well enough by 30% of the book, so all good

[Bebe Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. It had a unique premise and the main characters were an engaging couple. I’ll definitely be looking for more stories by this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[April Neese · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Just not for me.

[Corda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, yes, very but a heck of a sci-fi tale.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC for an honest review.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of this book in the beginning. First off, there is a definite DubCon vibe to this story. I am not necessarily against this, but I think readers should know. This is not a sweet romance. It’s gritty and brutal and there could be triggers for some people.It is not, however, as dark as other books I've read. In the end though, for me, it worked. First, this story had a very different setting than most, and I liked the originality of the Anomaly. I struggled with the interaction between the H and h at the beginning but then thought of books like Hold and Nameless Fate. In prison like circumstances, people do what they need to do to survive. The difference in this book is the h didn’t know what she was getting into. She had to come to terms with her new reality and that took time. (SPOILER: She needed to come to terms that she was never leaving the Anomaly to understand why the H was acting the way he did. Her lack of understanding her new reality can make her a bit annoying although her reasoning was not out of the realm of possibility.) I also like that the author didn’t take the easy way out by getting them out of there.) I also wasn’t sure why Vrateus, the H, acted the way he did and expected her to be ok with it. Through Svetlana’s thought process, his behavior and the reasons behind his thinking became clear. I also had a bit of a revelation as I listened to a story after reading this one. The scifi romance genre has a lot of kidnapped females. This story felt more real with the beginning interactions between the H and h than some where the h says no, no, no but then jumps into bed with the H because he “smells good” or whatever else. In the end, I loved that the relationship between Vrateus and Svetlana developed slowly over the course of the book. I especially came to love Vrateus after really getting into his back story. I will definitely read the next book in the series.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic new sci-fi series!

"Nothing can be for sure as far as the Dark Anomaly is concerned."

This is one thrilling, intense, sexy and out of this world new series. Marina Simcoe takes us on quite the sci-fi adventure into a Dark Anomaly in space. This is a gritty, dark and sometimes disturbing story that will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the amazing and shocking ending.

Svetlana crash lands into a strange and unusual anomaly but quickly realizes she landed in a disturbing new kind of hell. This place she crashes into is filled with all kinds of unimaginable creatures/survivors of other space ship crashes. They are mean, deranged, nasty, angry and utterly feral. The only control in the whole place is through Captain Vrateus who rules with an iron fist to keep order but even that is sometimes not enough.

Svetlana is a brave, witty and sometimes sassy woman who will do anything to survive. Vrateus is a strong alpha alien/male who would do anything to protect Svetlana. Svetlana and Vrateus come to an arrangement to try to keep her alive. They forge a unique and sometimes sweet relationship.

The storytelling and world building is so well done that you literally feel like you are in the story with the characters. Your heart races at certain points in the story and your jaw drops at others. The imagery is vivid and brilliantly done.

I cant' wait to read the next one in this series. Highly recommend for all those sci-fi fans out there.

[Sandra R · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one because it was different and it's nicely written. Our heroine is on a scientific mission to study a dark anomaly in space. Her small spaceship is pulled into it, via the gravity at its core, and becomes squashed against thousands of other ships, which in turn form the mass of the object. She's rescued by a nasty crew of yukky creatures that want to devour her both sexually and physically. They've created a space station of sorts, with tunnels that link the crashed ships together. Then enter our hero, the captain of this viscous bunch:- Tail - check. Fur - check. Compelling - check. You know the type. 😘

There's lots of weird body fluid within our creatures that leak out at inopportune moments, grizzly murders and some dark-ish themes. It's quite a good adventure story and I needed to find out what happened. There's a slow burn romance between the H/h and some steamy sex scenes, but they don't overtake the main story. This book can be read as a stand alone, but there's a new book coming out soon which continues on, starring another couple. I look forward to reading that one. 3.5 stars.

[Mary Brannian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gravity. Marina Simcoe

The Dark Anomaly spun through space like a giant squid hiding in the depths of the ocean. It shot out its tentacles of gravity to drag ships and their crew to their deaths. Except that not all were dying on impact with the edge of its disk. Svetlana Kostyk was tasked with studying the Anomaly; a freak accident sent her ship into a collision course with it. What, or perhaps who, awaits her there is...


Holy rockets, what a ride! Science fiction at its finest! A brave and sassy heroine, an alpha male all the way alien full of hotness, and enough sex and danger to melt your kindle!

[Sara Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world building is incredibly fantastic. I’ve never read a novel set in the middle of a black hole. It’s a dark and horrifying place, filled with so many unpleasant characters, ready to rape and eat you. Vrateous is amazing, trying desperately to keep Svetlana alive. I can’t wait for more stories set here.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Louise Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book it was a refreshing change having a love that grows instead of instant love. Looking forward to the next book

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[DMCechak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marina Simcoe’s GRAVITY, book one in her Dark Anomaly series, is a creative Sci Fi adventure in space romance, unlike anything I have read.

I truly enjoyed the heroine and her unexpected Captain and look forward to more books in the series.

[Scooby2]

DNF

[Charlene Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

Different type of storyline which I really enjoyed. I dont think I have read something like this one and I really liked it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good sci-fi action romance. I liked the premise of the book-survival on the dark anomaly with all the & "not quite so decent" aliens. The book is written from both the main characters'; perspective so you get to view it on both sides. I enjoyed the book because there is a believable story-line to the book instead of just steamy alien sex. Vrateus is the leader of a band of misfits and criminals surviving in the dark anomaly. When the first female in a long time crashes there, there is a sure chaos that will soon follow.

[Nichole Kuffa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!!

Loved it! I cannot wait for the next instalment and more sci-fi stories from Marina Simcoe 😊 I want more!

[HellsBellsnSexySpells · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of this book is interesting and it's relatively well written but it looses points on a couple things

1. for the love of all that is good and pure in the universe, WHY do authors change from first to third person between chapters?! I understand what the author thinks they're doing: It endears us to the FMC, it's an interesting new approach, etc. The problem is that it functionally doesn't do this. The narrative value is minimal in terms of reader experience because we get the same information and insight into the characters' motivation regardless. The reason it's uncommon is not because other authors haven't though of it, but because it's jarring and annoying and requires a reset each chapter that interrupts the reader's immersion in the story.

2. I enjoy a dark romance, but one element of good dark fiction is the gritty realism of the characters' responses and interactions (even if the setting is not real). The author does this relatively well except for the FMC:

SPOLIERS and TWs (mention of sexual assault and violence)

When she is discovered on the anomaly the pirates have a heated discussion, that she is present for and can understand (there is no language barrier) about raping and then eating her. The suggestions also include passing her around to the 700+ males on the ship. it is made clear that she wouldn't survive this (obviously).

In a bid to stop them fighting over her (and out of some limited sympathy) the captain suggests that they can look at her but not touch her. A few don't like this and try to attack her and/or eat her. But the captain drags her away to a safe room. Her response? I'll just explain to the space pirate that it would be illegal to do that! She basically crosses her arms and throws a hissy fit. I understand not wanting to do what was suggested but the alternative is being raped to death and then eaten. Her reaction of being "sassy" is so incongruous that I almost wanted to re-read the last chapter to see if I was mistaken and she actually couldn't understand them. It had the opposite effect of endearing me to her and instead made me wonder how such an idiot was chosen for a scientific mission.

Overall the writing and world building was good but the "indignant against all reason" trope just doesn't fit into the brutality of the situation and should have been ditched. Even cold, calculation or shocked refusal would have worked better and served the same purpose narratively.

I'm planning to read the other two stories in the series but hopefully we'll see some better though out FMCs

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This was a very good book. It was interesting because it had elements of space adventure, crash landing/alien planet, aliens that are alien rolled together with romance and a variety of struggles including the dark anomaly. I loved Vrateus he was a hot alien that's alien, smart, strong and an enduring mix of brutal & innocence. I liked Svetlana (unique name, like it) who was strong and smart. But sometimes it felt like more book smart and not so much common sense/street smarts because there where definitely moments in the beginning where I wanted to shake some sense into her but she grew on me as the story developed. We get some info about the dark anomaly too but I can't wait to see what else is learned in future books and how this crew/society changes & develops with more women/humans added to the mix. Neither of our characters had easy lives and their current lives are definitely full of challenges good & had and it's all of that, combined with these characters, and all these interesting details of their world and environment that really suck you into the story. I can't wait for the next book Power, and to see if the hero is going to be the obvious choice it seems is suggested or maybe someone else. Regardless I kind of hope some secondary characters turn out 'good' and get their own stories like Wyck & Malachi. And maybe I'm greedy because I loved Vrateus so much but I'd love more Themul hero's too. Good book would recommend.