Claire > Recent Status Updates

So far basically a shot for shot retelling of The Lost City ... right down to the heroine's outfit and the jungle encampment. Interested to see how the author makes this story her own.

Started when I went to bed, was still engrossed at 2am - too good to put down! Etta Pierce writes SUCH a good world and the characters are always so layered and distinct.

Press # for Refund, V.K. Ludwig - 3 stars. Yet ANOTHER that starts off with a space cruise and a crash, but the two leads kept it interesting. Hero is essentially a fancy male concubine, traveling to Earth to meet his match. Heroine is a do-gooder going home, they click while surviving the planet they crashed on.

Rescued by the Luxurian, Zoey Draven - 4 stars. I was wary when this one ALSO started on a space cruise, but it turned out really well. I liked both leads and would read more in this world. Maybe I have, since the word "Luxurian" seemed familiar?

Plummeting Hearts, by Octavia Kore - 4 stars. Similar plot to prior story w/ cruise ship having to be abandoned & heroine being mated to 2 males, but this is miles better in writing & chemistry. I think RH/Why Chose only works for me when at least some of the "harem" is also involved sexually - Vrauk is in love w/ Brakeer before Sherrey comes along as his fated mate. The Filipino culture woven in was fun as well.

Prize, by Tana Stone - 2 stars. Heroine is a crew member on a fancy interstellar cruise ship, forced to abandon ship and ends up on a desert planet. Alien twin brothers find her, discover that both their empath powers connect with her in a rare double bond. Cue the most awkward menage scene where they refer to each other as "brother" while getting down. Not my jam.

Mate for the Alien P*rn Star by Alexis Osbourne - 4 stars. Read this a while ago so the details are fuzzy, but it had great worldbuilding and inclusive gender dynamics. I believe that it's connected to one of the author's Quadrant series, but this works well as a standalone.

Giving this series another try, but ugh I forgot it's single POV from the heroine. Yeah it makes the "otherness" of the orcs more believable, but it's really frustrating when they're being dicks about everything. Ans this seems to be another heroine who swings between "wildly hot for you" and "eff you evil orc I'm going to end your race", which gets annoying and predictable after the fourth or fifth go-round.

Alien Castaway by Honey Phillips - 4 stars. Was expecting this to be connected to the Cyborgs on Mars series, but it's totally different world building - haven't investigated if it's connected to a larger series yet, but I imagine it is. Darla was a different type of heroine for me in sci-fi - not adventurous, just desperate.

Hopping around since I wanted to start with the Clecanian short first

Releasing Maladek by Victoria Aveline - 3 stars. Took me most of the story to remember who Maladek was, but I think he redeemed himself well. Was interesting to get a different human perspective from Katie, who wasn't abducted with the same group of women as the main series. Ended a little abruptly, but maybe they'll pop up in a full-length book.

Juggernaut - interesting premise, didn't really think the romance fit the plot, or that the characters expressed enough interest in one another ahead of consummation to make it believable.

Real life on planet Earth is kinda crappy right now, so I'm escaping to other planets.

Fun Fact: Enki is the name of the Mesopotamian/Sumerian god of water

Hoping that a return visit to Not-Hoth will break my reading slump.

Finished first story - (Mina Carter) - sort of a Sleeping Beauty in space tale, would have liked it to be longer since it felt like a lot of character and relationship development was missing. Also felt dropped into the middle of it - must be part of a larger series?

Only a few (sort) chapters in and we're already talking about ancient aliens?? Not quite what I expected ...

Yay - heroine is a knitter and takes the hero to a yarn shop so he can learn too!

"The yarn store? Um, yes. This is my happy place."

Me too Sophie, me too.

Note - each book in the series is first-person POV from the heroine only. I think this and the first book would have benefited from at least one chapter from the hero's POV to show that he was interested and not a jerk or a weirdo.

Ok, seriously, how are you NOT going to mention the weird alien attack when things start going wrong on your ship. C'mon!!!!

The edition I'm reading has a very different cover, one that I can't find on Goodreads! Female cover model has a red workout top on and some serious arm muscles - definitely not a lady with her fists up (um, the sport is more like fencing, no punching involved).

Some funny parts so far, but I have only read two other books set in this world and I'M SO CONFUSED about what's going on, and what the rules for magic are, and what kind of supernatural creatures are about, and are they all "out" to humans, or are we supposed to pretend that no one notices all the weird shit?

Doing my best to ignore the dopey dude on the cover who looks like he's two inches away from flashing his nip!

SBTB RITA reader review book #1!

Why didn't anyone say this was Beauty & the Beast inspired?!!??!