Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes, a bit, especially frenemy banter between the mains
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: it takes a bit – about 12% in
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, two months later
Format: listened to the audiobook from my library (Hoopla)
Why I chose this book: My friend Heather has repeatedly recommended the series, and I enjoyed a lot about book 1 when I read it a few years ago so I’ve been making my way through the series!
Mains: This is a M/F relationship between a cishet hero (alien) and heroine (human)

Should I read in order?
Yes, I would read this series in order – the events unfold over the course of the series and you’ll understand more of the heroine’s background if you start in order as well as the culture and world building. (Though if you’re okay with missing those details, the romance is standing alone)

Basic plot:
Verakko is helping free the kidnapped humans on his planet, when he comes across one more in the wilderness to help...

Give this a try if you want:
- science fiction romance
- alien setting (Clecania)
- alien hero / human heroine
- males go to husband school to learn to please their partners
- survival themes – the mains are in the wilderness
- hero has never been kissed
- bit of frenemies to lovers feel – these two don’t get along the best in the beginning and there’s banter/bickering
- he can smell when she’s turned on
- fated mates – though it’s not instant
- some light other woman drama
- slower burn with great tension building
- medium steam – 3ish full scenes

Ages:
- didn’t catch either

First lines:
Nope. Nuh-uh. Nein. Nyet. No way. There was only so much a girl could take.

My thoughts:
I have so been enjoying this series. The tension building in all of these books has been really great, and the huge emotional pull between the mains as they fall into each other is so delicious!

My issues with this one were more in the latter half. I loved when they were together and trying to survive in the wild, focused on each other. When the culture dynamics came crashing into their relationship upon arriving back in the city, I started to get a little pouty and felt some things dwindling for me a touch, so I lowered my rating a bit.

I understand what’s at stake here, the entire extinction of the planet, but some things just seem so extreme to me – especially when you look at ultimately it’s about people getting together and having babies. That’s the goal here. So if some rules are maybe bent it seems like it wouldn’t be quite as dramatic of a punishment (at least to me) so that part did wear on me a touch.

Overall though I really loved a lot about this one. It had so many really scenes I just melted for and adored. Eager to continue on!

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: 3
Average rating: 4 stars
Favorite book: I think this one! But Choosing Theo is a close second

Cock/Hero Stats/World Building (some elements taken over the course of reading the series):

- Hero is Clecanian. He has skin that varies between navy and green in the beginning of the story, but we find he can change the colors. He has long pointed ears and sharp canine teeth. He can use a mind persuasion that he calls sway but the heroine is resistant to it. He can heal extremely fast. Hero has a second eye lid.
- He can go 2 full weeks without water (kidneys are different, they don’t have as many sweat glands and their skin helps regular temperature).
- Hero can purr and has fangs
- Heroine was kidnapped from Earth and cannot go back because they are a class 4 planet that has been left to discover and evolve at their own pace
- There was some kind of illness on the planet that devastated their female population. This has lead to the culture of getting married in 3 month bouts and having children. (many of the children are male) and then separating and repeating the process to help boost the population. Mates haven’t been seen in many years, but book 1 establishes the first mate between male and female.
- There’s some higher tech on the planet, including machines that can heal them quickly, fix scarring, etc, food prep machines, absorbent towels that dry immediately, etc
- they have something called an elixir that can prolong their life (hero’s father didn’t take it and passed ‘early’)
- planet has two moons
- hero has fangs and mark their mates

Content warnings: (This should be taken as a minimum because I could have missed some!)

- some violence and danger (within the wilderness setting)
- mention of hunting and eating animals
- parental death
- scene of poisoning/attack from a plant

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex, consent, pregnancy/child in the story:

Safe sex: 

  No – heroine has an IUD but there’s mention they aren’t effective with the alien heroes 

How’s the consent? 

  It’s good 

Pregnancy/children in story? 

  There are some minor scenes with children side characters from prior couples in the series. I don’t recall any pregnancy in this novel, but there is talk of possible babies within the relationship and a lot of focus on procreating within the story – the hero’s planet is at risk of extinction due to a virus and males outnumber the females 20 to 1, so babies are a big discussion within the series 

47% - 🔥 cock touches, heroine self pleasure, kiss
He ghosted his knuckles over her trembling belly then lower. “Open,” he commanded, hovering above the apex of her thighs.
This man is gonna kill me.
She spread her bent knees apart a few inches.
“Wider,” he growled.
Lily let her knees fall open, resting her leg on Verakko’s hip.

56% - 🔥 kisses, sex against the door, him holding her, then he flips her and takes her from behind, with biting
”I would’ve found a...a way to…” Verakko’s words stuttered out as her words finally registered. “My eyes?” The world around him slammed to a half, the thunderous pounding in his chest freezing as though eve his heart feared he’d misheard her.
I recognized her? She’s mind.
He peered down at her, his dry throat working soundlessly.
Her brows drew together. Then, without warning, she leaned toward him as far as she could with her hands still pinned above her and kissed him.
All thoughts fled.
79% - kisses
92% - kiss
92% - 🔥 epilogue sex – bj (incomplete), oral for her, her on top

He tugged at her hair, and she released his shaft with a wet pop. “Fuck, you’re sexy.”