offmyredcarpet's reviews
791 reviews

It reads very YA but with spice. Predictable. I easily picked up in key plot points and where we were going with the story. Dialogue was juvenile at times. I didn’t love it but I liked it enough to try book 2 hoping it steps up more. 

I liked that the FMC is rough around the edges from having grown up in a prison. It’s a great contrast next to all the overly refined Fae. She frequently succumbs to anger which finds release via words or brawling. Her prisoner status makes her starved for any modicum of kindness and her naivety makes her easy prey for manipulation. I did tire of her constantly getting lost in thought or a moment then getting startled out of it.  

Heavy on descriptions of everyone’s hair style, eye color, what they’re wearing, what the food looks like, how it tastes, place settings at tables, rooms, how beautiful the Sun King is—it was excessive. And it happened every time a scene changed making it feel like padding for a longer book. Thankfully it lessens as the contestants drop off but it made for some boring passages to force through. 

Wasn’t a fan of the pages of inner monologue in the midst of a conversation. There were wonderful and moving observations about classism and survival but it sometimes went on too long in the moment hijacking momentum giving the story a lurching pace. Overall I found it somewhat choppy. But, again, it was still fun to read and I’m moving in to book 2. 

Alien romance with cozy, small town vibes celebrating a "human holiday" on another planet. This series features side characters from Pierce’s Intersolar Union series getting their own stories of living and loving in the colony for the humans rescued in that series. 

If you want an “alien who looks alien” love interest, this delivers. The enigmatic Sizzle walks on four legs, enjoys making Jihae blush with his boldness, and calls her "morsel". He's on the hunt for her. Maybe has some plans of nesting and putting his very long tongue to good use. Definitely very covetous of Jihae if she says yes.

Post abduction and rescue, Jihae is striving to make a life for herself on this new planet teaching the children of the human colony, hoping to keep her Korean language alive, and longing for a piece of home. She loves horror movies and Sizzle is exactly her kind of monster.

I’m all for a fun, unserious alien romance but there was a lot going on here, none of which ended up being appealing. There was a vampire dentist, plus a griffin shifter and a bear shifter…one of which baked pastries. I had to check that I picked up an alien sci-fi romance—yep it says so right on the cover. It all felt rather chaotic and that’s without the addition of the Colony, clearly immediately suspect, and what’s going on with the female characters. This book forced me to set aside far too many of my criteria to continue.