Strange Love

So alien/xeno romances are REALLY not usually my thing at all, but a sale price and rave reviews on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books persuaded me to try this one and I ended up really enjoying it.

It's delightfully funny, particularly the talking dog (given a speech translator by the alien who didn't know any better) and the AI system. The heroine and her alien abductor trying to get to know and understand each other is great too.

The world-building and the alien culture is interesting, and the alien characters, especially the hero, who is surprisingly sympathetic and appealing for an insecty-alien-thing. His perceived inferiority and self-doubt and his journey to realizing that he is worthy of love are well done.

The heroine is fun, but it is show more maybe a little jarring how easily she accepts being abducted. Not just forgiving the hero for the mistake that led to it, but just kind of shrugging at the idea of never seeing Earth again and figuring out a whole new species and culture, let alone marrying an alien. Endless freaking out would perhaps have been tedious but her blase acceptance is a bit unbelievable too.

The relationship is maybe a bit Stockholm Syndrome-y if you think about it too hard, but other than the heroine's cheerful and unquestioning acceptance, feels genuine and believable enough. Alien sex is very much not my usual thing, but the sex is done well, with a lot of communication and consent, and hotter than I'd have expected, really.

The ending is not unhappy but not entirely perfect, a little bittersweet but optimistic. I've read a few times and overall, enjoy it much more than I thought I would. I've bought the second in the series but haven't read it yet, and also bought and loved the author's fairy tale Bitterburn. show less

I have not read much (any?) alien romance novels, but I get the feeling this one is different. I was laughing out loud at the start, but I loved how the silliness turned into something bigger. I loved the beta hero and how things came together without lots of trauma for the two main characters. And even though I kind of wanted societal change on a big scale, given how Beryl had recognized some serious issues with the way things work on Zylar’s planet, the ending felt unexpectedly good.

Re: my cozy fantasy rating… This is sci-fi, not fantasy, but it’s totally adorable so I decided to include it on my shelf. There is one scene at a party with unpleasant things happening, and one side character dies suddenly.

An unlikely sci-fi story that never tries to hide its intention to not be anything more than an incredibly cheesy romance.
To its credit, it very intentionally puts away with quite a few of the incredibly dominant romance tropes like the alpha male and the hunky human-like body.
In a few sections, the book shows a surprising amount of insight into genuine sci-fi topics like the efficacy of cloning and what rights a clone should have compared to its original and it briefly introduces the concept of artificial consciousness and its ramifications which builds a rare bridge between sci-fi alien romance and actual sci-fi but it clearly doesn't have any intention to compete with "real" sci-fi overall.
The book isn't willing to have the actual show more discussion behind a lot of popular sci-fi topics even though the author seems to be familiar with at least some of them.
But what am I writing... This is essentially a diabetes-inducingly sweet and cheesy romance with frequent sexy times.
Fair warning though, the guy is truly alien which includes all of his anatomy and this doesn't include a conveniently shaped "organ" that is unlikely well suited to pleasure a woman as is typical in the genre. show less

To read more reviews like this, check out my blog keikii eats books!

Quote:

But her calm tormented him as well. Because it meant she trusted him, and he feared himself inadequate to defeat the monster he had roused.

Review:
Well, Strange Love certainly had pretty much everything I expected and wanted out of it. By which I mean weird alien sex. Actually I believe I said I wanted alien cock, which I got... even if that was a bit of a misdirection. Because there was nothing pointy about Zylar's sexual bits. But I digress.

This is not a book for everyone. And probably not for most.

Strange Love opens with Zylar going to a planet to pick up his prospective mate. Only when he gets there, he finds things amiss, and something that is speaking to show more him that he doesn't understand. Turns out to be a human - a primitive life form. And a dog. Zylar then knocks out these lifeforms, kidnaps them, and takes them back to his planet. Because he is on a time crunch.

Great start to any relationship, but especially an alien one.

Immediately after kidnapping, Zylar gives them a translation implant and proposes to this new life form, a human named Beryl Bowman, to be his mate. Because he is on his last chance of ever having one. After the initial, "I can't believe this is happening", Beryl decides, what the hell, why not. Her mother said she'd never get married, anyway. So she goes to this alien planet.

To participate in a tournament. That's right, a tournament. Due to overpopulation issues, this alien race only allows a select few to mate, with their own race or not. And they have to compete to be allowed the chance. And it is dangerous and deadly. And then Zylar's bully of a brother comes around and convinces the judges to make it even more dangerous, because he wants to make certain Zylar fails.

Overall, while I loved Strange Love, I also know it wasn't for me. I really, really wanted to love this. However, the tropes just didn't work for me. I did love some things. Zylar is a beloved cinnamon roll who just wants to do the right thing and has had someone following him around his entire life making sure he fails. Zylar's overcoming this obstacle, with the help of Beryl... can you say adorable? I also really, really liked the fact that the aliens are alien. Especially their sexual parts. Also the dog stole the show. 100% my favourite character. Talking dogs are great, but the dog still had the intelligence and priorities of a dog, even when it could talk. Awesome.

However, the entire idea of a tournament to be allowed to mate wasn't for me - I don't like tournament arcs very much. Beryl Bowman also oscillates between being the best ever in tasks in the tournament to being mediocre. Which is after she accepts this whole idea of mating with an alien immediately after getting kidnapped and then further just kind of has everything go her way. A lot of the book just bypassed a lot of trouble areas that would take time to flesh out, for the sake of an easy story. Which just means that I never fully got hooked into the story, personally. Also the ending didn't do it for me.

I am, however, looking forward to book two very much. show less

This was such a unique cute alien romance.
It was unique, funny, adventurous and romantic. Definitely different than your typical alpha male alien romance books.
The world building was amazing. I’m always in the lookout for alien romance books with fascinating world building.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance but there has to be more than just romance and smut to be interesting. At least for me

Truly delightful! Sexy, funny and original. The plot moved along at a great pace, while the romance developed in a romance developed in a believable way. Highly recommend.

If you're expecting a thought-provoking in depth book this is not it. If you're looking for a book that's a little spicy, a little different, and something that has quirky humor than this is it. did not think that there was such a thing as science fiction romance. Overall was a fun read. Of course there's a talking dog so I had to give it a start for that