Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Disclaimer: Reading is all about discovery, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of a look inside the good and bad of a book.
The Analysis:
This book was recommended to me by a science fiction romance group. I chose it because of the cover and blurb. So, let’s book review it.
Here’s the Blurb:
And Lana has been assigned to "study" him. To learn his secrets and gain his trust, if he is ever allowed to set foot out of his cell. As a top behaviorist, it is the biggest hurdle of her career.
Asset X--or Xerus as he is called--won't give up his secrets easily. He is difficult, elusive, and--dare she say--unfathomably alluring...despite his seething demeanor and hard, frightening physique.
Something subconsciously draws her to him. Something wildly irresistible. Even if his wicked smile and needful gaze could just be a ploy to win her trust and escape his cell.
She shouldn't think of him like that. He is an alien after all. And possibly their enemy.
For Xerus claims he is on a mission. A mission to destroy. And he cannot afford to fail. If he dares let Lana get close, dares open his cold heart to her, she could compromise everything.
The cover made me buy it. Whenever I see these things, I just can't compute how there going to make it work. How is she getting past his looks? How does sex work? But I think I'll be going for more humanoid aliens in the future.
Now The Story:
Book Info:
Pages: 299
Author: Olivia Riley
Available: Amazon
This book genuinely reminds me of an alien version of Silence of the Lambs. The heroine is Clarice and the lizard alien is Hannibal Lectur and in this one they fall in love. I genuinely enjoyed all her efforts to get into his head and learn more about him. Her efforts where he was concerned were always honest and sincere. He was angry with just cause, but gave her a chance to prove herself.
Did I mention that I love that the alien smells like coffee? Lol, because I do.
Spoilers:
There were enough clues for me to figure out that the alien had given himself up to the humans on purpose to bring down enemy aliens that seemed to act like parasites to human hosts. Humans being humans they wanted to use, dissect, and throw him aside. All in an effort of protecting themselves from him. Was it justified? Those men he killed had families. But, no, I don't think wiping out the human race was his goal. But I wished he had trusted the heroine sooner and by extension maybe even the humans. Maybe things would have gone just a little better. Who knows?
The humans in this book were exasperating. I am getting tired of the evil government/military trope. Not this books fault, but in general. Still for this novel the military guys made me soooo angry. They make good villains. But where this book loses a point is not their close mindedness, fear, and lust for power. No, it was the heroines reaction to it all.
Certain sections of this story had me wishing the heroine was black. But in the name of every woman in the world, MeToo, Feminism, every group, heck. Why is she cowering to the military guys? A couple of them were deserving of a good smack. [Clarice, the tv show, hit a guy in the nose for calling her baby and smutty comments while on the job.] But Fine, let's say for argument's sake that it's not in her character. You can cut a person's heart with words. She never really pushed back, no matter how they treated her. I can't root for that. She was more scared of them than she was of the alien at certain points. I can't open my mouth, what if they...
Speak from your uterus and tell those men where to go and keep your job while doing it. I'm sorry, aren't you the chick who got a visit from the owner himself to be on this project.
Moving on.
She overhears a convo of some of the generals or higher-ups threatening to provoke him to get answers. The heroine warns him about the test for his life because that's pretty much what it is. However, she doesn't warn, at the very least, hey be unguard during the test they might try to cheat. Or they gone try to set you off, I need you to human up and help me save my job. She even finds the General in the cage night before the test and he won't tell her what he talked about with the alien. She just gone shrug and say well I tried to ask.
Sorry, despite some of the scenes reminding me of the movie, Silence of the Lambs. This girl is no, Clarice. One point off.
Minor annoyance: The scientist staff, who are less hostile than the military guys start whispering about her the days leading up to the alien test. She likens it to water cooler gossip and ignores it. Any other time I'd be all for this higher enlightenment. In this case, give me a break. Your not drinking martinis on the weekend and falling out of the club with your panties around your ankles. All y'all do is work. So if they whispering, I want to know who, what, when, and why. It might be something genuinely important to give you a leg up with the test. But nope, missed opportunity.
Ch 15 is a whole tragedy. She crying in front of the guards and staff. It somehow being okay. Its not. Not for me.
When she kissed what she thought was the alien's dead body. No sis. It just didn't look right in my head, lol.
Then the heroine suddenly tries to suddenly boss up at the end when the danger is hitting the fan. She suddenly has the courage to balk against the military authority in the safe room she shared with other people. No, lol, this was not believable for me. I'd be like I'm not following the white girl. I don't care what she knows. She's just no Sigourney Weaver to quote another movie female badass from Alien.
Another smile crept across my face when she accused Nicole of being too subservient. If that ain't the pot calling the kettle black (old skool saying). Like ma, you only recognize it in her because that's what you do.
Fast forward, we're in the middle of a full-blown parasite, human, inter-species war, and this alien wants a sponge bath. She talking about he covered in blood and oil. After just establishing that the humans trapped on separate levels of the building were up against a time constraint. Naw, this book getting ridiculous. I enjoyed the scenes too much to take another point off, though.
So, we're in the badly planned honeymoon phase. It's both sweet and romantic. But bad because while there living the good life, people where gunned down in one of the safe rooms. Granted some were infected, but the ones that weren't died because of the heroine. Not just the military's callousness. If lizard alien is the only one who can separate a normal human from a parasite then that should have been the first priority. Not sex, not romantic date nights, and saying I love you. Big eye roll.
Then when he got captured by the remorseless military guys. She angered me again at her, I'm helpless thoughts. These weren't monsters, but men. You don't have to be stronger than them you just have to outthink them. This chick just felt better crying than coming up with a plan to help her man. But in the end, she does pull it off to help in some way. Skip to the end and this is said:
"I can be made a queen?" she said softly. "Even though I am not Vrisha?" "A queen is chosen for her strength and bravery. For her cunning and ability to endure."
Direct quote of heroine to hero
When? You mean that one time she rescued you. It wasn't that impressive.
I complain, but I really did enjoy reading this book and I found it to be well written. It felt like a movie. A really good one. I'd watch this on Netflix. Maybe that's why I started to make those comparisons. But in that, I saw the heroines character flaws. However, I enjoyed snickering at her. That brings my score too:
Story At A Glance:
Recommendation: 4 out of 5
Read Series Continuation: No*
The Ratings:
Book Cover Appeal:
🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
Story & Narration:
🍓🍓🍓🍓
Romance:
🍓🍓🍓🍓
Character/(s) Personality:
🍓🍓🍓
*The series is a group of standalones. When it comes to sci-fi romance, I think I just prefer to stay in one world. But I might be alone in this. Plus I wasn't a huge fan of the heroine. No telling what I'd feel for the next one.
