Review: Alien Mate by Cara Bristol

Posted April 10, 2017 by Lola in Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 14 Comments

LolaReview

Alien MateAlien Mate
by Cara Bristol

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance

Blurb:
I’m Starr Elizabeth Conner. Earth’s government falsely convicted me of a crime, packed me on a ship with other female felons, and sent us to Dakon, a primitive, frozen wasteland of a planet. Why? Earth needs minerals, and Dakon is desperate for females.

But I’m no barbarian’s ‘mail order bride,’ even if he is super tall, muscular, and the chief of his tribe. He doesn’t want a BBW blonde, either–it’s written all over his chiseled face. He’ll be truly angry if he ever learns what my ‘crime’ was.

I am Torg. I have waited 34 rotations for a mate of my own. With this shipment, I was sure to get a fine, sturdy mate who’ll bear me many daughters. Instead, I receive a small, curvy, pale-haired female who looks at me with anger and fear.

It is only when we ‘kiss’ that I believe things may work out between us. But I’m hearing rumors that Starr and her shipmates are law-breakers. To survive, Dakonians must obey all laws … or be exiled into the frozen wasteland. Just when I have found her, will I have to send my mate to die?

My Review:
I received a free copy of this book from the author through netgalley.

This book was such a fun read! I had read one of Care Bristol her short stories in the anthology Pets in Space and had been planning to pick up one of her full length books, so when I saw this one on netgalley I couldn’t resist requesting it. Alien Mate is basically a mail-order bride plot line set in space. Terran decided to solve one of their problems and gain some valuable mineral they need. They sent some convicted females to Dakon who had a female shortage and gain the mineral in exchange.

I really liked the concept for this one, it made for a fun set-up for a story and I enjoyed seeing how things played out. From the first chapter it grabbed my attention and I just wanted to keep reading. It’s an enjoyable read, well written and paced nicely. There is a bit of mystery surrounding Starr’s past, what she has done and why she’s sent to Dakon, while the others had a choice in the matter. Then there is a good romance between Star and Torg. Getting to know an alien planet and there are a few interesting plot twists at the end as well.

Starr and Torg literally come from different worlds, but when they meet sparks fly. Their romance develops quickly, but I didn’t mind. I could feel their connection and chemistry and given the situation I thought things progressed believable, although I did think Starr changed her mind a bit quickly. The romance is very low on drama and conflict, which fit the kind of read I was in the mood for. You could say things got resolved a bit quickly, but I thought it was refreshing not to have things blown out of proportion and the characters actually talked things through after their initial reaction.

Starr and Torg were so fun together. I liked reading about them getting to know the other and learning about the other their planet and customs. There’s a fun misunderstanding at first when Torg doesn’t understand the wording of something Starr says and a few differences between their cultures that cause some funny situations.

While the focus is on the romance, I did like that the author also spend some time building the world of Dakon and how she gave the reader a feel for the planet and it’s people. There’s still some things left open, but I am hoping this might become a series as I would love to read more books in this universe. I could visualize the planet Dakon well and I enjoyed learning a bit about how they lived and what caused their current situation. I only was a bit mixed about the direction things took at the end. Not sure why, but it didn’t set quite well with me. I do understand it was a good change for them, but at the same time it felt like it changed their whole way of living.

To summarize: This was a fun read that grabbed my attention from page one. It’s well written and nicely paced. I enjoyed reading about Starr and Torg. They have chemistry and while their romance developed a bit quickly I didn’t mind too much as I could feel their connection and how much they cared about each other. There are quite some hot scenes, but very little drama and conflict. There are some fun situation caused by cultural differences or misunderstandings which were fun to read. And I like how the author took a bit of time to describe the planet Dakon and give us a feel for it’s people. I had a lot of fun reading this one and plan to pick up more of Cara Bristol’s books in the future. I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a fun and hot alien sci-fi romance book.

4 Stars

Links:
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You can also read my review on Goodreads.

Do you like books with aliens in them?

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14 responses to “Review: Alien Mate by Cara Bristol

  1. I’m glad your first longer story was a hit for you. I really enjoyed this one, too. Yes, the attention to the world and the plot is what I always enjoy about her books in the cyborg series, too. Like you, I hope there might be more from this one. Ha! Yes, that misunderstanding near the beginning made me laugh, too. There are so many pitfalls in language like that.

    And guess what review we have posted up on our site today? LOL
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Review: Alien Mate by Cara BristolMy Profile

    • How fun you also posted your review of this one today :). I’ll stop by to read your review next.

      I really enjoyed this one and I hope she’ll turn this into a series. I am glad to hear her cyborg series has the same attention to the world and plot. The misunderstandings in language were fun to read about.

    • The aliens were done really well here, they lives in a bit more primitive world than ours and they had their own culture and mindset. They weren’t vastly different, but the author still did a good job to give them a different feel from the humans.

  2. This is quite literally the second review of this book that I’ve read in the last five minutes. I think it sounds fun. As far as aliens in books, one of my very favorite series has aliens. The Lux series by Jennifer Armentrout. Have you read it? I read the whole series back to back. So great! Thanks for sharing!

    • That was the release day fo the book, so I figured some other bloggers would review it by that date as well. I’ve read the first two books in the Lux series, but haven’t read beyond that, although I did enjoy both books. I’ll have to pick it back up again eventually.

    • This one really fit my reading mood at the time. I liked reading about the aliens and their culture and the romance worked well. It did move quickly but it felt realistic and they had good chemistry.

    • I’ve read some books with aliens and I enjoyed the ones I read so far. This was a great read and I hope to read more by this author.

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