Review: Breaking the Alien Love Curse by Veronica Scott

Posted May 31, 2024 by Lola in Fantasy, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 4 Comments

Breaking the Alien Love Curse
by Veronica Scott

My Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Amellia Taneek loved her job as the office manager for a group of Sectors agents from various organizations, all based out of her central location. She enjoyed the challenges of handling administrative details for them and the excitement of constantly meeting new offworlders. She was especially intrigued by Hagan Raljarr, seven feet of green, scaled, muscular SCIA agent, and more than a little curious about his tail. Hey, she was a healthy unmarried, unattached female and there was no rule against dating a co-worker.

But so far he’d shown confusing signs of reciprocating her interest.

Hagan was an honorable warrior and before he could pursue his definite interest in Amellia, who might even be his fated mate, he had to clear up one little detail – the engagement contract he’d been entered into as a child with a female from his own planet. They barely knew each other and she was highly ambitious. Surely in this modern day and age she’d be happy for him to sever the contract and set her free, right? Leaving him in the perfect position to begin courting the lovely human.

But the jilted fiancée sends a mysterious box across the galaxy to him and when he unwisely opens it, a powerful love curse is activated, striking both him and Amellia. They’ll die at dawn if the curse isn’t broken. With help from Amellia’s aunt, who is said to have magic powers, the pair set out on a desperate quest for three special ingredients needed to break the spell. Over the course of a very long night, will Hagan and Amellia find their way to a relationship, break the curse in time and survive? Is such a thing even possible?

My Review

I hadn’t read this one in the anthology it was first published it, so I grabbed it when it was released on it’s own. I like Veronica Scott’s Sectors SF Romance series and was looking forward to reading this one. I read it as a buddy read with Sophia.

Breaking the Alien Love Curse is about Amellia and Hagan who get cursed after Hagan breaks off his engagement contract that was made for him when he was a child. He wants to be free to pursue Amellia and isn’t interested in the women he’s engaged to, she doesn’t take it well and curses them. They have till the following morning to break the curse.

This is a short and fast paced read. Due to the nature of the curse they only have one night to break it and most of the story takes place in the span of one day. The short time frame they have to break the curse lends a certain sense of urgency to the plot which worked well. It was exciting to see how they try and break the curse and which ingredients they have to find for the spell as well as how they acquire those ingredients. This book does have a bit more of a magical/ fantasy vibe on top of the scifi with how it’s centered around the curse, spells, magic and such.

While I enjoyed the story I did feel that the set-up meant there wasn’t as much time to get to know the characters and see their romance develop. The romance progresses really quickly and I struggled to feel their romance. Their connection and mutual attraction was clear, but I just wanted a bit more and see more of them. Especially as there aren’t many scenes set outside the curse.

To summarize: I liked the quick pace and urgent plot line as the characters have only one night to break a curse cast on them. This one has some more magical/ fantasy elements with the curse and the spell to break it. I liked reading about the characters and how they try and break the curse, but I did feel the plot didn’t really leave a lot of time to get to know the characters. While their connection and mutual attraction is clear I didn’t really feel the romance as it progressed so quickly. Despite that I still had fun reading this and I would recommend it if you’re looking for a quick scifi romance with a bit of magic.