Review: To See The Sun by Kelly Jensen

Posted August 13, 2018 by Lola in Coyer, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 10 Comments

Review graphic

To See The SunTo See the Sun
by Kelly Jensen

Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Science Fiction Romance

Blurb:
Survival is hard enough in the outer colonies—what chance does love have?

Life can be harsh and lonely in the outer colonies, but miner-turned-farmer Abraham Bauer is living his dream, cultivating crops that will one day turn the unforgiving world of Alkirak into paradise. He wants more, though. A companion—someone quiet like him. Someone to share his days, his bed, and his heart.

Gael Sonnen has never seen the sky, let alone the sun. He’s spent his whole life locked in the undercity beneath Zhemosen, running from one desperate situation to another. For a chance to get out, he’ll do just about anything—even travel to the far end of the galaxy as a mail-order husband. But no plan of Gael’s has ever gone smoothly, and his new start on Alkirak is no exception. Things go wrong from the moment he steps off the shuttle.

Although Gael arrives with unexpected complications, Abraham is prepared to make their relationship work—until Gael’s past catches up with them, threatening Abraham’s livelihood, the freedom Gael gave everything for, and the love neither man ever hoped to find.

My Review

I received a free copy through netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

To See the Sun was such a beautiful romantic story. It’s about two people finding each other, but it’s also a story about hope, about finding your sun, about finding your home. And about someone who has been through so much bad stuff and still finds a place to shine. It’s one of the best books I read so far this year.

Ever since I first heard about this book I knew I had to read it and with every additional piece of information I got I only got more convinced that this was a book for me. So ofcourse when I eventually got accepted on netgalley and had the book I suddenly started to hope my high expectations hadn’t set me up for disapointing. But it didn’t, this book was exactly a book for me and while it wasn’t full what I had expected, I mean that in the best possible way. It was refreshing. and the story was so good I just wanted to keep reading.

To See the Sun is a science fiction romance unlike any other I’ve read before. It takes the mail order bride theme and puts it in space with a twist. It’s totally refreshing and at the same time it’s a very down to earth story about normal people leaving normal lives, finding that type of extraordinary love. I also liked how it had a twist petty early on in the story and I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but I did.

To See the Sun starts with Gael’s point of view, in the dark shady city he lives in about to do something horrifying. I immediately liked Gael because even tough he lives in such a bad place there is still a spark of good in him and even with what he’s been through he still has that bit of light and hope and goodness. I felt so bad for him for his situation and what he’s been through. I do feel like that start was very important as it shows were he came from and without understanding that the rest of the book wouldn’t have been so powerful. And I loved seeing how he came from such a bad place and been through difficult things, but then over the course of this book slowly changed and found his place on the other side of the galaxy.

The book is told from dual point of views from both Gael and Bram’s point of view. I also liked Bram from the start, he was this quiet miner turned farmer who was lonely and deciding to try ordering a mail order husband. I also liked how patient he was in almost everything. And also how patient and caring he was with Gael.

The first part of the story is the set-up and I was excited to see what happened when these two met. I liked how they were a bit awkward and got to know each other first. In fact the romance is a pretty slow burn, which I liked and totally fit these characters and their background.

While I liked both characters and how they interacted, it did take me some time to fully feel their romance and attraction to each other. I think that’s mainly because at first Gael comes across as very young and down/ damaged. And Bram more like he takes care of him. But once Gael starts adjusting to his new life and opens up to Bram about the demons of his past, I felt they grew closer and I really felt their connection then. Oh and the epilogue is awesome, romantic and sweet.

The story deals with some heavy/ dark topics, but only touches upon them lightly. The dark parts are about Gael and Aavi’s past and what happened on Zhemsosen. But that’s mostly in the past and the book more deals with how they’re recovering from that and how their past has shaped them. The overall tone of the book stays pretty light and sweet. Although it also has a little bit of steam later on in the book.

One of my favorite parts of this book is how down to earth and realistic and normal it is. Yes it takes place on another planet, but everything from the world building to the living condition to the characters all felt thought out and realistic. And while they have some things to deal with it that might not too be too common, they still felt like very normal people. It wasn’t as epic of big scale and I really appreciated the small scope of this book. It worked for this story to have the focus be on the characters and their home here on Alkirak.

I also loved the world building. While there isn’t much we learn about the galaxy that’s okay, there’s enough to understand the story and as I mentioned before the scope of the story is pretty small. And most of the actual world building or about the planet Alkirak. I really liked how the author made the planet came alive and how I was vividly able to imagine how everything looked like and how people lived on this harsh planet.

There were dangers like the toxic mist and how they couldn’t breath outside the little pocket of atmosphere they created. The people live in crevasses in the landscape. But barely anyone lives here at all, it really is a frontier planet and besides one town and a mining operation there isn’t much here. And that’s also what made it so interesting to read about. The focus really is on the main characters as they rarely see other people.

At first I found the small cave system that Bram called his home to be claustrophobic when i imaged how it looked like, but eventually the whole thing turned into cozy and homey in my head and I am not even sure how that happened. It was so fun to read about this little piece of land Bram made his own and where the build his home. I also liked reading about his farm and the animals he kept and how he was able to make things grow here.

To summarize: To See the Sun is a beautiful story about romance, hope and finding someone to share your life with. It was down to earth and dangerous and romantic and realistic. I had a hard time putting it down as I wanted to know how the story continues. I liked both Gael and Bram. I did had a bit of trouble feeling their romance at first, but I liked how it slowly build and how realistic it felt and even how they where a bit awkward at first. Once they grow closer and Gale opens up to Bram about his past I really started to feel their romance. And the epilogue is so sweet and romantic. There are also some great side characters like Maia and Aavi. I loved the world building how it’s set on this harsh and unforgiving planet, but life still finds a way. To See the Sun is a very unique and refreshing take on the science fiction romance genre and one of the best books I read this year so far.

4 Stars

Links:
Goodreads
Riptide Publshing
Amazon
B&N
Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.

What’s the most refreshing book you read this year so far?

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10 responses to “Review: To See The Sun by Kelly Jensen

  1. This one sounds interesting. I need to start getting back into Sci-Fi books.

    Sandpiper Shore by Debbie Mason was the most refreshing book I’ve read. It sort of revived reading for me. With everything I’ve had going on, that book revived my love for reading.
    Angela @ Simply Angela recently posted…Joy Ride by Lauren BlakelyMy Profile

    • I’ve been reading a lot of of sci-fi books this year, but this was one of the best ones so far :).

      That’s awesome that book revived your love for reading, sometimes you really need a book like that to remind you why you love reading.

  2. I almost grabbed this one, but I was trying to keep my summer review books to a minimum so I skipped. Now I’ll have to snag it for sure. I love the mingling of elements you describe.

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