Strange Love by Ann Aguirre

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He’s awkward. He’s adorable. He’s alien as hell.
Zylar of Kith Balak is a four-time loser in the annual Choosing. If he fails to find a nest guardian this time, he’ll lose his chance to have a mate for all time. Desperation drives him to try a matching service but due to a freak solar flare and a severely malfunctioning ship AI, things go way off course. This ‘human being’ is not the Tiralan match he was looking for.

She’s frazzled. She’s fierce. She’s from St. Louis.
Beryl Bowman’s mother always said she’d never get married. She should have added a rider about the husband being human. Who would have ever thought that working at the Sunshine Angel daycare center would offer such interstellar prestige? She doesn’t know what the hell’s going on, but a new life awaits on Barath Colony, where she can have any alien bachelor she wants.

They agree to join the Choosing together, but love is about to get seriously strange.

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✧ Overall Score✧

6/10
The writing was a bit dreadful and it suffers from the common modern romance malady of using memes within the text but… I was entertained all the way through and found it a quick read. It featured a romance with an alien ass alien, if you catch my drift, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of that! We all know how rare that is.

✧ Enjoyment Score✧

8/10
The plot dragged a bit in parts, but I appreciated how involved it was. I enjoyed the pair of them learning to love one another, and though I’m truly not a dog person Snaps was a cute comic relief. A good time!

✧ Writing Style✧

4/10
Not for me. Mostly descriptive rather than evocative, though it did leave little room for the reader to get confused as to what was going on. Serviceable prose, but I like a little more flair.

✧ Plot✧

6/10
Contrived, but serviceable. It was fun! I liked the little challenges that they had to go through, though I wish there was more description of those and the general society. I would have liked to hear the other alien’s thoughts on Beryl and Zylar as they progressed through the challenges, and maybe to have gotten to know the judges better as well.

✧ Characterization✧

6/10
There was a full cast of characters with their own motivations, even if they wound up feeling a bit paper thin in places. The two main characters are have distinct personalities, particularly Zylar.

✧ Spice✧

9/10
I would have liked a bit more emotional tone but THANK YOU for alien ass sex with alien ass aliens!!! Worth reading for that alone, really. The descriptions were very good and visceral, drawing the reader into the act no matter how unfamiliar it was.