4 stars

Synopsis: Kat is in the military, and has changed everything about who she used to be: her looks, her classification. Her natural genetics would have had her classified much lower, as she wouldn't have even been classified as human. Kat hasn't had the best luck, and when the ship that she is on is attacked by Lupans, she knows that her luck is running par for the course, since this was supposed to be a civilian ship. She discovers another survivor on the ship, and they find that one of the Lupans was left on board. Kat tries to kill him, but when he turns out to be still alive, Kat formulates a plan to try and figure out what was really going on for this mission.
When the ship is taken to a battle station that shouldn't be there, Kat knows that her plans for getting help and figuring out what is going on may have hit a snag.

What I liked: Kat. She worked hard and knew her limitations, but worked around them, rather than letting them define her. She always had the best of intentions, and worked with everything that she knew or could find out to figure out the best solution, even if that ended up making things worse. Kat had worked to overcome some pretty horrific things in her past, but she didn't let it define her. I liked that Kat was willing to listen to things, instead of just going by what the majority thought.

What I didn't like: the story felt as though it was rushed, with a lot crammed in to a short amount of story space.

Overall impression: I enjoyed the world building and would definitely like to read more about Kat, Romeo and Roy.

*I received a copy through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

A weird one, this. Lots of sci-fi terms, lots of plot /world building that was clearly explained elsewhere (I've not read any others by this author), a tough kick-ass lead character with background trauma and flaws, a manly handsome wolf-man, a sex slave who we're supposed to like then not like then like then not like. A group of soldiers all married to the enemy, and a sudden romance plot despite their being no apparent reason for it other than 'the nearest man / woman at the time'. It wasn't terrible and was certainly very short, I was just expecting to know what was going on a bit more. Maybe much better if you've read other books set in this world.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I’m often wary of self-published books, because they can have significant problems. However, sometimes the description of the story sounds interesting enough that I’ll give one a try, which was the case with Monkey’s Luck. Now that I’ve finished it, I’m kind of conflicted about how to rate it.

The basic idea of the story is a good one. Our narrator, Kat, a Marine for an interstellar government, survives an attack on the spaceship carrying her unit. She finds two other survivors—Roy, a lady boy pleasure slave, and a Lupan, a soldier modified with animal DNA; the Lupans were the enemy in a recent conflict that is currently the subject of peace talks. This odd trio find themselves caught up in a conspiracy and having to work together to save themselves and stop a war.

I liked other things about the book, too. The opening scene really grabbed my attention and made me want to read more. I liked Kat’s voice—she’s not too smart, but she’s tough, she has a sense of humor, and her heart is generally in the right place. She’s also got an interesting backstory. Individual scenes throughout the book were well-written, particularly the action toward the end of the story.

BUT. The book also had significant problems. Some of them had to do with worldbuilding. For example, there are human women, soldiers, who are married to Lupans and have children with them. How and why are they fighting on opposite sides in the current war? It’s never explained. Another source of problems had to do with providing sufficient motivation for the characters to do what they do. Kat is attracted to the Lupan, but she doesn’t like Roy, and yet she decides she needs to save them both. Then she seems to want to cut Roy loose, then she wants to save him again, because . . . reasons. I don’t know. The author tries to introduce a romantic element by creating some sort of mating bond between Kat and the Lupan, which would justify her saving him, I suppose. But the bond is flawed, yet she still wants to save him, because he’s the first man she’s liked the looks of in a while? It wasn’t convincing as either motivation or a romance. (I will admit, though, that I liked where the “romance” ended up, even if it was a rocky road to get to that point.)

Normally, those kinds of problems would irritate me to the point that I might not even finish a novel, and yet, I didn’t want to stop reading, so . . . I’m conflicted. If the author expanded the length of the story to allow for more worldbuilding and for more development of the relationships between the characters, I think some of the major problems could be fixed. Her writing has its good points, but what she needs is a strong editor or some really tough critique partners who can help her smooth out the rough spots.

Read at your own risk, I guess.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

I am confused. I am not sure how to rate this book. The plot was interesting, But the romance in it was so unbelievable and .... well, it wasn’t romance at all. It was just so weird. I didn’t feel any emotions from the characters, so why did they end together I have no idea..

2 stars.