I'm sorry, but I was astounded to see on goodreads (after I finished this book) that the author has written around 100 novels and has won awards. Now there was nothing wrong with the writing style or grammar, but in my mind the story needed lots of editing and polishing re continuation, flow and believability. I will admit that I actually was compelled to finish it and the writing wasn't dreadful, so I won't give it one star. I confess that my feeling as I started the story, was that this was a first book, or written by a younger person, but no, not according to the information on the back pages.

I really sink my teeth into this type of romance genre and the blurb sounded fabulous. However the execution of the story did not really make much sense and didn't flow properly. I have read many excellent apocalypse style books and comparing this one to them, I'm afraid it was sadly lacking.

My first problem - and a very important element to any romance book - was that I could not picture Emlee, apart from the fact she was skinny, starving, covered with wounds and had long dark greasy hair. Not a first good impression. As for her meeting with Mykail - well that was strange. I understand she was defending herself, but he came across as a bit of a wimp and not at all 'hero' material. Then, the last thing he should have done was fall instantly in love whilst in pain - because apparently he did after she clobbered him with a broom, broke ribs and told him about the imminent alien invasion and that she came from the future. The only description of him was that he had red hair - so nothing sprang to my mind at all. Sigh. The 'romance' was sadly lacking. No slow burn, no sizzle, no feelings discussed, no lovely kissing scenes or emotional thoughts, nothing. Just 'oh, we just met yesterday, now we're in love'. Another bigger sigh.

The H/h were cookie cutter characters and there was no depth to them at all. I knew nothing about them, apart from the events unfolding re the alien attack. As to that, I would imagine the general population caught on earth wouldn't know the reason these spaceships came, especially when all communication and power was cut - so I get that aspect of the story. It would be like floundering in the dark I imagine and the characters would constantly be running from an unseen enemy. But why would the spaceships stay six years, if everything on earth was destroyed in a couple of days? Lots of other events make no sense either. The whole time travel thing was strange too - it was confusing.

I will also say that the couple of random, cringe-worthy, very detailed but short, sex scenes (inserted to make out our couple are really in love??) made no sense. I think it would be a better story if those scenes were deleted and the H/h just grow to be best friends, or at least start to fall in love by the end, as this book really plays out like a YA story to me. Also at one stage it was mentioned Emlee had been wandering for 3 years, when it was stated many other times it was six years. Another thing - I don't believe after one or two days of alien 'attacks' that men would be at all interested in raping a woman then murdering her. After 6 years, then probably, but not while everything is being blown up in the beginning. My opinion though.

Anyway, I don't think I will be reading anything else from this author, but you never know. As I said, I did finish the story because I wanted to know what happened and if it had been executed differently, then it may have been great. It was an ARC I read, so some parts may have been polished up before proper publication. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

OK, this makes me feel like a terrible person because there aren’t many other reviews for this book anywhere and I know that authors love their little book babies, and I’m not looking to hurt anyone’s feelings...but I’m a firm believer that reviews are for readers, not authors. So, it is only for you readers that I do this.

Plot overview: Emlee survives on her own in an alien-devastated, post-apocalyptic world until she inexplicably is sent back in time to 2 days before the world went to pot. There she meets Mykail. That’s...pretty much it.

Look, I normally love post-apocalyptic fiction. I’m a huge fan of Sam Sisavath and his Babylon series. Add a little romance into the mix, and I love it even more. But this one...it was a hot mess, y’all.

First of all, the whole “why” of the alien invasion is never even addressed. As readers, we find out nothing about the aliens. We don’t know what they wanted, why they chose Earth...nothing. We don’t even see any of them. Sometimes that works. I mean, it sort of works on The Walking Dead where we never really know for sure what caused the zombie apocalypse and all—but that’s only because the show does character deep-dives where we learn to care for everyone and truly get to know them. After reading this book, I’m not even sure what Emlee and Mykail look like, short of their hair color, let alone know anything about who they are as people. I didn’t even really know enough about them to care about them. That’s a huge problem in romance.

The romance was the second problem. Emlee and Mykail have barely met and had a couple of conversations (mostly that consisted of how and when the world was going to end) before they were having sex and “falling for” each other. It was super instalove-y. I didn’t buy it for a minute.

The manner by which Emlee traveled back and forth through time was also super lame. (I won’t give anything away, but trust me. It was lame.) And we also never learned why Emlee traveled back through time.

Also, if I’m in my house and some stranger breaks in, hits me with a broom, and tells me the world is going to end in 2 days, I’d be skeptical, to say the least. I probably wouldn’t cover for that person with the cops and listen intently to what they were saying. I mean, I’ve harbored as many Kyle Reese “I came across time for you” fantasies as the next girl, but even Kyle would have to explain some crap to me before I believed that he wasn’t a nut job. (A crazy-hot nut job, but still. I digress...)

​But Mykail seemed to believe everything Emlee was saying really quickly. Because she was pretty? I dunno. I never really heard what she looked like. I can only assume, I guess.

(And as a brief aside to romance authors out there who include explicit sex scenes in their books. When doing so, it’s never sexy for a heroine to request oral sex by saying, “Eat me”, and then having the hero “nose her pubes” out of the way before diving in. The whole thing felt like it was written by a teenage boy and it icked me out a little. Not the oral sex—there’s nothing gross about that. But the way it was written was SUPER immature sounding. Don’t do that, authors. End PSA.)

​Long-story-short, this one didn’t work for me as a post-apocalypse story, an alien invasion story, or a romance. There just wasn’t enough there, you know? No meat on the bones, so to speak.

Full disclosure: We received a free copy courtesy of NetGalley.

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