I love a good alien romance from time to time. And this delivered. It was very tropey exaggerated characters, steamy and a quick read. All in all it delivered what I expected but didn't wow me.

This sci-fi romance is a quick read, with alien abductions, slavers and insta-love thrown in! Even though this story is short, it moves the story as a good pace and keeps you interested throughout. Definitely give it a try.

Alien's Captive
Earth Brides & Alien Warriors, Book 1
by Tina Moss

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoy the premise of this book. Our heroine had been going into space to study new frontiers when something went wrong and she wound up captured and sold as a slave on an alien planet. Our hero is on the same alien planet and is working undercover to thwart the morally reprehensible slave trade and its perpetrators. This is a fated mates trope.

I think the book could have baked just a tiny bit longer in the oven to come out fuller. There were words that the alien used that felt very earth like with no explanation how they knew them. The heroine mentions she’s an academic scientist multiple times and talks about how she wants to write a paper about her experience. Calm down lady - we get it, you’re educated, cool. I only need to be told that 1 maybe 2 times after that it feels like a shallow personality trait or that she’s fixated on it and a little full of herself.

As I said this is fated mates. Our hero has these magical arm tattoos that recognize her as his fated mate and he starts to feel emotions again because the males of his species lose the ability to experience emotion without a mate. Again seriously fascinating concept. Love it. However for a fated mates situation there’s almost too much autonomy in thinking through the developing relationship - to the point that then the I love yous feel a bit unearned because if there had not been all the over thinking then the not talking about it wouldn’t have mattered because we could have gone the route of fated mate = auto love - great, makes sense.

These are my little quibbles. I am certain many will find it a very enjoyable read and I enjoyed it myself. It almost felt like a pilot episode of a new show that you know is going to be good but the first episode up is just a little rough around the edges. I do want to know what happens next for the other unfeeling aliens. Do they find their mates in time?

Trigger warnings - parent death, sister death, torture, slavery. Open door and high steam.
4/5

can’t wait for the next one

“I received this books free for an honest review. However, this plays no part in how I feel about this story.”
This was a great escape from the world. I love scifi romance that takes place off world. I love see the world building the author comes up with. This story as that and more.

Aliens, slave trafficking, good guys vs bad guys - and yes, a bit of revolution and romantic heat. A good series beginning with some new twists on the "non-human mate" approach and some interesting characters.

I had a lot of fun discovering this new world and the characters in it through the eyes of our human heroine, Ava.

One moment Ava was on a space flight from Earth to aid in the creation of new human colony, and the next she was kidnapped and sold as a slave in an alien market on an alien planet. No one around her even remotely looks familiar or friendly until she meets her new "owner". Xelan, a Rhonar warrior, is on the planet of Craxon to gather enough evidence to overthrow the greedy slavers that have overrun the planet. Xelan is part of a race that have lost most of their females and the males, including Xelan, are travelling the universe in search of a mate, or suffer dire consequences. The last thing he expected was to find his mate in a human woman.

Honestly, I didn't know what to think or expect when I started reading this, but I was pleasantly surprised. The world-building is done really well, and I can clearly imagine what it looks like and how it works. I wouldn't say it's perfect, I have a lot of questions about the slaver planet and the rebellion, but overall it all comes together nicely.

Xelan is super hot with an immense amount of honour and integrity and Ava quickly fell under his spell. He has to work a bit to convince her about the whole "you're my fated mate" situation, but the intrepid Ava is a quick study, and she seems to find her feet in no time at all.

It was my first book by this author, and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

All I’ve wanted since my abduction from Earth’s first long-range space flight is freedom from my alien captives. But when I’m sold off to a Rhonar warrior.When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Tina Moss is magnifysent and amazing writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this book.Can't wait for the next book.

This book is.. okay. I'm on an alien binge lately so I did like that part, but the story moved very, very fast. The heroine goes from "Gah! Am I a slave? Must escape!" to "He's hot. I'll stay." I mean, sometimes you want that. But even for this insta-love reviewer I found it a bit whiplash-y because even with her internal dialogue I didn't really get *why* she really changed her mind beyond his appearance.

The plot was interesting but rushed. I would have liked to know more about every character. I know exactly how short and curvy the heroine is though because that was mentioned a lot. But not much else that really stuck.

My other complaint is that this could have used another look through by an editor. A lot of the wrong your/you're. The author uses "full proof" when she means "fool proof". Little things like that which added up over the course of my reading.

I loved this book. The first thing I did upon finishing was add book two to my wishlist for when it is released. It was well writes, checked all the boxes and made me yearn for more, I absolutely loved every moment of it!!! This author needs to write faster, because I’m dying to read the rest of this series, as well as everything else she releases

A big thank you to NetGalley and City Owl Press for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is the first book in a new series. I have not read this author before. Okay-so I like to read pretty much anything. This I found to be a bit campy. Bored nerd (Ava) volunteers for space, ends up sold as a slave. Bought by Xelan who is not what he seems. There are some traumatic scenes (torture) and insta love. So there are holes in the plot and it is a little fast. But there was also laughter (by me) over some anatomy. Still it was a fun read. 3 stars

Fun and steaming hot!! I loved the characters and the storyline was really engaging and entertaining to read!

There are SO MANY of these alien romance books, you can really get lost on Kindle Unlimited. This one is very similar to most story lines of a young human woman being rescued by an alpha male alien, but the the writing itself is great - there were a few typos here and there, but I read an ARC, so I assume these were probably fixed. I'm saying this because so many of these books are very clearly self-published and unreadable - that's not the case with this one (which makes sense, since it's put out by a indie press and has a decent cover). The plot moved smoothly, world building existed but was not dry and overdone, there were just enough characters to keep it interesting but not overwhelming, and it had a nice HEA with hints of what's to come in the rest of the series, which I would be happy to check out.

It wasn't really anything out of this world remarkable, but if you're reading a book with a bare chested alien dude floating through space on the cover, are you really expecting that? No. No, you're not. You're expecting to have a bit of fun, which this author clearly understands. I liked that it was a novella because I only really like to read these things in small doses, to be honest. I hope the rest of the series will be novellas, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher/author for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I was excited to read this one - I'm all into alien romance right now. The story itself was good. But this book needs some serious editing and some continuity help.

okay.. Ms. tina.. where did you come from.. and how can i read your ENTIRE collection. This book helped me take a SMALL break from barbarian aliens... and oh my heavens.. the heat level in this is OUTSTANDING. This was the perfect amount of story, heat, insta love and romance. I need book 2 like yesterdaay.. why do i need to wait like 3 more months!!! gimmmeeeee

Unfortunately for me, this book felt rushed and it has a very good premise. It follows the alien found soulmate stuff very closely, but has some trauma stuff (slaves, women being beat up etc) which I found it ONLY touched on but never really did touch any deeper which sets the tone as a light read which I dont think I care for. Writing was good, it was easy to read but the plot went by so fast and it could have 100% benefitted a bit from having more and deeper bonds between the MCs. I didnt end up trusting them or their relationship.

This was a fast sci fi romance. It moved very quickly and made the connection between Ava and Xelan feel not genuine. Their connection appeared way too fast. It was a sexy erotic read though and was enjoyable.

Thanks to the author, Owl City Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC with honesty.

So it's been awhile since I've read a book about alien romance (aside from Gena Showalter's series) and I wasn't completely sure about how I was going to feel. But I had a really good time reading this. It's not too long and the story doesn't drag. It revolves around an earth woman who is abducted from her space travels to find herself being sold as a slave. In steps a mysterious man (alien) who saves her from being sold off to any sadistic bastard and intends to get her to safety. Only instead, he starts to recognize this woman is far more important to his life than he'd ever dream.

Very cute story. I'm not going to lie, I laughed at a particular vibrating...yeah...I'll leave that.

Overall, the story was enjoyable. I wish we got a little more of them together but I'm still satisfied with what we got.

My Rating: 4 Stars!!! (also cross posted to GR and IG.)

<b>ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review</b>
As someone whose gone through many sci-fi phases I have to admit the plots of many books begin to blur. There are only so many paths for authors to take that it really is the detail that will set the book apart. I really enjoyed this book and the collection of tropes the author used to tell the story. It was a fast paced & quick read that surely fits into the genre well.

The heroine Ava leaves a damaged Earth in search for hope for mankind when her ship is attacked and she is sold as a slave. She meets her future mate Xelan after he senses her pain and comes to rescue her aka buy her. In the middle of a mission of his own he must leave Ava to safely deliver his injured and pregnant charges. During this short time Ava is injured and the beast inside Xelan loses control. His people no longer have the ability to feel emotion. In fact after a virus wiped out his races females most males will wither and die without finding their mate who’d then kickstart their heart once again so to speak. The two definitely grow close in a short amount of time and both feel the effects of their ‘mating.’ However even in the midst of finding love, both want to end the horrible slave trade in this sector and take expose the powerful who are involved.

It was a really good start to a series but while it fits well into the genre the book does follow the same pattern of many other sci-fi romances. By this I mean there’s just nothing overly unique to make it not blend in with the rest but it was still a good read. Now that humans are clearly compatible with Xelan’s people, they have a chance to not only love but also fall in love. The book ends with a lot of hope especially for the hero’s sidekick and most trusted friend Brok who senses his end nearing. The side characters were enjoyable and luckily equipped with medical knowledge as they were needed a time or two. Overall enjoyable sci-fi romance.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"My mate was smart. Although I knew so little about her, I wanted to learn everything. But her intelligence? I'd already gleaned that."

So, if you are someone who reads sci-fi romances (c'est moi), you kind of know that they aren't exactly high literature. They can be really solid and fun and often campy and almost always entertaining, but you don't typically expect super technically strong work. Or at least I don't. All this to say that I wasn't expecting the next Jane Austen when I went into this and it still didn't really work for me.

Ana, our main girl, elects to go to space because she's brave and wants new experiences. Hijinks ensue and she ends up crossing paths with our main dude, Xelan. He's kind of a baddie and enjoys freeing slaves so yeah, we like Xelan.

Unfortunately, I just didn't care for the writing and what I didn't like vastly overwhelmed what I did. There are jarring flashbacks and info dumps, but what really got me was the alien language. You can tell Moss had a good time thinking of the most alien words she could imagine for proper names but it just came across as a little too much for me.

Thank you to the publisher for accepting me to read and give feedback on this book, thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read and supply feedback and finally thank you to the author for creating a lovely masterpiece for me to read.

I like alien book especially romance as they are so fun and easy to read I speed through these books and I thought that this book was well written and I liked the characters. the setting was fun and the pacing was spot on. i would defiantly recommend for my friends to read and my book community