daniela_endless_tbr's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/6.
🌶️🌶️/5.
I loved the relationship between these two. The sister is the one I could’ve done without but besides that this was great.
I’m very intrigued about the next book but it’s also about the sister so I don’t know… I think I’ll wait a bit to read it.
🌶️🌶️/5.
I loved the relationship between these two. The sister is the one I could’ve done without but besides that this was great.
I’m very intrigued about the next book but it’s also about the sister so I don’t know… I think I’ll wait a bit to read it.
mx_manda's review
5.0
4.5 Stars
The more of this series I read, the more I enjoy it. No one writes a creepy monster love story like Ms. Lucas does. And no one writes non-conventional heroines quite like her either. Lucas does not go out of her way to lay their Otherness on thick to the point that it's caricature: it's subtle and well-executed. I never feel seen in the romance genres, but her heroines come the closest. Representation, yeah? ♥︎
Netto and Rylie are the most adorable pair of awkward anti-social misfits. Rylie has never been interested in the opposite sex, to the point that her family assumes she's asexual—been there, done that, have the tee shirt—and blame themselves for how poorly she was socialized. They love her, but they do not fully accept her as she is. And Rylie is painfully aware of the fact. She would rather be out on the ocean and working than talking to anyone who isn't her immediate family. Netto is the largest of his cyborg brethren and considered quite handsome...until he opens his mouth and flashes his teeth. Everyone runs. He's never made it past considering flirting, let alone anything else with a woman. He's accepted that's the way things are going to be for him, and he's content to be alone. Socializing is painful and requires too much talking anyway. Netto is the muscle when he works, not the networker. So when these two start circling each other, it is believably awkward, precious, and there are so many funny moments where one or the other has zero clue how to act and does something gauche. The pillow scene? I was snickering so hard, but damn... if I didn't have to fan myself during it too. This might be my favorite comedic moment in a romance. So kudos to Ms. Lucas for making a nightmare monster who wants to bite and taste blood a precious awkward mess who can also melt my heart. And this was one of the better dual-virgin stories I've seen. I tend to shy away from them, but this one had enough realistic, cringey, uncomfortable "what the hell do I do now?!" going on to drive away the usual eye rolls I get from Blanche Devereaux-esque first time encounters.
The first book I read from this universe was Chaos Croc, Janet and Zeph's story, so I do not have the same strong negative emotions towards Janet that many others have expressed in their reviews. Though even if I hadn't, I didn't think she was a bad character and rather enjoyed her as a foil to her older sister Rylie. Many romance authors utilize a flatter version of the "slutty" sister, but Janet has quite a bit of dimension to her even in this book where she's a secondary character. She obviously loves her family, will fight for the family business, and she has her own way of getting things done—and GASP, she enjoys it. She does make a few half-hearted attempts at making passes at Netto, but it's not a big deal and nothing comes of it—which in and of itself is pretty interesting for a genre that likes to punish and humiliate sisters who act this way. It was refreshing to see it shrugged off and not made a Thing when it didn't need to be for the sake of drama. Rylie has plenty of angst when it comes to Janet already without that unnecessary dimension added. I know Rylie's refusal to be with anyone who had been with Janet first was likely read as being disgusted by anyone who would have sex with Janet, but I read it more as Rylie never wants to be compared to Janet by someone she wants to be with. She gets enough of that in her life already. This little tangent aside, Janet and Zeph make a fun pair of secondary character foils to the mains. Where Netto and Rylie are anti-social misfits, Janet and Zeph are both cut-throat sophisticated Players. Watching their aggressive game of cat and mouse in the background of Netto and Rylie's much more gentle fumbled dance of first-timers added a nice interesting element.
So yeah, I gotta give some puffy heart love to this story.
The more of this series I read, the more I enjoy it. No one writes a creepy monster love story like Ms. Lucas does. And no one writes non-conventional heroines quite like her either. Lucas does not go out of her way to lay their Otherness on thick to the point that it's caricature: it's subtle and well-executed. I never feel seen in the romance genres, but her heroines come the closest. Representation, yeah? ♥︎
Netto and Rylie are the most adorable pair of awkward anti-social misfits. Rylie has never been interested in the opposite sex, to the point that her family assumes she's asexual—been there, done that, have the tee shirt—and blame themselves for how poorly she was socialized. They love her, but they do not fully accept her as she is. And Rylie is painfully aware of the fact. She would rather be out on the ocean and working than talking to anyone who isn't her immediate family. Netto is the largest of his cyborg brethren and considered quite handsome...until he opens his mouth and flashes his teeth. Everyone runs. He's never made it past considering flirting, let alone anything else with a woman. He's accepted that's the way things are going to be for him, and he's content to be alone. Socializing is painful and requires too much talking anyway. Netto is the muscle when he works, not the networker. So when these two start circling each other, it is believably awkward, precious, and there are so many funny moments where one or the other has zero clue how to act and does something gauche. The pillow scene? I was snickering so hard, but damn... if I didn't have to fan myself during it too. This might be my favorite comedic moment in a romance. So kudos to Ms. Lucas for making a nightmare monster who wants to bite and taste blood a precious awkward mess who can also melt my heart. And this was one of the better dual-virgin stories I've seen. I tend to shy away from them, but this one had enough realistic, cringey, uncomfortable "what the hell do I do now?!" going on to drive away the usual eye rolls I get from Blanche Devereaux-esque first time encounters.
The first book I read from this universe was Chaos Croc, Janet and Zeph's story, so I do not have the same strong negative emotions towards Janet that many others have expressed in their reviews. Though even if I hadn't, I didn't think she was a bad character and rather enjoyed her as a foil to her older sister Rylie. Many romance authors utilize a flatter version of the "slutty" sister, but Janet has quite a bit of dimension to her even in this book where she's a secondary character. She obviously loves her family, will fight for the family business, and she has her own way of getting things done—and GASP, she enjoys it. She does make a few half-hearted attempts at making passes at Netto, but it's not a big deal and nothing comes of it—which in and of itself is pretty interesting for a genre that likes to punish and humiliate sisters who act this way. It was refreshing to see it shrugged off and not made a Thing when it didn't need to be for the sake of drama. Rylie has plenty of angst when it comes to Janet already without that unnecessary dimension added. I know Rylie's refusal to be with anyone who had been with Janet first was likely read as being disgusted by anyone who would have sex with Janet, but I read it more as Rylie never wants to be compared to Janet by someone she wants to be with. She gets enough of that in her life already. This little tangent aside, Janet and Zeph make a fun pair of secondary character foils to the mains. Where Netto and Rylie are anti-social misfits, Janet and Zeph are both cut-throat sophisticated Players. Watching their aggressive game of cat and mouse in the background of Netto and Rylie's much more gentle fumbled dance of first-timers added a nice interesting element.
So yeah, I gotta give some puffy heart love to this story.
amyiw's review
4.0
3 1/2 - Audible Escape
This was pretty good though there is a cliffhanger epilogue for the sister that doesn't affect the main couple and doesn't get answered until book 6. It is scifi rom fluff and for that it reads pretty easily as a out of space romance. These cyborgs aren't the typical cyborgs as they have animal DNA and "shift" though not quite like shifters either as it is all metal and a bit strange but different for all of that. In this one he is a shark shifter and is coming back to a planet he helped secure to make safe for the population to mine the oceans. Something is wrong with the oceans and the stones that are being mined are not clear crystal as they should be.
Riley has grown up on this world and the business her father runs has been seeing hard times with the quality of the stones going down. They agree to take help from the cyborgs in return for exclusive rights to buy the stone. They don't say that there is no quality stones so the rights aren't worth anything. For Netto, a shark shifter, he doesn't really care about the profit as he is too intrigued with Riley. Neither have been with a boyfriend or girlfriend before and neither really knows how to interact with people or each other. It was nice to see them admit who they are and their feelings.
This was pretty good though there is a cliffhanger epilogue for the sister that doesn't affect the main couple and doesn't get answered until book 6. It is scifi rom fluff and for that it reads pretty easily as a out of space romance. These cyborgs aren't the typical cyborgs as they have animal DNA and "shift" though not quite like shifters either as it is all metal and a bit strange but different for all of that. In this one he is a shark shifter and is coming back to a planet he helped secure to make safe for the population to mine the oceans. Something is wrong with the oceans and the stones that are being mined are not clear crystal as they should be.
Riley has grown up on this world and the business her father runs has been seeing hard times with the quality of the stones going down. They agree to take help from the cyborgs in return for exclusive rights to buy the stone. They don't say that there is no quality stones so the rights aren't worth anything. For Netto, a shark shifter, he doesn't really care about the profit as he is too intrigued with Riley. Neither have been with a boyfriend or girlfriend before and neither really knows how to interact with people or each other. It was nice to see them admit who they are and their feelings.
schomj's review
3.0
2.5 stars?
I expect to be astounded by these books -- and I was! -- but ... I was both laughing and kind of horrified by one of the sex scenes, in a way I never expected to be in my life. And I'd be pretty happy to never be astounded in this way again.
I expect to be astounded by these books -- and I was! -- but ... I was both laughing and kind of horrified by one of the sex scenes, in a way I never expected to be in my life. And I'd be pretty happy to never be astounded in this way again.
Spoiler
The heroine is a virgin, the hero is a ginormously well-endowed shark shifter. In one scene he shifts his head/upper torso to a shark while they're having sex.pinkyfluffy's review
4.0
This one did not disappoint me, I think I just love this series! The shark shifter concept was super interesting and I love how this is described.