Why I read it: Mistress M and Michele Mills ~~told me I had to~~ urged me to read this one.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women – including me – on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Some of my friends have really enjoyed the barbarian/alien SFF erotic romances by Ruby Dixon. Originally released as serials, those of us who need instant gratification can now buy them complete.

Florida girl, Georgie, 22, has been abducted by little green men. There are some other kind of aliens on board who serve as prison guards and they are particularly not nice (trigger warning: rape). Georgie is one of 11 other girls (6 of whom are in stasis) “collected” by the green aliens for sale. The girls have little information but they are not looking forward to whatever will happen next. When the spaceship they are on suffers a malfunction, the green aliens dump the pod where the girls are held on an ice planet (which they nickname “Not-Hoth”. Heh) and that is where Georgie meets her big blue horned alien, Vektal.

Georgie is one of the more plucky girls and her health is also better so she is “elected” to search for anything which may help. Instead, she is found by Vektal who immediately realises that she is his mate. He has on board a symbiote, known as a Khui. A Khui recognises a mate and once this occurs, it’s game over. Vektal quickly becomes enamoured of Georgie and is able to see past her “flaws” (having a flat head, no horns, no tail, being soft and having a “third nipple” between her legs for instance). He has a rather novel way of saying hello to his mate.

Because he doesn’t want to eat me. He just . . . wants to lick my pussy. I’ve dated guys that I haven’t been able to convince to go down on me, and this one’s doing it as a greeting.

While some Very Bad Things happen in the story and the girls find themselves in quite desperate straits, the tone of the book is fairly lighthearted. George is the main narrator and she uses ironic humour to get her through. There is also some POV from Vektal and it was amusing to see his confused delight at Georgie from that perspective. Sometimes I felt he used words which did not entirely fit with his barbarian persona (can I use “persona” when it’s an alien I’m discussing? I have decided; yes I can), but ultimately, he was really very sweet.

Georgie was a willing accomplice to all Vektal did and he made it very clear that he would never force her. Even when this may mean she would leave him, he would nevertheless sacrifice himself for her happiness. It is that part of his character which I liked the best.

It was a fun space romp, not trying to be anything other than what it is. There is world building, not a lot of it sure, but it’s there and it holds together pretty well. There’s no massive info-dump but there is enough to get a broad picture of Vektal’s origins and life on Not-Hoth. I smiled and chuckled as I read the “courtship” between Georgie and Vektal and I can say that the story definitely entertained me. There is a lot of sex and the HEA is pretty quick but there are reasons for that so I went with it for the sake of the story. It doesn’t have a great deal of depth in terms of character or anything else, but as a fun way to spend a couple of hours? Win.