Surprisingly Enjoyable

To explain the title a little, after having listened to several MPreg M/M stories, I have pretty much determined that I am not a fan of the genre. As a reviewer on another book has observed, they tend to be M/F romance stories with the female gender (but not attitudes and "frailties") swapped to a (feminine) male. However, this series, being placed on a SciFi theme, intrigued me enough to chance it (I like SciFi ;-) , and I am glad that I did. I also liked that the "story" had some meat to it (no pun intended) in that there actually was one separate from the "romance" part of it. Another saving grace for it was that the MPreg part, although strongly hinted at, did not manifest itself (at least so far). I am really hoping that, if this series continues, it never does as while I can suspend disbelief on a couple of fronts (e.g., Space, ETs, tech, etc.), I would find it extremely difficult to believe that all parties are biologically compatible. So please Ms. Glass, do not go there. The *expectation* that it might be possible is fine for Seil and his people to have, but if you somehow make it biologically possible for a human male to give birth on that world, you will loose a fan. This now brings me to the one, sort of, negative comment that I have, that being the narration. My first introduction to Mr. Leslie was a story that involved a man learning that he was accidentally switched at birth and the family that he was raised with was, well unloving, is about as kind a summary that I can make. In such a story, a narrator who's voice contained a slight tremor, as though he might break down a cry at any moment, was appropriate, if a little tiring and annoying after several hours. However after listening to several other books narrated by him, I have come to the conclusion that this is an ingrained quality of his voice, and one that I unfortunately really do not care for. While I will not dismiss a book read by him solely on that basis, I will think twice about purchasing one that he narrates. So I was tempted to pass this one over, but the storyline intrigued me. That being said, I have to admit that he did a fairly good job here, either that or I am now becoming more numb to those qualities that annoyed me earlier ;-) So, Mr. Leslie, I really do like the timber of your voice and I think, in general, you do a good job at different character voices but, if you could loose that trembling, almost going to cry, aspect you would have a solid fan.

2 people found this helpful

Even better than the first book!

I loved the first book (and gave a more detailed review there so I'm just gushing here), and bought this one on pre-order because of how excited I was for it. And let me tell you, Eileen Glass and Joel Leslie did not disappoint. It was an amazing listen and added more wonderfulness to the story, characters, and setting. I was left both delighted at just how much I LOVED it, and wilting at the fact I have to wait for who knows how long for the next one. If you liked the first book, you'll probably like this one just as much, if not more. I listened to it in a day, and it's over 12 hours long so, yes, I was listening All. Day. Long. Even in the bathroom. And if I could've taken it into the shower with me, I would have. I'm also proud to say I was the first all 5-star rating on this book (though couldn't write a review until later). You'll love this book so stop hesitating and just buy it!

2 people found this helpful

Joel Leslie is amazing!

Joel Leslie is now my internal voice for Carter, Siel, Pykh, and Auk - it was so funny how he pronounced some of the non-translated brain bot words. This book is amazing - definitely not a series to miss.

2 people found this helpful

Even better than the first book

We continue to follow the struggles and challenges that Pykh, Siel and Carter face as they escape from their captivity and learn more about each other and the planet they are surviving in. The gradual building of the aliens culture and history is masterfully done, but it's the characters' loyalty and devotion to each other (and their sense of humor, especially Carter's) that are the winning qualities of the series. Looking forward for a sequel. Especially since the book ends in cliff hanger. The narrator continues to do excellent job, which was especially challenging here due to the mis-translations sounds.

1 person found this helpful

A Great Second Chapter In This Story!

I love all the voices in this story! They are so velvety to my ears! There is lots of adventure as Carter, Siel, and Pykh continue to escape from the bugs and meet up with members of Siel's people. The ending once all three of them are safe and together is so sweet and romantic! There's lots of bits of humor throughout. The one thing that was a little bothersome was the exploration of the language where the pronunciation of untranslated words was a little hard on my ears, but it was just a minor issue. If you enjoy alien and human adventure romances, I'd highly recommend this!

1 person found this helpful

great read, good listen

this could not have been an easy book to narrate and I applaud the efforts. I wish all the untranslated words didn't sound like a stroke victim.

It just keeps getting better!!!!!

I absolutely loved book one, it was such an adventure that was easy to follow along and had it's cute, sad and funny moments. Book 2 is much the same as the storyline carries on, though with more heart tugging moments. I loveeeeee long books and so I absolutely loved this one. My only dislike was that sometimes the author went into too much detail. I know it's very important for world building, especially for a series as impressive as this one, but there were some scenes and chapters I had to skip forward because there was too much filling info that made the storyline pause to make room for it. That was my only comment, beyond that I was very pleased and I'm already downloading book 3!

aliens yes

Joel does an excellent job. This is a story of alien sex, so about medium.

Didn't quite cash in on its potential

I liked the first book in this series so much (surprisingly, given the wretched title) that the decision to buy and listen to the very long second audiobook was easy. However, about a third of the way through the book, things started to go wrong for me. First of all, I get that in a book where people come together from all different backgrounds, and one of the three main characters not being able to communicate verbally with the other two, there are gonna be misunderstandings. But in this book, there are MISUNDERSTANDINGS. And not just the human and the aliens, who, again, can't speak. The other two misunderstand each other constantly, and when there are other characters introduced, everyone misunderstands them, and they misunderstand our trio. For the entire twelve and a half hour audiobook, nobody knows what the heck anyone else is thinking or trying or doing, and for me, at least, it gets real old, real quick. In fact, even when our human hero, Carter, successfully learns their language, there are STILL misunderstandings. And these are predicated on one of the least believable writing tropes, over and over--starting to ask a question and getting interrupted, and then not following through on the question. Or, alternatively, not asking the question in the first place. Time and time again we hear the phrase "I wanted to know _________, BUT I DIDN'T ASK." Well, why didn't you? Things could all be cleared up in a matter of minutes. In addition, I know I'm in a very, very small minority here, but I can't stand the character of Pikh, and he just gets worse and worse throughout the novel. I get fed up with his stupid childlike wonder (and tantrums) about thirty minutes into the book, and I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to find him adorable. I don't. The book is well written--much more than I would have expected from a series with such ludicrous titles--but I'm gonna throw in the towel after this second book, sorry.

This was a great follow up

This book has really gotten me to start falling in love with these characters. Im so obsessed with Pikh and always get giddy when a chapter comes up from his point of view. Hes fun, lovably dumb but smart in his own. The sexy stuff is also perfectly spaced out and gets me even more invested. Its tricky to put sex in a book and balance it with getting the reader to care about it without losing track of the story and hoping it also helps build the relationship for the characters and of course to arouse. This author does it all perfectly and i will buy any book she does now. Love love loved it.