Alora Church, scientist extraordinaire, is used to being valued for her mind, not her womb.
She barely leaves her lab long enough to see the effects of the aliens that have invaded Earth. When her best friend is Summoned to become an Axxeon breeder, Alora is prepared to help her run. Until two huge Axxeon warriors show and take Alora captive instead. She thinks there’s nothing worse than being … captive instead. She thinks there’s nothing worse than being taken as an alien incubator… but she’s wrong. Very wrong.
Tryllin, King of the Axxeon made a pact with Earth’s leaders to save them from genocide in exchange for select females. They have a common enemy, one that has infiltrated Earth and Tryllin is prepared to destroy. But he needs the scientist’s help, willing or not.
Now it’s time for her to make a sacrifice… until he suspects she’s also his fated mate. Can he make his captive a willing bride, or will destiny leave his arms empty and his soul shattered?
Axxeon King’s Captive is a standalone, first in the Mates for Axxeon 9 series. It contains dark elements, and all the sci-fi romance you crave!
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I just love reading a great sci-fi romance! This one has an exciting plotline starring some very hunky blue aliens. The Axxeon King Tryllin is about to discover that there is more to the little human scientist Alora than what he needs her for: Creating a bio weapon against their arch nemesis the Nozing. Alora is his mate and there is no denying it. The first book in a series about Axxeon males and the human females they are mates to makes for some very entertaining storyline. I love it!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A new series called Mates for Axxeon 9 and I want to read the next book. This is Scientist Alora Church and Tryllin, King of the Axxeon’s story. There is suspense, drama, danger, twists, turns, evil aliens, and romance. Tryllin did something to Alora sometime ago and he is ready to use her but he finds out she is his mate. What has he done! I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A cool start to a new series! So I read the second book first, but reading this one clarified so much! I loved the focus that Alora had on her lab work, but that she also valued her people, Brandon and Pryia. The king, I had to let him grow on me. It took a while. The scenes of destruction and the exposition in this story feed really well into the second one. I loved the next one, and I enjoyed this one almost as much. I felt bad for U 5, but they were at war, so I get that sacrifices had to be made. It’s definitely a cool start, and I’m liking this new to me author!
This story was well edited and cleanly written, with few typos, missing words, or wrong word choices. However, it was not well written as a genre romance novel, in my opinion. The first major problem with this story was the romantic hero. He was the kind of monster who felt absolutely no moral qualms about implanting a fatal bioweapon into an innocent young girl who he was planning to use as a weapon of genocide. This innocent woman would then die a horrible death. Aside from the whole “committing genocide” issue, that he had no issue with forcing this fate on a young girl is all kinds of messed up. That he imprisoned this person as a young woman and had absolutely no moral issue with abusing her if she resisted him is another layer of disturbing. He lied to her about what he had planned for her. He also slept with her and was still lying to her and fully willing to murder her after he slept with her. That almost never happens in genre romance novels. The hero is expected to come clean or change his mind about his evil plans shortly before or after sleeping with the heroine in genre romance novels, but then again, in most genre romance novels, the romantic hero has some sort of moral code, usually including rules about the treatment of women and children, even if he is a mafia don or other violent criminal. This “hero” had no moral line that he wouldn’t cross without a second thought. He didn’t change his mind about wanting to kill the heroine with the deployment of the genocidal bioweapon until the heroine was starting to die from it near the very end of the novel. The only reason he decided to task his doctors with trying to save her life was because he wanted her as his wife. At no point in this novel did he ever acknowledge that implanting a fatal bioweapon in an innocent young girl was wrong and something he needed to atone for. This is also unacceptable in a genre romance novel. In order for this hero to work as a romantic hero, than loving the heroine would have needed to establish some sort of morality chain, where this guy would have needed to stop and think to himself, “would my beloved approve of this behavior, and should I make a different, better choice?” before committing atrocities. There was also no groveling scene or chapter in this novel where the hero apologizes and atones for his behavior. This is also another element that means this story does not work as a romance. The second major problem with this novel is the heroine. She is weak, cowardly, and passive. In order for this novel to work as a romance, the heroine would have needed to use her blinding intelligence and strong will to fight back and punish the hero and other Axxeon people for their abuse and immoral behavior. Her strength and refusal to be cowed would have earned the hero’s respect and started him falling in love with her. Instead, the heroine is super passive and agreeable to her abuse and imprisonment by the hero and is perfectly agreeable, both in thought and deed, to the hero’s goal of genocide. She doesn’t punish the hero in any way for his behavior or fight back against his goal that she knows is morally unacceptable. She never holds the hero to account for his behavior. While she is acting like a doormat, she is also experiencing attraction and sexual urges toward this “hero”. That super grossed me out. That fact that she immediately accepts his marriage proposal after she wakes up from her coma after finding out that he intended her to experience an ugly death all along was also super gross. In order for this to work as a romance novel, she would have needed to turn him down flat and tell him she would never marry a man willing to abuse and murder innocents. Then they would need to separate for a time to give the hero time to do some soul searching and decide that he needs to become a better man to deserve the heroine’s love and respect. That scene should have happened around the 50% mark of this novel, by the way. This reader was totally grossed out by this “hero” and had absolutely no respect for this heroine. In wrap up, I strongly encourage other readers not to buy this novel. It left a really nasty flavor in this reader’s mouth.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Perhaps I spoke too soon
This book is an enjoyable read and exciting series starter. The author developed the characters in a way that made you feel like you knew them by the end of the book. And the danger and adventure kept the story moving and engaging. By the time I reached the last page, I was completely invested in the outcome and can’t wait to see if the rest of the characters find their perfect mate.
This was my first Liz Paffel book and won’t be my last; I’m eagerly awaiting the release of book 2 in this series.
Paffel is clearly brilliant; she delivers characters that are complex and mostly likeable. There are one or two that were fun to hate on and I found Alora easy to relate to.
The story flows well with no continuity issues and a semi-complex plot. Despite being science fic, I found it pretty plausible; as a result I was more easily able to get lost in it so the book provided a fun escape.
It manages to pack action, drama, a war between races, true love, carnal attraction, heat and strong family values while laying the groundwork for so much more to come in future books.
Excellent world-building.
The book could use another round of proofing but overall is a really fun read.
4 stars