please note that this book has a temporary cover I created. I am still waiting on the professional cover credited in my book, so I decided to use a temporary cover for the time beingDestiny Delaine has had enough. As daughter of a former high ranking general who now served as the Ambassador of Earth, and a socialite mother, she has been reared to be the proper young woman and helpmate. Her … woman and helpmate. Her parents had her life all planned out, right down to her arranged marriage with one of the planetary representatives under her father. No one asked her what she wanted.
Determined as too fat and too old at a curvy plus size age of thirty-four for the Mate Index, she decided to take her own destiny into her hands. She never expected that stowing away on a trade vessel would put her face to face with her mate. She is not impressed that it is the pervert she saw fucking a woman in an alley while making her big escape, but he is determined to show her the kind of mate he can be. Not only him, but two other brothers who would form a mated family unit, called a clannid, with her. They are sexy, sweet and viciously protective each in their own unique way. And she has never wanted anything more.
A’Jular is a trader known to be an aggressive male, one who doesn’t tip-toe around a problem, or feminine sensibilities, but goes for whatever he wants–whether that be a good quick fuck or a steady profit. What he and his brothers want more than anything, however, is a mate. When he is frozen out of the family accounts for trying to purchase mate-hunting rights from the Earth authorities, he thinks that his plans have been thwarted. Thankfully, the gods of love and pleasure are with him. He finds himself in possession of a stowaway. And not just any stowaway, but his mate which instantly triggers the maturation of his body from possessing juvenile to breeding sexual organs. To make matters complicated, their mate is feisty, independent, and thinks he is a pervert. He is determined for her to see that even a male such as he can be so, so good.
Sha’melor is the eldest hatch-mate between himself and his two brothers. This meant he was landed with all the responsibility and pressure. As a member of the Council of Clans, and ambassador on behalf of the Clans for the Intergalactic Union, he has more responsibility than one male could want. Enough to attract every power-hungry unmated female of the upper-clans. With a mother desperate for him to find a good match and sire hatchlings, he is relieved when A’Jular reports that he has found their mate and successfully matured for. He is instantly relieved of one huge burden, and looks forward to the embrace of a offworlder mate who won’t care who is among the clans, but will just love him for who he is. When he meets her, he is determined to do anything, fight anyone, to keep her.
E’budar is the laid back, friendly part of their clannid, and as it happens–the family trouble-maker. He doesn’t do it intentionally, his history amorous pursuits just seem to follow him like a bad smell, usually accompanied with very angry females due to one misunderstanding or another. It seems like his brothers are always having to bail him out of trouble. What he needs and wants more than anything in the world is a mate. The one female not threatening his cock, or life. Not that he distinguishes much between the two. He wants a female to dote on, to love, who won’t sneer at his affectionate gestures or silly jokes. And he dreams of having hatchlings running through the nest. What more could a male want? When he sees his mate, it is love at first sight. He would give up any object, any dream, just to have her at his side and make their clannid whole.
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*WARNING* contains explicit sexual content
Destiny is the only child of the Ambassador of Earth. Destiny is 32, overweight and being told who to marry to help her father’s political career. Destiny just wants travel the galaxies, paint, but she was told no. Well, Destiny isn’t taking no for an answer this time.
Edokas’ are not a pretty species. Edoka’s can’t use the mating index like others and they have a little catch even if they find a mate.
The editing needs a little work, but a really great story. There’s enough would building to make the Edoka’a planet beautiful. Sander’s is very descriptive and imaginative, the thing with male organ was equally gross and funny. In this story the aliens and the earthling were essentially struggling or wanting the same thing, acceptance. The Edokas’ Destiny was a steamy SFR with all the feels.
This is technically Book 2 (whereas Hearts of Indesh is a long novella, having been relegated the dubious distinction of being #1.5) of SJ Sanders’ Mate Index series. I was highly intrigued and satisfied by this new universe the author has painted for us readers, thinking of critters I haven’t thought of. And me, being one of two biologists in the family, really could sink my claws into this new biosphere of lovely species, especially considering the time and effort to conceive a means of a human female to give birth to eggs. Though I need to remind Ms. Sanders that the egg sac is literally a gigantic, all-inclusive placenta developed strictly from what I could imagine comes strictly from multi potential cells within the spermatozoa of all three of these interesting Edoka mates now bonded to Destiny, our feisty, full-figured female. (Not umbilical cords connecting directly into the uterine wall. The human placenta is all-baby, not mother. That’s why human mothers DO NOT reabsorb fetūs! That’s the other twin’s job!) After all, we humans have our maternal mitochondrial contribution by which we can trace genealogical lines more accurately with, so I can get into this–
Excuse me. This is what happens when the scientific part of my brain is hooked.
I really liked this story. In fact, in the time that it’s taken for me to finally do this review, I’ve read it three times! The first time just to continue on my accelerated read-through of all three books because I just couldn’t stop. The second time to read what I might have haphazardly missed in the first read. The third to get even more persnickety as if I was a copyeditor with an ugly red pen, looking for grammar problems and continuity issues, etc.
All right. So Earth, as the new kid on the block, isn’t playing nice. Somehow, I figured that this would be the case as described by the writer, especially in the previous two books. Leave it to a male-dominated world to sell their females with hopes of getting a bigger, badder gun. (Which is essentially what would have led to eventually.) No wonder women would be rushing to go off-planet like rats jumping off ship even though it would be strictly illegal. I know SJ Sanders isn’t trying to be a flaming feminist. Far from it. In the best means to determine which way a plot is to go, she followed the path of least resistance just like the flow of water. Earth would treat their females like money to be made, especially if Earth women could be genetically compatible with so many races. What makes me wonder is why would races that are far more accelerated than ours find themselves with less and less females being born to perpetuate the species? Because, from what is minimally mentioned, there are more than one race having this issue. (Not that SJ would have to explain it. It’s just how my brain works when the electricity goes out temporarily because I have nothing else better to do.)
Yes, we do meet A’Jular as well as both his brothers who are equally enchanting. I do appreciate that Ms. Sanders avoids my list of pet peeves when it comes to reverse harems. (We need a better word than this one!!) Unlike human males who are NOT genetically geared to tolerate polyandry, the Edoka males from the same hatching bond with one, specific, genetically compatible female. Now I may not have read absolutely every book about alien mates so far offered by Amazon, at least I can say I haven’t run across this concept yet. (Give me time, I’m sure.) It was a pleasant surprise as it allowed me to really suspend my disbelief which, as previously mentioned, is difficult to do with this subject. But I was hooked on these three Edoka brothers, especially on how different they were within their clannid, especially how Ms. Sanders presented them. I greatly appreciated Destiny’s character in that she didn’t quite fall into the usual cliché-ish template I’ve seen many writers trip over. (If I had, I’d probably would have stopped reading this book rather than reread it three times!)
I appreciate the continued, strained relationship between Earth and the Intergalactic Union, and yes, it IS a soap opera. I am not surprised that its first ambassador would be one of military background, especially the US. Worse, Destiny is this ambassador’s only child. And this is the ambassador that made an ass of himself in Volume #1 who equated mateship with an extraterrestrial (from Earth’s point of view) to that of bestiality. Yeah. Great way to introduce us to the neighborhood, guy! (Read the author’s notes at the very end of this book! She reveals that the new ambassador replacing… Oops! No spoilers, folks. You better read it for yourself…)
Anyway, I’m still a little bruised by the flagrant use of Earth colloquialisms by offworlders. Come on, SJ!! I doubt that Edoka “dial” the communications code of the individual they wish to talk to. That’s an Alexander Graham Bell thing! I still wish she had taken a little more time with her extraterrestrial linguistics. Not that she has to go JRR Tolkien on us, but even the cursory curses could be a little original. But I can understand having two hells – one of fire and the other of ice. Even Dante made such a delineation.
This was an excellent read, and it is definitely worth the purchase. I just might read it all over again – along with 1.0 and 1.5 – when the next in the series comes out. But I do warn that though the stories center around new characters, the background still necessitates reading the previous two books just to understand what is going on in this book.