Her new husband is the stuff of nightmares… simpering princess to claim but Julia’s secret, outlawed magical powers can put an end to the mightiest of rulers.
Does Julia destroy her scary new husband and save her people from his wrath? Or, has the battle-beast’s passion and love charmed a witch into choosing him above all else?
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Okay so this was another alien/virgin story but it wasn’t! The aliens have crash landed on earth and are far advanced (earth is still quills and scrolls) and they are shape shifters. Right from the beginning there is a huge difference. The aliens don’t have a clue about the earth people and they don’t have a clue about the aliens. The aliens do however, save the earth people and their city when it’s sacked by the Goths. Alaric the leader, demands the king’s daughter as a virgin sacrifice. Well Calla is no virgin so she convinces her half sister to take her place while she escapes for reinforcements to re-take the city from the aliens. Julia is caught in the middle. She actually likes Alaric, she asks questions and he answers and they both discover they’ve made a lot of incorrect assumptions. Julia is caught in the middle – she started this to overthrow the aliens and open the gates for the invasion her sister is rousing. Alaric is no dummy – he knows she is NOT Calla but still doesn’t know who she is. But he does know she’s is his fated mate. And not only is Julia not Calla, but she also has some hidden skills which would make her an outcast among her own people.
This was a fast paced, very entertaining read. I enjoyed it more than I have an alien book for a long time. Just the differences in their perceptions and the fact that they could actually talk to each other instead of making snap (wrong) decisions. The question is where does Julia really stand??? (I voluntarily reviewed an ARC).
Julia is forced to marry one of the Vandals who had crashed to Earth and is in disguise as her sister Galla. Alaric sees through her and plays along while knowing she is his true mate. This is a fun new series with twists and turns galore and sets us up for more stories about this new/old world!
I simply adore this author and this book was as good if not better than anything I have read from her in the past. When Julia’s sister, the princess, and the queen come calling asking Julia to take her sister’s place in the virgin sacrifice to the conquering Vandal King, Alaric. Julia hasn’t had an easy life. Being the illegitimate daughter of the late Emperor she was loved by her father and treated kindly by her half-brother but by and large she was left to her own devices and on top of everything else she has to hide the fact that she has magic. She agrees to the ruse in an effort to serve her people but nothing is quite as it seems. Alaric and his people are not the monsters that everyone thinks they are, the virgin sacrifice that they require is also not as it seems and even the Queen is not who Julia always thought her to be. The story teaches us not to judge a book by its cover and to always be open to following your instincts and allowing your perceptions to be changed. Passion so intense it ignites the pages, danger around every corner, unexplained betrayals and emotion that gets you right in the heart make this a must read.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I loved the take on a virgin sacrifice. Julia was brave and fierce, though I thought she was going to see past his outer appearance to who he was on the inside faster than she did. I loved Alaric, he was an incredible male who was making the very best of the terrible situation he was in. He lost everything when he and his men were stuck on earth, but he didn’t let that stop him, he kept moving forward, helping and building a new world for them. He is so sweet and wonderful to Julia. When she changes her tune to him, then I believe that they are meant to be, before that I thought he deserved someone better. I cannot wait for the next book!!!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was an interesting story. Julia and Alaric come together from drastically different viewpoints. Both have to reconcile assumptions about each others peoples and traditions. A sometimes fast paced story, full of heat and adventure.
I will be looking for more from this author.
Julia just learn she about to get married to a beast of a husband. This book was written very well I really enjoyed this book the connection between the main character was hot. Great adventure short read with alot of story build up. No spoilers here.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a very clever approach to this story line! The Vandals, who are aliens, arrive on Earth and want to live here. They demand the deceased Emperor’s virgin daughter, but when it turns out she “isn’t”… they instead offer Julia, the bastard daughter of the Emperor who is also part-witch. If she can keep the aliens “busy”, her sister can travel to the Eastern Empire and bring back an army of reinforcements to retake the city and force the aliens out. But Julia begins to fall in love with the Vandal King, Alaric. Will his people be taken by surprise and killed? Or is there some way out of this mess?
The story was entertaining and I really do recommend it. You’ll want to see if Julia needs to resort to her witch powers. There is so much going on and you’ll have fun with this one.
These big aliens are much more than they seem… I just love these new guys! Sweet and steamy… Can’t wait for more!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I really enjoyed this book. When I first read the title I didn’t automatically think “paranormal.” Michele Mills was able to quickly and succinctly introduce the background and foundation. This allowed me to truly immerse myself in a story filled with danger, espionage, drama, and romance–all set in a world of paranormals/aliens…my favorite kind of story!
What a funny idea to expect a virgin bride. But for real it was again a funny writing good book with a lot of different characters wonderful formed into a nice little story. The only thing was, I wished it was longer. The sister with her crude language at the beginning, I really had to laugh out loud. The idea of a one true mate, that is nice. There were some twist in it, some Vandal and a HEA with two more promising stories to write.
Sometimes Wanting Everything Is Worth The Risk….
by and1515
Julia’s life was simple living in a convent until her half sister and step mother wreak her world but in the end she does what they want starting a whole new reality she never imagine.
Alaric and his fellow Vandals were having issues adjusting to there new world without the technology they had on their home world but the moment he sees her waiting for him Alaric wants her.
I’m excited to say I adored this story because it gets even better with twisty turns and a couple who ignite the pages
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I loved the interaction of the characters, the female lead was funny and always was waiting for everything to fall apart , and being used to kindness didn’t know how to act when given to here.This book has become one of my favorite Virgin awakening books. Waiting the sisters and some of the supporting characters book .
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This novel was well written and edited, with well constructed sentences and few if any typos that I caught in the ARC version of this manuscript. The world building was unusual and super creative, something I had not encountered before in any of the sci-fi romances I have read up to this point. This novel is set on Earth during the early Dark Ages, I believe, during the time when the Roman Empire had split into two. The hero was part of a crash-landed crew of aliens from an intergalactic society. I loved the creativity of the setup and world building. The characterization was excellent, with both of these protagonists being vibrant, sympathetic individuals. The development of the romantic relationship between the hero and heroine was sweet and organic, and the hero’s misunderstandings regarding human culture were cute and added some great comic relief. The plot and pacing was excellent, with me being invested in how the heroine was going to resolve her crisis of loyalty and me rapidly turning pages to find out what was going to happen next! There was a medium amount of angst on the heroine’s part, but I thoroughly enjoyed it because the angst was caused or contributed to by very high stakes. High angst caused by high stakes is one of my preferred narrative structures for a romance novel. I usually cannot stand romance novels with low stakes, or even worse, high angst AND low stakes. This novel uses the Enemies to Lovers trope, the Fated Mates trope, and the Virgin Heroine trope. The Virgin Heroine trope was intentionally used by the author for some comic relief and social commentary, which I really appreciated. The world building, plot, and pacing in this novel rated five stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship also rated five stars. The combined score for this novel, therefore, was five stars. I believe this novel was longer than any other stories I have read by this author, and I suspect the longer story formant is one of the big reasons why this is the best novel I have read by this author so far. I think her skill and authorial voice is best suited to a longer story length to really shine. This story ends on a Happy Ever After instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus to this story and hopefully the rest of the series, if she continues that pattern. I recommend this story to readers who enjoy alien sci-fi romance OR readers who enjoy historical romances set in times and places that are NOT Regency England. Personally, one of the reasons I have a hard time reading many historical romance novels is because so many of them are set in Regency or Victorian England and it becomes incredibly boring. I plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, for sure.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was an interesting book. This is set in our world, back in the times of the Western Empire and the Goths. And at this time, thru a wormhole, the Vandals landed. They are from a different world and are marooned on this one. They want to be allied with the Empire so that they can not just survive here, but to flourish. In that, they demand the virgin daughter of the Emperor, who was killed while fighting the Goths. Unfortunately, the acknowledged daughter isn’t a virgin. So they recruit Julia, who is the bastard daughter of the Emperor and a witch. They want her to distract the Vandals until they get back with an army from Emperor Theodosius of Constantinople. They don’t expect Julia to fall in love and become the mate of the Vandal King, Alaric. The journey to their HEA is great reading and I hope that there will be future books in this world. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.