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The prompt for suggestions for the June Smart Women Read Romance exclusive patreon review was Alien. Anna Hackett's Overlord was the winner! This is the first book in her Galactic Kings series. I was able to use this to cover the new to you series prompt for Summer of Swoon and the superpower prompt for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo!
Mal and her scientist friend are testing new wormhole technology. Instead of heading to Saturn, they end up on the other side of the universe and crash land on Zhalto. Poppy and Mal get separated and Mal gets rescued by the Overlord of the planet, Rhain. He is struggling with fighting against his dictator and power hungry father trying to take over his and his two half-brother's planets. Assuming that Mal is a spy sent in, he captures her for interrogation. Mal continuously escapes to try to save Poppy. Eventually Rhain figures out she's from Earth and decides to help her save Poppy, who's been captured by one of his father's warlord that's invading the planet.
This was a good starter book for a new series. There was quite a bit of set up here, but I do wish that there was a little more emphasis on Mal and Rhain's relationship. I felt like it was missing some of the romantic elements. A lot of tropes or plot points just weren't quite explored or pushed as much as they could be, but I know that Anna can do it. There were quite a few things that were nit-picky for me in this book, but overall I enjoyed my reading experience and loved seeing a new series start. It's been a bit since I've read Anna Hackett, but I think she is a great starter author if you are interested in trying alien romance but don't want to go full alien just yet.
Let's get back to Overlord. Overall I think this was a fun, fairly low angst, action packed adventure. I do wish we got a little more insight into the culture on this world, a better feel of what it is that Rhain does to rule over the planet and more information about the energy that can be controlled. I thought it was really interesting that there are different ways that energy can be used and it differs from person to person. I also thought it was odd that Mal not only was able to use the energy as well, but more so that it happened so quickly. She was only there a few days, maybe a week and seemed to just magically be able to use it in pretty powerful ways. She also wasn't making the smartest decisions (i.e: running into the barren wasteland that's filled with modified creatures without food, water, or a basic knowledge of the planet). I just was left feeling a bit wanting for Mal and Rhain, but still enjoyed my read. It just was an easy and fun read and I tried to just go along for the ride.
It was fun to get back to Anna Hackett. I am excited to read the next book in the series. I haven't read her in a while so it's fun to go back to an author that helped solidify my enjoyment of Sci-Fi romance. Like I mentioned above, if you are nervous about reading Sci-Fi and/or alien romance and want more humanoid characters that don't feel too alien, definitely give Anna Hackett a try. My favorite series by her is Eon Warriors and the first book is a lot of fun. This series would also be a good option since it's a newer release.
Have you read Overlord?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: Overlord, Anna Hackett, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 262 pages, published in 2021, indie published
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