jennifer | offmyredcarpet's Reviews > Captured

Alien Invasion romance // dual pov // fated mates // enemies to lovers // common ancestor // spicy

Aliens invade earth for fertile women as the last of their own females died decades before accidentally by their own hand. They not only want earth women but they also want to assimilate humans since both species have a common ancestor.

The author does a masterful job of articulating the emotions one would go through when presented with the events in this story.

Eden is extremely relatable. I found myself mirroring her emotions throughout. Anger on her behalf at being captured, at being wanted for her womb, for all that was taken from her: autonomy, freedom, her home, loved ones. Followed by compassion when confronted with all male Vetusian fetuses and the reality of their species, their desperation.

The Vetusians do something unforgivable. Humans are the lifeline to saving the Vetusian species but rather than ask they simply took. But when we’re presented with the why, what species wouldn’t respond in the way that they do? What they do is wrong but you also understand it—both are true. The right thing to do would be to go extinct. But biology and instinct isn’t easy.

Eden’s capturer, Torin, turns out to be her linked mate as well as the alien commander. She wants nothing to do with him so he makes her a bargain: her freedom for access to her body to end in a pregnancy. She agrees.

He is pragmatic, cold, and unsympathetic. He sees only what they require to carry on as a species. Over time that changes as layers get peeled back from them both. Shame over what he took from her slowly creeps in:
Her planet
Her freedom
Her autonomy
Her job
Her home
Her life.

There is much more that the author expertly incorporates giving it depth and complexity without rushing or dragging the story along. Easily a favorite read.