Dakonian Alien Mail Order Brides Boxed Set Vol. 2 by Cara Bristol

3 Stars

The writing and editing of all three novels in this omnibus was pretty clean, with only a few typos that I caught in the ARC version of the omnibus. The world building was subtle, deft, and top-notch, with me the reader getting a good taste of future Earth and the Intergalactic society it is a part of. The characterization of all the protagonists was competent, and the development of the romantic arc in all three novels was fairly natural and organic. The plot and pacing was pretty good, with me turning pages quickly and not struggling through any portions due to boredom. However, where these stories failed for me was with the way overdone angst and very low stakes. There was SO MUCH angst in these stories, and there was not the counterbalance of very high stakes causing the angst which would otherwise have made the angst enjoyable, or at least understandable. These novels had various tropes, but a recurring one was the excruciating Refusal to Honestly Communicate, which is a trope I really wish would die already in romance novels. The world building, plot, and pacing rated four stars. The development of the romantic relationship and characterization also rated four stars. Normally, that would mean that the combined score of this omnibus was four stars, but I removed one star from the combined score because of the HIGH angst and LOW stakes, combined with the use of the Refusal to Honestly Communicate trope. The combined score for this omnibus is therefore three stars. These stories all end with a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that is a big plus for these three novels. I recommend these books for fans of sci-fi romances who enjoy high angst, low stakes romances that contain little or no adventure elements. I do not plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this omnibus, though other readers will probably enjoy it much more than I did. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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