Never Cuff an Alien (Vandalar Concubines Book 2) by V.K. Ludwig

5 Stars

The writing and editing of the ARC version of the manuscript was clean, with no typos that I found and pretty sentence structure. The world building was very good, with me really appreciating the visit to the Vandalar home world and getting a better picture of the Vandalar culture and political waters. The characterization was excellent, as is usually the case with this author. The hero and heroine were both vibrant, sympathetic, complex individuals with strengths and weaknesses. The development of the romantic relationship was sweet, hot, and full of laughs and heartwarming moments. The plot and pacing were quick and exciting, meaning I read it in one sitting. There was low to medium well justified angst and fairly high stakes in the latter part of the novel that meant I enjoyed the narrative structure quite a bit. I tend to be a fan of romances with high stakes pretty much across the board. This novel used the Enemies to Lovers trope and the Sexually Confident Heroine trope, both of which I enjoyed. The world building, plot, and pacing were five stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship were also five stars. I therefore gave this novel a combined score of five stars. This novel ended on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, which was a big plus. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy masterful characterization and laughs in their sci-fi romances. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series when it releases, and really hope it is set on the Vandalar home world, since I loved visiting it in this novel. I plan to buy myself a keeper copy of this novel.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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