Saxon by Annalise Alexis

3 Stars

The writing and editing of this novel was super clean, with few if any typos that I caught in the ARC version of the manuscript. The world building was okay, though I found it very disappointing that the overwhelming majority of this novel took place on contemporary Earth instead of an alien world. The characterization was pretty rough, with the heroine being entirely unlikeable due to a combination of rank incompetence and dumb impulsivity. Also, the heroine and writing overall was super vulgar with a lot of potty humor, which did not appeal to me at all. I have a subtle, dry sense of humor, and so a lot of the jokes in this novel made me cringe instead of laugh. The development of the romantic relationship was okay, but I felt sorry for the hero being stuck with this heroine for life. The plot and pacing was quite exciting, and if I had been more emotionally invested in these characters probably would have been quite interesting. There was little angst in this novel and very high stakes, which is typically one of my preferred narrative structures for a romance novel. This novel used the Fated Mates trope and a variation on the Mars Needs Women trope. The plot and pacing rated four stars. The world building rated three stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship rated two stars. The combined score of this novel is therefore three stars. This novel ends on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, which I would normally consider a big plus, but I felt sorry that the hero was stuck with this woman for life. I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy sci-fi romances largely set on contemporary Earth, and who don't mind potty humor. I do not plan on buying a keeper copy of this novel, and I am not sure I will read anything else by this author. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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