The Commander's Fated Mate by Lily Anton

3 Stars

The writing and editing of this novel contained a fair number of typos in the ARC version of the manuscript. There were also some awkwardly worded sentences, missing transition words, and wrong word choices for the context of the sentence. The world building was interesting, with the biology of this alien race being one of the most interesting parts of this novel. The characterization was competent, with both hero and heroine having strengths and weaknesses. The development of the romantic relationship was natural and organic, especially considering the short length of this novel. The plot and pacing was a little slow. There was a fair amount of angst on both characters' part which I found to be the least enjoyable part of this novel. The stakes were fairly high, so that I enjoyed. This novel used the Fated Mate trope and the Sickbed trope. I am not sure what I think of this culture breeding with human women in large clutches, which are then raised in an orphanage-type situation and the human mothers have no parental rights, or committed relationship with the father of the clutch? I was a little fuzzy on why human women would willingly sign up for that. Also, the hero's xenophobia about humans early in this novel showed him to be a really ugly person. I personally have a hard time buying into a romance and HEA between a racist or xenophobe and someone who is a victim of the racism or xenophobia. The world building, plot, and pacing were all three stars. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship were also three stars. The combined score of this novel was therefore three stars. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy sci-fi romances and do not mind some rough writing. I may be interested in reading the next novel in the series when it comes out, though I will not be buying myself a keeper copy of this novel.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Purchase Link