Turn Left for Stars (Vandalar Concubines Book 3) by V.K. Ludwig

4 Stars

The writing and editing of the ARC version of the manuscript was clean, with no typos and well constructed sentences. The world building was good in some respects, with the Vandalar culture coming to vivid life but the landscape and wildlife of Vandalar being largely absent from the novel. The characterization was excellent, with hero and heroine being vivid, sympathetic characters with both strengths and weaknesses. The development of the romantic relationship was sweet and star-crossed. The heat level in this romance was about four chili peppers. The pacing flew by, but the plot was only okay. Let me explain.*SPOILER AHEAD* The main driver of conflict in this novel was the fact that the hero and heroine would be unable to stay together because of the heroine having a contract with the government specifying that she had to take at least three concubines or face deportation. This caused a lot of angst for the couple. However, the author makes it really clear near the beginning of the novel that two of the male concubines in the school were a gay couple. In order for me to buy into the angst and anguish the hero and heroine were experiencing, I as the reader needed to not have the knowledge that the couple was gay until much later in this novel, so that I would buy into the anguish of the main couple instead of being seriously irritated by their blindness to the obvious solution to their problem. Near the end of the novel, the heroine asked the gay couple to join her estate, but by that point I as the reader had suffered through 150 or so pages of angst about an easily solved problem. *END SPOILER* This novel had a high level of unjustified angst and very high stakes. I enjoyed the high stakes, but the angst, I did not enjoy much. This novel used the Star-Crossed Lovers trope and the Friends to Lovers trope. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship were both five stars in this novel. The pacing was also five stars. The world building and plot, however, were three stars. I therefore gave this novel a combined rating of four stars. This novel ended on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that was a big plus. I recommend this romance to readers who enjoy plenty of laughs and sweet moments in their sci-fi romances. I look forward to reading the next novel in this series when it releases. I will probably buy myself a keeper copy of this novel.

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

Purchase Link