I absolutely loved Lyn Gala’s Earth Fathers series and Liam and Ondry (Claimings…) series, so of course I jumped on this book as soon as I heard about it.
Needless to say (but I will anyway), I wasn’t disappointed! ❤️ And I’m thrilled to see that this is book one in a new series (Gods of Misfortune).
As with those other two alien series, language barriers/confusion plays a big part. Humor ensues, and giggling my way through a book with humor injected throughout always makes me happy.
Everything is from Regi’s 3rd-person POV. Here are some of my favorite snippets. Some give a little insight into the characters or situation, and all gave me at least a smile, if not a chuckle:
Ter showed the flat of his palms as he projected a casual disregard for the precarious position he had just outlined. Regi assumed that was a side-effect of his species living for several hundred years. At some point even being abysmally screwed was boring.
The first speaker in this next one is Dante (aka Regi’s “huuman”), who was originally thought to be a pirate, but turned out to be a captured slave of the pirates. Also, since you might be wondering, everyone wears translators, so the different species can communicate with each other.
“What is this place?”
That was an odd change of topic, but since the pirate was pushing against Regi’s injured side, Regi decided to forgive any odd verbal detours. “This is a medical holding area. Our doctor does not recognize your species, but she is concerned that you may have fragile breathing apparatus.”
“Fragile… what? Who the fuck are you?”
Bringing the concept of copulation into the conversation was both confusing and slightly alarming. Regi was not attracted to moist aliens who smelled of dung. “I am the fuck Regi a’Poque de Minait a’Otutha qee Pertin e Rel.” In his security classes, instructors recommended mirroring the language of a suspect to de-escalate the violence. Regi could only hope his own reference to copulation was not taken as an invitation.
Dante looked up, the edges of his lips rising so his mouth developed an attractive curve. “There you are. Did you have fun at your meeting?”
Regi suspected that Dante either did not understand the meaning of meeting or his people had a perverse definition of fun. “No.”
Dante nodded, and once again Regi found himself stymied by an unfamiliar gesture.
“I’m from Texas. We don’t retreat. Sometimes we get our ass kicked, and apparently we occasionally get taken as slaves by an alien ship, but we don’t retreat. You can put that down as part of the religion of Texas.”
“The part where you get your ass kicked or the part where you don’t retreat?” Regi asked.
“Going all the way back to the Alamo, I would say both.”
Regi wondered if Texas was as unforgiving a god as Gavd. They sounded similar.
Dante looked around the dimly lit space. “Where do we look for this asshole?”
Again with the references to orifices.
Dante cocked his head to the side. “More difficult. Sounds like a euphemism for someone having fucked something up.”
“I don’t believe copulation is involved,” Regi said.
“The exalted of Gavd snorted his disbelief of that statement. Regi pinned him with a sharp look. “The god Texas respects strength and has a sacred animal which his favorites ride, an animal which Dante misses greatly since he has been taken from his planet. He does not disrespect our gods and you will not disrespect his,” Regi snapped.
I’ll leave it at that. Fun, huh?
Fair warning for readers who are all about the romance, this book is setting that up, but so far we’ve just got a relationship building on a base of mutual respect. I’m good with that, because it would have felt shoehorned in to have it to do more than hint at their future possibilities at this point in the overall story.
Blurb & Link
Regi has settled into a comfortable life away from his home and family and gods. By choosing to leave the Empire, he chose to leave all those behind and live alone and godless. He still claimed to follow Poque, goddess of wanderers, but he doesn’t expect her to notice him as he serves on Coalition ships. However, when an improbable series of events strands his ship near a black hole with no engines, no communication, and a pirate ship in the area, he must wonder if the gods’ first blessing—misfortune—has found him. If so, he needs to find the second blessing that follows, or the entire crew will die.
Dante had a rather uncomfortable life until aliens kidnapped him, and then it turned downright miserable, but when a ship shows up claiming to be law-enforcement from the Coalition, he wonders if life might improve. The security chief is kind with an expressive face and velvety skin, not that he’s noticing any of that. It’s just that he’s been alone for a long time and having someone touch him with kindness is stirring feelings Dante hasn’t felt for a long time. However, he doesn’t have time for foolishness when they’re on a pirate ship and trying to escape certain death. Danger first, deciding how to ask an alien out on a date second.
