Chained to the Stryxian by Ella Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Arus Bor’vak understands machines better than people. He likes them better, too, so when human women begin to populate the Stryxian settlements, he finds it best to give them a wide berth. They’re beautiful, soft, and utterly incomprehensible, and none captures his attention like Keira Becker, the strong ex-lieutenant who makes him lose his tongue in her presence.
Keira Becker finds the brilliant Stryxian engineer very attractive, but his aloof demeanor makes it clear that he’s not looking to get to know her—or anyone—better. He may be the only male she’s remotely interested in, but his shell is too thick to crack…until they are sent on a mission together to investigate a strange explosion in an uninhabited part of Stryxia.
When their transport is destroyed and the group is scattered, Arus and Keira awaken to find themselves shackled together in a forest that shouldn’t exist in a barren stretch of Stryxia. Something hunts them as they navigate poisonous creatures, carnivorous plants, and their own undeniable desires. Their skills and hearts are tested, but nothing can prepare them for what happens when the chains come off and they face the creator of the mysterious forest.
Chained to the Stryxian
Standard alien romance!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙❤️💖
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 😄🙂🥰☺️
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration
The heroine: Keira – she is a former lieutenant in the military and signed up early for the lottery that chose women to move to Stryxia after both worlds were devastated by the Morr’ta. The majority of human males were lost in the war with the Morr’ta and Stryxian society was dying out when a plague wiped out most of their females. Though Kiera has been on Stryxia for a while now, she hasn’t found a mate.
The Hero: Arus – he is a Stryxian and basically a mechanical engineer. When his world was nearly destroyed by the Morr’ta and the air became too bad to breathe, they began living in domed cities and Arus came up with a way to increase the oxygen output, he became sort of famous after that, with many people wanting him to help with new projects. He was a loner and had trouble talking to women, so he expected to be alone his whole life. He can create or fix bots for just about anything in his workshop. He also had a bit of a crush on the human female Kiera but couldn’t really talk to her.
The Story: When a problem is found on the planet, with a lush forest suddenly springing up where a desert had been, a group was chosen to go research what was happening. Arus was chosen and Kiera was chosen as the leader of the military force that would protect Arus and the other intelligent minds that were sent to figure out the issue. This forced proximity, helped the two of them to get to know each other better.
The story was interesting, and the book was about as steamy as I expected. Though nothing spectacularly new and different as far as alien romance goes. I did like the storyline about what was happening out in the desert. I also liked both characters. I thought Arus was cute as a somewhat grumpy loner who didn’t expect much out of life but just wanted to be left alone, while still having such an attraction to the human female.
This audiobook was told in dual points of view via dual narration and was narrated by Elle Sonali and Zachary Johnson. These are both good narrators with great voices. Neither are my favorites, but they do a great job on this book.
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