Bren's Blessing by Pearl Tate – Book Review

Book: Bren's Blessing

(Book 1 in The Quasar Lineage series)

Author: Pearl Tate

Genres: Romance, Adult, Erotica, Science Fiction

Number of pages: 152 pages

Publication date: 7 November 2018

ASIN: B07KBF2R53

 

"The onboard computers have detected a breach somewhere, whether structural or perhaps a security measure. The fact is that the self-destruct has been activated and in ten minutes, the Skylab will explode and I'll be dead."

I've been a Twitter follower of Pearl Tate for a long while now and I've wanted to read any of her books.

I got the chance and started with book 1 in her Quasar Lineage series Bren's Blessing, a sci-fi alien romance.

I've never read alien romance before, so that was an interesting first for me.

Bren's Blessing is narrated from two first person perspectives: Hannah, an American astronaut and Bren, the alien.

The book opens with Hannah telling the reader how she ended up going to space despite being "a doctor not an engineer." She also narrates incidents of her childhood that made her the supposedly strong woman she is today.

As Hannah recounts and remembers this, the space shuttle she is in suffers a breach and automatically goes into self-destruct. Luckily, an alien ship approaches and an alien grabs her to safety in the last minute.

"His mouth curls into a grin that could almost be panty-dropping if he were human."

There is an interesting and strange shift when Hannah and Bren begin to interact. The once-strong Hannah is turned into a kind of pet, a sex-pet, for Bren, who views himself as a higher being. It takes a while for Hannah to make him understand that he can't boss her around, although she relents to the sex easily.

At some point, Hannah points out that she is willing to have sex with Bren if it will keep her alive.

In a way, both main characters are selfish in a way.

There were many obvious parts in Bren's Blessing that I felt resulted in redundant repetition, like describing Bren as "humanoid" then going on to say that he "has two arms and two legs." No kidding!

Also the flow in some of the ideas stood out to me. When Hannah is captured from the self-destructing Skylab and taken to the alien ship, she is first turned on by the alien then she faints when she realizes she's been saved-and-abducted by an alien.

In terms of imagery, there wasn't a lot of it in Bren's Blessing. Plus there was a lot of telling.

"I need and want you all the time. You are mine and I will always be yours. Never doubt this. Instead of thinking about the past or the future, think about what we have together. You don't have to worry with useless fears. It's done, and it will work out."

In terms of characterization, I struggled a bit with Hannah. I wasn't sure if she was a strong character or pretending to be. I mean, she was a woman alone in a space shuttle but at the same time.

I struggled to like Hannah though and that dampened my enjoyment of the book.

One of the interesting things about Bren's Blessing is how Bren's body reacts to Hannah and shows him that she's the mate compatible for him – tons of sex aside.

In terms of erotica, the scenes were vivid and well-written.

"I can't speak as a symphony of sensations crash into me on all sides." – Bren

Things get heated towards the final third of the book when Bren is summoned to return to his world to be married. Together, Bren, Hannah, and two of Bren's friends draw up a plan to overrule Bren's fate and make Hannah a citizen of the alien realm.

Overall, I found Bren's Blessing to be an ok alien-romance read. It was a new experience for me. While I didn't like the main characters much, I enjoyed the premise and the idea behind the book.

Overall rating: 3 stars.