by Tracy St. John
October 1, 2018
279 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Engineer Velia Farrah always wanted to see an alien up close. Now that she’s assigned to study the top secret portal linking Earth to other worlds, she’ll get her chance. But when a fierce, gold-skinned alien from Risnar leaps from the portal and whisks her back to his home planet, “up close” takes on a whole new meaning.
Believing Earthlings had killed his fellow warriors, Jape Bolep is determined to destroy Earth’s access to Risnar once and for all. Grabbing a curvy handful of a human wasn’t part of the plan, but he has no intention of letting her distract him from his need for vengeance—no matter how much he aches to make her his.
Both are ready to do battle over right and wrong and good and evil, and their combustible relationship burns hotter than the sun’s surface. But distrust and treachery from all sides leave Velia and Jape in a fight against their own people to keep each other alive—and to ultimately save both Earth and Risnar from total destruction.
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Worlds Collide doesn’t waste time, it immediately tosses earth engineer Velia into very unfamiliar territory. She’s finally assigned to study the top-secret portal that connects earth to other planets but before she can get used to her new assignment, she’s kidnapped by a gold-skinned, appendage growing, and very angry alien. Jape Bolep blames humans for the deaths of his fellow warriors and plans on destroying the portal connecting earth to his world but he didn’t plan on being forced to take a hostage. Now that he’s brought Velia back to Risnar, he doesn’t quite know what to do with her. As Velia reluctantly gets to know her captor she finds out that the program she’s a part of has more sinister motives and as she and Jape try to overcome enemies, both alien and human, they also have to decide what to do with their rather inconvenient attraction to one another.
This was my first time reading anything by Tracy St. John and honestly I felt like I was reading two separate books. The sci-fi element of the story was pretty well done. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of not only Jape’s people but of various other aliens. It was easy for me to picture exactly what Velia was seeing and experiencing. I felt I was part of Velia and Jape’s crazy ride across different planets and meeting different species of aliens. It was pretty neat and I enjoyed the eclectic mix of life forms and the complex dynamics between some of them.
What I had a difficult time with was the “romance” between Velia and Jape. At first Jape’s hatred of humans is taken out on Velia and he’s not a very likable character, but at the same time, I couldn’t see myself being on Team Velia because she wasn’t very likable either. Her reaction to Jape’s sometimes misogynistic attitude was to fight him in an almost childlike way. She didn’t react like an educated woman and fight him on an adult level. I felt all she had to do was start stomping her feet like a kid and sticking her tongue out at him to complete the image of a petulant woman/child. It felt that as the story progressed, that Velia and Jape simply fell into bed together because there was nothing else for them to do. There wasn’t any kind of progression from hate to something more just zero to sixty with no in between. So I wasn’t feeling the romance here.
Overall, Worlds Collide works better as a sci-fi story than a romance. I wasn’t too crazy about Velia or Jape so I found myself skimming through their steamier interactions and focusing on the bigger plot of how to stop a coming war where Earth was inadvertently helping the enemy. That plot isn’t completely resolved at the end, I’m assuming the fallout will continue in the next book which I will probably pick up just because I want to know what happens next.
Sheep Rating: 3
October 1, 2018
279 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Engineer Velia Farrah always wanted to see an alien up close. Now that she’s assigned to study the top secret portal linking Earth to other worlds, she’ll get her chance. But when a fierce, gold-skinned alien from Risnar leaps from the portal and whisks her back to his home planet, “up close” takes on a whole new meaning.
Believing Earthlings had killed his fellow warriors, Jape Bolep is determined to destroy Earth’s access to Risnar once and for all. Grabbing a curvy handful of a human wasn’t part of the plan, but he has no intention of letting her distract him from his need for vengeance—no matter how much he aches to make her his.
Both are ready to do battle over right and wrong and good and evil, and their combustible relationship burns hotter than the sun’s surface. But distrust and treachery from all sides leave Velia and Jape in a fight against their own people to keep each other alive—and to ultimately save both Earth and Risnar from total destruction.
One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!
Worlds Collide doesn’t waste time, it immediately tosses earth engineer Velia into very unfamiliar territory. She’s finally assigned to study the top-secret portal that connects earth to other planets but before she can get used to her new assignment, she’s kidnapped by a gold-skinned, appendage growing, and very angry alien. Jape Bolep blames humans for the deaths of his fellow warriors and plans on destroying the portal connecting earth to his world but he didn’t plan on being forced to take a hostage. Now that he’s brought Velia back to Risnar, he doesn’t quite know what to do with her. As Velia reluctantly gets to know her captor she finds out that the program she’s a part of has more sinister motives and as she and Jape try to overcome enemies, both alien and human, they also have to decide what to do with their rather inconvenient attraction to one another.
This was my first time reading anything by Tracy St. John and honestly I felt like I was reading two separate books. The sci-fi element of the story was pretty well done. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of not only Jape’s people but of various other aliens. It was easy for me to picture exactly what Velia was seeing and experiencing. I felt I was part of Velia and Jape’s crazy ride across different planets and meeting different species of aliens. It was pretty neat and I enjoyed the eclectic mix of life forms and the complex dynamics between some of them.
What I had a difficult time with was the “romance” between Velia and Jape. At first Jape’s hatred of humans is taken out on Velia and he’s not a very likable character, but at the same time, I couldn’t see myself being on Team Velia because she wasn’t very likable either. Her reaction to Jape’s sometimes misogynistic attitude was to fight him in an almost childlike way. She didn’t react like an educated woman and fight him on an adult level. I felt all she had to do was start stomping her feet like a kid and sticking her tongue out at him to complete the image of a petulant woman/child. It felt that as the story progressed, that Velia and Jape simply fell into bed together because there was nothing else for them to do. There wasn’t any kind of progression from hate to something more just zero to sixty with no in between. So I wasn’t feeling the romance here.
Overall, Worlds Collide works better as a sci-fi story than a romance. I wasn’t too crazy about Velia or Jape so I found myself skimming through their steamier interactions and focusing on the bigger plot of how to stop a coming war where Earth was inadvertently helping the enemy. That plot isn’t completely resolved at the end, I’m assuming the fallout will continue in the next book which I will probably pick up just because I want to know what happens next.
Sheep Rating: 3
Adria Reyes
About the Author:
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Tracy St. John is the author of science fiction romance, including the bestselling Clans of
Kalquor series and Shalia’s Diary serial. The author of over forty books, she also writes
paranormal romances, including the popular Netherworld series. She lives in Georgia with her
husband and son, fending off mosquitos and running from hurricanes.
Before settling in to write fulltime, she worked in video production, in front of and behind the
camera. She was often cast as the gun-toting bad gal, getting handcuffed in the end. She hopes that hot alien cops will intercept those videos and investigate her for crimes she’d be glad to commit. They can easily lure her into their spaceship with wine, coffee, chocolate, and promises she can sleep in.