Review: Amid Stars and Darkness

Amid Stars and Darkness by Chani Lynn Feener
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this free eARC novel from Edelweiss in exchange for my honest review.

The synopsis of this book intrigued me right away, so I was very excited to get a chance to read this book and see if it was as good as the description - which is definitely was!

Delaney is just a normal human who wants to go home and relax. Instead, her best friend Miranna wants to go to a club to see the hot alien bartender who she has been talking to. Yep, alien. Earth is now habitated by two different alien species in order to keep the peace between everyone. So Delaney is dragged out to the club with her friend, and when she is walking to her car, she gets kidnapped. But an alien she's never met. Who keeps calling her Lissa Olena, but obviously that is not Delaney. The more she keeps telling him, the more he is sure she is just lying.

Only when Delaney gets taken to their planet and has an actual conversation with her kidnapper, who is Ander Rukus, does Rukus realize that he made a mistake and kidnapped a human girl and took her to his alien planet. Oh, and the best part? Delaney now looks like Olena, who is the PRINCESS of the alien planet she is now on. And who is BETROTHED to Zane Trystan, an alien prince of another alien planet.

Life just got very complicated for Delaney, who was excited to start college...

Now Delaney has to convince Trystan that she is Olena until they can get the real Olena back home. But Trystan and Olena hate each other - they hate the binding contract they are forced into and they can't stand one another. But to keep the peace for all planets - theirs and Earth - they have to marry. Delaney can understand why Olena wants to stay away - Trystan is not nice and is very conniving.

And to make matters even more complicated, Delaney is starting to see a different perspective of Rukus, who feels extremely guilty that he kidnapped the wrong person.

Delaney can't act like Olena. Olena is very cold, very childish, very spoiled, and Delaney always sticks up for what she wants. She doesn't back down and she's very confrontational. So it's very hard for her to act like Olena. No matter how much she looks like the princess, people around her are starting to look at her weird because her mannerisms are not like Olenas.

The goal is to fool everyone until the real Olena gets brought back, but with assassination attempts happening every day, Delaney is not sure how the end result will be...

This was actually a GREAT novel! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I loved Delaney - she is a tough chick and even though she has been thrown into a terrible, terrible situation, she still takes one for the team and does what needs to be done to keep the peace.

Unlike the real Olena... She is so spoiled and such a child that she doesn't care if her actions causes a war to end all species. And the way everyone acted, expected Olena to throw a fit or start crying... yeah she is a brat who only cares about herself. So I really dislike her.

Rukus is a sexy alien, so of course I'm all about Delaney being with him. He does have weird mood swings that would confuse the hell out of me, but I think I could handle it overall :)

And then there is Trystan. At first, I was with Delaney and though he was creepy and scary and I would stay away from him at all costs. But he started to change. He started to appreciate Delaney and her "new" attitude. I think he was really starting to like her and start to like the idea of being with "Olena", so he was definitely becoming more appealing. He was flirting and making Delaney all flustered, but still scared shitless.

I dunno... I'd have to say, seeing those two together would be very interesting to see, I think. I'm not sure if I'm Team Trystan or Team Rukus, but either one would definitely be steaming off of the pages!

I am so, so, so glad that I got to read this book. I was a bit annoyed that there is a cliffhanger at the end of this novel. I thought it was a standalone, so now I realize that I have to wait FOREVER to find out what happens next! But I will wait patiently and find out what will happen next for Delaney.

I think a lot of readers will really fall in love with this book and I will definitely recommend it to other readers who love mystery, suspense, romance and science fiction!

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