Audiobook Review: Protected (Alien Mate Index, #2). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Protected by Evangeline Anderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Grav N’gol is many things. Murderer…ex-con…Alien half-breed…
And a Protector.
…
More than just a bodyguard, a Protector chooses a female to ward for life and swears an oath to die for her if necessary.
…
Enter Leah Roth. The luscious little Earth female is supposed to be just a quick surveillance gig for Grav. He’ll check on her and report back that she’s okay—it should be easy.
…
Only she’s not okay.
…
When Grav sees Leah’s abusive husband hurting her, he swings into action. Before he knows it, he has Leah aboard his ship. When he’s given a dangerous and difficult mission, Leah volunteers to come along and help…and somehow Grav can’t say no.
…
But as much as he feels drawn to the lovely little human, Grav knows it can never be between them. For in his past lurks a bloody and savage secret that would turn even the most forgiving heart against him.
…
From his past and from his true nature Leah must be… Protected at all costs.
Protected

“A little guy in a pink sombrero!”

The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💚🖤💙❤️💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🪐🛸🚀☄️🌒
Character development: 🤖👽🥰👽😌

The heroine: Leah Roth – friend to Zoe from Abducted. She was a teacher of young autistic children, though is now married to the boyfriend she had in the beginning of book one. Her husband Gerald is jealous, controlling and abusive. She works for a couple of gay men and their child, and her husband accused her of cheating with her boss and beat her because of it.

The Hero(es): Grav N’gol – he is friends with Sarden from Abducted. Like Sarden Grav is a half breed, though Grav is half Vorn and half Braxian. These are two of the most feared and savage races in the Galaxy and when he was younger he was convicted of murdering multiple people and thrown into prison. Since getting out he has become a protector. He protected his 12 year old charge until she was sent off to a girls school by her grandfather and now he has 2 new charges: Leah and Charlotte, Zoe’s two friends on Earth.

The Story: When Grav goes to the Alien Mate Index ship off of Earth to verify that Leah and Charlotte are safe since Sarden paid them them to make sure the two were not sold to anyone else, he finds Leah being abused by her husband, so he escapes with her to space and plans to take her to the planet Sarden and Zoe rule as King and Queen.

The book is told in dual points of view in dual narration by Mackenzie Cartwright and William Martin. These two both do a great job and have very pleasant voices. I enjoyed listening to this via audiobook and plan to do the last two in the series via audiobook as well.

I loved the characters in this book. Grav was so nice and patient with Leah as she learns to navigate the new world after she discovers aliens exist and goes off with him. I also love the fact that he called her darlin’, which is one of my favorite pet names guys give girls. I think darling is way too formal but I love darlin’. Grav pushed Leah away at first because he has secrets, also because he doesn’t think they can bond due to his half breed status, but he wanted her very bad.

There were other great characters in the book. The main villain in this book is the same as in the first book, Count Doloroso, who is the last of the assimilated, now has a surprising new name and new body and is after Leah since Zoe is out of his reach. He wants to bring back assimilation, where sentient machines inject themselves into live bodies. Though this time, Doloroso wants to create assimilated children born from him and a woman who is a la-ti-zal (born with special powers), and that is Leah.

The science fiction world building in this series is much better than many of the other alien romances I have read. The aliens are not barbarians like in many and they don’t go around naked or wear loincloths. Though Grav is half Vorn and half Braxian, which is a combination of the fiercest races, he is still civilized. Though his Braxian half can go into Berzerker mode if pushed to it, where he thinks of nothing but killing until every last enemy is dead.

The writing is terrific, and though there are some very steamy scenes, the romance and the story are as important or more so than the intimacy between the main characters. This reads more like an adventure sci-fi fantasy than a smutty alien romance.

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