Seminal: For the Love of Aliens, Book 2 by C.M. Stunich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t play the role of the kidnapped princess very well. And I really hate the fated mates trope.

Hello again, I’m Eve Wakefield, and I refuse to accept that I’m in love with an intergalactic moth prince.

No. I don’t care how handsome he is, I don’t want to marry him. I don’t care if his parents have a sentient spaceship capable of eating entire planets. Love is earned, not swindled by pheromones.

I’m now trapped on a ship with an adorable cyborg bodyguard, a golden toilet, and relationship issues. There’s the prince I’m supposed to marry, the forest beast I fell in love with, and the never-wears-clothes police officer with tentacles. I’ve also got a mother-in-law who looks like a giant millipede, more macarons than I can eat, and plenty of red lace lingerie made from alien moth blood.

I’m living in luxury, but I will do anything to see Abraxas again, even if that means giving in and becoming a princess in a gilded cage.

There’s so much more to all of this than I first thought, and I should’ve known better than to judge a man whose gaze is enough to knock me to my knees.

Damn. I might be wrong. I might be in love with more than one alien. I might also be dying.

There’s only one person who can fix this. I need to be with Abraxas. After that, I’ll worry about the possibility of becoming the next queen of the universe.

Let’s be honest here. I don’t miss being a caterer; being an alien queen is way more interesting.

Seminal

A Layered Dive into Alien Romance and Identity.

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💚💜❤️🤎
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: 😟🙁🤓😍🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration

This second installment in the series continues the immersive narrative established in Pheromone, presenting a richly constructed world where biological instinct collides with personal agency—and the consequences are as intimate as they are political.

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🧍‍♀️ The Heroine: Eve’s Journey of Identity and Agency

Eve, a twenty-five-year-old caterer from Earth, serves as the emotional and ethical core of this narrative. Her arc hinges on displacement—first from her family, then from her chosen mate, and finally from her own bodily autonomy. Initially grounded in a relatable domestic life, Eve’s abduction catalyzes a psychological transformation that is subtle, conflicted, and layered with trauma response. Her yearning to find Jane is interwoven with survivor’s guilt, and her evolving relationship with Abraxas foregrounds notions of found family and healing.

Her attraction to Rurik—the moth prince who claims her through a pheromonal bond—introduces a potent metaphor: the tension between biological destiny and romantic consent. Her resentment toward Rurik isn’t merely about being “taken”; it reflects a deeper interrogation of what it means to be wanted for one’s biology versus one’s soul.

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🧑‍🚀 The Heroes: Three Men, Three Mirrors

• Rurik, the moth prince, complicates the concept of “mate” with his dependency on Eve’s blood, transforming romantic craving into literal survival. His royalty status adds political weight to his actions, and his bargain with Eve—marriage in exchange for Abraxas’s return—places her in a morally ambiguous role as both pawn and queen-maker.
• Abraxas, the dragon-like recluse, anchors Eve’s desire for emotional safety. Their relationship—marked by quiet domesticity in a crashed jungle ship—evokes themes of mutual care and sacrificial love. His dying state and Eve’s decision to mate with him before being taken suggest a complex emotional tether rather than mere imprinting.
• Hyt, a tentacled lawman with an Earthling sister and a cowboy hat, adds tonal range and injects elements of humor and gallantry. His commitment to rescuing Earth-humans from grotesque commodification frames the narrative’s larger critique of interspecies exploitation and humanity’s fragility in a galactic hierarchy.


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🧠 World Building and Narrative Architecture

The standout feature of this novel remains its meticulous world building. The author’s visual descriptions of moth-based biotechnology—particularly their living ships and blood lace traditions—are vivid and imaginative. The socio-political dynamics on Rurik’s ship, the delicately drawn locations such as the world station bar populated with human survivors, and the tactile specificity of alien anatomy all contribute to an atmosphere that is immersive without overwhelming.

Notably, the author’s ability to illustrate each environment while maintaining character focus showcases an elegant balance between setting and emotional stakes.

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🔄 Structure and Emotional Resonance

The reverse harem framework, deviating from convention, is surprisingly effective due to its emotional grounding. Eve’s evolving guilt—feeling like she’s betraying Abraxas despite being physiologically bound to Rurik—echoes real-world dilemmas around polyamory, emotional fidelity, and trauma-informed love. The “fated mates” trope is interrogated rather than romanticized, lending the book a philosophical undertone: Is love a choice when biology demands otherwise?

While some readers may find the pacing leisurely, the granular scene work lends weight to character psychology. Eve’s internal monologue—particularly the wry but heartbreaking quote “I’m trapped on a planet nuking spaceship, without Abraxas, with a mothman who claims to be my soulmate, with a nice toilet, but no freedom, few choices, with a broken heart.” —encapsulates the emotional dissonance at play.

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🎧 Audiobook Performance

Narrated in a dual-POV duet format, Patrick Zeller and Brooke Daniels deliver performances that significantly heighten the story’s emotional texture. Daniels imbues Eve with palpable vulnerability and strength, while Zeller distinguishes each male lead with purposeful vocal choices: southern drawl for Hyt, guttural reserve for Abraxas, and regal arrogance for Rurik. The technical execution is clean, with the narration complementing the emotional layers rather than overwhelming them.

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🔚 Final Thoughts

This entry builds beautifully upon the foundations laid in the first book. Through bold world building, emotionally intelligent character work, and provocative romantic tension, the author offers a speculative reflection on choice, autonomy, and the bonds that defy biology. While some scenes linger longer than necessary, the emotional depth and immersive narration make this an audiobook worth experiencing for fans of character-driven science fiction romance.

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