Zoe (Klaxian Cyborgs' Mates, #1) in Reverse Harem Readers

Aug 23, 2020 OneDayI'll rated it liked it

In a galaxy right next door...

First off, read Hatched & Matched before diving in. Secondly, be open to all relationships- m/f, m/m, f/f, and all combos with multiples of each.

Zoe is tired of lugging her useless legs, useless familial guilt and beyond useless- because it's non-existent- lovelife. Alien matchmaking can not only pair her off, and ensure her family is taken care of, but it might mean the return of the use of her legs. But while her match processing goes off without a hitch, simply l In a galaxy right next door...

First off, read Hatched & Matched before diving in. Secondly, be open to all relationships- m/f, m/m, f/f, and all combos with multiples of each.

Zoe is tired of lugging her useless legs, useless familial guilt and beyond useless- because it's non-existent- lovelife. Alien matchmaking can not only pair her off, and ensure her family is taken care of, but it might mean the return of the use of her legs. But while her match processing goes off without a hitch, simply leaving the facility becomes exceedingly dangerous. A mysterious van runs her off the road. Waking in a basement, shaking off drugs is hard enough with functional legs. Waking up dehydrated, hungry, and shaking off drugs makes you useless dead weight to the other women in there with you. The vicous dog in the yard is really just overkill.

Spoilers ahead.
It isn't mentioned, but this is a continuation of the Diary series. A new focus, but same lack of world building. There are SO many species lacking women. Hundreds of species, made up of millions of males. Even with multiple mates women are facing overwhelming odds. And no clue why no women. They're all advanced scientifically, super healers, and 1 has nanites and has perfected cloning. So...to misquote a Mel Brooks movie, "Where're all the women at?" Zoe winds up with 10 mates, 2 groups have already pre-bonded with each other, 1 group is hastily assembled after 1 of the quad realizes she's his mate. Each group seems to have 2 kinds of bonds, with each other and with their mate. Klaxians mate in 4s, either 4 males, or 3+female. As they have nanites and clone, the female issue can be bypassed. Angels are a quad plus female. Quads can exist without women, but no breeding without them. Keras, no idea in group size, but bond with each other and mates. There's still no world building. Each has had issues with their planets, some still do, but fuss about how polluted Earth is. I was a little sad that Zoe's main interest, initially, was just her legs. Her kidnapping was glossed, over quickly, and while supposedly bad enough she withered some, wasn't long enough to actually do that. Also, @20 women. A scout group couldn't escape and get help? Leave a lookout group in the woods to overpower the lone kidnapper? Sure, Zoe wasn't going anywhere without her chair, but, with that many women there were options that included the window they had access to. Her Klaxian mates rushed her nanites, risking her health if there was a reaction. None of the aliens had any issues with human foods. One set of mates was ok with black market animal sales, of which they only shrugged when learning some of their cargo was actually shifters. Another planet of lonely males is added. And Zoe may have healing nanites but 10 mates is a lot to take on in a single day of forming bonds. They still haven't settled on a planet, mates keep getting kidnapped, there's talk of relocating agriculture with them but no talks about how that may affect the chosen environment (invasive species can kill off flora and fauna, both the moved and what's invaded). Can cows eat alien grasses? There's a million moving parts here, the focus just keeps changing, the story keeps adding more parts, and nothing feels resolved. Jennifer, from the Diary series, is some galaxy leader with too many mates to name, the women with her disappeared from the storyline, Zoe hasn't really grown as a character and is ending with a HFN, and the next one swaps her out with Betty, one of the other kidnapped women. Yet, Zoe's mom, sister and grandmother, plus a couple rescued kidnap victims, all joined the registry, moved planets and then a few aquired mates. Those threads got dropped just like the women in Jennifer's timeline. Maybe if they were given in between novellas? Flesh them out a bit before powering on. While there are parts I loved about this series- consent, multiple species, multiple mates, new planets and cultures; there are things I didn't like, too. Zoe goes from virgin (be prepared to read that word way more than you want to) to nympho in a second flat. Each group has a bond outside the mate bond. But all 10, 3 species, form a bond with each other. They didn't seem prepared to do that, but after a barked order by Zoe, simply stripped and went at each other. Being ok with homosexual relationships is 1 thing. Being commanded to jump on a guy you just met an hour ago? Just because you share a mate? And how they treat Moon is awful. His bonding is almost more punishment because of something that was out of his control. I really want to take these books, shake them off, pad some things, tweak others, add a healthy dollop of background and see what they could become. There's a lot of interesting things hidden in there. ...more

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