by Andy Weir

I purchased a paperback copy of Project Hail Mary when the film started at the cinema. I haven’t seen the film yet as I wanted to read the book first and although I don’t tend to gravitate towards Sci-Fi I really, really, loved this story!

This book is quite science heavy but not in an overwhelming way. I didn’t understand a lot of it but that didn’t hinder my enjoyment in any way. Ryland Grace is a brilliant character and one I warmed to immediately. His reaction to the situation he finds himself in is very believable. His story is fascinating to follow. It is quite hilarious a lot of the time, which I loved.

I love the woman who decided to send him on this mission (her name escapes me, sorry, because I finished this book a while ago now). She absolutely takes no prisoners. She could probably stop any war with just a look! Lol! Excellent character! We need more people like her in this world.

My favourite character by far though is Rocky! What a dude! No idea what he is really, and he’d probably frighten me to death in real life, but he grew on me very quickly and I love the friendship him and Ryland develop alongside working towards to the same goal. Genius writing! I absolutely loved it and I can’t wait to watch the film now.

A lone astronaut.
An impossible mission.
An ally he never imagined.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission – and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could imagine it, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian — while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Alien Lord’s Captive (Warriors of the Lathar Book 1)

by Mina Carter

If you’re a regular reader of my blog you will know that this isn’t my usual kind of read, but according to Amazon I bought the kindle copy on the 15^{th of} November 2021, so someone must have recommended it to me back then.

I have to say that I enjoyed it more than I expected. Alien romance wouldn’t be my go-to genre, but this is really well written, and I really enjoyed it once I got into it. This is a romance which begins with a forced proximity which made me feel a bit queasy at first. It soon becomes obvious though that Cat won’t need to be forced to do anything she doesn’t want to. She’s a strong character who quickly becomes enamoured with her alien captor. When I say alien, he isn’t much different to a human man, apart from a feline eye and he’s much bigger (in every sense of the word 😉). I enjoyed how their romance and love for one another blossoms. There is A LOT of heat between the two of them! If you like a bit of passion in your books and are looking for an escape from the real world, then maybe give this one a try.

I’m not sure I loved this enough to immediately read the following nineteen books in this twenty-book series, but I have added book two to my Wishlist! Thank you to whoever it was who brought this series to my attention.

She’s trained for everything up to and including alien invasion. One problem. No one told her aliens would be so damn sexy.

It’s simple. When her base is attacked by aliens, Cat has to fight. Whenever and however possible. But the alien leader, Tarrick, has her in his sights and she has one choice. Come to his bed or things go badly for her friends.

Determined to resist, it’s hard to remember what she’s fighting against when her alien captor is built like a god and his touch sets her body on fire. She only has to fool him for a while, just long enough to get the information they need to escape. Long enough to find out her sexy alien isn’t the monster she thought… But when the time comes, will she want to leave?

He needs a female, or they all die.

His species is dying. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but with no females, their days are numbered. Finding a base full of females is a bounty Tarrick can’t ignore. Nor can he ignore the delicate little female who stirs his blood yet dares to defy him at every step. Then a dangerous rival challenges his claim on Terran space and all it’s females. He can’t afford to lose control, or his clan is doomed.

When his treasured female is taken, he’ll do anything to rescue her. Including starting an intergalactic war…