Let’s talk about the much anticipated (by me anyway) continuation of the Cosmic Lovers series by Leda Palmer. My review of the first book, Bloodlust Voyage, was brief gushing followed by musing about followup books. I said I’d like some more and Palmer pointed me to her ARC signup form. Sometimes happiness is early access to alien romance by a talented writer. Bloodlust Voyage confirmed an unexpected appreciation of vampire aliens. Betrothal Voyage has me craving more aquatic types.

I want to start out by saying you do not have to have read the first book to read this one. They are connected, but this is not a direct continuation of the first. The crew of our FMC’s ship are part of this story, but Palmer provides just enough context for each of them that there is no confusion. It just feels like they are part of Zenda’s story. I love Zenda and Nash. I love that they are closer to my age than a lot of smutty romance characters. I love that they’ve been friends basically their entire adult lives. And I love that they’ve been secretly pining for each other the entire time. This book gave me major feels because I’ve had that before. More than once. It didn’t end in happily ever after for me, but that’s okay. Real life is more complicated than alien romance books. And while I didn’t get my happily ever after, I don’t mind living vicariously through Zenda and Nash. These two who have been crushing on each other from the day they met but never talked about it for reasons. Listen. Life is short. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” (– Wayne Gretzky – Michael Scott) – Me. I understand not wanting to mess up the friendship, but I promise you won’t. Maybe things will be awkward for a minute, but your friendship will recover. Do I follow my own advice? Absolutely not, but you should.

Whoops, went off on a tangent there. Wasn’t this supposed to be a book review? Tl;dr version is I loved this book. I love Zenda and Nash individually and together. I love that there is conflict but not enough to make me uncomfortable. If you like friends to lovers and fake marriage tropes, you’ll love this book. This series is everything I love about alien romance books. It’s sweet and spicy and funny af. I am already looking forward to the next one.