Science Fiction

In this episode, we discuss Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell.
Dumpster-fire walking, Tennal is self-medicating and self-indulging in an effort to cope with the enhanced mental capabilities of his “reader” brain. He’s living the charmed life of a socioeconomically advantaged civilian as if there are no consequences… until there are, you know, consequences. The next thing he knows, he’s forcibly enlisted in the Cavalry and bullied into syncing with a babysitter, aka “architect”, Lt. Surit.
Hard working Lt. Surit is a model soldier. He doesn’t plan to disobey orders, but when he is ordered to sync with the non-consenting Tennal, Surit is forced to reevaluate why a social pariah like him was given this opportunity in the first place. 
Content warning: Themes surrounding a lack of consent
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In this episode, we discuss Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh.
Sascha is a Psy who is experiencing a problematic flare up of emotion, which could get her sent to ‘rehabilitation’ to have her feelings/personality removed. To avoid this fate, she suppresses her emotions to pass as a normal Psy – nothing to see here. That all changes when she meets Lucus, a Changeling who’s used to expressing all of his feels and getting his own way. Lucus is trying to catch a serial killer. He senses that Sascha is different and hopes she can help. 
Exposure to the Changeling way of life has Sascha questioning everything. While they try to stop the murderer from starting an all-out war, Sascha must also decide if she wants to continue to control her emotions.
Content warning: Mind rape, elements of dubious consent
Website: romanceMEpodcast.com | Twitter: @romanceMEcast | Facebook: @romanceMEpod

In this episode, we discuss Transcendence by Shay Savage.
Ehd is a man with a cave but no tribe. As a result, he struggles to find a purpose for his life after the end of another long, lonely winter. Enter his purpose: Elizabeth, a mysterious woman from the future. Together, they must face the prehistoric wilderness while trying to find some way to communicate without words.
Content warning: Dubious consent, attempted rape, threat of child loss, heroine is maybe a highschooler
Website: romanceMEpodcast.com | Twitter: @romanceMEcast | Facebook: @romanceMEpod

In this episode, we discuss The Corsair’s Captive by Ruby Dixon.
After being taken from Earth and treated like livestock, Fran finds herself being led around like a pet by an alien. Meanwhile, Kivian was planning to gamble for some fuel crystals, but revised those plans when he saw the pretty human getting her chain yanked. Now he intends to liberate Fran’s captor of everything, woman included. 
Kivian wants Fran to know she will be safe with him, but can she trust him?
Content warning: Human trafficking, slavery.
Website: romanceMEpodcast.com | Twitter: @romanceMEcast

In this episode, we discuss One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.
While trying to distance herself from her mother’s pursuit of her missing uncle, August Landry moves to New York City to pursue higher education and higher rent. While boarding the subway, she meets the leather-jacket-wearing-cool-girl Jane Su, who saves her from coffee-shirt humiliation with a red scarf. August soon realizes there is more to the mysterious Jane than she first suspected, and she is forced to admit she wants to investigate Jane's past in order to save her dream girl.
Content warnings: Homophobia.
Website: romanceMEpodcast.com | Twitter: @romanceMEcast 

In this episode, we discuss While You Were Creeping by Poppy Rhys.
In the town of Tinsel on Dor Nye, Holly is struggling to put her ex behind her when she is gifted with a present that happens to be an interdimensional prison containing a Krampus-looking fellow by the name of Kye. When Holly and Kye are face-to-face, she freaks and he calls her a witch. Bound together by circumstance, they make promises to one another: he will participate in the holiday festivities as her boyfriend and she will find a way to release him from his prison by New Years, before he has to disappear back into his prison. But what will happen when the clock strikes midnight?
 

Today we’ll be discussing Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell. 
One day, out of the blue, free-spirited Prince Kiem learns of his duty to marry to maintain peace. He’s okay with this, he knew it would happen one day, but he doesn’t want to marry the still mourning widower of his cousin.
Jainan, the prospective groom, is reserved, careful, and seemingly repelled by Kiem, all expected behaviors of a grieving spouse. However, when it’s revealed that his previous husband died under suspicious circumstances, these actions become questionable.
Caught in an expanding web of politics and deceit, Kiem and Jainan must learn to trust each other while they work to discover the truth--and love.
Content warning: Depictions of past domestic violence, abuse survivorship.

In this episode, we discuss His Human Assistant by Michele Mills.
While working for the Intergalactic Business Bureau, Avery Klein needs somewhere, anywhere, to hide after her secret cover is blown.
Hannibal Hellstone is a businessman in need of an assistant and Avery takes the assignment. While they are mutually attracted to each other, Hannibal has sworn to never fall in love again.
Avery didn’t know she was looking for a place to call home, but being welcomed into Hannibal’s family feels right. Can she convince Hannibal to give love another chance?
Content Warning: Mentions of suicide, drug abuse, and domestic violence.