So, Matched and Mated is the 16th book in Grace’s Interstellar Brides series, and it relates back to Her Mate’s Secret Baby, the 9th book in the series. The heroine in the 9th book is Natalie, who gets matched to Trion, and for reasons brings Miranda, a friend to Trion with her.
Two years after coming to Trion, Miranda is in the 6th month of a no strings attached relationship with a hunky doctor named Brax. He is more than just a doctor though, he also does super sekrit sneaky stuff for Trion and the Coalition. She has caught feelings, but she knows that his priority is his duty for Trion. She doesn’t blame him for it, and she was the one who proposed their arrangement, but he’s made it very obvious that he’s not going to take a mate anytime soon, and she really wants someone who is going to look at her as his number 1 priority, like her friend Natalie’s mate Roark does. So, when he has to leave again for another long term mission, and then she finds out that he was in town and then left without even seeing her, she knew, feelz or not, that it was time to do something. She decides to visit the bride testing center on Trion to find her perfect mate.
Meanwhile, on Battlegroup Zakar, second in command Trist finds out that he’s getting his perfect mate, coming from Trion, which causes him a lot of surprise when he finds out that his mate Miranda is human. He’s pretty sure that she’s totally perfect, there’s just one issue. He’s a Prillon, and Prillons mate in pairs, but since he never thought that he would get a mate and his second got a better offer, he currently doesn’t have one. But that’s OK, he told Miranda that they will find one.
Then there’s Brax. Oh, that sweet idiot. He comes home and discovers that Miranda is gone. Which really pisses him off, because he had finally decided that she was his. Natalie gives him a right telling off though.
OK, Brax is a total fucking idiot. Natalie shoulda had Roark beat the everloving snot out of him. He totally deserved it. And frankly, I would’ve laughed my everloving ass off. And I think, in general, he’s a pretty good guy, but he just wasn’t all that good here, you know? I won’t go so far as to say that he was toxic in the beginning, because he really wasn’t, but he was… careless. He was careless of Miranda’s feelings and her emotions. And that is almost worse, in my opinion.
Trist is a brick house. Not the kind that you bang your head against when you are frustrated, but the kind where you go to feel safe and protected. You know that within that house, nothing can get to you, you have something at your back. And hey, putting brick house into the same meaning as the Commodores song, it works just as well. He’s steady, sturdy, protective, and has his priorities in the right place. He’s pretty much nearly everything that Miranda needs.
I like Miranda. She has learned her value and her worth. She knows what she wants, and she definitely isn’t afraid to go after it. I always love it when I see that in a book.
I love the mixed species pairings we’re getting lately. I think it’s pretty cool, and I would totally love to see more of them.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 