So, Maddie has a SFR series called the Primarian Mates. It consists of 4 books, The Barbarian’s Captive, His By Command, His Rebellious Mate, and Defying the General. I reviewed Defying back when it came out. Each book follows a new couple, but the stories are all interconnected, so while they could all be read as standalones, it’s really better to read them in order.
Here’s the basic story. Earth has pretty much killed herself. Massive climate change has led to self-destruction. So, humans have sent out a ship filled with 300 women to find a new planet. The goal is to find someplace where the humans can go and resettle, or at least a lot of them. The Odyssey has been searching for 3 long years, and nada. But, then, miraculously, they found a planet. A team of scientists and military personnel went down to explore and take samples, because from space it looked good. And that’s when it all went pear shaped.
The Primarians are a patriarchal society. Even the least strong male is still all alpha and all in charge. What makes it even worse is that several years ago something called the Rain of Fire happened. Basically, a whole bunch of rocks fell out of the sky, killed many, especially females, and left the majority of females infertile. The females who can still conceive are much more likely to give birth to males more than females. The people of Primaria are slowly dying out. They’ve been looking for another species that they are compatible with so that they can start to rebuild their population.
In Captive, The Princip, or ruler, of Primaria is named Kerr. He and a bunch of his buddies are out on a hunting trip to their hunting planet, which just happens to be the same one the Odyessy found, and they all just happen to be there at the same time. The guys, who are all ginormous with ass-length hair and just happen to be dressed as barbarians, start chasing the women. They end up capturing 8 of them, including a botanist named Eva, who just happens to catch Kerr’s eye, and actually turns out to be compatible with him.
Command is the story of Magda and Rothke. She’s the captain of the Odyssey and he’s the head of the Primarian Space Fleet. Since they have found out that the human women are compatible and 8 women aren’t about to rebuild their population, the Primarians have decided that they are going to go after the Odyessy and get the other 292 women and mate them as well. Because if 8 are good, then 300 is like 40 times better, right? Still not enough to help repopulate the world, but if all the women get highly compatible matches, then it’s at least a pretty good start.
Rebellious is all about Eryn and Ram. She was one of the original 8 and Ram was the warrior that she was mated to. The problem is that they didn’t get along all that well. They had some serious issues. Now, she’s dissolved their mate-ship, and she’s gone back to earth to help set up the arrangements and treaties between Primaria and Earth. But all is not peaceful on Earth. Even though things have gotten worse since the Odyssey left, there are a lot of humans who don’t want to work with the Primarians and don’t want to go to the new planet. Because of course there are. They cause a lot of problems and Eryn and Ram get caught in it.
Defying is the story of Lana and Trask. Lana was one of the original 8 too. Trask is the high muckety muck in the military and Kerr’s cousin. They are also my favorite couple in the series, and this is my favorite book. Their book takes place over many months and deals with their mating and their separation. It’s terribly heartbreaking at times, and I just bawled my fucking eyes out while I was reading it.
The books, especially the first two, really deal with the cultural differences in between the Primarians and the humans. It shows up a lot in between Maggie and Roth, because she’s the captain and used to being in charge, and all of a sudden isn’t anymore.
On top of dealing with those cultural differences, there are also the personal challenges that each person and each couple has to go through. None of them have an easy journey. Even the easiest one, which I think Eva and Kerr’s story is, doesn’t go all that easily. Which, you know, I like because just because you have a high compatibility match doesn’t mean that you fall 100% in love immediately, and just because you are 100% in love doesn’t mean that everything is going to be nice and smooth.
Anyway, the books are all filled with love, passion, conspiracy, mistrust, suspicion, adventured, and misunderstandings. They are compelling to read and whenever I reread them, I get drawn back into them.
So, that’s all for today. You have choices when it comes to checking them out. There’s a boxset you can look at or you can get whatever ones you need to read. Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 