I think that this is my first Kate Rudolph book here, but it’s not the first one I’ve read. I own several of the earlier books in this series, and it’s one that I tend to enjoy. So, let’s get to Dekon, shall we?
OK, this is a fated mate scifi romance. The way that it works is that the aliens are a species called Detyens. Their species is dying off. Part of that is because if you don’t meet your denya, your soul mate, by the time you are 30, you are dead. Pfft. Game over. There are so few Detyens left in the universe, it was nearly impossible to find their denya, but then one lucky male found out that humans are compatible. Now, the Detyens are slowly moving to Earth, hoping that they can find denya. OK, now that you have the basics of the world down, let’s get to the specifics.
When Manda was a tween, she was stolen by aliens. She had terrible, horrible, very bad things happen to her. After 5 years, she was saved by Detyens and brought home. But while she was gone, her parents went out to try and find her, and now they are out in space. But Dekon and his brother find her parents and are bringing them home. There’s just one problem for Deke. He’s pretty sure that Manda is his denya, which is a good thing. She’s only 16 and is recovering from MAJOR trauma, which is a bad thing. He doesn’t want to do anything that will stunt her growth or her recovery. He also doesn’t want to torture himself by spending years around her without being able to claim her. So, he decides, for both their sakes’ that he will leave. He leaves and ends up being a merc.
Five years later, he’s tired and is basically trying to kill himself. But after some thought, he decides to go to a Temple of Peace and try to fix himself. He lets his family know, and he lets Manda know. Manda is PISSED. She’s been waiting for years for him to come home, and he hasn’t talked to her at all during those years. She knows that she’s probably his denya, and so does his family, who she is close to. She decides that she’s not going to stand for his shit anymore. She’s going to go out and get her man.
I thought that Manda was very mentally and emotionally strong. She went out and was going to do the things that she wants to do, even if it’s scary, like going out to space. I love her thought that she probably won’t be abducted by aliens twice. She has had to fight, hard, to be where she is. She has to fight so that she could be better. She had to fight hard to deal with her parents, and all her feelings with them. I have so much respect for her and her strength and her will.
I understand why Dekon did the things that he did. He really was kind of in that I’m going to be damned if I do and damned if I don’t, so either way, I’m just damned. It had to be so hard for him to know what Manda was to him but have to deal with her being young, physically, and deal with her trauma which can make her older mentally and emotionally. There’s that. I think that he’s a good male, and he did, most of the time, the things that were the right things to do.
OK, nothing down below today. Go check it out!
In Between the Pages 