NMmomof4's Reviews > Captive of the Horde King

3 Stars

Overall Opinion: Well...it's obvious that Ms. Draven is a fan of reading the romance genre herself. I read of similarities of this book in reviews, but man! There was a lot! Here's a spoiler in case you don't want to read about them: (view spoiler)[ There was the obvious The Golden Dynasty similarities (wearing gold, women servants, nomadic town, warrior/king H, "it is their way" comment, even some of the "native" language seemed similar, etc.). But! I also found similarities to other books I've read. There was the extra appendage on the male that was just like Ice Planet Barbarians to make the sex different. I even felt like how the h was dealing with the creatures that the alien race ride very similar to the h and her experience with the elephants in Kiss an Angel! There was also the "don't be nice to me" thing that the h did when she was not wanting to get emotional from something the H said that I can't remember where I read that before too 🤔. (hide spoiler)]. While I didn't necessarily mind those similarities, it actually became distracting in a way because I think the author could've gone her own unique route using those books as inspiration instead of being so dang similar. I also had a hard time with the h. I disliked her. She wasn't someone that I would want as a friend, and I think that is often how I rate the hs in my book. I wouldn't say I hated the book though! Overall, it was just an okay read for me.

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Luna and Arokan's story. Luna is a human on a planet that Arokan is a horde king and native species to. There are rules that the humans must follow in order to inhabit the planet, and one day Luna's younger brother breaks one of those rules. To save his life, Luna offers herself in exchange and ends up being taken back to the king's horde. There are some horde dynamics that Luna has to get accustomed to, some violence, some sexy times...and they get a HEA ending.

Point Of View (POV): This was told in Luna's POV.

Overall Pace of Story: Good. I thought it flowed well and I never skimmed.

Instalove: No, they take a while to develop stronger feelings.

H (Hero) rating: 3.5 stars. Arokan. He was alright. I didn't feel like we really knew his character and that if we had some of his POV it could've gone a long way.

h (heroine) rating: 2.5 stars. Luna. I struggled with her a lot. She seemed like she would go on bouts of being (what I think was supposed to be) strong willed where in reality I thought she was just being dumb and contradictory. I definitely didn't like her.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed

Push/Pull: Yes (view spoiler)[ The h pushes away at first and I'd say the H is the main pursuer of the relationship. (hide spoiler)]

Heat level: Good. They have some good tension, chemistry, and scenes -- but not so much it takes away from the story.

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) drama: No

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: No

Separation: No

Possible Triggers: Yes (view spoiler)[Violence/murder (on and off page), the h was a virgin (no mention of if the H was experienced but I felt like he was), the h had to mercy kill her mother (off page), loss of loved ones (off page), brief mentions of rape occurring (no descriptions of characters or scenes on page), and pregnancy (on page) (hide spoiler)]

Closure: This had alright closure with what I would call a HEA even though I felt as though the epilogue could've been more than just setting up readers for the next book.

Safety: This one should be Safe for most safety gang readers
(view spoiler)[
- Does Not have cheating
- Does Not have a descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
- Does have the h pushing the H away
- Does Not have a separation between the h and H
- Does Not have abuse by mcs
- Does have a HEA ending (see above) (hide spoiler)]