Rating: 4🌈

The finale novel to the wonderful Head Above Water, I found I enjoyed reading this but it wasn’t as well rounded a story as its predecessor.  There’s so much that the author was trying to fit into this book and more importantly, more details about alien cultures and their world biology that was unknown to the series, but hugely influential to a major character. 

That’s usually interesting and a great way to explore new facets of a known main character’s storyline. Here it’s Sohven and Jace’s dynamic, not recovered from the past events of their spaceship crash.  That’s the drama Evermore uses to thread the layers of an intense, unsettled romantic inter-species relationship onto that of bringing it to Sohven’s interdicted planet, further stretching its boundaries.

For me, the author turns a predatory Sohven who fled his planet into a completely new character. One who doesn’t fit the same frame as the one we’re familiar with.  From over protective to removing himself from the protective nature he’s exhibited , and both lacking communication in the relationship. 

Jace, who’s apart from Sohven for much of the book, is taking part of trails, is still his own man. The most interesting part of the story, along with several side characters, like Vovu. 

That ending was climactic and everything I’d expect from the author and series. However, there’s Vovu and they ended up as a dangling storyline I’d have loved to see resolved here or in a side story. They deserve it. 

I expect Little Ships is a two book series and I loved the first novel better than its finale. However, it’s great to see a HFN in any series, and Sohven and Jace certainly got theirs. A definite win. 

Great cover again 

The Little Ships (2 books):

Head Above Water #1

Rock and a Hard Place #2

Buy link 

        Rock and a Hard Place: An MM Alien Science Fiction Romance (The Little Ships)

    

Blurb

Surviving a crash landing on an uncharted planet was supposed to be the hard part.
No one told me the real challenge would be the aftermath.

I have most of my memories back, I’m about to start my first mission since Sohven and I were rescued from Sannaveh-8B, and my crewmates aren’t half bad. Nothing to complain about, right?

Too bad nothing good ever comes easy. Since we’ve returned to our ship, Sohven’s been overprotective, paranoid, and on edge. No matter how well I carry out my duties, he just can’t seem to trust me to take care of myself, and I’m getting tired of being treated like a freak blow to the head means I’m incompetent.

Sohven’s solution seems simple. He wants to double-down on our commitment and make things permanent. He wants us to become mates—officially. That means a trip back to Lohnyal, a closed planet with a culture few outsiders ever experience. The trouble is, seven years is a long absence—long enough to leave Sohven on the outside looking in, too.

We do our best to respect his family and follow their customs, but when we land in his eyrie, we’re stepping into more than a straightforward mating ceremony. When Sohven’s family gets him back, they don’t want to let him go. It’s going to take all of my ingenuity to make sure we find a way off his planet. This time, he’s the one who needs to be rescued, and I intend to deliver.

Rock and a Hard Place is meant to be read after Head Above Water, the first book in Jace and Sohven’s story

• Publication date: May 28, 2024
• Language: English
• Print length: 292 pages