Choosing Theo Review

Hey guys,

Happy Friday! Sorry this is so late, my laptop broke so I’m struggling to get posts up. I’m currently using my phone and it’s taking 45 times longer than usual.
As always this is a Spoiler Free review.
I am currently on a Sci-Fi Romance kick, something about Alien’s are just doing it for me right now, so expet more reviews of books in this genre for the time being.
Anyway, let’s jump into the review.

Title: Choosing Theo
Author: Victoria Aveline
Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi, Abduction, Forced Marriage
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: March 4th 2020
Pages: 383
When I Read It: June 20th 2021
Goodreads Rating: 4.19 Stars

Goodreads Description:
Being kidnapped by aliens is only the start of Jade’s problems. Thankfully, her rescuers, an alien race known as the Clecanians, are willing to protect her, but she has to stay on their planet for one year and respect the rules of their culture–including choosing a husband. Jade refuses at first but decides to play along until she can find a way back to Earth.
Theo, a scarred mercenary who prefers a life of solitude, is stunned when Jade selects him as her husband. After years of being passed over, he never imagined he would be chosen and neither did anyone else. Only one explanation makes sense…the curvy enticing female must be a spy, and Theo’s determined to break her cover using any means necessary.
As Jade and Theo are forced to spend time together, their chemistry becomes undeniable. But neither can afford to bring love into the equation, especially since Jade seems determined to go home. After all, she can’t possibly stay here, right?

Review:
I am still firmly on my Alien-romance-sci-fi-kidnaping trope books at the moment and this has been my favourite yet.
The premise, writing, humour, intrigue, and pacing were all amazing.
Where this book really excelled against the others I have read recently was in the characters, the world-building, and how this impacted their relationship.
I adored Jade as the main character – I felt like all of her actions were so relatable plus she was pretty funny. I also loved her mental prejudices against the aliens and how she realises because it was such a small detail but something that just added to the authenticity and realism in such an unreal situation was so great!
I also adored Theo; especially his backstory and how that impacted his self-worth and by extension their relationship and the book’s plot and pacing. I loved that this book had the same mating trope as in the other alien romances I have read recently, but this was far better executed because they had a connection and slowly-building relationship outwith the mating so it didn’t feel fake or insta-lovey because their relationship was so slow burn and tension-filled up until that point.
I also just adored the world-building of this as a whole and how it provided both the plot-important cultural details, but also just small little quirks that were kind of pointless just to flesh out the world. I loved the constant comparisons to Earth that allowed for both sides to judge each other and in a way evaluate the best of both civilisations.
I loved the smutty parts, it was very well written and tension-filled. I also liked the way the language barrier was dealt with – quickly but they still played off that fact and just everything about this book was just so well handled. I definitely want to read from Victoria Aveline again, I don’t know if I’d continue the series because it’s the initial abduction that draws me to these stories and I don’t think the sequel has this to the same degree – but I definitely want to see if she has written anything else.
So yeah! I loved this. It was awesome and fun and just the right amount of spicy to balance everything. Seriously amazing, definitely recommend.

Overall Score = 9/10
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

That’s all for today’s review folks.
This book was amazing and I really enjoyed it! More than Ice Planet Barbarians which is getting a lot of hype right now so hopefully my enjoyment of the genre continues. I’ll see you on Sunday with another review!

Have you read this?
Have you read anything by Victoria Aveline?
Do you have any good Sci-Fi Romance recommendations?