I need to admit to myself that I'm DNFing this at 43%. I have a hard time wanting to return to it. 

After reading My Chameleon Mate in the Iriduan universe, I thought I'd give this related series a try. I knew this Iriduan Test Subjects series was darker than the Iriduan Universe Love Stories and there's a warning for "violence" but it's too vague of a warning. 

Chapter 3 was awful. It was the worst stuff you might think of when it comes to alien abduction, complete with on the page sexual violation/rape of the main female character. No fucking thank you. Despite that, for some dumb reason, I continued to give it a try. Maybe it's not the right mood for me or maybe it's the story that feels too meh and characters that I don't feel attached to or maybe it's a little bit of all of the above and more but I just can't read it anymore. If I try, I'm only skimming the pages at best.

This book was... not what I expected. I'm used to my alien monster erotica romances to have little plot and focus on our two love interests. There's an actual story here, to the point that with some changes it could have become the main plot, leaving the romance in the background. It was not necessarily what I was in the mood for, I'm not sure how to accurately rate this.

🦂 I love Thrax. First of, he's an alien that doesn't look or act human, which can be a deal breaker for some. Not for me. I love it when the monsters in romance books actually look like monsters and have very little human-like features. But I also loved his personality. He seems simple at first, but goes through a whole personality crisis and it's really interesting to watch him grow and figure out what and who he wants to be.

💃 Claire was ok. I often find the heroes more interesting in those kind of stories, probably because the heroine is thrown in a whole new situation and needs some time to get her bearings, while the hero is already on solid ground and is acting with more sense. I still liked her, she has a good head on her shoulders and did her best considering the circumstances.

👽 As I said, the part I struggled most with is the world building. There's a lot of sci-fi politics here, at least for the kind of book it sells itself as. But on the other hand it's not enough, there's a lot left unsaid, or things that are resolved without much explanation. Since it's a romance first, there's less space given to those plot elements, but since those plot elements are introduced I want to know more! Will keep this in mind for the following books in the series. Also not a fan of the fated mates plot and how it plays out here.

🗒️ I also had trouble with the writing. The author has a very descriptive writing style, which is not great when your mind doesn't visualize stuff. I skimmed some of it because of this, but I don't think I missed out on much.

I want to read the second book. We're introduced to Nemon and Joanie, and I'm curious about the both of them. I'm just not sure when I will read it. This series seems to be a mix of sci-fi politics and romance, and I'm usually in the mood only for one of them at a time. 

This is a monster/alien romance that is a little on the darker side. I thought it was interesting, and thankfully, nothing too triggering actually happens (

The beginning part has a scene where the Iriduans use a machine to probe inside Claire's uterus that was the most disturbing part to me.

). It's mostly about the setting and the love interests having to learn about each other and how to escape together. It has a twist on the fated mates trope, too. 

Thrax is the result of a different alien species, the Iriduans, doing genetic alteration experiments to create the ultimate fighter/weapon. His body and mind are altered from his previous form. 

Claire was well-developed I thought. She is open to alien romance because she's read those kinds of books, but she still has to get used to just how monstrous Thrax actually is. I appreciated that even though there were things about him that were off putting, she knew his body isn't his fault because the Iriduans made him that way. 

For those that may be squeamish about body fluids... 

While Thrax and Claire are trying to survive on the run, Claire refuses to eat the eels that Thrax eats. Thrax's "gift" to feed her is his seed, if you know what I mean. She's thinks it's yummy. 

I am looking forward to reading more in the series. I didn't like this one as much as The Chameleon's Mate (just because this one was a little darker), but I still think this author is creative and writes well. I will be glad to see how the rest of the universe she's created plays out.