Protected by the Alien Bodyguard

Mates of the Kaluma, Book 2

By: Ella Maven

Narrated by: Jillian Macie, Todd McLaren

I'll earn her trust and then I'll make her mine . . .

Mouse: I have no memory or what or who I am, all I know is that everyone and everything is out to hurt me. Hands slap, teeth bite, and boots kick. So when I meet a big, bronzed warrior with blue eyes whose hands are gentle and voice is kind, I don't trust him. And when he starts showing up in my dreams, a part of me I long thought was dead awakens with a passion.

Cravus: When I'm hired to protect the small female on a cross-planet journey, I'm told she's a new, unintelligent species. I can't get close enough to her without her snapping her blunt teeth at me, but underneath the dirty hair and clean rags, I could swear she's clever.

When a nasty attack has us on the run, I know the only way to keep ourselves alive is to get her to trust me. And only then do I learn she's human and not only that—she's my mate too.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 Ella Maven (P)2024 Tantor Media

Protected By The Alien Bodyguard

This series is definitely different from the Drexion Warriors series, but still enjoyable. I like the narrators except when they have to read the opposite sex’s lines. This story picks up where book 1 left off with our MMC heading out on a mission. This is where he finds our FMC in a cage, dirty as can be and covered in rags and matted hair. At first he didn’t even recognize she was human due to appearance and smell. Our FMC was given a memory wiping serum when she was first captured and she cannot remember who or what she is. This is a sweet story on how two souls meant to be find one another at their worst and fall in love. I am excited for the other two books to release on audio next week.

Ella Maven writes good alien romance!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙💜💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😋😀😘😍
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

The Hero: Cravus - he is a Kaluma who was hired by the Rinian council to guard a transport full of rescued creatures that had been abused. They were kept in cages; many had not been cleaned in a while. Some of the creatures had been so mistreated that they were aggressive and could be dangerous. One of the creatures was trembling and hiding under a blanket at the back corner of the cage, it had mated hair to the floor. Nobody knew what kind of creature it was. Though Cravus could smell the creature and the smell was familiar to him. Cravus was to guard the creatures on the trip and make sure they weren’t taken by pirates or raiders.

The heroine: Bloom (a.k.a. Mouse) - she was a human female who was abducted from earth. She had been treated so terribly, and she no longer remembered who or what she was, she didn’t remember anything beyond being in the cage she was kept in. She did know that she wasn’t like any of the animals around her. She knew she was intelligent, more so than the other creatures kept in the cages. She knew that she hadn’t always been a mouse in a cage, that she had at one time been well cared for and happy.

The story: after the first time she saw the big bronze warrior, Mouse started having dreams about him. When she opened her eyes, the world was in Chaos, she saw lasers hitting some of the creatures in the cages, before the cages toppled to the ground. Mouse grabbed the creature she befriended called skaggs and she ran before the massive, winged creatures or hulking things on the ground that attacked them got to her. Cravus saved her from one of the raiders before being shot and falling on top of Mouse. The raiders thought they were dead and left, though Mouse had to fight off scavengers. Her will to survive was strong despite what she had been through.

This story got interesting from the start and Mouse turned out to be way different from the mousy character I expected from the blurb, and I was happy for that. The journey that the two main characters had to take was a good one and is one of my favorite tropes in alien romance. I also loved that Bloom has a pet/friend Skaggs, I always like when alien pets are included in stories. The Kaluma have a special feature to their mate bond with humans, where the human female has dreams which include their mate, which are more like premonitions. This added a compelling element to their relationship.

This audiobook was told in multiple points of view and was narrated in dual narration by Jillian Macie and Todd Mclaren. Jillian has a nice, expressive voice and always does a great job, especially with alien romance. Todd Mclaren has a decent voice, but is not one of my favorite narrators, I like a stronger, deeper voice for a massive alien character.

A few surprises!

A few twists I didn’t see coming. And I loved both main characters. Enjoyed the little references to other series in this authors galaxy.

ok

it was okay
the narrators need to be better. lost interest a few times. it was okay, hopefully the next book is better