You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO was sent in by Nuria, who is looking for this alien romance:
I’m trying to find a human-alien romance I read a few years ago. It starts from the alien’s POV but eventually alternates with the female protagonist.
He’s a skilled hunter; she’s the only survivor of a crashed colony ship. Stuff I liked: where a lot of sci-fi romance tends to hand-wave the ‘sci,’ the world building and technology had a lot of thought put into them. The main characters acquire each other’s language slowly and realistically. The author doesn’t just chicken out by making the aliens basically humans but blue; the male protagonist’s biology – he has an exoskeleton and his culture is matriarchal; I wanna say it’s spider-ish? – is genuinely *alien,* but the sex scenes are still believable and pretty hot.
Other details…Ok the aliens are definitely based on spiders; the main character’s people live in underground tunnels, and when he goes off on his own (the queen wants to make him her consort and he’s not feeling it. She’s a villain & maybe killed his mother??) he makes a nest in the trees, suspended in webbing like an orb spider. He makes his lady a silk dress. There are a lot of genuinely funny moments, like since all the mammals on the protagonist’s planet are small, unintelligent prey animals, he initially assumes this grown-ass woman is basically a fussy, not-too-bright poodle and treats her accordingly. I chuckled. That said, even though there are laughs, there are some genuinely tense/sad moments as well. I wouldn’t characterize the overall tone as super dark or somber but the book is a little more serious than many alien romances I’ve seen here.
There’s a B plot with his little sister…? The planet itself is pretty lethal with loads of environmental hazards… there’s a 2nd book in the series but I DNFed it; it introduces a predictably xenophobic human rival to our protagonist, but the new guy is such a douche you never really buy it. I’d love any recs for more books in this genre too!
We can certainly run an alien romance Rec League in the future!
Ensnared
by
Tiffany Roberts
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I haven’t read it, but I wonder if this is STRANGE LOVE by Ann Aguirre. I remember a lot of positive reviews at the time about how the alien actually felt like an alien. There is at least one sequel.
The Spider’s Mate series by Tiffany Roberts?
I don’t think I’ve read this one, but I found a post on Reddit that might help for the “books like this” request. The original poster there is looking for books similar to The Spider’s Mate Trilogy by Tiffany Roberts.
https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/15wv4k9/looking_for_books_with_bugspider_like_mmcs/?rdt=41961
I’n almost certain this is the “Spider’s Mate” series by Tiffany Roberts.
This 100% is The Spider’s Mate by Tiffany Roberts: colony ship, making the dress, the douchey human man. It’s all there.
The first book in the series was definitely the best imo
It’s Ensnared by Tiffany Roberts. I enjoyed it, even though I hate spiders.
@ Jill Q – Strangelove is one of my favorite books, I’ve read it several times. The hero is more cricket. He even rubs his arms together to “sing”.
Just want to add it’s not the Ann Aguirre in the first comment but her alien books might work as ´books like this’. Good character development and very alien MC, not just a blue human.
I don’t have anything to add on the HABO, but I am totally here for an alien romance rec league! With the caveat that hopefully there will be at least some books that don’t include babies 😉
Anyone looking for books featuring aliens that are not 7 ft tall blue humans with tails and/or horns should also check out Regine Abel’s Prime Mating Agency series. Not only are the alien species and their societies more fully realized, the pairings are always based on mutual respect between the (usually) human FMC and alien MMC.
Loving this thread and will now explore this book. I just want to throw in THE LAST HOUR OF GANN by R.Lee Smith. Another Alien romance book with realistic interactions.They don’t instantly speak each others language with a cop-out translator and there are some pretty intense moments in this book. So not for the faint of heart. On that warning…I want to be badass as Amber when I grown up.
It’s not this book, but for all of you alien romance fans I LOVED I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberley Lemming. All of her books (That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon etc) are DELIGHTFUL.
It’s not the looked for book, but I recommend Lyn Gala’s The Claimings series. It’s a male/male alien romance; the books featuring Liam and Ondry are amongst my favorite books.
@Kareni – Yes! This was absolutely the first thing that came to mind in terms of truly alien alien romance, except I couldn’t actually remember the name to recommend it.
Damn you guys are fast!! Just checked the site, thinking ‘I wonder if anyone’s had a suggestion yet?’ and the first thing I saw was a big SOLVED. Thanks for helping a bitch out!
– N
@kkw ~ They really are great books! Time for a reread now?