Homebound

Rix Universe, Book 1

By: Lydia Hope

Narrated by: Marnye Young

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Earth is in decline, and the wealthy have fled it, leaving only the destitute citizens behind. And aliens.

Gemma McKinley works at a prison cleaning goop off the floors and serving food to inmates. When she is reassigned to the alien ward, Gemma is nervous. Aliens are dangerous and ruthless. They bite. But there is one that isn’t like them. Simon is damaged, starved, and wasting away in complete isolation. Touched by his loneliness, Gemma starts nursing him back to health, dismissing rumors that he’s high-risk, ignoring the advice to let him croak.

Simon despises humans. His only goal is to get off this miserable planet fast, for he is hunted by a scientist obsessed with perfecting the human race. Simon’s rare alien genes are just the ingredient that’s missing for breakthrough research. Thanks to Gemma, for the first time in years, he can escape.

And he will. He will….

As the hunt for Simon heats up, Gemma becomes an unintended target. Is she a fool to help him get away? And will he risk another captivity to protect her?

©2022 Lydia Hope (P)2022 Podium Audio

Creative, Unique!

An unusual story with incredible world building and strong characters. There’s rather thrilling drama, as well.
The narrator is also super talented. She provided great voices for each character.
The plot is original and some of the story leaves the reader to provide the details, including the ending. I’m actually quite welcoming of it, since you know it will be alright for the two main characters. Anything can happen because they’ll be together.
I do recommend it for those who enjoy the unique.

Complete

This story is so complete. The world is well developed. The plot leaves you waiting for the more answers… and you get them. The characters are so well developed that you can picture them in your mind. I was rooting for the star crossed lovers. And along the way, I found myself chuckling out loud. I will definitely be listening to this again. Oh… and the narrator did an amazing job. I really like that she gave Simon a French accent. It fit his character so well and made him more enduring.

the plot of the story

I liked the change as far as the characters both starting out in their own ways with a disability.

Whyyyyy

WHY did it end like that? *laugh cries* 11hr 46min of listening....to end like...that? Super abrupt and I mean, I guess a HEA?? There were many things eluded to during the last few chapters but they were never confirmed and their story just...ended. honestly I'm kind of upset about it. I feel like the ending is where it finally started getting really good.

would I recommend this book? yeah, I guess I would. I listened to it while cleaning my house and cooking meals.

narration? not bad. although I feel her accent for the MFC was awful but I got past it. she did well to make everyone have distinctive voices.

story? it was good. could have probably been a duet or trilogy book if they wanted to add more to the story or even just give it a better ending?

ok, yeah I'm a little bitter about the ending.

take what you will hahaha

Ended abruptly

It feels like there really wasn’t an ending . I finished frustrated and unsatisfied. It was good story but incomplete.

Loved this story so much

This story follows Gemma, a human down on her luck after losing her ability to be a dancer and experiencing a bad breakup- she gets a job at a prison and is assigned to the alien ward. There she meets Simon, a near death alien who she immediately feels a kinship with. Loved every bit of this story! Was the first I’ve read by this author I think, but was very addicting and impossible to stop listening to!!

loved it! A++

This was a really great story! I'm looking forward to listening to more of this author's stories. I've listened to the story now four times. It is by far one of my favorite romances of all time. It is up there with North and South, Pride and Prejudice, Dark Horse and Warprize.

Worth it

Overall I can highly recommend this book. Throughout the time I was listening to it I would go back-and-forth whether I was enjoying it or not but the bottom line is it kept me engaged the whole time. It had an underlying ‘Oliver Twist’ type misery to it that was a little uncomfortable for me but it was well written. I liked the ending and since this is identified as booked one, I’ll have to assume book 2 is in the works. Ms. Young did a good job of giving us alternative voices for the characters but I wasn’t totally happy with the voice of our main character. I think it was the slight accent.

Fantastic Book

Loved this book, Amazing futuristic Beauty and the Beast...This book has it all romance, comedy, big guns, so much unique imagination that was so believably possible, tons of action.

Great story

I have read this book previously and loved it. There is just something uniquely charming about it. A little slow paced, but the world building is excellent and I really enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters.

I have to say, listening instead of just reading added something to the story. I found the accents to be a little awkward, but at the same time I get that coming up with new accents would be much too difficult for a narrator. And accents were needed because the main female character was an islander with a “posh” accent to the city folk, and the main male character was an alien. So while a French alien was kinda strange, it worked.

I do wonder what happened to the family and earth after the end of this book. And the coworker. I really need to check out the next book in this series.