Pirating the Alien

Beastly Alien Boss, Book 7

De: Ava Ross

Narrado por: Patrick Zeller, Hollie Jackson

I'm falling for my space pirate boss, but rogue aliens are after him—and now me.

It is a simple job. Sneak aboard a pirate spaceship and steal a precious artifact from the brooding, too-hot captain, Matis. Before I know it, I'll be on my way back to Earth with enough credits to cure my mom's sickness.

Is it my fault I accidentally stab him? Instead of making me walk the interstellar plank, he makes me serve as his cabin boy. Good thing he doesn't realize I'm not a boy.

His snarly outside hides a squishy center, but someone's out to kill him, and who needs to get tangled up in that? Then we're trapped on a rogue space station with alien pirates trying to kill us.

He discovers my secret. He says we'll escape—and then he's claiming me as his fated mate.

Pirating the Alien is book 7 of the Beastly Alien Boss Series of interconnected standalones that can be listened to in any order. Expect strong women and heroes who are battle-ready, who talk dirty, and who will do everything to be with their fated mates.

©2023 Ava Ross (P)2023 Podium Audio

Stowaways, Secrets, and Space Shenanigans

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

🎧 Audiobook Review: Pirating the Alien (Beastly Alien Boss, #7)

Author: Ava Ross
Genre: Science Fiction Romance / Alien Romance
Narrators: Patrick Zeller and Hollie Jackson

🦸🏼‍♀️ The Heroine: Tatum

Tatum is a young woman pushed to the edge by desperation and love. With her mother gravely ill and the cost of surgery far beyond her reach, she turns to the Intergalactic Employment Agency for a high‑paying—if suspiciously vague—job. Within minutes she’s whisked off to a space station and handed a mission that sounds like something out of a criminal holo‑drama: infiltrate a pirate hub, sneak aboard a ship charmingly (and misleadingly) named Snuggles, locate the captain’s stateroom, crack a safe, and steal a mysterious artifact. Once she has it, she’s to call for extraction via her wrist com.

It’s a dangerous assignment for anyone, let alone someone with no criminal background, but Tatum’s determination to save her mother pushes her into the stars.

🦸🏻‍♂️ The Hero: Matis

Matis is an undercover Interstellar Interpol agent posing as a pirate captain while tracking a powerful smuggling ring. His ship may look like a cobbled‑together junker, but beneath the mismatched plating is a sleek, top‑tier vessel he personally paid for. His only ally is a fellow agent disguised as the ship’s cook—and a fiercely loyal alien cat, also named Snuggles, with blue fur, a sharp personality, and an even sharper set of claws.

Matis is competent, controlled, and committed to his mission, but he’s also a man with a conscience, which complicates things the moment Tatum stumbles into his life.

📚 The Plot

To protect herself, Tatum disguises herself as a teenage boy—short hair, bound chest, oversized clothes—and manages to slip aboard Snuggles before launch. She hides in a supply closet until the ship is well underway, but her attempt to locate the captain’s stateroom goes sideways when she’s discovered by Matis.

Believing her to be a scrawny human boy, he doesn’t toss her out an airlock or hand her over to the crew. Instead, his softer instincts kick in, and he assigns her the role of cabin boy. From there, the story becomes a tangle of secrets, near‑misses, and growing tension as both characters navigate their hidden identities and conflicting missions.

🌟 Strengths

• A clever twist of fate: The smuggler Matis is hunting turns out to be the same alien who hired Tatum for her heist. Their missions collide in a way that adds tension, irony, and a satisfying sense of interconnected stakes.
• A richer sci‑fi world than usual: Many books in this subgenre stick to basic tech—food processors, cleansing units, wrist coms. This one expands the universe with beaming technology, laser pistols, and more advanced systems that make the setting feel more dynamic and lived‑in.
• The setting shines: I genuinely loved the spaceship and space‑station environments, and occasionally the worldbuilding felt as engaging as the emotional beats between the characters.

💔 Limitations

• The disguised‑as-a-boy trope: While the stowaway‑in-disguise setup is nostalgic and fun, it also leans heavily on a trope common in historical romance. The added complication of the hero feeling attraction toward someone he believes is male introduces internal conflict that didn’t fully work for me. It made him question himself in a way that felt uncomfortable rather than compelling.

🎙️ Narration

Told in dual POV with dual narration, the audiobook features Patrick Zeller and Hollie Jackson—both of whom deliver strong, immersive performances.

• Hollie Jackson brings expressive emotion and nuance to her chapters without ever tipping into melodrama.
• Patrick Zeller has a deep, natural voice that suits Matis perfectly, and his opposite‑gender voicing is smooth and unobtrusive.

Together, they elevate the story and make the listening experience consistently enjoyable.

💬 Final Assessment

This audiobook blends undercover intrigue, light sci‑fi adventure, and a classic mistaken‑identity romance trope. The expanded tech and interstellar setting give it a fun, adventurous feel, and the narrators do an excellent job bringing the characters to life.

While the gender‑disguise element introduces some character dynamics that didn’t fully land for me, the story still offers an entertaining ride with a few clever twists and a richly imagined world. Fans of space‑romance hybrids and undercover‑agent plots will likely find plenty to enjoy.

Seller brings character to life!

The female narrator’s voice for the male character is adequate but drags just a bit too much. Naturally, she can’t sound like a male following Zeller, but focus fades during that period. The series is very entertaining. Kudos to the author!0