Ecstasy from the Deep

Venora Mates, Book 1

By: Octavia Kore

Narrated by: J.F. Harding

Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's Summary

An enticing savior, an old love, and one deranged alien hell-bent on destroying it all.

The seemingly endless war with the Grutex has caused many inconveniences for Amanda, but none of those have been as bad as losing the funding for the project she is working on, which is supposed to help save humanity. When she foolishly risks her life to continue her research, Amanda is thrown into the path of an alien, the likes of which she has never seen, who claims she is his mate. The problem is, he isn’t the only one making that claim.

As an ambassador for his people, Oshen is used to handling delicate situations, but he has never been in one quite so delicate as this. Instead of enlightening Earth’s government about the existence of Galactic Law and their right to seek aid, he finds himself face-to-face with the one being he’s waited his whole life to find; his mate. But the little human is in trouble, and he needs to convince her to leave Earth or he risks losing the most important thing he has ever had.

Damned. Cursed. Gulzar has been called many things over the course of his life. Many in his tribe refuse to even look at him, and who could blame them? The only light in his life has been his little goddess, the only being in the entire world who looks at him without judgment. When he gets a vision of her in distress, Gulzar knows he will do anything he can for the female he loves.

This is an MMF romance with dark tones that may contain triggers.

©2020 Octavia Kore (P)2020 Podium Audio

Damsel dumb heroine YUCK

So, I started this review with 3 hours to go in the book and gave it a very generous four-star review. Since then, the book and my review took a nose dive! Her mates are taken away and the most she does is ask about them as the days go by and when she doesn't get an answer, she just goes on about her day. All the while one is in a holding cell and the other is being beaten. I am only finishing this to ensure my review is 100% accurate. UGH!
I like the new species and the story. But, highly dislike damsel in distress heroines. And, I dislike it, even more, when that damsel is wrapped in a profession that requires "brains". She makes marine biologists cringe
. The best part of the story is Hades!
Not sure why they chose a male narrator. Most of the story is from a female perspective and J.F. Harding fell short with female narrations.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who likes strong, capable, kick-a** heroines.

Just get it!!

I almost did not get this due to the reviews I read.... not sure WHAT those people were talking about! This is an EXCELLENT story!! It has become one of my favorites, the narrator was AH-MAZING! There was romance, hot steamy parts, funny moments. All around it was a solid book. I have become a fan of Octavia Kore.... please, please, PLEASE produce more of your books (you absolutely must keep the same narrator though!)

Confused and too long

TL;DR - Not worth the credit. Blends sci-fi and fantasy and went off the rails. Needed editing to keep it coherent. Plus, no one should have to waste their time Googling a drone bee's penis just to figure out a sex scene cuz 2 authors can't bother to describe one of their characters male parts sufficiently.

Ok my rant follows:
Octavia Kore is 2 authors and it shows. They were in desperate need of an Editor to bring their ideas together to make sense. This story goes from sci-fi to shifter fantasy with no reason. The MMF fated mates is almost shoehorned in and feels forced instead of romantic. Plus there is the nonsensical under-the-sea aspect - they have gills and are cat-like/crab-like but not, but take this Harry Potter type magic pill and breathe underwater for a make out session that does nothing for the story, just so confused and lame.

There were too many concepts in this book and too much wasted time on ”I'm not worthy" or "This can't be..." internal dialogue that I started skipping ahead just to get back to the main plot. Editors are worth their weight in gold when it comes to multiple authors and it's apparent they didn't spend a dime... seriously

As for the narration, I do like J.F. Harding. I have a few books he has narrated and had not issues, however his Filipino accent in this book was way off the mark. It was more Indian than anything else so it was really odd and had to just pretend the side character wasn't of any specific nationality and just had an non-American accent to avoid breaking immersion.

I Loved it! can't wait for part 2!

It's a really good balance of interesting story, humour, HEAT, characters that are believable and more serious moments. DON'T LET THIS BE A CLIFF HANGAR!

Great strory

Great story. The only thing that was weird was June’s voice. She is supposed to be Pilipino but she sounds Jamaican. That voice grated on my nerves. The rest was good and the narrator’s main voice was nice. The secondary characters voices were so weird.

so good!

love the book when I originally read it, and love the audiobook because the actor is awesome! can't wait for more books in this series!

Will Be Listening to Book 2

This book had some elements that reminded me of Ice Planet Barbarians but with more storyline to it. It is an easy listen with 1 main plot going. 2-3 sex scenes. It uses more male gaze terminology like "cunt" and "slit" in its sex scenes.



SPOILERS

This book contains gay sexual scenes and threesomes, so if you are not into that you will likely hate the foundation of the book.

Funny, action packed and sexy

Much better written then the average romance. The narration was fine and there was a clean ending. I’d definitely give this author a try.

this was actually really good!!! give it a listen

this was actually really really good!!! give it a listen from start to finish!! !!

Don’t care for threesomes…

Bottom sex between female and male is really a no go for me, but it’s a hell NO when between two males, so if it’s your thing it’s a well written book, but for me it’s a hard no…

Sexy sci fi romance

This took me a second reading. As I’m slow on strange names and languages. I’m sure it’s going to be a firm favourite. Informative facts on sea life. Great characters. Images tying aliens to Atlantis. Very visual descriptions of different alien types. Kinky sexual scenes, showing how a threesome could work., in and out of the bedroom.
Excellent narration by J F Harding. This book has it all