Vaant

The Galaxos Crew, Book 1

By: Layla Nash, Juno Wells

Narrated by: Rachel Music

Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Isla Lennox is the best interpreter aboard the Alliance ship Argo - if the captain would ever give her a chance to do her job. When he finally does, Isla's big break turns into chaos and panic as she and all the female crew members are traded to an alien ship in exchange for the Argo's safe passage. The giant Xaravian warriors are intimidating, covered in scales, and...way too attractive. Isla and her friends won't surrender quietly, but it seems like the Xaravians are looking forward to that kind of fight.

The moment Vaant sees the beautiful, sassy interpreter, he knows he can't leave her in danger. She thinks he's a pirate and a dangerous rebel - and that he bought her and her friends. Vaant must prove his honorable intentions, even as her flashing eyes and curvy figure drives him mad with desire. He'll even endanger his ship and go to the edge of the universe to keep her safe.

When her former captain frames Vaant for destroying an innocent ship and murdering another crew, Isla must face that the Alliance she served so proudly is not what it seems. Starting a new life as a rebel with Vaant sounds more and more appealing, but first they'll have to fight through half the Alliance fleet, escape a crumbling space station, and find love among the stars.

©2017 Layla Nash (P)2021 Layla Nash

Pretty descent

Study was good, A little over the top with emphasis on kick-ass females; more obnoxious than anything else, especially with large highly experienced males. All in all I like it enough to continue listening. Rachel’s vice is a bit soft, monotone, and flat; she is not the greatest narrator for male voice, not dominant or masculine enough; her voice is put me to sleep soothing.

Excellent!

Lots of action and adventure with the saucy bits we all love. The FL was strong and I appreciated that she wasn't a whiner. I hate it when the FL makes you sorry to be a woman. The book kept me engaged the whole time and I can't wait to read the next one.

Just what I was looking for! Great FMC

I've been looking for an alien romance with a competent but not overpowered main character and this series is it! Isla is a highly intelligent, highly competent, but not superpowered. She reads like a Starfleet Officer and a realistic, full woman, not just a type.

Vaant is honorable and appreciates her intelligence. It was easy to root for the romance.

This has a plot outside the romance. There's plenty of action and adventure. I liked it enough to get the next one.

Loved the narration. Her voice is soft and melodic, and she tells a story rather than just reading the words on the page.

A great ride!

I really enjoyed this book. It has everything. The steamy parts are excellent, there's a healthy amount of story development and resolution, and the open ending is a perfect setup for more. As well, the females are well-rounded. Often times femininity in these romance novels is portrayed as damsels in distress, incapable of... well... almost anything. The ensemble of women in this book are smart, strong--yet vulnerable, and overall likable. I had no difficulty accepting how the males could be attracted to them. It wasn't some lazy, biological attraction that gives no further explanation. The authors put in the time to make the pairs truly and legitimately compatible. It paid off.

Narration was good. I would have liked a dual narration on this book though.

really great!

really excellent story, well constructed world and narration that brings the characters to life! excited to listen to the rest of the series!

Truly Enjoyed This Book

This story was much better than I anticipated. It is a pretty good balance between action and romance. I enjoyed all the characters and the banter between them. It was actually really nice to have the women all be real, competent people doing their jobs and trying to survive. It is still fiction so there are some unbelievable moments, but I think it all works out to be a wonderful story.

Romance, adventure - nothing better!

This is my kind of romance, where the erotic episodes are in the right place. In other words Vaant and Isla did not fall into bed in chapter 1. The right proportion of adventure & romance was excellent. The women were strong and the men welcomed that. Ms. Music did an excellent job of varying the voices between characters. A good ending to the story and a good beginning to the series.

Enjoyed this one

The start of this series. It’s fun. Try it, I hope you’ll like it. I did.

Nice Series Starter

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Heat Rating: 🔥🔥🔥
Narrator Performance: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧

VAANT was the first of Layla Nash’s or Juno Wells’ writing that I’ve read and I definitely plan on reading more. I’m not one to pay too much attention to blurbs so at the beginning of the story when the captain of the Argo “trades” the females I was surprised. Plus, I was excited to come across a situation in a Sci-Fi Romance that I hadn’t encountered before. There’s no doubt that I want to continue this series.

Another thing that I really enjoyed about this story was the female solidarity. Isla and the rest of the females stood up for each other. I think that they complimented each other well. Where one was soft another was hard. Together they formed a well rounded group.

Although I truly enjoyed this book I must admit that there were some issues with the story. I found the world building to be incomplete. At times it was almost nonexistent. I have a lot of unanswered questions about the Xaravians. Also, one of the races of aliens in the book were called squids. That’s such a simplistic and uncreative name of a race of beings. On top of that I found some of the phrasing weird. However I think the thing that bothered me the most about the story was that a secondary character, the cultural specialist, should have had more page time. I think she should have spoken up to the other females in the story to guide them through the situations.

Rachel Music did a fantastic job with the narration. I was thoroughly engrossed by her performance. At first I thought that her pace was a bit fast but I quickly got used to it. I love it when narrators use different voices to bring life to the characters and that’s exactly what she did. Her pace, while on the faster side, was steady and consistent. I can’t wait to experience another of her performances.

Following Orders

An interesting space romance with betrayal keeping the couple on their toes. I enjoyed listening