Decent intro into really alien aliens, and not just the humanoid variety. ( )

Be warned: the author changes tense often. If this bothers you, you should skip this book. ( )

EDIT-This has since been split apart into separate books The scorpion's Mate has been polished up while the second story "Into The Dead Fall" has been substantially improved on and lengthened.
My review is of the original two in one version of this and my re-read here was of the new edition of just The Scorpion's Mate.

FREE IN KU
So there are two stories in this omnibus and in my opinion both were good enough and long enough to be in a stand-alone edition.
Each was very different and if I had to pick a favourite out of the two book one "The Scorpion's Mate" won it hands down for me.
That's not to say the second book in this omnibus "Into The Dead Fall" is any slouch either I enjoyed that one also.
Now I'm a strange one, and this sort of story, aliens that look and act like real aliens is a real guilty pleasure of mine, And as I like my stories well developed with a proper connection between the principal characters, the pickings for this type of fiction and that is also well written, is so very slim indeed.
I'm a huge fan of R. Lee Smith who is another fantastic author of these types of books and had yet to find anyone to live up to her alien stories.
I am happy to say, Susan Trombley has and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she has more of this to come.
So the first story"The Scorpions Mate" tells the story of Claire who is kidnapped by aliens and locked up in a research facility.



Claire is a quirky sort who has never quite fit in on earth, in the research facility she is mated to Thrax a genetically engineered Soldier who was a sort of deadly giant scorpion before they spliced his DNA for experimentation.
Thrax imprints on Claire and as she falls for an unlikely hero Claire realises to stay with Thrax is to renounce returning to earth as he could never fit in there looking the way he does.
I loved this story like so much, it's hard to explain you've just got to be there to get it.
I loved how wild and protective Thrax was towards Claire while still being completely deadly to all else.
The second story "Into The Dead Fall" is completely different and actually involves two aliens and no it's not a menage it's more of a two husbands kind of story.
I wasn't a fan of this and would have prefered to have kept to the one alien
In this one, Alice is sucked through a nexus into a post-apocalyptic landscape



and is initially injured luckily for her Iyaren is there to rescue her and nurse her wounds but with a language barrier between them, it's a hard slog.
Iyaren is a kind of lion-like alien and lonely is happy for the company.



Now I would have been happy to rest with the sexy lion but here we have another alien also attracted to Alice Tak a sort of Lizard-like creature sees and bonds with her



when the two realise Alice cant choose they suggest both taking care of her.
Tak and Iyaren are from the same planet and can communicate Tak can also understand Alice as he had a procedure done to allow this,
there is a lot more to these two imaginative tales but I've given you the bare bones above to give you a rough idea.
Please don't be put off by the very real aliens contained within these pages, give this a try, what have you got to lose, you might actually surprise yourself and really enjoy the tales told here.
So anyway these are well written, emotive and engaging and from what I can see there is plenty of opportunity in both landscapes for future story growth.
The author has set this up very nicely.
I really can't recommend each of these stories enough and I enjoyed every word.
This omnibus is currently free in KU.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )

EDIT-This has since been split apart into separate books The scorpion's Mate has been polished up while the second story "Into The Dead Fall" has been substantially improved on and lengthened.
My review is of the original two in one version of this and my re-read here was of the new edition of just The Scorpion's Mate.

FREE IN KU
So there are two stories in this omnibus and in my opinion both were good enough and long enough to be in a stand-alone edition.
Each was very different and if I had to pick a favourite out of the two book one "The Scorpion's Mate" won it hands down for me.
That's not to say the second book in this omnibus "Into The Dead Fall" is any slouch either I enjoyed that one also.
Now I'm a strange one, and this sort of story, aliens that look and act like real aliens is a real guilty pleasure of mine, And as I like my stories well developed with a proper connection between the principal characters, the pickings for this type of fiction and that is also well written, is so very slim indeed.
I'm a huge fan of R. Lee Smith who is another fantastic author of these types of books and had yet to find anyone to live up to her alien stories.
I am happy to say, Susan Trombley has and I am keeping my fingers crossed that she has more of this to come.
So the first story"The Scorpions Mate" tells the story of Claire who is kidnapped by aliens and locked up in a research facility.



Claire is a quirky sort who has never quite fit in on earth, in the research facility she is mated to Thrax a genetically engineered Soldier who was a sort of deadly giant scorpion before they spliced his DNA for experimentation.
Thrax imprints on Claire and as she falls for an unlikely hero Claire realises to stay with Thrax is to renounce returning to earth as he could never fit in there looking the way he does.
I loved this story like so much, it's hard to explain you've just got to be there to get it.
I loved how wild and protective Thrax was towards Claire while still being completely deadly to all else.
The second story "Into The Dead Fall" is completely different and actually involves two aliens and no it's not a menage it's more of a two husbands kind of story.
I wasn't a fan of this and would have prefered to have kept to the one alien
In this one, Alice is sucked through a nexus into a post-apocalyptic landscape



and is initially injured luckily for her Iyaren is there to rescue her and nurse her wounds but with a language barrier between them, it's a hard slog.
Iyaren is a kind of lion-like alien and lonely is happy for the company.



Now I would have been happy to rest with the sexy lion but here we have another alien also attracted to Alice Tak a sort of Lizard-like creature sees and bonds with her



when the two realise Alice cant choose they suggest both taking care of her.
Tak and Iyaren are from the same planet and can communicate Tak can also understand Alice as he had a procedure done to allow this,
there is a lot more to these two imaginative tales but I've given you the bare bones above to give you a rough idea.
Please don't be put off by the very real aliens contained within these pages, give this a try, what have you got to lose, you might actually surprise yourself and really enjoy the tales told here.
So anyway these are well written, emotive and engaging and from what I can see there is plenty of opportunity in both landscapes for future story growth.
The author has set this up very nicely.
I really can't recommend each of these stories enough and I enjoyed every word.
This omnibus is currently free in KU.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )