| Title | : | Beneath the Surface: Book 1 in the Surface Series |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 285 |
| Publication | : | Published January 1, 2023 |
A decade has passed since the M'Nai landed and took over Earth. There wasn't mass destruction, there wasn't much pillaging, but there was a whole lot of deception. Now, we're at their mercy, set to work under them, like slaves, digging for a rare element under our planet's surface that they say will be the key to protecting our world from another, more aggressive and evil species.
Kane:
To escape my father, I've joined the military as a senai, a M'Nai soldier. Sent to guard the workers, the humans, who are too weak to protect themselves. I'm pleased to be out from under his roof, however, I will never be out of his reach.
Annabeth and Kane meet in the mines beneath the earth's surface, two very different people, both in mind and species, but something draws them to one another, something that will get them both killed or, worse, start a war.
Beneath the Surface: Book 1 in the Surface Series Reviews
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This is sci-fi romance but set on earth.
The M’nai are a race of technologically advanced aliens that have overtaken earth government.
In the guise of protecting the human populace from themselves and also from a hostile alien race that they have been in-fighting for years.
This supposed rescue basically means the M’nai have actually enslaved the human race stripping them of there rights and also their individuality.
Splitting families and forcing humans to do the grunt work.
All on the basis that they are the superior race.
Annabeth is one such enslaved human working in the mines under military rule mining materials to equip weapons in the upcoming fight ahead.
Kane is a prince in disguise the future heir he is working incognito in the mines as a Senai guard here he is just a lowly soldier climbing the ranks like any other.
He encounters Annabeth and an incident leaves her unintentionally injured at his hand ,he feels guilt but also a guarded fascination with the inferior human.
He feels drawn to her and it’s not long before both are in way over there head.
Kane swiftly realising there’s more at play here than he expected.
Combine that with the poor relations between human and alien and the road here was never going to be easy.
So this was an imaginative idea and the writing itself was easy to follow.
I managed to read this fairly swiftly and I am interested in what’s to come for both Kane and Annabeth going forward.
This wasn’t perfect though and I did have some slight issues.
But it was evenly balanced in regards to both positives and negatives.
The world-building itself was not great.
I would have definitely liked to have known more regarding Kane’s Origins and his peoples initial motivations.
I do think this was a missed opportunity and I hope going forward we get to explore this.
I also felt the M’nai as a people were slightly one dimensional and this needed some expanding on all the potential for that is actually here it just needs some plumping.
There were also some slight discrepancies in the narrative that I did pick up on but maybe that was more my interpretation of them.
Also, I wasn’t overly sold on either Kane or Annabeth as individual’s.
Kane to me was far too hesitant but that’s mostly my personal preference for an alpha male which I thought Kane was not.
He did get better the further I read but for me, he was far too caught up initially in what others would think and that irritated me slightly, It really was too little too late for me when he swiftly changed tack.
Annabeth well I thought she was a bit too passive and lacked a backbone though I do get why she was this way especially considering her upbringing.
She was way too nice and accommodating when I just wanted her to stand up for herself and even rip Kane a new one .
He treated her like a servant initially in public however well-meaning he was and nice he was to her in private I couldn’t forget that.
I was also never fully sold on the connection again I’m hoping that this gets better.
I think maybe because these two have never just sat down and gotten down and deep with each other.
The was a lack of talking regarding there expectations and emotions and as a reader, I was struggling to feel the love here.
It’s was all superficial surface stuff and this does reflect in the message I received from this.
I wanted to know why they felt this way, what is it about each over that they liked so much other than the obvious, Goals aspersions and there past life’s none of this is even mentioned that deeply at all.
I felt that the “we are mates” trope was used in place of building that connection.
I also didn't think there was enough back-story regarding Annabeth's origins and her life prior to slavery in the mines.
What happened to her parents? where are they now? are they even alive? does she want to find them?
This to me was a big hole in the revolving story.
Even treating the other workers around you like family you would still think and feel and mention the past.
It's like it's been struck from Annabeth's timeline completely.
So this one has an open-ended finish, You do get closure and there’s no cliff-hanger but it’s a story that does need completing and there's plenty of future scope for that.
It’s not quite a HEA as it is unresolved still but it is a HFN and I wasn’t left feeling that I needed the rest of it right now if that makes sense.
So despite my slight issues, this was still a very different read.
This was also interesting and I did like the writing style itself, I’m certainly intrigued to see where it may go heading forward.
If you like your sci-fi's instalove with a lack of angst and the fated mate trope is your thing then this one may be a fit for you.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of Beneath the Surface.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com -
The writing and editing of the ARC version of this manuscript was clean, with no typos that I found. The world building was fairly vibrant, with M'Nai culture and post-invasion Earth being well described. The characterization was okay, though not exceptional, with the heroine being way too passive and accepting of her slavery for my taste. I had hoped for her to confront the hero about his people's atrocities, but she never did. The development of the romantic relationship was fairly natural and organic. The plot and pacing was exciting. There was surprisingly little angst on the heroine's part, considering she was falling in love with a slave owner. There were high stakes, which I typically prefer in my romance novels. This novel used the Fated Mates trope and the Enemies to Lovers trope. The world building, plot, and pacing were all four stars. The characterization was three stars, and the development of the romantic relationship was four stars. I rounded up and gave this novel a combined rating of four stars. Unfortunately, this novel did not end on a Happy Ever After ending, though it was not quite a cliffhanger ending. That was deeply disappointing to me, and I probably would not have read the novel had I realized that. I recommend this sci-fi romance to readers who are not triggered by slavery and enjoy ongoing romance series featuring the same couple. I do not think I will read the next book in this series, simply because the heroine was so passive and accepting of her status as a slave. I will not buy myself a keeper copy of this novel, though I did enjoy it up until the abrupt ending.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. -
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (12/12/2022)! 🎁
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Update after audiobook:
While I've previously enjoyed reading this book, I welcomed the chance to revisit the story via audiobook. The narrator was new to me, and I felt she did a decent job at carrying the various voices of the story.
Original review:
Having read Lindsay Buroker's "Balanced on the Blade's Edge" quite recently, I found there to be shared circumstances between the two novels that were hard to miss. However, the action of the story really took off around the 20% mark, and it was there that the similarities mostly ended.
I found myself caught up in the action - and the injustices - that the story told. An alien race - under the guise of protection for Earth against a more dangerous species - have taken over the planet, landing all humans (as the "inferior" race) into a form of servitude. Luxuries stripped, camps formed and respected deference is expected towards those that aim to save them from this unknown threat.
Enter our main characters. Kane is every bit the fierce, protective warrior you'd expect in a paranormal romance, and Annabeth's self-awareness and growth beside him becomes more evident as the novel goes on. It doesn't hurt that the M'Nai's (aliens) are similarly built as humans, though told to be far more beautiful and god-like in appearance. The romance between the two is forbidden, for more reasons than one, and stripping away those layers becomes an interesting story of hidden truths, politics and buried memories.
The writing itself does need a bit of polish - there were some inconsistencies and minor grammatical errors that detract a bit when reading, but the story and characters are captivating enough to struggle putting it down. I'll most certainly be looking for its sequel when released. -
*** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review ***
This is a dystopian romance where an alien guy and a human woman get it on against all odds. It’s an alright story with an interesting premise, but unfortunately there were many small mistakes and plotholes that ruined my overall enjoyment.
The book is told through a dual POV. Annabeth’s and Marken’s chapters interweave to cover mostly everything that happens from both perspectives. It’s an interesting world-building going on. It would have been nice to get to know more details about the aliens and their society. As it is, you mostly only learn about their physical superiority and a handful of technologies that aren’t expanded upon. With more detail, the world-building would have been awesome.
I really liked the premise of the book. Alien invasion and enslaved humanity? Sign me up! And I did think that the read started out okay. But pretty much immediately, there were small oversights and inconsistencies that ruined the story.
For example, in the very first chapter Annabeth works alongside an old friend of hers. Then the next day, it says she hasn’t seen him in over two weeks.
Also, in the beginning of the book, it says that the aliens arrived ten years prior, when Annabeth was eight. But later in the story, it says that she’s twenty.
In Marken’s first chapter, it’s made clear that his superior knows who he is, even if it’s not revealed to the reader. But after that, his superior acts like he doesn’t know, doing all sorts of stupid stuff until there’s a final showdown where he apparently remembers again. I’d say the latter error is the biggest one since it ruins the entire plot.
In addition to these kinds of mistakes, the portrayal of Annabeth’s and Marken’s budding feelings for each other was unfortunately not very convincing. Because they barely spoke. There were lots of stuff going on in their heads, but they hardly said three words to each other before they jumped each other’s bones. The lack of communication between Annabeth and Marken was another thing that lowered my opinion of the story. The book is written in a straight line and there are no time-lapses at all. So it’s easy to tell if a character should know a specific fact or if they talked about a certain thing. And there were quite a few instances when it was obvious that, no, a certain character acted like they had knowledge they actually didn’t have.
For example, when Annabeth is caught outside of their hotel room and is accused by alien staff of trying to run away from her master, without Marken or Annabeth speaking a word about it, they go on and shag for the first time instead. It could have so easily been solved by injecting a single line where Annabeth goes “hey you big hunky alien, I wasn’t running away, I was only trying to find something to eat”. Then they could bang away all they wanted. But no. That wasn’t the case.
I’d say the lack of dialogue is the second biggest miss of Beneath The Surface. Apart from it obviously leading to actual errors in the storyline, it also doesn’t make the infatuation between Annabeth and Marken particularly believable. And since their love is the main event of this read, that’s pretty unfortunate.
The copy of Beneath The Surface that I read was an ARC, so I’m aware there could be minor errors like misspellings and the occasional odd sentence structure. And I’m aware that those (hopefully) will be fixed in the final release of the book. For ARCs, I always disregard such errors since – obviously – it’s not the final copy even if it is very close to release. I did this for Beneath The Surface as well. But the other mistakes, of which I mentioned just a few, were such that pulled me out of the story and ruined the credibility of the entire read. Therefore I don’t think I’m too harsh in pointing them out.
In conclusion, it’s obvious the story needs some more work. And I really hope the author decides to do that because, as I mentioned earlier, it’s a great premise and even the plot – once the plotholes are fixed – is great.
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blo... -
Forbidden 💘Love
ADULT Alpha Alien Male🐺🍆⛲🔫🔪 Sci-fi Romance 💕.
The M'Nai🐺 humanoid aliens control 🌎Earth now and humans are forced into manual labor in the mines for a mineral called Mantatite. Humans are considered to be inferior beings by the M'Nai🐺🔫🔪, but are under their protection. They are treated like objects or possessions, and are often mistreated. Sound familiar?
Annabeth💃💋 is one of hundreds of human miners in her camp. The M'Nai took over 🌎Earth ten years ago, claiming humanity was in danger from other aliens. The M'Nai🐺 destroyed the human culture, communications, and history, much like Marxism and socialism are attempting to do in the United States, today, in order to remake it into what they wanted humans to believe.
Annabeth💃💋 and the other younger people in her camp don't know anything but their situation. They don't know if there are still any other humans alive anywhere else.
Corporal Markane T'Laurish🐺🔫🔪 is a senai soldier sent to guard the humans working in the mines. He has been a M'Nai🐺 soldier for seven years but this is a new assignment for him. His commanding officer sees him as being born with a silver spoon in his mouth because of who is father, is, but Markane🐺🍆⛲🔫 wants no special privileges.
Annabeth💃💋 seems like a strong willed young woman but she crumples at The first sign of trouble. Markane🐺🔫🔪 decides he must become her protector, and takes her with him to his home and on a trip to keep her safe from other M'Nai🐺🔫🔪. M'Nai liaisons are forbidden with Humans because Humans are considered to be inferior beings.
He ends up having to protect her from her own stupidity. The "love" 💕connection between Markane🐺🔫🔪 and Annabeth💃💋 is not really made by the author. We don't know why he wants her to be with him. Even though his chapters are in first person, we don't know what he is thinking!
ARC Provided by Book📚 Sirens💃
I also got this ebook with KU.
The book is written in first person, which I 👎dislike, but at least it is written in dual points of view. There are definitely gaps in continuity in this book and plot holes. For instance, the author doesn't divulge who Markane's father is, only barely hinting that he is a high up leader or official in the M'Nai🐺 government. He might even be the 👑King!
The book ends in sort of a cliffhanger that leads into a sequel. -
Fully entertaining story! Sweet and sexy alien romance! Aliens invaded Earth 10 years ago, and humans are now slaves forced to mine a certain mineral from deep within the Earth; supposedly the mineral is needed to combat a more evil alien enemy. Annabeth is human and working in the mines. Markane/Kane is an alien, who is a new soldier to the mines that makes sure the humans keep on task. When there’s an incident and Annabeth is injured; Kane ends up helping her, but finds that humans are being treated worse than he thought. Kane and Annabeth grow closer, but the connection between human and alien isn’t exactly celebrated. They find danger in some unexpected places. I enjoyed the bit of forbidden aspect to the romance going on; a bit of enemies to lovers/star crossed lovers scenario, which was interesting. Some good passion and sweet moments between Annabeth and Kane. I would’ve liked more actual conversation between them before any intimacy; especially since she seemed inexperienced, but still a lovely connection between them. Also, I wish Annabeth would’ve been more vocal about how poorly humans are treated, but I still liked her as a character; Kane too. How the story evolves is interesting; some unique elements add to the fun of this story. The story ends well; not fully a cliffhanger, but there’s still more story to be told. Looking forward to reading more from this author!
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Disclaimer - I received a free digital download of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.
I found myself really enjoying the plot to this book. The idea of an alien race taking over earth is quite a common theme, but I liked how the author made it so much more believable with the enslavement of the human race and the well thought out nuisances to the plot.
However, I don’t know if the book I was sent is the final or not, but I found the writing to be quite stilted and that it didn’t flow as nicely as one would hope when reading a book for the first time. I think the characters were great, but I think the internal dialogue needs a little work as certain phrases are repeated continuously and some timeline confusion I think. -
AN EYEOPENING BOOK ON SYSTEMATIC PREJUDICE
I received this book for free and am giving my honest and voluntary review
The human race has been enslaved by the M’Nai. Annabeth is a human who has been working in the mines and living miles beneath the Earth’s crust for four years. Enter Markane, the M’Nai prince, who is a soldier under a false name. He sees the mistreatment of the humans and reports it only to find that his superiors don’t care. This book represents a lot of the inhuman treatment of people in today’s world where some are still being treated as slaves and few are willing to do something about the injustice. -
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. Earth was taken over my aliens name M'Nai. Annabeth was young when she was put in the mines after they took her from her family. The miners live in tents underground not to far from the mines. They work and eat and sleep and only have a few hours to talk after their work is done for the day. The M'Nai do not like the humans they look down on them the humans are only good for mining and that is all. Now is the time to get the book. I will be getting more from this author.
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The book was fun and well-written, but it relied pretty heavily on smut to move things along. I enjoyed the premise (think Twilight but with aliens). I would definitely read more books in the same series if they relied less on smut and more on plot to move things along.
Please note that I received an advance review copy for free, and am leaving this review voluntarily. -
The M'Nai have taken over Earth and humans are slave labor. Annabeth works in the mines. When new guard Kane lays eyes on her he knows that she is his mate. It is forbidden for them to be together. Can they have a happy ever after?
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After a little bit of a struggle trying to get my hands on an ARC, I was worried I had hyped Beneath the Surface up too much. I mean, aliens? It's not very often we get Paranormal Romance aliens! Good news, intuition was correct and I hyped it up the exact right amount. From the very beginning I spent the majority of this book looking at how much was remaining thinking "No! I can't possibly already have read this much. I'm going too quickly, there needs to be MORE".
Story takes place about 10 years after aliens have landed on the earth as we know it and have calmly moved all humans into slavery by convincing the government it was in our best interest before fully taking over.
Annabeth did not fit into the cliches a snarky badass going to lead a revolution or virgin into the bad guy, she is a average person in her world, trying her best to keep safe and blend into the background, and at no point did she get super powers. Kane was a nice person who loves, cares, and is always clear with his emotions. (When I say nice person, I do acknowledge he is part of the ruling class enslaving the human race.) Slavery is a main topic the entire way through the book, this really is a romance between a member of the enslaved class and the ruling class much more than it is a paranormal romance. I'm hoping we get more into the politics in book 2.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. I am leaving a review voluntarily.
EDIT: since writing this review I have found out alien romances is a thriving genre. Pretty disappointed in myself I did not know this earlier. I have since gone down the rabbit hole and read a bunch of these stories, I stand by my assessment that this one was fantastic.] -
After Earth is invaded by what seems to be friend;y outsiders 10 years ago, Earthlings soon realize that the seemingly friendly new species are not as friendly as they seemed. Enslaved and forced to work in mines deep in the Earths crust. Annabeth is a young woman who spent the lat 10 years of her life as a slave in the mines. Markane is a young Corporal who after rescuing Anna (after striking her by accident) becomes smitten with this beautiful human. What happens next is a series of horrible events that put the life of both in peril because unknown to each is the fact they are mates! As they fall in love over just a few days and nights and oh do I dare mention that lift rise? PHEW!!! It ends in a Happy for now, but no cliffhanger.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. -
oh wow different look and alien and human love. It was refreshing to read this story and the trouble their love of each other was.
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Interesting take on the "Alien Take-over of Earth" theme. Well written with great descriptions, and characters. I had to admit, I did not see this ending coming. It does however, explain quite a bit of what happened before!
I would read more by this author if requested.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. -
This is an alien and human love story. Humans are an inferior species but for some reason the alien takes a liking/love to a human slave. It's their story and I found it very interesting but I would never as a slave love my master I don't think. Interesting play ended with a somewhat happy ending but I don't care for the type of dystopian slavery of a race. But it was an enjoyable different read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
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it is a forbidden romance between aliens and humans. Aliens come to earth and take over and now humans are forced to work at the mines as their slaves. I like the main female Annabeth. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE HOT SEXY ALIEN KANE. THOSE SPICEY SCENES ARE YUMMY YUMMY
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Review coming
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I was an ARC reader for Through the Shadows and had not previously read Beneath the Surface so I read both books back to back. This was my first alien romance but I love dystopian and forbidden love stories.
I loved the plot and pacing. Annabeth and Kanes love story was woven into the plot and wasn't the entire driving force keeping the story going. This story takes place 10 years after Kanes people overtake Earth and enslave the human race under the false pretense they are protecting humans. Kane and Annabeth meet by chance and fall in love.
Spice level: 2.5 out of 5, due to the nature of their relationship, they have to be careful not to get caught. The spice works with the plot.
This is a great story. I recommend reading both books in the series.
I can't wait to read more from Alainna MacPherson! -
Not my cup of tea.
Normally I enjoy dystopian and SciFi romance but this one just wasn't for me. I always try to be truthful with my reviews. I was asked to read this and give my honest opinion. I picked this up from KU, and I'm glad I didn't purchase it. The cover is nice but the blurb is a little too long for my taste. The book itself was decently written but was missing some key details that would have added to the story. Instead, I know nothing about this new world the author created, other than the aliens enslaved the humans and one from each species falls in love. I'd have adored a little more context. Not at all knocking this author or the writing. I'm certain someone will really love it but it just wasn't for me. -
This book was so intricate and very interesting! I really like the characters and character development and the forbidden love aspect of this book a lot. I am not one for world building side of fantasy but she does a really great job of setting up the government in this alien romance! I don’t know that alien romances are for me but I’ll definitely keep going because I wanna know what happens to Kane and Annabeth!! 🥰
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Interesting story of aliens taking over earth, enslaving humans to mine for a mineral to powers weapon to fight another enemy. I enjoyed the 2 POV, although the dialogue felt too similar, no real unique voice to identify with each character. I did however really enjoy the evolution of Kane and Annabeth’s relationship and all that it represented. While there were a few editing issues, I thought this novel was a great introduction to a new story setting with a solid plot foundation. I received an ARC from Booksirens in exchange for my honest review.
