This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
When an experimental starship test goes horribly wrong, a scientist from Earth finds herself fighting for her survival, and her only lifeline is a wild, powerful alien king.
Waking on an alien world, wracked by pain, Dr. Poppy Ellison is confused and adrift…until his voice calls to her in the darkness. The big, wild, enthralling man reveals that she’s been infected and is turning into an alien shapeshifter. Poppy has always been smart, practical, and boring, but with her entire life turned upside down, there is no one she can trust…except for this alien wolf.
Emperor Brodin Damar Sarkany is king of Damar and its shapeshifters. As wild as the forest city they call home, the Damari can be volatile, always fighting to control the wolf inside. Brodin uses his immense strength to keep his people in check and protect them from the most dangerous evil of all—his war-mongering father. He can’t afford the distraction of a small, tantalizing woman from Earth, even when everything about Poppy sings to the instincts of both man and wolf.
As his father’s ruthless warlord attacks, innocent children are at risk, and Poppy knows she has to help by mastering her new, emerging abilities. She must also face the shocking passion that explodes between her and Brodin. But as Poppy and Brodin hunt down the enemy, they uncover a plot that could mean the destruction of all the Damari…if they don’t stop it in time.
My Review
First Impressions
After I read the first book, I didn’t know how Emperor could even come close to what I felt for Overlord, well guess what? Yeah, I was definitely wrong about that. The reason that I picked this one up so quickly is I just know that I can depend on this author to get me into a book, and after a slow read from the historical, I just knew that I had to read something that would be a page-turner and Anna Hackett definitely fulfilled everything that I expected and more from this one. It was everything that I was looking for and also added some elements that I didn’t realize I needed. I do think that if you want to try some great imagery in a science fiction romance, or just want to explore this genre a bit more, I couldn’t recommend Anna Hackett and especially this series has been a blast so far and I can’t wait to read the connecting books to this series. The romance was on point and so solid in so many respects and there was so much competence porn in this one that it just blended so well together.
She drifted off to sleep with his heartbeats in her ear, his scent filling her, and his strong arms surrounding her.
Summary
This story begins with our two protagonists are: Dr. Poppy Ellison and Emperor Brodin Damar Sarkany. Poppy wakes up in intense pain and the only thing that brings comfort is being held in the arms Brodin and in this moment there is an intense bond that is formed between Brodin and Poppy, one that neither of them fully realize at that moment. Poppy is an earth female who crash-landed on a planet across the galaxy and was experimented on and now she is part shapeshifter, and Brodin is by her side being her protector and building the courage she needs to survive the coming tide. As Poppy is learning more about her new abilities and what she is capable of, the relationship that she builds with Brodin develops into something deeper than they ever expected. But Brodin’s wolves are disappearing and when a handful of kids go missing, he is determined to find them, but their nemesis has found their weakness, and only Poppy has the capabilities to fight the change and bring balance back to their people. But they have an enemy who is determined to destroy them all. But will Poppy and Brodin find a way to defeat a crazy scientist who will stop at nothing to destroy them?
What I Loved
There are so many things that I just fell so hard for. The first is the setting, the descriptions that this author builds up are so vividly portrayed and it just felt like a magical setting that I wanted to kick back and relax into. Anna Hackett definitely displayed her talents in what she built here with this setting. I had such a fun time with this clan of shape shifter wolves, it was so so fascinating. I honestly have loved the sense of paranormal mysticism that blends so well with these sci fi worlds that are pure magic on the page. When you combine that with a powerful romance, you are bound to fall in love. Which definitely happened. I adored Brodin and Poppy together, while they seem vastly different from each other, they ended up complimenting each other so well in this one. I looked forward to every moment that had together, and seeing them interact and build their relationship definitely had its powerful moments. There is also a very intense plot that builds within the story that while it doesn’t detract too much from the romance, it really adds depth to the characters that come into play here. And as a side bonus we got a teaser to the next pairing in the series and that one is going to be a firecracker.
You and me, mates, together for a lifetime. Right here, I promise you that you will always belong here, with me. You were the missing piece I never knew I was looking for.
What I Struggled With
I am not sure what I can say about this as there wasn’t really much I struggled with. If I had to pinpoint what kept this from being a full five-star of a read, it would definitely have to be some slow aspects to the story. It only happened a couple of times which is the only element to this book I could see better.
Overall View
Emperor is a read that will twist you up in knots and will inspire you to fly to your imagination’s soul. It brings together beautiful aspects of heart and thrills that you will be hunting down more books from this author. Definitely won’t disappoint any romance lover.
Title: Emperor
Author: Anna Hackett
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Length: 264 Pages
Book Links
Amazon| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 5
Story Itself: 4.5
Character Development: 4
Writing Style: 5
World Building 5
Feels + The Romantic Heart 4.5
Pacing 5
Plot 5
Cover Art 4
Ending 4.5
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
Steam Level
Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.
Series Order
(Galactic Kings)
Overlord-Pub 2021- #1 in the Series
Emperor-Pub 2022- #2 in the Series
About The Author
I’m a USA Today bestselling romance author who’s passionate about fast-paced, emotion-filled romantic suspense and science-fiction romance. I love writing about people overcoming unbeatable odds and achieving seemingly impossible goals. I like to believe it’s possible for all of us to do the same.
Oh, nice! I want to read these. Loved reading what you thought about Emperor, Renee!
Thanks for another great book rec! I’m still really new to reading this genre and I’m always looking for authors to read. When I was binging a series by Cynthia Sax, this author’s books kept popping up so I’m glad to know they’re worthwhile to read. Which I will be doing 🙂
Another fab review <3