HeVan Sent by Lucy Kelly

Addie thinks she is a boring Archeologist with a quirky gift. One that will get her the biggest find of her life is she plays it right. But Addie gets more than she bargained for when she discovers a hidden treasure. Now, faced with making a decision to leave her world and travel to another with the three brothers who are her mates, or so they say. Addie has to make the hardest decision of her life, or wake up form the dream she is having. But the men are hot and the sex hotter, why wake up? HeVan is a world trying to find their lost Queen. When they send out their best men to travel to find her, they find more than they ever dreamed of. HeVan has been dwindling in populations since the loss of their Queen, they need her back and they also need her descendants. Finding them will be the easy part, convincing them they are from another planet will be the hard part.

HeVan Sent was a pretty good sci-fi romance. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and really liked the concept and the way in which the story unfolded. While the idea of a matriarchal society in which the males outnumber the females is one I have encountered before – and tend to love because it lends itself to polyamory – Ms. Kelly does a nice job of taking ownership of the concept and creating HeVan. The plot to overthrow the house of HeVanth and the steps taken to do so that were revealed in the Prologue was an excellent way to set the stage for the book and the series.

The biggest detractor for me that prevented me from loving the book was Addie. For the most part, Addie is very interesting and likeable character. She is very intelligent, strong-willed, independent, and takes life in stride, adapting to the situation as needed. Despite all of this, there are times when she is downright juvenile, especially in her inner monologue. My problem wasn’t the juvenile antics themselves, but rather the jarring nature of a shift from thoughts and behaviors consistent with the PhD student she is to the thoughts and antics of someone with the maturity level of a 12 year-old girl who just discovered her boobs were growing. These personality shifts (for lack of a better term), would yank me out of the flow of the story and prevented me from fully immersing myself into the book.

That said, I enjoyed HeVan Sent and the way in which Addie’s relationship with Arjun, Kylan, and Rune developed. Their joining scene was none like I’ve ever encountered before and I loved it. I was both disappointed and glad that the book ended with Addie and the guys still on Earth. I had hoped to see her encounter with the current ruler of HeVan, but am glad that the series will be playing out over several books. HeVan Sent has the series off to a good start and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the Nephilim series. 

Wow this is a good book! The premise is original and thought-provoking which is so much fun when it happens.  I love it when authors take a well-known mythos and then tweak it just enough to make you see things from a completely different point of view.

I love books about aliens, which this one is, but Ms. Kelly adds in a supernatural aspect to this one that makes it all the more appealing to me.   One thing most alien books have in common is the alpha male archetype, but this book also adds a whole cast of strong, independent women and it was just so refreshing to read.  The clash between two very headstrong characters used to getting their way was amusing and the perfect comedic relief to some of the more drama filled scenes.

The only part of this book I was unsatisfied with was the ending. To me it felt stilted.  I know this is in part because it is the first in a series but it just seemed like Addie’s story was wrapped up really quickly to make way for Grace’s.  I know we will get more of Addie’s story in Grace’s but I was just hoping for a little bit more finesse in the transition.

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