Sunday Street Team: Beyond the Red by Ava Jae

Sunday Street Team comes from the fabulous brain of Nori over at ReadWriteLove28. Basically we act as a street team for a particular author (or authors) every month, promoting their book and basically flailing about (we do that right?). To learn more about it you can visit the Sunday Street Team page over on Nori’s site.

This is my FIRST Sunday Street Team post and I am so excited that the book I get to tell you all about is Beyond the Red by Ava Jae!

Alien queen Kora has a problem as vast as the endless crimson deserts. She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.

Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. Yet that doesn’t stop him from defending his people, at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He’s given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.

When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves in to the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide.

Find this book on Goodreads | Purchase this book on Amazon | Learn more about Ava Jae

Oh my gosh, I do not even know where to start with this book. This is one of those books that once I finished I let out a little sigh, possibly a huff due to wanting more, and then I proceeded to hug the book. It’s the type of adventure story that I just never tire of reading; a Queen struggling to rule mostly because of her gender, watching her make decisions that no one thinks should be made. These stories can go wrong very easily. A lot of them can come off as man hating (which bothers me because I don’t hate men) and sometimes there is so much whining by the heroine that I am just done with her. Lucky for me, this one worked. There is action, adventure, romance (ohhhh be still my heart), and it was all just fabulous. Here are a few of my favorite things about this book:

• The romance made sense! Ok, how many books have you read where it just doesn’t seem to make sense to you. For example, there is instalove, or they maybe have no reasons at all to start falling for each other or the attraction just…blech. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THIS BOOK! There is an order for things, there is a physical attraction and it builds. A friendship is built FIRST AND FOREMOST, and things just happen from there. I absolutely adored this romance. It made my smile, and it also broke my heart as all good romances do (because love is hard guys. Love is hard). I really can’t say TOO much more because you just have to trust me on this and read it yourself.
• Kora! Holy moly badass girl. I think the exact words I wrote down immediately after reading was “Kora= relatable badass.” I find that in a lot of books I read the main character is so fierce and strong but I have very little that I can relate to. I felt that with Kora I could see a little bit of myself, or some of the things I do every day. She was flawed, beautifully flawed just as we all are. She struggled to do what was best FOR HER and saw her own needs get lost in the shuffle from time to time. She was able to summon strength when she felt that she had absolutely nothing left in her, which is something I look at and think of how I need to do that. I think she is the PERFECT main character for anyone to read about.
• Eros! This guy….there was so much more to him than what you would think. I feel like right at the beginning I had one single impression of him. When he was introduced I was so sure he would be a specific type of character, but I was so wrong. His story line had me feeling all kinds of emotions (and even a few tears) within the first couple pages. He was put through so much throughout just ONE book and came out as strong as he could be. I admired him (and maybe felt some swooning going on too…shhhhhh).

This book just FLEW by! I was shocked at how quickly I read it, but I just could not put it down (unless I was forced to. Work really gets in the way of reading doesn’t it?). It was a whirlwind adventure with a romance that is just a bit of a slow burn. I could not get enough…cannot get enough. I REALLY NEED MORE!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME THAT THERE WILL BE MORE!!!

Has anyone else read this one yet? I would love to hear your thoughts!!! And be sure to check out other posts from those of us on the Sunday Street Team.