With every single Missouri Vaun book I've read, I've only become more and more of a fan. I don't usually seek out to read and enjoy any kind of science fiction but I read this because I'm a fan of Missouri Vaun, and I LOVED it! I think because this is also less of a sci-fi book and more of a futuristic apocalyptic situation.

Leah wakes up alone on her spaceship, after years of hibernation. She ventures out into the dessert to try an gain some understanding of where, and when, she is. But she's captured only to be saved by Keegan, a soldier, for the Tenth Clan. Leah and Keegan's attraction grows, while pressures and politics threatens the city and their lives.

The world this takes place is in brutal and unjust, and is tough to read at some points, but only because Vaun is so brilliant at describing and showing the world. I felt like I was there, I was so invested in this book. Proxima was such a fascinating environment.

I loved the characters - they were strong and fierce and good. In a brutal world, its the goodness you see in the people that can show you the light and can keep you reading through tough situations. The relationship between Keegan and Leah was steamy, and they make a great team!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was disturbing in some parts. They really did fall for each other instantly or at least Keegan did. The almost rape was a bit hard to swallow. So as for the story, it was really interesting and incredibly sad at some points. It was also super hard to believe that after almost being taken advantage of someone would be super into the person who almost took advantage of her. The consent in this book is really iffy. I like the overall premise. There were some good twists, but the ending happened really fast and the beginning took too long for anything to connect or to happen. So yeah I give this 2.5 stars and that’s sad because I really like Missouri Vaun’s other books.

Review excerpted from my blog post over at FanSciHist (https://fanscihist.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/proxima-five-by-missouri-vaun/)

My Rating: 4 stars

Library recommendation: Recommended for public library Romance, Speculative/Science Fiction, and/or LGBTQIA collections.

Warning: Hereafter, you chance spoilers. I will try never to reveal major plot points, but to review any book, you must reveal some parts of the story.


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Number of titles I have read by this author: 1

Love story speed: Medium burn

Relationship dynamics: The Educated New Planet Colonist (h1) / The Tough Military Commander (h2)

Sexual content: Some. Sex is romantic, “onscreen” and explicit

Triggers: Violence against women (including against both h1 and h2); a smidge of dubious consent.

Grammar/Editing: A few grammatical and spelling errors. As I read an advance review copy, I would hope that these will be taken care of in the published version.

Review: The writing style is typical of the genre (straight forward and a couple of steps up from gritty) and the pacing is fairly brisk. There were a couple of sections that caused a bit of confusion and needed a re-read for understanding. The world building is good; the physics are consistent and believable. The amount of terminology to learn is minimal, so this would make a good starter book for readers who want to sample Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction in general, but don’t want to dive right into the deep end with a bunch of alien civilization names and reams of other terminology.

Leah and Keegan are well-developed characters, on the whole, and they are very cute together, if a little bit saccharine at times. I enjoyed that they were both clever, strong and resilient in their own ways. The one troublesome thing is that Keegan is, shall we say, “well-liked” by most of the supporting characters and therefore has some genuine confusion about boundaries with Leah (hence the dubious consent trigger warning). She learns quickly, however, and the book doesn’t more than put a toe over the dubious consent line. The supporting characters were well-enough developed for the plot, but for the most part aren’t terribly memorable.

Overall, a fairly enjoyable read and I will certainly be looking into other books by Missouri Vaun.

Boozy Version: Coffee Liqueur meets Whiskey on the rocks in a lightly shaken, but ultimately smooth embrace. Expect a mildly exotic flavour created from familiar ingredients.



Full disclosure: I received a free advance review copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read three books by this author. The first one was contemporary. The second one was a historical fiction set during the westward expansion. This current one, Proxima Five, had a futuristic setting. All so different, yet the same because Missouri Vaun can successfully write a well structured story in any time period.

When Leah, a geologist, woke up from a cryogenic hibernation, she quickly discovered she was the lone survivor of the fifty crew members. Despite suffering from hibernation fatigue, Leah ventured from the safety of her ship to parts unknown and to a society very different from the sophisticated one she left behind. Leah was in for a cruel awakening as she was quickly captured by a rebel group known as the Fain. Luckily for Leah, Keegan, a clan commander for the ruling Tenth House, was also seeking the Fain rebels and easily rescued Leah from her captors. This happened within the first few chapters. The action then readily picked up speed and did not decelerate until near completion.

This story had it all: an imaginative, adventurous plot, with diverse intriguing, multidimensional characters whose dialogue was very defined and engaging. I especially liked the character development of Keegan and Leah over the course of the story. Initially, the relationship started off more or less like a dominant-submissive one – with Keegan making Leah wear an arm bracelet that branded Leah as her property. Keegan even tried forcing herself on Leah. Leah, a strong minded independent scientist, wanted no part of the sex or the bracelet. She adamantly refused both. However, when she removed the bracelet, Leah unknowingly put her life in danger and was once again caged along with others plucked from the streets. It was at this point that Leah finally realized the cruelty of the society she was now a part of and that Keegan was actually trying to protect her by making her wear that bracelet. I think both these events were a defining moment for Keegan as she realized that Leah would rather risk her life than submit to anything or anyone. The relationship slowing improved to a point of mutual respect and trust. Leah trusted Keegan enough to wear the bracelet as a sign of protection- not property. This turning point was the beginning of other changes that would shape the future of their relationship and the society in which they lived as a new and deathly regime took over in the form of Keegan’s nemesis, Tiago. Keegan and everyone she cared about was no longer safe.

Missouri Vaun is a very dynamic writer. She takes her characters beyond the usual script and gives them a presence and edginess that cannot be ignored, and in so doing, the reader cannot help but become completely invested in the story. This is what makes her stories so entertaining and enjoyable.
This book is very highly recommended.

3.25 Stars. I was excited about this read. I’m a Vaun fan and I love sci-fi. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. It was a decent read; it just didn’t work for me like I had hoped. I would put this in a sci-fi, dystopian, lesfic-romance category.

I really struggled with the beginning of this book. To be completely honest I did not like it to start with. As the book went on I finally connected more and it was a bit better for me. Part of this was my fault. I didn’t read the blurb carefully enough, I just thought sci-fi and jumped. I wasn’t prepared for a very unlikable world where 80% of the women are abused, slaves or worse. I have to prepare myself to read books where a strong independent woman is suddenly thrown into a situation where she has no power. I didn’t realize it was coming so I was just angry instead of immersed into the read. There was also an almost dubious-consent sex scene that was just turning my stomach. Luckily Vaun didn’t go through with it. Reading it I was worried she would use the excuse that the character was a little turned on, even though she was saying no, to make it okay. Thankfully it didn’t happen because if it did with the power imbalance of the relationship I would have DNF.

This is the ninth book I have read by Vaun. I like the way Vaun writes. I think part of my issue was I didn’t feel like this was really a Vaun book. It felt like a different author to me. Even the romance and sex scenes didn’t feel like Vaun to me. I felt like I was reading about two women getting close, but I didn’t feel like I was reading about them falling in love. The sex scenes were good, but it seemed like the characters where just fucking. I love some good sex scenes as much as the next person, but I hope to see the characters bond grow stronger. This might sound sappy but I want my characters, in a romance, to be intimate and actually make love. I didn’t feel like that ever happened here, so I never believed in their connection beyond just that they liked each other.

I mentioned when the book shifted, about half way through, I started to like it more. I felt the story was more interesting and I liked the small twist about one of the mains. The book kept building up for an exciting ending. Once again I was a little disappointed. While the ending was fine, it seemed to wrap up too easily. I kept looking at the percentage complete on my Kindle and was like “how can the story finish in time?” It was way too rushed and too easy for what I had hoped for.

When it comes down to it, I was most interested in what would happen after the book ended. Just when I wanted to know more, the story is over. I don’t know if Vaun plans a sequel, but I would want to read it. I would want to see the characters growing into a believable couple and what would happen next in their world. There are two side characters that would make interesting possible mains. While I think this story was only a bit better than okay, I could see the possibilities here and would read more. I think some people might like this book more than I did. This book just took me by surprise and bothered me a bit, which is my fault for not reading the blurb.

This is a book of speculative fiction, but more on the side of a dystopian future of the human race. The plot is about the exodus to colonize an appropriate planet due to the fatal future of our planet Earth, but the abuse of planet earth by the human race is not the main focus.

The story begins when Leah, a geologist, who is part of one of the ten ships sent for colonization, wakes up from her cryogenic sleep and discovers that she is the only survivor of the ship. The fact of waking up and finding herself alone in an unknown place causes her to investigate the place where she is. And what she discovers is a kind of medieval civilization where most women have a role of sex exclaves and servants of men, with some very pleasant exceptions, such as Commander Keegan, with whom she has a bit problematic first encounter .

The story is being developed from two different threads, on the one hand is Leah trying to figure out what happened with her ship and with the rest of the mission and on the other is Keegan trying to find out what is happening with a rebel faction that is acting with more force in the midst of power struggles in the dominant groups that lead the planet.

I have enjoyed very much the romantic history between Leah and Keegan, both feeling the strong pull between them, both amazed at each other. In spite of being apparently two different worlds, deep down, their mighty sens of justice and their strong will, bring them together and cause that they rebel against the unfairness sorrounding them.

So this book has been a very entertaining read for me, with some distressing and sad moments but with a lot more of sensitive and emotional ones that make it a book highly recommended.