I really was hoping Uninvited was exactly as it stated in the below synopsis, but it fell short.


Synopsis: Aerin McLeary’s post-divorce Finger Lakes vacation is suddenly interrupted when an ominous vibration shocks her entire body, leaving her with the strange new ability to read minds along with an extreme sensitivity to sound. Fearing the consequences if her condition becomes public, Aerin has no choice but to turn to her childhood best friend and first love for help.

College professor Olivia Ando is not happy to see Aerin again after their disastrous breakup, but she can’t resist a great research challenge. When they discover that Aerin’s body is the host for an alien being, they race against time to find the truth and stop an impending explosion.

Will Aerin and Olivia be able to save the world or will Aerin become an unwitting instrument in the alien agenda before she can tell Olivia how she truly feels?

This was a light read - the sci-fi element was a welcome change but there seemed to be too much of a rush to move things forward and resulted in some leaps of logic and faith that detracted from the interesting premise and characters.

I enjoyed the two mains (Olivia and Aerin) and found them both quite engaging and interesting. They both had pretty distinctive characters and they didn't seem stereotypical. The back stories worked well in setting up the women as they are today and definitely gave you a reason to root for them. Overall, the second chance romance was effective and enjoyable.

I really do like Esther's writing style and the characters in this one but the overarching science fiction plot felt a bit too light and very rushed. There's a sequel coming - so some of the things that seemed unfinished will likely get a bit more time to develop.

Different is a good way to describe this read. Unimaginable yet imaginable storyline. Aerin McLeary, post-divorce and ready to move on with her professional and personal life. Professor Olivia Ando, engaged in a successful academic career and not emotionally prepared (or is she) to reignite with a childhood best friend and first love. From chapter to chapter the story went back and forth between when Olivia and Aerin first met to present day. Not difficult to keep up with due the nice transition. The professor having scientific equipment in her basement was kinda cool yet spooky. Both characters had family and friend issues to deal with. The ending is abrupt. Much information is provided around what happened and how Olivia and Aerin met. I think I was looking for some type of resolution for some part of the read but in my opinion, none is given. I suppose I will have to wait for The Portal #2.

I hadn’t heard of this author and was excited to read this book. Unfortunately it didn’t click with me. In fact it fell flat like a pancake. I didn’t enjoy it. I also thought at times it was a bit uncomfortable - I wasn’t keen on the way it was represented at times.

Univited by Jane C Esther.
Aerin McLeary’s post-divorce Finger Lakes vacation is suddenly interrupted when an ominous vibration shocks her entire body, leaving her with the strange new ability to read minds along with an extreme sensitivity to sound. Fearing the consequences if her condition becomes public, Aerin has no choice but to turn to her childhood best friend and first love for help.

College professor Olivia Ando is not happy to see Aerin again after their disastrous breakup, but she can’t resist a great research challenge. When they discover that Aerin’s body is the host for an alien being, they race against time to find the truth and stop an impending explosion.

Will Aerin and Olivia be able to save the world or will Aerin become an unwitting instrument in the alien agenda before she can tell Olivia how she truly feels?

A really enjoyable read. I liked Aerins character.
Couldn't put it down. 5*.

This book is very different from what I normally read, and admittedly it left me with a lot of questions. I didn't realize that this is a Part I so I was surprised at the abrupt ending. I enjoy second chance romances, so I'm looking forward to more with Olivia and Aerin in Part II. I thought the whole alien/paranormal aspect was handled very creatively.

I was so unprepared for the bigotry in this book. Shouldn't it be about uplifting LGBTQ+? What's with all the bi bashing? It turned me off completely while also leaving a horrible taste in my mouth. I'm still not sure what the point of this book was.

I will not post my review online due to the fact that it's below three stars.

Wow, was this a unique book! I can honestly say I've never read anything quite like this one, and I mean that in a good way. It kept me guessing, drew me in and had me rooting for the main character by the middle! I knew going into it that it clearly was part of a series, but I was still disappointed that it ended. now I want to watch for the next one, because I have to find out what happens next!

Read this with an open mind and suspend your disbelief. Turn off your rational brain and just enjoy the story.

Oh, and stay away from lakes in thunderstorms!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley & author.

I was excited to read a new to me author, and the unique storyline caught my attention for sure. BUT the book fell flat for me unfortunately. There were some really slow areas. The characters weren't well developed either. BUT I know someone else will love this book

Aerin McLeary is on her post-divorce vacation when she suddenly feels an ominous vibration that shocks her entire body. Now she has the strange ability to read minds and she is now super sensitivity to sound. Looking for answers she is suddenly reunited with her childhood best friend and first love.

Olivia Ando is a college professor who although not happy to see Aerin again, she is intrigue by the challenge of finding out what is happening to Aerin. Now is in both of their hands to safe the world or accept their feelings towards each other before Aerin becomes nothing else but an alien tool.

I really like the character development. The story was interesting and well thought through while also having a good and cute story between the main characters.

While I love a story that shows childhood first love's and goes back to the past I found it a bit confusing in this book because there wasn't a good separation between past and present so sometime I would't realized I was in the past until a couple paragraphs in.

The author did a great job in portraying a possible way you could become an alien's host body. Overall a great book.

ARC provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books Inc. for an honest review

I love sc-fi, and aliens and just science in general. That being said, I was excited going into this book.
I became even more excited when I found out that one of the main characters was a neuroscientist named Olivia. Guess what? I'm a neuroscientist (in training)! Named Olivia! So yeah, that got me even more excited for this book.
And then we really got into the meat (look I know that's not the right expression, but I'm a scientist, not an English major) of this story.
1. I don't usually do this, but trigger warning: there is a HELL of a lot of biphobia. Olivia spends a lot of her time criticizing love interest Aerin's choice to marry a man (I'll get more into this is a second).
2. So Aerin and Olivia used to be a couple in high school but Olivia's highly religious pastor father caught them making out topless in his church (because they thought that in order to keep their relationship a secret they'd pick the worst possible place to get it on) and this scares Aerin away (for obvious reasons, I mean the pastor is an ass). Olivia gets kicked out of her house for being gay (because religion) and holds a resentment towards Aerin for YEARS for a completely reasonable reaction. Oh and btw Olivia is herself afraid of her father and hates Aerin and her mother for also being afraid of him. UM??
3. Olivia is straight up sexist (yes sexism towards men is real, get over it, unfollow/hate me if you want, but it's a fact...not sorry).
a. for those of you who don't know (INCLUDING JANE. C. ESTHER) all scientific papers are sent out for peer review, and these peer reviews are blind - meaning that the reviewer has not idea who wrote the paper to prevent bad reviews as personal vendetta, etc. WELL, in one of the first chapters she gets a peer-reviewed paper back from an "old white male". We all know where this is going right? Yeah well he makes note that he was unable to replicate a certain step of her study and her immediate response was "WELL IT"S BECAUSE I'M A GAY ASIAN FEMALE". No, hun. He would have no way of knowing that. It was because he wasn't able to replicate your study, whether it be because you were unclear in your instructions, you made a mistake in the initial study, or he himself made a mistake.
b. in the same chapter, we are told that Olivia has all of her awards displayed in her office, you know, like every scientist would because scientific work is hARD. But as soon as Olivia comes across the profile of a neursocientist (yes, male) that details all of his achievements and awards, she bitches about how ALL male academics rave about their awards and achievements even if it doesn't matter to anyone. Okay, 1. it matters to them, academic work is hard and any award is fucking worth it, and 2. you do the exact same thing... but I guess it's okay because you have a uterus and a vagina and identify as a woman? Hypocrisy at its finest. Oh and by the way she was going to this male neuroscientist for help, so, I don't get the problem.
4. Either Olivia is a shit neuroscientist, or Jane C. Esther doesn't know what she's talking about. Personally, I think it's both (mostly because Olivia is reALLY unethical like holy crap).
a. (note for Jane C. Esther) synapses don't fire. Synapses are the junctions between an axonal foot and a dendritic spine. It's an empty space were neurotransmitters, etc., are floating around. It's what the neuroscientists of old called "the soup". Neurons fire, not synapses.
b. (note for Jane C. Esther) neurons can't fire past a certain rate. They will DIE. They literally excite themselves to death.
c. (note for Jane C. Esther) Olivia and Max are neuroscientists, not neurologists. They are VERY different things. A doctor of neurology is a physician. A neuroscientist is a doctor (PhD).
d. (note for Olivia AND Jane C. Esther) brains are computers. In fact, they are the most complex computers known to man (huMAN not men @Trudeau). And before you say that computers are hardwear and codes and numbers, a computer was a JOB title before modern computers became common place (thank you Hidden Figures).
What I'm saying, Jane, is that reading scientific papers and talking about them does not a scientist make. Years of school and research do. Good effort though.
5. Not all Canadians are french Canadians. Just saying.
6. Olivia is just an overall vindictive character and unpleasant to follow.
7. Plot? What plot? This book was clearly a set-up for a sequel that I have no interest in picking up
8. There was a huge info-dump in the last three chapters that somehow didn't reveal anything and just felt like a waste of space?
There's so much more I have to say about this book but I'm so tired and I have two midterms coming up that I need to study for, but I will most definitely be posting a complete review on my blog.
Anyway, not a fan, do not recommend, but go ahead and give it a read because I'm not the boss of you.

Uninvited (The Portal #1) by Jane C. Esther is the first in a series and it is good to know up front that it ends in the mother of all cliffhangers. If you want a well-rounded story with a definite ending you have to walk away from this one because you will have many questions and no answers (yet).

Aerin McLeary and Olivia Ando discover their feelings for each other run deeper than the usual bff stuff when they share a tent during a bible summer camp trip. Olivia’s father is one of those hell fire and brimstone type preachers and you can already guess this is not going to end well for the fledgling lovers. When they are discovered in flagrante by said preacher (in church no less), Olivia is sent off to her grandparents a few towns over, never to be seen again. And Aerin… Aerin is so shocked she does a complete 180, aligns herself with the preacher, becomes the poster child for heterosexuals and marries the first dude who will have her. I’m still baffled by that series of events to be honest.

15 years later we find newly divorced Aerin knee-deep in a freezing lake having some kind of weird brain synapse overload thingy happening. As the only therapist in that same small gossipy town she grew up in she wants to keep things on the down low and through a friend gets into contact with Olivia. Olivia who is now a tenured professor and researcher specialized in everything brainy. Olivia is far from happy to see Aerin again because she never really got over how things ended between them (and I don’t blame her).

Once the two get together and try to find out what happened in that lake we see a steady build-up of weirdness concerning Aerin. Weird dreams, black outs, out of body experiences and mind reading are just the start of the changes happening within Aerin’s body. A wild ride begins.

I didn’t really care much for Aerin in this part of the story. I could have eventually forgiven her betrayal to Olivia (she was a young, scared and stupid teen) but then she lingered in a marriage with a man she obviously never loved for 15 years playing the model Christian housewife. And when the changes happen in Aerin’s brain I find her rather flippant towards the dangers she puts Olivia in. Not really being sympathetic there, Aerin. The ex-husband as well as father Ando were of the moustache twirling villain variety, especially when they turn up on Aerin’s doorstep to reclaim her (Lol! Seriously?)

As I said, the questions pile up but we don’t get many answers. I felt towards the end that I had to suspend my disbelief regarding Aerin’s growing abilities. I know it’s part sci-fi but the way things progressed felt a bit off. I liked Olivia and will probably read book 2 because of her… and to get some answers.

f/f

Themes: teen-age love and lust, busted, betrayal, religious zealots, academics, what happened to Aerin’s brain, there is something out there, abnormal brain patterns, there are others, I feel bad for Olivia who is mostly a klingon in order to keep up with Aerin’s increasingly erratic behavior.

3 stars

* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books Inc. for an honest review.

I am a big fan of sci-fi, so this novel was right up my street. A mixture of sci-fi, love, old memories and a bit of a mystery, ‘Uninvited’ is a great story. Aerin McLeary is in Finger Lakes with best friend Zoe, undergoing a post-divorce cleansing ritual. Whilst in the water she feels a strange vibration and ends up with some unexpected changes and abilities. And the only person she can turn to is her old love, Olivia, now a professor.

I enjoyed how the author moved back and forth between Aerin and Olivia’s teenage romance and the situation they find themselves in now. It was enlightening and I could see why they needed to find a resolution. The attraction between them was powerful. The fact that it all ended so badly in the past made it so difficult to move on. But I wanted them to. The sci-fi element was fascinating and an unusual take on how alien contact may happen. I really enjoyed it and would actually like to see more of these characters and their story. I was therefore delighted to find out that this is the first in a series. I’m looking forward to the next one.

I was given this ARC for review.

2.5 Stars. This book was okay. It is about Aerin McLeary who takes a trip with her friend Zoe after her divorce from her husband. They decide to do a baptism like ceremony in a lake in Finger Lakes and when Aerin is in the water she feels a vibration and a loud sound and does not know what happened to her. Aerin realizes she has new abilities and can read minds and has no choice but to turn to her childhood best friend, Olivia Ando. Aerin and Olivia were a couple until Olivia's father pulled them apart 15 years ago and Aerin turned into the perfect christian. Olivia can't help but want to solve a good mystery and wants to know what happened to Aerin.

Reading this book I did not realize it was part 1 of a book. It ended on a cliffhanger and there is definitely another book. This book was okay with the super natural elements. I thought for the most part the super natural elements did not make a whole lot of sense. I could not really get into this book as I did not enjoy the sci-fi elements. The character development between Aerin and Olivia was okay, as they evolved a little but it seemed pretty quick from hate to love. I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would and I was disappointed it was part of at least a two book series.

The Univited is a decent book, with a weird twisty story and somewhat compelling leads. When Aerin gets hit with a strange seizure while on vacation, her friend convinces her to go to the very person she has been trying to avoid for the last fifteen years: her high school sweetheart Olivia. They both were hurt when Olivia's dad, a hardcore minister, caught them making out in the town church. Now, with some kind of alien being taking over Aerin's brain, they both must deal with their pasts and what they mean to each other.

There are parts of the book that make it feel a little like an X-Files episode, with a twisty ending that leaves the reader hanging off one of the more abrupt cliffhangers I have read. There's also the super smart bird, some strange cryptic messages left by a man from twenty years ago, and some other things. I thought those were the best part of the book - it does lend an air of mystery about it whether or not you actually care about the characters.

Which brings me to the rest of the book, a tangled mass of confused emotions and miscommunication. I feel like a lot of the drama that occurred between Olivia and Aerin could have been handled a little better by them. Granted, it is understandable to a point; Olivia has never had any healthy relationship with the brief exception of the one she had with Aerin which makes some of her anger somewhat justified. Aerin, whew, she is an absolute mess. I sincerely questioned some of her life choices, because they were so self destructive, and so obviously wrong.

If you're here for a speculative romance, I'd put this aside, as our two leads have a long way to go before they can even dream of rekindling their romance. The two leads might annoy you in their own way. I thought Olivia's arch was the strongest, but I can empathize with her feelings of abandonment and betrayal. But the science fiction mystery with the alien brain scrambler is fun and has just enough to keep me interested.

I don’t read very many speculative fiction stories even though my partner loves them and actually writes them herself. When I looked at the cover (Covers really are important) and read the blurb for 'Uninvited' by Jane C. Esther, I decided that it sounded interesting. I was right. The book is interesting, and I really enjoyed reading it.

The story centers around two women, Aerin McLeary and Olivia Ando. Aerin has an almost deadly experience while she is on vacation which leaves her with some extraordinary abilities she did not have before. She seeks the help of her ex-friend and first lover Olivia, who is now a college professor and science researcher. In spite of their past, they work together to discover that Aerin’s body is now the host of an alien being. They also learn that the alien, through Aerin, seems to want to try and stop some type of explosion that could kill and injure many people. But is this really the alien’s agenda?

This is a well written speculative fiction novel. It has all the expected elements of the genre, but it is also a romance as well, which is probably why I liked it so much. (I love a good romance, and I’m not afraid to admit it.) I connected with the characters pretty quickly and found them interesting. The small town setting as the backdrop for a good portion of this alien possession story was well done. I liked the contrast it made to the unusual plot. The back story involving the two main characters really made the story for me, even though I think it was supposed to be kind of secondary. Aerin and Olivia’s history is full of angst, betrayal, heartache and love. It is mostly shown through flashbacks, but all that emotion carries into the present and affects their actions all through the book.

I have only one real criticism with the novel. I didn’t like the way the flashbacks were treated. They all seemed to have their own chapters, but there was no indication at the beginning of the chapters that you were about to read a flashback. That’s not good because it knocked me out of the story for a bit. There really should be some indication that the reader is about to start reading a flashback, italics perhaps.

'Uninvited' is the first book in the Portal series, and you will end up wanting to get the next book in the series. While the ending does answer some questions, it sets up the next book as well. I know I will be looking forward to it. If you like good speculative fiction mixed with an angst ridden romance, I believe you’ll like this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

This is the first book by this author that I have read. I am on the fence with this book. Parts of it I liked and parts of it I was lost/confused. The characters, Aerin I liked and Olivia, I could take her or leave her. The story line was a little confusing for me at times and the ending felt like it was rushed and not completely finished.

I commend the author for her effort but I don't think I will read any more books in the series in the future.

ARC book was received by the Publisher via Netgalley and I am voluntarily leaving my review.

I enjoyed this book. I think the premise is quite unique and an appreciated departure from the typical lesbian tropes. I'm not a fan of flashbacks to young love scattered throughout a book, but that's personal preference.

The biggest flaw, in my opinion, was that the blurb included a giant plot point, that takes more than half the book to reveal. I would have preferred to have the book get directly to the point and then deal with the main issue, or leave it out of the blurb and continue as the book is written waiting to figure out what's wrong with Aerin. We as the readers know what happened and as the pages pass it almost becomes frustrating waiting for the inevitable. I will be buying the sequel in spite of this when it comes out.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Newly divorced Aerin McLeary has a strange paranormal-seeming experience that causes her to seek out a high school girlfriend, Olivia Ando, who happens to be an ambitious brain researcher. Cue mind-influencing aliens from far, far away.
On the positive, I like the premise of Uninvited, and the writing style is solid and easy to read. I like the I do read science-fiction, and I really like the genre. I wanted to like this book.
Less positive for me, the story didn't flow smoothly, and seems to rush to a conclusion. The science-fiction gets a it messy with paranormal elements., and the end was a deeply unsatisfying shock. Common sense suggests this is the first book in a series, which is normally a positive for me, but in this case there is absolutely nothing in the blurb or synopsis or even the end-credits that indicates there will be a sequel.
I will likely want to read the sequel if it comes, but I hope it will be more polished and better paced.

I enjoyed this and I’m looking forward to the next in the series. Professor Olivia Ando is asked by her friend and colleague to take an off-the-records looks at his girlfriend’s friend’s brainwaves. Something strange happened to Aerin while standing in a freezing lake in upstate New York. The result is that she’s always hungry and can hear people’s thoughts. Olivia doesn’t know that the person she’s agreed to see is her childhood best friend and first girlfriend until she’s standing on her doorstep.

There’s a great connection built between Aerin and Olivia that is wrapped up in love, betrayal, anger, fear and regret that spans their childhood era to the present. Some is told through flashback chapters and some in the dialogue of the present. There are a number of aspects to the story that I really hope get revisited in the sequel. Their devastating break-up and Olivia’s estrangement from her family is one of the major ones. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens around her brother especially.

In this first instalment Olivia is given a lot more information around who she is and her motivations than Aerin is. She’s had a tough time and has protected herself. She’s also a little quirky with her talking bird and basement lab. Aerin is a little more mysterious and much of the focus is on her alien possession but it would be interesting to know more about her time in dealing with Olivia’s religious-zealot-Japanese-Baptist-pastor father.

I’m a little skeptical about the alien aspect to the story but I’m hoping it will tie-in in a reasonably plausible way. Most of my enjoyment was in the reconnecting of Olivia and Aerin combined with the speculation around mind-reading.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.