My Human Wife

By: Olympia Black

Narrated by: Bridget Bordeaux, Jake Bordeaux

Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

An indentured human woman. An Imperial man on a mission. A fake marriage born in the stars.

When my master died, I believed I’d be set free.

Instead, I’m sent to a temple where I’m forced to continue doing the one thing I know—pleasing alien males.

Until Gael the Returner arrives.

Half-human and half-Imperial, he travels the galaxy, rescuing humans.

But instead of offering me my freedom, he has other plans.

He needs me to spy for him, then he swears he will set me free.

I just need to marry him first.

What starts as a marriage of convenience to the most dangerous criminal in the sector becomes something more.

Everything I do is for him.

But after the life I’ve led, my complicated past, so much stands in our way.

I thought Gael would give me freedom, instead, he’s entrapped my heart with no means of escape.

One-click this thrilling, dark, and intense sci-fi romance filled with morally grey characters, damsel in distress, and a fake marriage that leads friends to become lovers, despite the complications it brings.

©2023 Olympia Black (P)2024 Olympia Black

My Human Wife!

I am not sure what I was expecting with this book but the plot was intriguing. The story was intriguing and captivating. Highly sensual and erotic with definite triggers. The story is a futuristic alien science fiction read about Gael and Lara. The story starts when her master has died and she is sent to a sex temple. Finding it awful she is eager to get away. When Gael shows up she agrees to anything and inadvertently forces a marriage between them. In order to help other humans she must go undercover and be sold again into slavery. She must be bought by the Imperial Kamos. She suffers greatly but is treasured in some ways. This is a very emotional read with some cringy moments. It does have some intriguing twists too. It was worth reading and I thought the narration was done well. There are triggers and deals with trafficking and more.

My Human Wife by Olympia Black

My Human Wife
by
Olympia Black

What a whirlwind of a read. I loved it. Five stars, a romance with beautifully written characters, genuine themes and great angst.

I Enjoyed It

I really enjoyed this book. Great world building and characters. I was sucked into the story right away as Lara is dumped at a sex temple with no means of escape. She's had a terrible life after being abducted at age eight and bought as a pet to be showed off to and molested by aliens. Only when her master died did a judge sentence her to the temple rather than set her free. Gael was attracted to her from the start, but always set out to use her for his own means- even if it was a mission to prevent trafficking.

Bridget Bourdeux and Jake Bourdeux did wonderful jobs narrating this audiobook. Bridget especially put such emotion into bringing Lara's character to life. I liked that even though the story had alternating chapters, Bridget and Jake both voiced their own characters regardless of whose chapter it was. I also liked Bridget's voices for the nuns.

Good Story!

MFC Lara is a survivor and has done just that since being abducted from Earth as a child.
The galaxy is not a nice place for humans.
My Human Wife is quite the dark and intense story and author Olympia Black is definitely an acquired taste.
I find her writing style different and genre breaking but didn’t find myself quite as taken with the narration of this audiobook version.
I can be overly particular when it comes to the listening experience and didn’t find myself engaged with the voice talents used here.
The story is an impressive very detailed exploration into the life and times of a woman who longs to be free but has to put that dream aside when half human and half Imperial MMC Gael the Returner who travels the galaxy rescuing humans, makes Lara an offer for her assistance with his current mission, and she cannot refuse if she wants to escape from her current dire straits.
The story overall is a good one and does reach an HEA, but the author’s trigger warnings should be heeded for sensitive readers/listeners before taking this highly unusual journey.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Gael and Lara

Story: Lara (h), once a prized human possession, is sent to a sex temple after her alien master's death and finds herself forced into a life she despises at a temple that sanctifies nothing but sexual exploitation. Her only escape is a risky offer from Gael (H), a half-human, half-Imperial revolutionary whose past is as haunted as the systems he fights against, and inadvertently becomes his wife. Things heat up between the two, even though Gael distances himself physically from her once they're on his ship. As they get to know one another, the two begin to connect with one another, though this isn't enough to stop Gael from using Lara as part of his operations. He convinces her to help prevent others, especially young children who were trafficked as she was, by having her infiltrate galactic slave trade, led by the ruthless Imperial kingpin Kamos, by being sold at a high-security gala as a human pet, a role fraught with danger and moral ambiguities. Despite the risks, Lara uses her intelligence, strategic acumen, and her body to do whatever she has to - becoming a different persona and compartmentalizing herself to get through Kamos's abuse. This was a rough read emotionally - Lara was abducted at age eight and endured fifteen years of alien sexualization before she even was sent to the temple and then on to even worse treatment as a human pet for Kamos; Gael has feelings for Lara but still sends her off to Kamos, even though he knows who Kamos is and what she'll experience there. I get that these were morally grey characters, and that change is incremental and comes with sacrifice, but it just seemed like it seemed like so much was put on Lara. Then to find out who Kamos actually is and the situation Lara finds herself in that spurs her to action, just wow. I'm still not sure that I even like Gael who had no qualms about manipulating Lara into making choices, even though there really weren’t any real choices available, or he withheld information from her. Typically, I would give a one-sentence romance wrap up, but I'm not sure I can do much other than: Woman trafficked by aliens helps bring down notorious galactic slave trader and ends up with an alien husband.

Duet chapters weren’t a huge issue for me – I get that the author was trying to consider how the conversations would flow in the audiobook version, plus they allow for back and forth between the characters.

Audio: The audiobook uses a male narrator, Jake Bordeaux, and a female narrator, Bridget Bordeaux – I always appreciate when an author goes for the additional costs of having two narrators so that listeners can hear male dialogue with a male voice and female dialogue with a female voice. Jake Bordeaux does a great job with the tone he brings to Kamos and other male voices, though I wasn’t as wild as the tone he gave to Gael – it seemed like Gael was almost an impassionate observer at times. Bridget Bordeaux did a great with giving Lara a voice that seemed to embody her and all she goes through, as well as other female voices.

Loved it!

Honestly, it was so good! The story and the performance both. This series, well I think of it as a stand alone series, has some interesting characters and relevant topics though done more tongue in cheek.