The Hunter's Mate by Susan Trombley [Review]

The Hunter's Mate (Iriduan Test Subjects #5) by Susan Trombley
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: September 27, 2019

Iriduan Test Subjects
1. The Scorpion's Mate
2. The Kraken's Mate
3. The Serpent's Mate
4. The Warrior's Mate
5. The Hunter's Mate - Paperback | Kindle
6. The Fractured Mate
7. The Iriduan's Mate
8. The Clone's Mate

Susan Trombley
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Still haunted by nightmares about Hunter’s sacrifice to save the lives of her and her friends, the last alien Tarin expects to see on Akrellia is the Menops bounty hunter himself. She’s drawn to the dangerous male, despite his insectoid appearance, but chalks it up to their experiences together, unable to accept it might mean more—even as she decides never to let him out of her sight again.

Hunter has spent his life searching for one thing and one thing only—a cure for imprinting. To that end, he joined the traitorous Iriduan, Halian, in a devil’s bargain that has him deceiving Tarin and her friends, and he’s not comfortable with that deception—or with his growing concerns about Halian’s plans.

When the execution of part of Halian’s plan isolates Hunter and Tarin on an unknown alien world, far from help, Hunter’s problems grow even more complicated. An unanticipated metamorphosis leaves his body completely changed—in a way that makes it impossible to ignore his growing feelings for Tarin.

But secrets, lies, and a past he can’t change form a seemingly insurmountable obstacle between them. Hunter must prove he’s worthy of his queen and earn her forgiveness for his past mistakes, but the consequences of those mistakes have yet to fully manifest—and when they do, no one will be safe.

Thoughts on The Hunter's Mate: I was VERY curious how an alien who was strongly reminiscent of an ant could physically end up with a human female. Especially since Hunter was repulsed by the human form. He might be drawn to Tarin's pheromones, but he was NOT attracted to her fleshy human form.

Except, he kind of was. Well, as much as a carapace-armored insectoid alien could be attracted to a fragile human female.

It turns out, the extremely adaptable Menops species go through a metamorphosis that allows them to take on traits of other species. Once that happens, the physical part of Hunter and Tarin's joining was taken care of.

But the physical issue is only one of their road bumps. They had to deal with the whole thing where Hunter betrayed Tarin and the others for Halian. They had to deal with being unexpectedly stranded on a distant planet with a hostile environment. Plus, Halian was still out there, plotting and planning and probably doing very bad things upon occasion.

Yeah, Tarin has to mentally work her way through a lot of things. But she does (eventually) and they do (eventually) and HOLY WOW I am so curious about where Halian's story is going to go. That dude's pretty messed up. Pretty. Messed. Up.

I've enjoyed this series immensely since day 1. The aliens are very alien-like (until they're not, sometimes) and there's a learning curve on both sides of the relationships which is kinda fun to watch.