Reviewed by Anabela
TITLE: Roommates and Space Trees
SERIES: Iska Universe #2
AUTHOR: Geneva Vand
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 205 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 4, 2020
BLURB:
Several years ago, Will’s best friend ran away with an alien to live happily ever after. They’ve kept in touch, but Will misses the man that might as well be his brother. So, he decides he’s going to go visit. Who cares if visiting requires a trip to outer space? No big deal, right?
Ticheck met Will for the first time while trying to find a friend who had gotten lost. Since then, they’ve seen him a couple times a year at most. Ticheck wasn’t expecting him to be coming for a surprise visit, and they definitely weren’t expecting to end up with him as a temporary roommate when cramped quarters on the ship force them to share.
From strangers, to surprise roommates, to friends…and maybe something else? But do they dare to dream of a life together when they literally come from two different worlds?
Roommates and Space Trees is a sweet asexual romance. It is book two in the Iska Universe series, but can be read as a stand-alone.
REVIEW:
There was this one thing in both books in this series that I couldn’t wrap my mind around: the easy way Eric and Will were invited to the Iska spaceship (which, by the way, I’m curious as to why the author has chosen not to name). Will, for example, only had to say he wanted to visit for a month, and he was immediately given the ok. Just like that. But maybe my incredulity is really my envy talking, and I’m owning up to it.
As the second book in the series, Roommates and Space Trees lacked a bit the wow factor of the first one. And it wasn’t even a bad thing, because, being already familiar with Iska customs, culture and technology, I could enjoy more the way Will and Ticheck were with each other.
On the Iska spaceship, Ticheck’s gruff exterior and sometimes clipped answers have earned him the reputation of being unapproachable and reserved. You know, the growly, sarcastic kind of character you instantly love because you just know they hide a heart of gold? And there’s this other guy that somehow is the only one to take the time to notice how truly wonderful the grump really is?
That’s Ticheck and Will for you. Ticheck readily opened his quarters and took Will as an assistant, surprising even himself with how much he enjoyed and started to also search the other man’s company, while Will noticed how kind, gentle and sweet the Iska pilot was. But, what neither seemed to notice was how incredibly out of character they both acted and how much in tune they really were. For them, it’s been a slow, unnoticed progression, thanks to hours spent talking, watching movies, cuddling on the couch, cooking and working together. It was both adorable and entertaining to see how completely oblivious they were to how they felt and to the fact their feelings might actually be reciprocated. It was fun, because in the end it was their friends that had to open their eyes, even to show them the choice for a future together.
I liked Roommates and Space Trees a bit more than the first book in the series. The author introduced a few more colorful secondary characters this time around, two of which were the cutest kittens ever. And, although they took their sweet time to see what they had in front of their noses, Ticheck and Will showed me that details like race and sexuality are inconsequential in forming a true bond of love and affection.
RATING: 
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