Review: Breeding Ground by Joquena Lomelino

Title: Breeding Ground (Breeding Ground Saga #1)
Author: Joquena Lomelino
Publisher: Self
Release Date: April 28, 2014
Acquired Via: Author
Lenora was just a normal teenage girl who never really cared much about her parents’ work as scientists. Everything changed the day they died in a mysterious explosion. Now Lenora is alone with no time to grieve because her own life is being threatened. Whatever her parents were working on there are people willing to kill for it, and they don’t believe that Lenora has no idea what it is.

Shot up and facing certain death, Lenora is rescued by a strange seductive man who explains her parents’ top secret research to expose aliens living on Earth. An elixir reveals snake-like aliens disguised as humans are taking over the planet, and Lenora must decide if she can depend upon the stranger who violated her trust. Armed with sarcasm, her parents’ research, and an ally she loathes, Lenora must continue her parents’ work to expose the alien threat and save the Earth before it’s too late.

My Review

Days before her 18th birthday, Lenora Gates ignores her parents’ wish to meet them after school for an important message. Instead, she hangs out with her friend Rachel, who just discovered she is pregnant. When Lenora returns to Rachel’s house after a movie, Rachel’s mom delivers devastating news. Lenora’s parents died in an accidental explosion.

Lenora is left a safety deposit box she can’t open until after her 18th birthday. The house is hers, too, until aliens burn it to the ground searching for an alien rock and Lenora’s parents’ scientific notes. Lenora’s parents were working with Tryyg, a slave alien who crash landed on Earth five years ago. When the villainous aliens attack Lenora, Tryyg rescues her, fulfilling a promise to protect Lenora if someone happened during her parents’ dangerous quest.

I had a lot of issues with Breeding Ground. First, there were too many unanswered questions. Rachel’s pregnancy is a pretty big bombshell dropped in the opening pages, but isn’t really a part of the story at all. I never really had a good sense of what Lenora’s parents left her or why she had to wait until her 18th birthday to view it. Also, I didn’t understand why what was in the safety deposit box was important enough for the aliens to kill for. I felt like the majority of the story was pointless because even at the end, when Lenora and Trygg succeed and save the day, I really didn’t understand what they saved the world from or why it mattered.

But the MAIN issue that I had with Breeding Ground was the rape. The first time Tryyg saves Lenora he is unknown to her, so she fights back and sticks him with a needle full of drugs. The next scene is a sweet mating scene where drugged Tryyg remembers the alien ritual of his first night with his wife. I read this as a flashback, a drug induced hallucination of prior story events. However, when Lenora wakes up, she screams rape and Tryyg’s character seems sickened by the act that he committed in his drugged state. Later in the story, Lenora discovers she and Tryyg are mated for life because of this act. I was horrified when I realized that rape was the start of their romantic relationship. I also could not believe that Lenora would ever work with, attempt to save, travel with, or associate with Tryyg after he raped her. I was disgusted that she would be so forgiving, continuing on the journey to a point in time where they save the world and decide to “date.” For me, the rape was a severe turn off and caused me to rate Breeding Ground with only one star.

- 1/5 Stars -

Buy Link
Amazon


About Joquena Lomelino

I love reading and writing and I’ll freely admit that I spend more time with my imaginary friends than my “real” ones :-) I’m a sucker for paranormal romance. Be it sci-fi, fantasy, witches, vampires, I’m down with any escape from reality. As far as I’m concerned no good story is ever truly complete without a killer romance.

On the personal side I’m a happily married mother of three. If you wish to learn more about me in my “housewife” mode please check out my blog Modern Homemakers, where I have lots of free crafting patterns, recipes, and a bunch of other random stuff that we moms find interesting. If you’re not a mom… run away now before you get sucked into a world you never knew existed… a scary world of diapers and housework ahhhhh!

Find Joquena Online
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To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received an advance copy of the book from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated within are my own.