BOOK REVIEW for "Trace: Cosmos Alien Mail Order Bride #1: Intergalactic Dating Agency" by Annie Nicholas

Trace

Cosmos Alient Mail Order Bride #1

Intergalactic Dating Agency

by Annie Nicholas

Published: September 23rd, 2019

SUMMARY

Cosmos Resort and Dating Agency, a place where aliens come to win the heart of a beautiful and rare human mate.

Or that’s what the brochure says.

The Intergalactic Intelligence Agency isn’t so sure since humans are being sold on the black market. They send Trace and his team undercover to the primitive world of Earth as potential customers to investigate the resort. But the universe has a sick sense of humor, because the first human Trace meets seems closer to cracking the case than his team, and also cracking the cold walls surrounding his heart.

Working together, he and Lily discover they have a lot more in common than a mystery to solve.

Lily Johnstone is an investigative journalist on the hot trail of a slave trafficking ring based on a remote island in the Pacific. When she arrives, she’s shocked not to find pirates or terrorists, but a luxury resort run by… wait for it… aliens. Nobody will ever believe her story except for the tabloids. Unless she brings home proof like a certain sexy alien named Trace. 

~ BOOK REVIEW for Trace ~

*****(4) out of 5 Stars!

This was a fun little humorous sci-fi insta-romance mystery novel!

I was a bit confused by the two sub or series titles for this book — Cosmos Alien Mail Order Bride and Intergalactic Dating Agency — since it had nothing to do with mail order brides and only indirectly the intergalactic dating agency.

The story actually begins with Lily, who is investigating the apparent disappearance of a number of contestants from the beauty pageant circuit.  She's afraid it is some sort of sex trafficking ring, but the truth is much more complicated and sinister.  Lily comes across overall as a very put-together, intelligent, resourceful individual.  But then there are a couple of times when she comes completley unglued that just seem totally out of character for her.

Trace is approaching the mystery from an entirely different perspective, his team having been made aware of human females being sold on the intergalactic black market.  The truth is not exactly what they were expecting to find.  Trace is a seasoned professional, good at his job, and with an inspiring repoire with his team.  He also comes across as a total sweetheart, at least where Lily is concerned; his main focus is keeping her safe and getting her to accept him.  

"She understands."  It had gone rather well.  

She said she'd accept any external form as long as it was him inside.

The main peripherary characters, Trace's fellow agents Hack and Crypto, are both interesting characters in their own right.  I was happy to hear that Hack's will be the next story in the series, and I assume that Crypto's will follow.  

There is just enough intrigue and perceived danger in the tale to keep things interesting, but not enough to take away too much from the light, happy feel of the book.  The main mystery of the tale is somewhat explained, but not entirely solved, by the end of the book.  It doesn't end on a cliffhanger by any means, but definitely with more to be explained.  If I didn't know this was the first in a series then I'd have been upset, but as it is I just can hardly wait for the next fun installment. 

I received an eBook copy of this title from the author,

and have willingly provided an honest review.