Off Balance is the sequel to Off Planet that I reviewed a few days ago. I totally ignored my TBR pile while I was reading these two books back-to-back. My Goodreads profile showed that I was reading a couple of titles at once. Ha! That was a big fat lie. I didn’t mean to ignore other books; once I started Off Planet, I realised that I just didn’t want to divide my attention. This series deserved my 100% focus.

I’ll just say the downside of this book first before I go on and on about how much I love Off Balance. A common complaint I found about this book and Off Planet (#1) is the repetitiveness. In Off Planet, it was Amihanna going through ordeals and painful recovery time and time again. In this book, it’s the same training in the gym and pushing Lorne away over and over again. I’ll just say that I totally get the necessity of it in developing our main character and I have no problem with it. I do understand that it is a major peeve for some readers and may even be a deal-breaker.

It’s rare that the second title in a series is able to hold a tighter grip on me than the first but Off Balance did it. I couldn’t put it down and literally flew through the pages! Even when I wake up in the middle of the night to feed my 2-month old and change diapers, I’ll read this on my Kindle for a few minutes before snoozing off again. Aileen’s writing touched me because it feels so close and real. Anyone struggling with feeling like losing themselves by being with a partner, being a parent, or just doing something that demands all your energy and attention will feel this.

While in Off Planet the theme revolves around survival and perseverance, Off Balance is about the identity crisis of Amihanna who is suffering from PTSD and faced with a better life that includes love, power, and responsibilities. She doesn’t know how to reconcile her past and her future with all the weight of expectations it promises. Due to her losing her memories as a child, she still hasn’t got some essential Aunere part of herself back no matter how hard she tries. Although, people around her insist the person lost in the memories is shining through and she doesn’t have to worry so much about it. Amihanna feels differently; If she can’t figure out who she is, then how is she supposed to be the leader that everyone is expecting?

The romantic connection described in here – termed shalshasa or ‘mirror soul’ – is something that I honestly feel best describes love in the sense of compatibility. Sometimes, you have no idea why your significant other makes you feel at ease when they do but they just do. I love this quote, it’s beautiful and I kept rereading this because it speaks to me on so many levels.:

Our souls aren’t the same. We’re not two halves. We’re just extremely compatible.

I was reading this book at a physically, mentally, emotionally demanding time in my life and reading Off Balance is like a balm that soothes my head from the hassles and rush of the day. It’s probably all because of Lorne, really. I can’t get enough of Lorne because his tenderness with Amihanna is so much like my husband when I’m losing it. When I’m not spending time with him and my girls, reading this book is really all I want to do. So I sneak it in here and there before and after work. And in the middle of the night when I wake but everyone’s asleep.

I can’t get enough of Lorne x Amihanna. I’m officially addicted to Aunare Chronicles, a too off-people’s-radar series. The last series that did this to me was The Illuminae Files. Oh my gosh, I still can’t get over how brilliant that was. Guys, I’m seriously hung up on this series! It’s also safe to say I have a severe crush on Lorne now. Gee, thanks Aileen 😩

I sincerely thank the publishers via NetGalley for approving my request for this title and pre-approving (you took my pre-approval-ginity 🙊) me for all their titles on NetGalley. This means that I have access to all future titles of this series! 😭

All opinions are my own and are based on the advanced digital review copy.

Off Balance is the second installment in author Aileen Erin's Aunare Chronicles. What you should know. The beginning of this story takes place 13 years ago on Earth. Lorne knows it is time to leave Earth before Liberation Week where all Aunare will be rounded up. Earth is getting more & more violent towards the Aunare, but for some reason, 6 year old Amihanna di Aetes, daughter of Rysden and Elizabeth, is about to be left behind instead of being brought back to Aunare where she will be safe. This one mistake will cost Amihanna/Maité and her mother years of terror.

They will spent the next 13 years living on the streets, hungry, and fighting every step of the way to avoid being captured by SpaceTech who knows if they find Ami, they will have leverage over the King of Aunare as well as her own father who should be ruling. Trouble peeks for Ami when, one night, while waitressing in a greasy diner, Jason Murtah gets handsy with her. She reacts without thinking and runs. Ami is soon arrested and sentenced to a year on Abaddon, the dung heap of the galaxy where she meets Declan and Ahiga.

Fast forward to the present. Amihanna di Aetes, now 20, is on Aunare where she isn't liked and she has zero memories of the past. It has been 3 weeks since she escaped Abaddon with the help of Lorne who is apparently her betrothed but her nightmares are keeping her from doing anything logical or constructive except to hide away in her room, or spend hours every day training. Lorne needs Ami in order to take down his father who has been spending way too much money and time getting cozy with Jason Murtagh and SpaceTech.

Ami doesn't remember the people, the culture, or even the language. The media hates her, but the news isn't as big a problem as the people themselves--the ones who want her dead. Ami also has to get used to the fact that Lorne, her shalshasa, is the man whose talents and energies are perfectly balanced with her own. This story actually alternatives between Lorne and Ami. Lorne has so much to deal with. His people don't want Ami as their Queen. Ami is all but pushing him away until her nightmares only get better when the two are in the same room.

The only person Ami seems to trust is her best friend Roan who knows how much pain and suffering she's had to deal with on Earth, on Abaddon, and now on Aunare. Ami also finds that she is being used for a much bigger mission. She may be the one hope that the Aunare needs to survive an all out war with SpaceTech. Without her, all hope might be lost. Ami has a lot on her plate, as you can tell. She faces several assassination attempts. She faces near capture by SpaceTech who are on the planet.

But, the best parts of this story for me is when Ami runs a challenge that she's never seen or trained for and finally comes out and tells the Aunare people everything that happened to her on Earth after she was left behind. This may or may not be the starting point for Ami to prove that her supposed intelligence, her ability to process problems and to strategize are not a figment of Lorne's imagination but a real tool that enemies of hers might want to think twice about before coming for her again.

Let me be honest by saying that Lorne is the character whom you will like a whole lot. He's driven, intelligent, caring and above all patient. He's in love with Ami and has been his entire life. He will do anything to protect her even if it means constantly asking her to marry him, and becoming Queen so that they can overthrow his corrupt father who has done so much damage. The relationship between the two grows slowly over the course of the story to the point where even Ami has to admit that she's his, and nothing will change that. There's even a graphic sex scene with absolutely surprised me.

3.5/5

I loved Off Planet SO MUCH, Maite was a beast and so brave that I totally fell in love with her. Unfortunately I fell out of love with her in this book, I'm so glad that Erin showed us how a person can change through events like the ones on Abbadon, that Ami/Maite was suffering from her trauma made sense. But it was like she was a completely different character.

On the plus side, she does seem to find herself again, I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get there because of how her insecurities really were the sole focus most of the time. I wish there had been more Roan but I was so glad he was there at all, and I loved the fighting and training scenes! Seriously, Erin is so great at writing action scenes, it's just as if you're watching a movie anytime she's written a fighting scene.

Ami's powers are amazing and terrifying and I look forward to seeing how she handles them, also, Lorne may be one of my favorite characters of all time now. Definitely a fun sequel, sure I was disappointed in certain things, but, I'm ready to read the next one and still found this worth a read or two! Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

I’m reverting to the old pros/cons list for the this review to help me sort out my thoughts, since there were a lot of things I really liked, and several things that annoyed me:

Cons:
--Amihanna is just so, so self-absorbed for most of this story. It’s all about her and her feelings and how everyone is going to respond to her if she decides to marry Lorne. She spends a lot of time avoiding doing anything remotely ruler-like, yet also complains that she isn’t treated with respect/like a ruler. I guess part of this is that I’m not someone who tends to agonize over decisions, even big ones. Assess your choices and their probable trajectories, make the best decision you can, then don’t look back. Consequently, I don’t have a great deal of patience for someone who spends a LOT of time havering.
--Way too much time is spent in a gym/doing physical training of some kind. We get it. She’s incredibly physically fit.
--Explicit sex scene that I was not expecting since no such thing has appeared in any of Erin’s other books that I’ve read (including the entire Alpha Girl series). Also a few scenes that were more graphically violent than really seemed necessary. Like a lot more.
--Overall a bit of second-book syndrome. A lot of this book is waiting for things to happen more than it is things actually happening. It felt like we could have cut out some of the scenes of Amihanna doing the same thing over and over and OVER again in the first book, cut out some of the incessant training scenes in this book, and combined them into one book with more action.
--While I’m griping about Ami in this review, I do actually like her as a person. I just feel like she spends a lot of time talking like she’s super badass, but hiding from her actual responsibilities/decisions.

Pros:
--World-building is great. There is a real sense of place and other-worldliness without being too crazy. Loved the glimpses of the Aunare culture and would love to see more of it.
--NO LOVE TRIANGLE! Can’t tell you how excited I was about this! The end of Off Planet seemed to feel like it was setting up for one, but that’s completely avoided in this book, and I am definitely here for that, as I think having a love triangle is the dumbest trope of all time.
--Which ties into another pro – LORNE. As a character, Lorne is definitely my favorite. Why Amihanna would hesitate for even half a second is mind-boggling to me. While not perfect, Lorne is incredibly patient, kind, thoughtful, and intelligent. He is eager to help Ami learn more about the Aunare but never comes across as condescending. I’m totally in love with this guy, and only wish we had gotten way more of his perspective, which was significantly more interesting than Ami’s whining about her (actually very comfortable) life.
--While I didn’t like having an explicit sex scene in the story, I did appreciate that it didn’t feel like something the characters just rushed into. It felt like a thoughtful, serious decision, and I liked that aspect.
--The actual story is solid. There are a lot of great characters, several directions the plot could reasonably take, and a lot of interesting things going on.

Conclusion:
3.5*, which is where I ended up with Off Planet, too. A good sequel, a series I recommend if you like sci-fi on the lighter side of sci, and a series I definitely am interested to follow going forward.

So with this one I was a little......Ok somewhat a lot lost. I hadn't read book one and that was a bad idea. But with saying that I totally want to read book one now. This was an out of this world story and I really need the next book now.

This book was seriously addictive. I’d tell myself I was only going to read for another five minutes, only to realize 20 minutes later I’d just finished the chapter instead! I should’ve expected that, considering this is an Aileen Erin book. Yet, she always catches me off guard with how powerful her books end up being.

In Off Balance, Lorne’s character gets developed and the romance gets good! In other words, it’s every fangirl’s dream.

I never thought about how an experience like Amihanna’s on Abbadon could impact someone until this book. Poor Amihanna... Luckily she had her awesome shalshasa by her side!

I can’t wait for you all to read this book! If you’re looking for romance, action, and sci-fi, check out this series!

(P.S. I had assumed that this was going to be a trilogy, so to read the letter to the readers in the back and find out there will be TWO more books was very exciting!!!)

4.5 Stars

This is the sequel to Off Planet and what an excellent entry into the series! I loved the first book and was very excited to read this one and it did not disappoint.

This one switches between Amihanna and Lorne and is set after Amihanna has made it back to her home planet. She faces trying to figure out who she is while also struggling with her feelings for Lorne who is a stranger to her. She's also up against a group of people who see her as completely unfit for her intended role. Lorne is just happy to have Amihanna back. He does everything he can to get closer to her and help her settle in. Well as much as she lets him. I love everything about him!

This story has a little of everything! If you like a slow burn romance, awesome action scenes, and well developed characters, I highly recommend this series.

Oh man, I love this author and these stories.

THANK GOODNESS, no love triangle. I seriously hate those.

I LOVE Lorne - he is amazing and patient, but it was good to see he had a bit of a darker side.

It was a little confusing with Maite-Amihanna's name change, but I caught on fast.

I'm dying for the next one.

I didn’t have time to download this before it got archived which I am upset about as I really wanted to read this

Off balance is the second book from Aunare Chronicles. Btw I didn't read the first book but I'm not so lost so I guess that is great. It was a slow start but then the plot picked up quickly. It was full of emotions, action and suspense.

I love the plot, I love the characters goshh I love everything in this book 😂 I wanted to describe all the characters that I like but I like almost everyone lol I like Amihanna, Lorne, Roan, Declan, Ahiga, Eshrin and etc. See? I told you most of the characters are lovable!


"Please try to remember that the past isn't important. You can't change it, and you're in a good spot now. You're alive, safe, and free. Focus on the present. And when you feel like this life is too much, when the ghosts of your past are breathing down your neck, that's when you need to breathe"

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this amazing arc!

🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

Amazing Roller-coaster of emotion and action. I'm absolutely hooked on this series. I spent a whole night up reading Off-Planet, and then finished this one in 2 nights. I can't believe I have to wait until December for number 3! This bbok is addictive.

OFF BALANCE is a sequel worthy of the title. It instantly sucks you back into the world, the characters, the story, and makes it nearly impossible to put down once begun though with each twist you'll be thrown further off balance from what you think you know. Action adventure, space drama, political schemes, and just the right hit of romance has this series turning into an absolute must-read. Whether you think you're a fan of sci-fi or not I'd urge you to give this series a try because you just might find yourself unable to part from Maité's side as her life gets pulled into the unthinkable with war as the looming cost.

Once again it was a slow start but picked up rather quickly and didn't stop. It was a bit repetitive in spots in the beginning also. Once the action started it was non-stop. Amihanna's powers are developing again. Her relationship with Lorne is progressing and her relationship with Declan is degrading. So much going on it ended up being a page turner. Hoping to see Declan get his HEA eventually. Enjoyed Roan and Amihanna's banter and relationship in this one.

I received this ARC for an honest review. OMG...ok let me catch my breath for a minute. I just turned the last page one this book, and the only thing I can think is “I have to wait a whole year for book 3!” Aileen Erin’s character and world building is phenomenal. You get pulled into the story and you don’t want to stop. When I finished this book, I just looked at my husband and said wow.
This book is not a stand alone. This is book 2 in the series. It is about Lorne and Amihanna. They are shalshada or mirror souls. Amihanna is still recovering from her time on Abaddon. She is suffering from severe PTSD. Lorne is trying to help. Lorne is trying to convince Amihanna that he truly loves her and wants to marry her, but she is afraid to be a queen.
I’m not going to write much more about the plot, but to say there is so many twist and turns. You just want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

Aileen Erin is one of my favorite authors and the second book in her Aunare Chronicles is awesome!!! I lost sleep finishing this book and I needed lots of caffeine the next day but I'd do it all over again. I knew things wouldn't be smooth sailing for Amihanna when she arrived on her home planet but I never imagined the kick-butt character she would become. The chemistry between her and Lorne is off the charts hot without being raunchy. This book is even better than the first in the series and that's saying a lot! I can't wait for the next one!!!

Off Balance is a rollercoaster ride with love, lots of emotion, character development and daring action.


Aileen Erin's writing style was honestly amazing. It was easy to read and once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. I was up till 5 am reading this book. I am going to keep an eye out for anything she writes. Anyone who enjoys a book written by Maria V. Snyder or Kristin Cashore will devour her books.


I don't read sci-fi often since at heart I am a fantasy girl but Off Balance took my breath away. Even though this is a sci-fi everything had a distinctly magical feel to it, specifically the Aunare with their glowing skin and multitude of gifts. Something which I absolutely adored.


I loved the characters, I loved the fact that Aileen didn't include a love triangle. I loved that the relationships in this book were carefully developed and didn't start out perfect. Overall the message is simple: I loved this book.


Off Balance is action-packed from start to finish. Aileen managed to include such emotional scenes without disrupting the fast pace of the book. Off Balance's plot is also magnificent. At times, I was literally holding my breath.


I thought for a long time about what I wanted to write in this review since I want to do this book justice. In the end, what I want to say about this book is simple: It brought me so much joy.


Anything that could spark so much joy in my soul, despite the rollercoaster of emotions I experienced or perhaps because of it, is worth recommending to others.


I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.