Heads up: I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book (thank you to NetGalley and Aria James Publishing).

Rating: 👍🏻

Umm how was I supposed to just pass by a cover on NetGalley that featured an alien with what looked to be a prehensile tail (if you know you know, and if you don’t… well, I will not be elaborating further) and cats with space helmets on???

(If it’s not already clear by the fact this review exists, I didn’t pass it by at all.)

Anyway, in Saved by My Alien Husband by Rachel H. Drake, Delphine lives in one of the last remaining human communities on Earth and has basically two roles in life: have children and follow the rules associated with her mandated class. But Delphine has also been lucid dreaming about an alien prince, Haven, for 10 years, who says he’s on his way to rescue her. She doesn’t believe he’s real—it seems too good to be true—until he shows up to save her and the last of his kind’s ancestors from the planet (the cats).

Ok, so this book was generally fast-paced and pretty silly (in the good way). An alien race descended from cats that can use cats to psychically communicate with humans? That’s pretty fun! I wish my cat could talk to me the way Delphine’s can communicate with her!!

I will say, though, that since Haven and Delphine already know each other by the time they meet irl—and they’re already in love and married, thanks to Haven’s peoples’ customs—there’s a lack of romantic tension in this story, to the point that it doesn’t feel like a genre romance at times, so much as it feels like a super cozy apocalyptic politics story with spice and a romance subplot. And because of that, the spice felt like it had less payoff because their relationship was a given from the start.

Also, while the worldbuilding for life on a dying Earth felt pretty robust, I would have liked a little more about the Eldon as a species. We’re told they’ve descended from cats and have rough skin and tails, but if they have cat-like tongues, wouldn’t that have affected Delphine’s experience kissing Haven?

Even so, I had a really great time with this book. It was sweet, easy, and fairly low-angst for an Earth-death story, and it was great getting to see Delphine come into her own as a leader.