Alien Heir
Author: Cara Bristol
Reviewer: Sophia Rose
Rating: B
What I’m Talking About:
When her flamboyant twin sister signs her up for an intergalactic dating service and when an alien prince needs help from his impulsive younger brother to avoid a boring arranged marriage, Cosmic Mates comes to the rescue. A combo of marriage of convenience- futuristic mail order bride- fake mates layered on the tropes in a delicious way.
Alien Heir is the seventh entry in the Cosmic Mates series. Cara Bristol has produced a series of two-story sets all with the arranged marriage service, Cosmic Mates. Each “set” offers vastly different racial participating partners and a new world or setting.
Alien Heir is the first of a duet pair taking place on an alien planet of humanoids. This first book finds a royal prince despondent though dutiful. His parents are arranging a political match and the lady is probably very nice, but Jaryk is in love with someone else- a woman no in his family seems to like. But, his younger brother has his back in his gutsy, thoughtless way and signs Jaryk up for a matchmaking service and he gets a hit with a human woman who most definitely won’t meet the approval of his parents. But, his brother’s outlandish plan is that this service comes with an escape clause which will buy him some time.
Only, there is a snag.
From the moment he encounters sweet, mature, and serious-minded Kismet Kennedy, he is suddenly not so sure he wants a marriage of convenience with an escape clause. She may be all wrong for his parents, but Kismet might be the best mistake he ever made.
On the flip side, Kismet can’t believe she got a match before her sister. Kismet is the boring twin. But, an adventure offworld has appeal and, if it doesn’t work out, there is the escape clause. From the moment she meets Prince Jaryk, she’s of two minds. One side has no desire to use the escape clause, but the other knows he is out of her class as a royal.
Alien Heir was like others in the series, cozy in tone and an easy, fairly low drama piece focused on two very different people figuring out they might seem too different, but the Cosmic Mates got the match right. There is a bit of suspense because the reader knows that Jaryk is keeping secret all of why he’s doing this and there is that feeling of waiting for the proverbial ax to fall. I loved how there were a few scenes of this pair spending time together, getting to know who they are, and falling in love after seeing a person they could respect as well as be attracted to. Funny little reveal at the end and the obvious set up of their more dramatic siblings who are in serious denial.
All in all, a relaxing, low-angst sci-fi romance that can be picked up standalone.
My Rating: B
Sophia Rose
About the Book:
Marry a stranger to escape an arranged marriage? Sure, why not?
Prince Jaryk Rullok-Myka has a royal-sized problem. His parents are hell-bent on marrying him off to a noblewoman he’s met exactly twice. But his evil-genius little brother finds a loophole: if Jaryk’s already married, he’s off the hook. Enter Cosmic Mates and one reluctant human bride.
Kismet Kennedy isn’t here for love. She joined the galactic matchmaking service to avoid being separated from her twin sister—so of course she gets matched first. Her new husband? An alien “government official” from Kaldor with a killer jawline and way too many secrets. They’ll stay married for a year, then go their separate ways. Easy.
Until royal drama, ex-lovers, scheming siblings, and inconvenient feelings turn their fake marriage into something dangerously real. Buckle up—it’s going to be a bumpy ride to happily ever after.
* * * *
Cosmic Mates sci-fi romances are released in “duets,” each two-book set is its own mini-series. Books one and two are a set, books three and four are a different mini-series, etc. Alien Heir is the start of a new duet. All the Cosmic Mates sci-fi romances can be read as standalones.
Release Date: July 21, 2025
Publisher: Cara Bristol
Series: Cosmic Mates #7
Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, novella
Format(s): paperback (135 pages), e-book
Book Source: Author