From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

To See the Sun (To See the Sun, #1)

Kelly Jensen

Start date: October 1, 2019

Finish date: October 31, 2019

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

Discussion leader: Jordan Lombard

Why we're reading this: This will be our October 2019 read!
[close] This will be our October 2019 read!

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What Members Thought

Mar 08, 2019 Marge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance, science-fiction, m-m, hurt-comfort, stars-5, want-to-reread

A mail order companion travelling to another planet--what a great idea! Of course there was some set up to get through, which showed and hinted at the reasons why Gael would take this leap into nowhere. I liked that Bram was nicely settled on his farm. Any hardscrabble existence was due to the dangers of the planet and not because he was looking for someone to lighten his workload. He truly wanted a companion, though he hoped for more.

This was a lovely romance as they got to know each other and ...more

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Jun 08, 2019 Ije the Devourer of Books rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Gael is on the run! He has displeased one of the ruling families on his home planet Zhemosen and having been forced by them to assassinate someone, he knows his time will be up if he doesn’t run. Gael actually couldn’t kill the target and it looks as if he will be killed instead if he doesn’t escape. But escape from Zhemosen is basically impossible if you are poor and Gael is very poor and struggling to survive.

Desperately, Gael seeks help from one of his few friends who suggests that the best

Gael is on the run! He has displeased one of the ruling families on his home planet Zhemosen and having been forced by them to assassinate someone, he knows his time will be up if he doesn’t run. Gael actually couldn’t kill the target and it looks as if he will be killed instead if he doesn’t escape. But escape from Zhemosen is basically impossible if you are poor and Gael is very poor and struggling to survive.

Desperately, Gael seeks help from one of his few friends who suggests that the best way off the planet is to go to one of the far colonies in space as a companion for a lonely farmer. This is a difficult option but Gael realises that it is better than torture and a painful death and at least he can choose his potential partner. When Gael sees Bram on the partner matching website he decides to go for it and end up fleeing to Bram on the far planet of Alkirak and so his adventure begins.

Life on Alkirak is a new start for Gael but he is surprised when he arrives to find he is accompanied by a shadow from his past. Nevertheless life with Bram begins and Gael slowly develops feelings for this quiet, sturdy and brave farmer. Unfortunately he doesn’t realise that his dark past is following behind and may threaten all the new hope he has in Bran and Alkirak.

This was a very enjoyable story. I don’t read a lot of science fiction but this story manages to combine both sci-fi and romance in a way that will appeal to readers of both. The descriptions of the planet whisk the reader far away to a planet which is strange and unfriendly, and sparse but which provides freedom for Gael. The love that develops between Bram and Gael is slow developing and beautifully described.

Although I was sent an arc I also listened to the audiobook and the narration was superb. All the characters have a distinct voice and this brought the story alive in my imagination. This is my second Kelly Jensen book and I will definitely be reading more. She has a way of writing that captures the beauty and reality of a romance and the story telling really pulled me in. It is simply very interesting with some moments of tension which add to richness of the storytelling. The characters are well developed too. This is simply an all round great book.

Copy provided by Riptide Publishing via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. ...more

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Oct 14, 2019 Jordan Lombard rated it really liked it

Shelves: a-own, a-own-ebook, g-romance-m-m, g-sci-fi, bom-jl-group, y-2019read, bpl-qlr-read

Title/Author: To See the Sun by Kelly Jensen
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre/Sub-Genre: Sci-Fi/MM Romance
Book Format: ebook
Length: 293 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Gay
HEA/HFN: Yes
Abuse/Rape: It’s mentioned briefly as something that happened in the past, but no explicit details are given.
Violence: Very minor fighting occurs.
Ratio of Sex/Plot: A slow burn romance with one longish sex scene.
Warnings: If you’re not into kids in your romance, you may want to skip this one.
Well Written/Editor Needed: A ...more

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Jul 28, 2018 Didi rated it really liked it

Shelves: m-m, romance, fantasy-fairy-tale-magic, arc-netgalley-edelweiss, science-fiction-aliens, interracial-multicultural, lqbtqia

3.75 Stars

“To See the Sun” brought you on a journey across the galaxy. I wouldn’t guess it with the way the story started, but for something of a harsh premise, the story was actually rather sweet and touching. It’s the space opera sci-fi version of a mail order (bride)groom. Bram was the farmer of a remote planet (practically at the edge of the solar system) and Gael the ordered companion. When Gael’s after-effects of past life intruded into the carefully planned new one, he just ...improvised! ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Apolishedreader rated it really liked it

Shelves: mm, apolishedreader, sci-fi

Cover inspired nail art!

Aww! I just loved this story!
Great world building, mail order partner, a sorta friends to lovers vibe, slow burn, forced proximity with the sweetest MCs.
I am not a huge scifi reader. New worlds, languages, and beings tend to clutter a story when I am really there for the romance.
This was not the case with To See The Sun. Yes, there are new worlds, new words, and new situations, but the core of the story was two men getting to know each other and fall in love.
Despite Gael ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Chris, the Dalek King rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mc-pairing-mm, criminals-and-outlaws, stars-and-ships, plus-a-kid, love-bytes, farms-and-farmers, owned-ebook-or-audio

A mail-order-bride style space western?…yes, please!

An elegant mix of the western and sci-fi genres, To See the Sun tells a story that at its heart readers will be familiar with, but told in such beautiful and enticing ways that they will hardly care. I grew up on these kinds of stories, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I have always had a weak spot for the kinds of romances where two people find themselves tied to each other, and yet have to struggle with being stuck with a virtual stranger, i A mail-order-bride style space western?…yes, please!

An elegant mix of the western and sci-fi genres, To See the Sun tells a story that at its heart readers will be familiar with, but told in such beautiful and enticing ways that they will hardly care. I grew up on these kinds of stories, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I have always had a weak spot for the kinds of romances where two people find themselves tied to each other, and yet have to struggle with being stuck with a virtual stranger, in new and unsure places. And this story gives me all that, but throws in the unfamiliar, and beautifully bleak, landscape of Alkirak as a backdrop to the slow and at times painful love story of Bram and Gael. Nothing here is new, but it is painted in such detail as to make it feel almost touchable.

The bare-bones of the story is such: Gael, having gotten himself into a rather sticky situation on his home planet, decides it is best to flee, and flee quickly. Trouble is, fleeing is kinda expensive. Especially for someone who is one bad decision (that he mostly likely just made) from being forced into slavery. But it turns out that in the outer edges of the galaxy there are people who are lonely enough to pay for the chance of companionship. And Gael is just desperate enough to take the chance on one Abraham Bauer–a farmer on the lonely and hard world of Alkirak. But not everything is as it seems–or how either of them hopes–when Gael touches down on his new home. Desperate to make it work, though, both Bram and Gael must try to find a way to fit into each other’s lives…before their pasts, or the planet itself, makes the decision for them.

These kinds of sci-fi stories have to be my favorite. The ones that are not all about saving the universe, or declaring just how beyond hope humanity is, have a way of sticking with me long past reading. The more personal scope of this book has more impact because it is about simple things. Hard, at times painful, but easily understandable to almost everyone. Wanting to escape a hopeless situation, learning to trust the kindness of strangers, finding a family and fighting tooth and nail for it. All these are things that people get on a personal level. And the fact that they just happen to take place on some dangerous planet in a galaxy far far away is just spice to make the story stand out a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adored the world building in this book. Both Gael’s home before meeting Bram, and Alkirak are incredibly well painted in this story. The landscapes…that first sunset…I loved it. It was so damn beautiful, even if it lived only in my mind. I have a huge fucking weakness for space, and this book did an excellent job of feeding that. And the fact that there was so much harshness to counteract that beauty is what made it just that little bit more real.

One of the bigger twists in this story is a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t go into detail about it, but I do love how it played out over the course of the story. It could have felt very forced, but it never did. It felt honest and as real as the rest of the story, and in the end that is all that I can ask.

I honestly have no complaints here. Some people might not like the slow-burn nature of the romance, but not only did I find it incredibly enthralling…but it felt true to the characters and the situation. The push and pull between Bram and Gael worked. As their connection and trust grew, so did the chemistry. I think I would have had a hard time buying anything else. And yeah, there was that bit at the end where I wanted to smack Bram, but it worked itself out.

Overall this was incredibly well written, and at times heart-breakingly beautiful. While I’ll fully cop to being a sucker for a good scifi, the romance here was nothing to sniff at. Add that all together and you are left with something that keeps you glued to the page and desperate to find the HEA buried in the cold and unforgiving heart of Alkirak.

4.5 stars

This book was provided free in exchange for a fair and honest review for Love Bytes. Go there to check out other reviews, author interviews, and all those awesome giveaways. Click below.

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Aug 25, 2021 Allison rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, 2021

3.5 stars rounded up because it was partially just not my book and it was partially the narrator but I didn't end up loving this as much as I'd hoped to.

I've been having trouble with reading anything lately and I could see myself reading this some other time and enjoying it more. I'd like to try reading it instead of listening.

My main issue was that the story became more about the kid than the romance and while that made sense because a ready made family was what Bram wanted I have a huge resi ...more

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Dec 30, 2018 Michael Joseph rated it really liked it

Shelves: gay-sci-fi

You will find my full review of “To See the Sun” at my web site. ...more

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Nov 26, 2018 ΛNNΞ rated it really liked it

I very, very nearly dnf this book! At around 15% I was almost ready to abandon this ... I moved on to two other books that I finished in between reading this one. I came back to it to give the book once more chance and ended up really liking it. I think my biggest concern in the beginning was this was going to be an instant-lust romance -- but it was not that at all -- and actually quite lovely with some uniquely interesting twists. The think I liked the most was the setting -- the world buildin ...more

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