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Review: Radiant Origin by Dawn Husted


Release date: 11 August 2023

Rating: 3.75/5

Synopsis: Phyre Brown is just an ordinary teenager searching for love and adventure. But when a tragic accident reveals her true identity as an alien with extraordinary healing powers, Phyre’s life takes a dramatic turn. Forced to leave home and live with her estranged grandparents, Phyre finds herself bound to an alien boy named Kreaxlae, a member of the rival Accipere colony.

But when she meets his charming and mysterious brother, Phyre begins to question everything she knows about her past and her future. With the fate of two alien colonies and their safety at stake, Phyre must make a choice that will change her life forever. Will she choose love or duty, passion or power

Find out in this thrilling sci-fi romance about the bonds that unite us, the powers that define us, and the choices that shape our destiny.

 

Review

Radiant Origin boasts a great premise and Romeo and Juliet vibes (with a twist). For a YA Romance, I was pleasantly surprised that it is relatively clean—it does have some kissing and heavy petting and some language. I loved how fast paced and right to the point the plot was, and my attachment to the characters took me by surprise.


I’ve had the pleasure of reading quite a few clean YA romances in the past couple of months; many in that genre today do not belong in the category and should be on NA or adult shelves with the amount of explicit sex and language in them. Radiant Origin feels like a genuine YA book in this regard. The characters are underage, they act underage, and their situations, for the most part, are appropriate for their age as well. Phyre begins the novel in a My Sister’s Keeper situation, where she must act as a donor to an ill sibling. She does not begrudge this fact; she has a strong bond with her sibling, but she makes a mistake that changes their lives forever, and thus she discovers a secret about herself that upends her life even more so.


As always, great characters charm me more so sometimes than plot, and Radiant Origin’s characters definitely serve as a strong point. I love Sofia and Jules, who both endear me and repulse me in equal measures of strength. Anytime a character elicits strong emotion or attachment, I’d say a writer has done a great job, and Husted writes characters well. I found myself liking at least one of them more than the main character as well.


As far as plot goes, I like the overall story, loved the pacing, and raced through the book pretty quickly. It kept me engaged all the way through. Despite that, I found some parts a bit rough, but that mostly reflects my personal taste and not something I would consider objectively wrong with the book. Overall, I liked it for the most part. It’s soft sci-fi and one must suspend some measure of disbelief, but that goes for all books. Oh, and it's an indie, so I automatically like it just a little bit more.

If you’re looking for a relatively clean YA science fiction romance (no explicit sexual situations but some pretty heavy petting and kissing and a bit of language), Radiant Origin from Dawn Husted may be a good choice for you.


My sincerest thanks to the author for the complimentary review copy, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.


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