Sci-Fi Romance discussion

Does anyone know any books with an alien and human relationship where they find each other ugly in the beginning of the book and then start to fall in love with each other’s personalities? I read The Last Hour of Gann and Cottonwood by R Lee Smith and really liked how they both had unconventional aliens (but the aliens where still sorta humanoid). I’m kinda sick of reading all the hot, I’m literally just a human with blue skin, aliens that are in a lot of romance books.

I doubt either of these top R Lee Smith in terms of writing, but you might like Contagion by Amanda Milo, or The Scorpion's Mate by Susan Trombley.

Cassandra wrote: "Does anyone know any books with an alien and human relationship where they find each other ugly in the beginning of the book and then start to fall in love with each other’s personalities? I read T..."

Queen of Twilight The aliens find her pretty ugly. I can't remember if she thinks they are ugly or not but she does find them quite alien.

This one I read a very long time ago, but I thought it was well written and fits your theme: Starkissed.

A few others that could fit into this theme:
Ruth's Bonded
Eden (maybe mistrust and fear rather than ugliness is the motivator at the beginning, but the physical differences are noted)
Mercy (The leads are tolerant of each other in the beginning, with noted physical differences, but this story is a softer evolution rather than a love-hate dynamic)
Radiance (This is a fantasy, but much is made of how unattractive the two leads find each other in their arranged marriage and it is a strong love story).

I just read Strange Love and it was great, the H is totally alien and he finds the h to be really ugly.

Also from Susan Trombley The Hunter's Mate although you should look at her Iriduan Test Subjects series (Rennegade recommended you the first book, I loved that one) and Into The Dead Fall series, specially Key to the Dead Fall and Veraza's Choice.

And of course, Venomous

Ah, from Amanda Milo, I would recommend to read first Contaminated: Cosmic Fairy Tales , then Contagion.

I love it when the MCs find each other ugly at first!

I put a bunch of these on my wishlist :)

Carolyn F. wrote: "I put a bunch of these on my wishlist :)"

Me too!

I agree with
&

Hi guys - always eager for ANY recs for books that come close to Last Hour of Gann!

Well, Last Hour of Gann sets the bar too high :-D

I liked . The FMC is sold as a pet to a race of aliens who've never seen a human. It is funny, easy to read, there's romance and the mating practices of the Zargonii are different.

Marian wrote: "Well, Last Hour of Gann sets the bar too high :-D

I liked . The FMC is sold as a pet to a race of aliens who've never seen a human. It is funny, easy to read, t..."

I'm putting in my TBR... and a plus is that it is Audible Escape

I ended up reading
Strange Love and Bay's Mercenary, which were both really good though very different. Strange Love is drama, and fighting for their rights to live and not be drones. Bay's Mercenary is fun with it starting with misunderstandings, and her as a pet.

I think my favorite of the 3 listed here I've read is still, Radiance though.

I have a number of the others on my TBR, what a great sub genre. And most of these are KU

Amyiw wrote: "I ended up reading
Strange Love and Bay's Mercenary, which were both really good though very different. Strange Love is drama, and fighting for their rights to live ..."

If you could recommend other titles, it'd be great! :-D

Marian wrote: "If you could recommend other titles, it'd be great! :-D ."

I wish I could but I got the suggestion from here and wouldn't mind others too if any people are still following. I put all those listed above on my TBR, and read 2 since coming here. The only one I read before here was Radiance, which I really enjoyed.

It’s more fantasy than SFR, but Radiance by Grace Draven is an amazing book. With two very different species of people who find each another hideous on sight. But grow quite fond of one another throughout the story.

Lips Like Ice isn't quite the same setup where they consider each other "ugly" but it might scratch a similar itch. I thought it was an excellent read and definitely wasn't the run of the mill, "hot guy who's just like a human but green/blue/purple/winged/whatever" scifi romance hero.

Several of R. Lee Smith's other books fit this theme too if you are willing to move away from SFR, Olivia (bat-like hero) and Land of the Beautiful Dead (basically a zombie) in particular, but The Scholomance could fit too. And all her books are great.