Book picks similar to
Space Deputy by Jenny Schwartz


science-fiction
sci-fi
romance
space-opera

Corsairs: Adiron


Ruby Dixon - 2020
    It’s keffing awesome.The three va Sithai brothers — that’s us — cruise the universe looking for abandoned ships, treasure, and other pirate ships to rob. Right now, we’re on the hunt for the Buoyant Star, an abandoned cruiser rumored to have a massive treasure inside. The ship’s been found at the edge of an ice field at the far reaches of space.That treasure? About to be all ours.But the ship's not all that abandoned. The Star is crewed by a few lonely, attractive human females who are thoroughly grateful at being rescued…Actually, wait.They’re not grateful at all.They’ve set us a trap, and their leader, a beautiful human female named Jade, gives me a smile just before she captures me.It’s official. I’m in love.

Abducted


Evangeline Anderson - 2016
    It is a plus-sized novel--140,000 words long My name is Zoe McKinley. I have a boring life, an awful job, and a boss that throws staplers at my head. What could be worse? How about being abducted by Aliens? Being dragged through a mirror, naked and screaming, onto an extraterrestrial ship was bad. Finding out I had been sold to a huge alien male who looks like the Devil was worse. But learning he wanted to trade me to an intergalactic petting zoo was the worst of all! Now I'm whizzing through the galaxy with a robot butler, a trio of nib-nibs (they're like tiny green monkeys) and one huge, muscular, and very grumpy alien. The clothing they gave me shows all my lady-bits, the food-sim makes banana cream pie that tastes like sauerkraut, and Sarden, my captor, is too hot to stay mad at, even if he is a jerk. In fact, I think I might be falling for him. What's a girl to do? It's all in a day's work when you've been... Abducted. The Alien Mate Index--Learn more From the pen of Evangeline Anderson, the writer who brought you Brides of the Kindred, comes a new race of Alien warriors… twelve races, to be exact. Everyone thinks that life just evolved on Earth — Wrong. Our planet, and twelve others, all capable of supporting Terran life, was seeded by the Ancient Ones. Then Earth was locked away, kept safe in the cocoon of our ozone layer. But now there’s a gaping hole in our security blanket and guess who’s coming to dinner? That’s right—the Alien warriors of the Twelve Peoples - also descended from the Ancient Ones, are looking for mates and Earth girls are their first choice. The Vorn are feared throughout the galaxy. Savage, horned warriors, these males can be surprisingly gentle to the females they choose to bond with.Denarins come in pairs—two muscular males who share a psychic bond... and feel the need to share one woman as well. The Majorans worship their females as goddesses, the very color of their skin changing with their bonded mate’s mood.Braxians are savage with black-on-white eyes that can see every spectrum of light. They will defend their females to the last drop of blood in their huge, blue bodies. And there are more… so many more Alien warriors to pick from.Which type of male would you choose? Too bad you won’t have a choice, because thanks to the Alien Mate Index, an agency that abducts Earth brides for alien males, you could be snatched at any time and turned into a massive warrior’s mate or concubine.So the real question is - who will choose you?

Cassandra's Challenge


M.K. Eidem - 2013
    It's hard not to at 6’1” and 165 pounds with jet black hair and sapphire blue eyes. And if that wasn’t enough she is also brilliant, graduating from Harvard at fifteen, teaching at MIT at nineteen and up for the prestigious Magellan Award at twenty five. But she’s never really fit in. Not with her peers, not with her contemporaries, only with her family. But everything changes when the Earth is attacked and Cassandra and her niece Victoria are the only survivors. Suddenly the smartest woman on the planet has to relearn everything. Everything she’s believed to be true is challenged and she has to learn to survive, not only for herself but for Victoria, because someone wants them dead.Admiral William Zafar is the youngest Admiral ever in the Coalition fleet, the hero of the Battle of Fayal. At 7’1” he’s 325 pounds of Carinian male in his prime who is feared and respected throughout the fleet. He is a royal from the House of Protection, carrying its birthmark and considers its King one of his oldest friends.But when the Regulians destroy a previously unknown planet leaving only two survivors he finds he's willing to risk it all to protect the woman he loves from the Regulians and the Carinian traitor that wants her dead.

The Queen's Gambit


Jessie Mihalik - 2017
    But staying neutral in a galactic war doesn’t pay the bills, not when both sides refuse to trade with neutral sectors.With her people on the brink of starvation, Samara hatches a daring plan to snatch the kidnapped Kos Emperor from the Quint mercenaries holding him. The Kos Empire will pay a fortune for their emperor’s return, enough to feed the Coalition’s citizens while they wait for the return to a begrudging peace.But when her plan goes sideways, Samara finds herself evading Quint mercenaries with the very man she intends to capture. And the more time she spends with Valentin Kos, the more she realizes that he’s not the coldly indifferent villain she imagined. Torn between duty and desire, Samara must decide if saving her people is worth giving up the one thing she’s always wanted.The Queen’s Gambit is a science fiction novella set in its own universe. I’ll be posting it in a serial format, with new installments each week.

Dating an Alien Pop Star


Kendra L. Saunders - 2016
    Unfortunately, no one ever writes about how to handle alien abduction in those fancy NYC guidebooks. Griffin and Dev are supermassively sexy aliens from a politically and environmentally troubled planet who arrive on Earth with very little knowledge about human ways other than what they learned from a wayward E! News signal. Their mission is to pretend to be the most influential people on the planet—English pop stars, of course!—and gain the help of a powerful secret society. Upon arriving, they abduct Daisy Kirkwood, a nerdy young woman who loves music but could seriously use a bit of help in the love-life department. Though Griffin and Daisy initially squabble, neither can deny the intergalactic sparks whenever they're too close to each other. Together, they must face murderous aliens, cultural misunderstandings, bad backup musicians, and the dark side of fame and the media, all set against a tight deadline… Part High Fidelity, part Bridget Jones' Diary, part Doctor Who, Dating an Alien Pop Star is a sexy romantic comedy.

A Soldier's Duty


Jean Johnson - 2011
    To prevent this vision from coming true, Ia enlists in the Terran United Planets military with a plan to become a soldier who will inspire generations for the next three hundred years-a soldier history will call Bloody Mary.

The Challenge


Susan Kearney - 2004
    Kahn offers her proof she can't refute: Tessa has been brought forward through time to save Earth by winning an intergalactic challenge. Kahn only has a few weeks to train Tessa to use the psi-abilities he insists she has. He is confident in the success of a time-honored method that uses sexual frustration to bring out her powers, but Tessa is dubious. She's a martial arts expert and can fight her way through anything, but she's never had much luck with emotions.Luckily for Earth, Kahn can be very convincing...

Gabriel's Ghost


Linnea Sinclair - 2002
    . . . After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn' t commit-and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows.Gabriel Sullivan--alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue--is supposed to be dead. Yet now this seductive ghost from Chaz's past is offering her a ticket to freedom--for a price. Someone in the Empire is secretly breeding jukors: vicious and uncontrollable killing machines that have long been outlawed. Gabriel needs Chaz to help him stop the practice before it decimates Imperial space. The mission means putting their lives on the line--but the tensions that heat up between them may be the riskiest part of all.

Knight Protector


Lindsay Buroker - 2019
    An arranged marriage she can’t escape. A sexy bodyguard who will protect her at all cost. A forbidden love she can’t give in to…As one of the sultan’s fourteen daughters, and a successful businesswoman who puts money in the family’s coffers, Princess Nalini thought she would escape an arranged marriage. She thought wrong.Her father insists that an alliance with the savage and ambitious Star Kingdom is the only way to avoid a war at home, and for some reason, Prince Jorg—a man she’s never met—wants to marry her. As if that weren’t bad enough, her father believes the betrothal may make her a target and is assigning her a bodyguard, the victor of one of his odious gladiator matches. She doesn’t want some brutish stranger intruding on her privacy. But her new protector—Tristan—is not the brute she expected. He has a quick wit, a sexy smile, and even sexier things under the smile. Unfortunately, Nalini can't let herself fall in love with Tristan, not when she’s soon to be betrothed to another man. As her father’s daughter, it’s her duty to help her people by cementing this alliance. No matter how much she wishes otherwise...As Tristan grew up on the streets, his father a convict and his mother a drug addict, all he ever wanted was to become one of the Star Kingdom's elite knights, something that very few commoners ever achieve. After Tristan labors for years as a squire, the king is ready to appoint him a knight... if he accomplishes one simple task. He must infiltrate the sultan’s palace, gain the trust of Princess Nalini, and make sure she doesn’t run away from her marriage with Prince Jorg. There’s just one problem. Nalini isn’t the spoiled rich brat he expected—she spends her days working as hard as he does—and he soon develops feelings for her. With her betrothal looming, and the career he’s worked his whole life for at stake, Tristan can’t let himself act on those feelings.But can he stand back while a man who doesn’t deserve her claims her for his wife?

Pirate Nemesis


Carysa Locke - 2016
    All roads lead her to the one place she can’t return: home.

Killers. Thieves. Pirates. Family. Mercy has spent her life evading the Pirate Queen who attempted to murder her as a child. Now, living as a smuggler with the outlawed Talent of telepathy, she keeps her head down, takes jobs that keep her moving, and searches for answers about her mother’s disappearance fifteen years ago. But living outside the law has consequences. 
Tricked and captured, Mercy must choose between two rival factions: the terrorists who will do anything to exploit her gifts for themselves, and the pirates she’s been eluding since childhood. 

Her only ally is the most dangerous killer of them all, and trusting him may be her final mistake.
Star Wars meets Firefly in this space fantasy series readers compare to Ilona Andrews and Nalini Singh.

At Star's End


Anna Hackett - 2014
    Eos Rai has spent a lifetime dedicated to her mother's dream of finding the long-lost Mona Lisa. When Eos uncovers tantalizing evidence of Star's End--the last known location of the masterpiece--she's shocked when her employer, the Galactic Institute of Historic Preservation, refuses to back her expedition. Left with no choice, Eos must trust the most notorious treasure hunter in the galaxy, a man she finds infuriating, annoying and far too tempting.Dathan Phoenix can sniff out relics at a stellar mile. With his brothers by his side, he takes the adventures that suit him and refuses to become a lazy, bitter failure like their father. When the gorgeous Eos Rai comes looking to hire him, he knows she's trouble, but he's lured into a hunt that turns into a wild and dangerous adventure. As Eos and Dathan are pushed to their limits, they discover treasure isn't the only thing they're drawn to...but how will their desire survive when Dathan demands the Mona Lisa as his payment?42,000 words

Contagion


Amanda Milo - 2019
    One human woman. Both are abducted and held captive in a very unsterile environment. What more could go wrong? ~ Simmi: I’ve broken free and I’ve also freed the human who was held captive with me. But I don’t know where we are, and I don’t know where my home is. The local wildlife may be smaller than I am, and maybe they don't have fangs near as large as mine, but I’m still terrified. My issues with germs--and my uncompromising avoidance of all the things that I’m afraid of coming into contact with--is going to get me killed in this wilderness. Thankfully, Aurora lets me follow her. Thankfully, she seems to know the way out of this endless and inhospitable woodland and desert biome. But by the end of our journey, she’ll suspect she’s harboring a contagion. I have no way to know it, but she’s afraid to tell me. Afraid of how I’ll react once I find out what she’s carrying. ***Note: This 40K, Standalone story is intended for readers 18+ due to romantic elements and adult themes. There is no cheating. There is one really germphobic alien. Thankfully, there's also a really understanding woman who is starting to fall for him. Spoiler: They're totally gonna have a Happily Ever After... just as soon as they can get off this planet that’s trying to kill them.

Beyond


Maureen A. Miller - 2012
    College beckons, as does her dream of becoming an engineer. On an early evening walk, her cocker spaniel charges into the woods on the other side of the pond. Aimee trails after him, and in the stillness of that forest the unthinkable happens. She becomes paralyzed and watches in horror as her hands vanish before her eyes. Waking to the sound of voices, Aimee realizes that she has been kidnapped. Little does she know how far away from home she is, though. In an attempt to flee her captors, she launches from their confines only to freeze at the view outside the window. The sky is black and filled with stars, and in the distance is a familiar blue globe. The planet Earth. A group of humans forced to flee their planet after an epidemic destroyed their civilization now travel the galaxies in search of an antidote. Retrieving samples of plant life from every solar system, on this occasion Aimee was accidentally seized instead. Aimee must learn to avoid the advances of an awkward young scientist who seems intent on dissecting her, as her own fascination turns to the exotic young warrior, Zak. Having fallen in love with Zak, she is now torn with the decision to return to Earth or live beyond the stars.

Fluency


Jennifer Foehner Wells - 2014
    They kept the Target under intense surveillance for decades, letting the public believe they were exploring the solar system, while they worked feverishly to refine the technology needed to reach it. The ship itself remained silent, drifting. Dr. Jane Holloway is content documenting nearly-extinct languages and had never contemplated becoming an astronaut. But when NASA recruits her to join a team of military scientists for an expedition to the Target, it’s an adventure she can’t refuse. The ship isn’t vacant, as they presumed. A disembodied voice rumbles inside Jane’s head, "You are home." Jane fights the growing doubts of her colleagues as she attempts to decipher what the alien wants from her. As the derelict ship devolves into chaos and the crew gets cut off from their escape route, Jane must decide if she can trust the alien’s help to survive.

Darkside Blues


Anna Carven - 2016
    Once you feel its allure, you won’t be able to resist. Zyara al Sirian has devoted most of her adult life to the art of healing. As the First Division’s medic, she’s seen more than her fair share of war wounds and trauma. And ever since the Kordolians arrived on Earth, she’s had her hands full tending to a motley group of survivors. She hasn’t had a break in longer than she can remember. A break? What’s that again? After much persuasion, she finally agrees to take some well-deserved time off to explore the city with Sera, Arin, Jia, and their Kordolian mates. You need to relax. It’ll be fun, you’ll see. Darkside comes alive at night. When she crosses paths with a mysterious, charming Human called Kainan, she realizes there’s more to this lawless place than meets the eye. The Federation holds no sway here. Beneath Darkside’s glittering facade, Humans rule hidden empires from the shadows through secrecy and violence. Zyara gets a taste of their world when Human conflict spills out onto the street. She can’t help but intervene. It’s what she was trained to do. Her actions save a life. In return, Kainan says he will give her anything she desires. Oh dear. What’s a Kordolian to do? Warning: This book is a science-fiction alien romance. It contains swearing, violence, sensual sex scenes and silver aliens. It's definitely recommended for readers aged 18 and over. Darkside Blues is a novella set in the Dark Planet Warriors universe. It will make more sense if you've read the other books first, although that's probably not absolutely essential.