Compete (The Atlantis Grail #2) by Vera Nazarian

Blurb: It’s one thing to Qualify…
But do you have what it takes to Compete?

With Earth about to be destroyed by an extinction level asteroid, teenage nerd, geek, and awkward smart girl Gwen Lark, and a few of her friends and loved ones, barely Qualified for rescue onboard one of the thousands of ark-ships headed to the ancient colony planet Atlantis.

Now faced with a year-long journey in space, life in a wondrously alien environment, and many tough life choices, Gwen must decide who or what she will become. Fleet Cadet or Civilian? Friend or lover? Average or extraordinary?

Can she make new friends? Can she trust the old ones, such as Logan Sangre, her sexy high school crush and an Earth special operative?

Time and time again, Gwen’s uncanny ability to come up with the best answer in a crisis saves her life and others. And now, her unique Logos voice makes her an extremely valuable commodity to the Atlanteans — so much so that her enigmatic commanding officer Aeson Kassiopei, who is also the Imperial Prince of Atlantis, has taken an increasingly personal interest in her.

Before the end of the journey, Gwen must convince him that she has what it takes to compete in the deadly Games of the Atlantis Grail.

It’s becoming apparent — the life of her family and all of Earth depends on it.

4 stars

I’m quite conflicted on this book, because the beginning was pretty fricking awesome.  I loved hearing about their culture and the cool new world they were heading too.  But then it kinda stuttered with the romance.  I mean, I admit, the romance part is so light in this book as to almost be nonexistent.  But I clung to it hoping it would pick up a bit.  But unfortunately I was disappointed.

I loved  Aeson in the beginning then it’s like he drank some crazy juice or something because his character started to become inconsistent.  He was emotionally immature.  And I expected more from his character than his hot and cold antics.  I felt like I was getting whiplash with it.  And as a woman that shit would irritate the fuck out of me.  Like dude, pick a lane or shut up about it.  I can’t stand when someone can’t commit to their feelings.  Especially without a reasonable explanation.

Now… and this is pretty important I think… take the romance out of the book and you have yourself a pretty great story.  Lark is a great character. She bends and flexes with the upheaval in her life.  She shows growth and perseverance in the face of adversity and she is a huge nerd, which appeals to me.  She’s just an all round bad ass IMO so I felt the book would have been better if we could have just focused on her, without a main love interest.  I know! That’s wild right? Cause I love romance in books, but this one just left me unfulfilled in that aspect.

I do want to know why the ending happened the way it did, so I’m gonna give the story the benefit of the doubt and continue reading it.  Hope the author changes my mind about Aeson.