Alien Huntress YA vs. Adult

Last Summer I started Reading books by Gena Showalter. The First book of her's that I ever read was Black Listed, a yyounge adult sci-fi, fantasty book and I ate it up! When I went to look up other books by this author I discovered that Black Listed was book 4 in her Alien Huntress Series (you can see all the books HERE) So I put myself on the list for them through PBS.

The next book I received was the other Young Adult in this series, Red Handed. Which I enjoyed just as much as Black Listed. These books are fast paced, exciting, imaginative and just plane fun to read. Yes, there is sex and foul language but Gena's characters are not from top notch society and her use of some profanity and sex gives her books an element of realism even though they are set in the future.

After finishing Red Handed I just had to know what her Adult books were like. A friend of mine told me her Adult books were a bit heavy on the profanity and sex but I just had to see for myself if the story lines and action were as good. What really were her writing style differences between Young Adult and Adult.

Quick note on the story of Red Handed. I really liked that the main character was battling a bad past but yet did not come across as week. And she managed to get everything her heart desired by following some rules (emphasis on some) and still being herself without harming herself or others.


I waited until I had the rest of the series before delving into the other books. You do not need to read these books in order, I haven't. Each book has a common thread, Alien Hunting team, but the main characters in the books are different. Yes, they do show up in other books but the story told about them in their book is not key to solving the mysterying in the one you choose to read.

I read Awaken me Darkly in three days, yes, that is a record for me. I am a slow reader and in the middle of a move so you can only imagine how much I enjoyed this book.

So, what are the differences? Are the Adult books better than the YA? To be honest the only difference I saw was the sex was more detailed. And lets be honest it's not like every teen out there hasn't read, seen on TV or experienced sex for themselves. My conclusion this entire series is going to Rock.

I did find Awaken me Darkly's story line to be a bit predictable. Caution stop reading SPOILERS... the mystery portion surrounds creating the "perfect race" which in and of itself has been done before but what really bothered me about this particular one is that the Alien behind it looked one way and her perfect race looked the exact opposite, sound like anyone we know??? Can we say Hitler. To me this was a little bit to much of a parallel. But obviously it did not ruin the book for me. And who knows that may have been Gena's intent to really drive home how horrible this Alien is.

Okay I am off to start the next one...