Another fun one. Here’s my hypothesis about this series’ secret sauce (one ingredient is way more unhinged than the other 😆)—

Ingredient 1 (not so unhinged): clueless alien virgins who are so filled with yearning that their eyes literally glow = instant happiness. Try to be sad while reading about these dumb-dumbs being all cute and adorably down bad. It’s impossible.

Ingredient 2 (unhinged): aren’t we all dreaming about opting out of global capitalism? When our girl Jaya crash lands onto an alien penal cowboy planet with a strong sense of community, low cost of living, where no one is alienated from their labour?? Heck yeah, she wants to stay. And I want to live vicariously thought her haha

Add in likable characters, short and punchy plotlines, and lots of mistranslation-themed Dad jokes—and the book is just fun, dang it.