Alliance with the Alien Pirate (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781736451366)

Erin is in a serious rut. She spends her days scraping meat scraps off a kitchen fryer on Station N87, and her nights holed up in the apartment just above the restaurant. She tries to stay positive, but space is a dangerous place for humans, and she wants nothing more than to buy a house where she can plant a little garden and live a safe, quiet life.

Khatazo is a surly former gladiator, current pirate who's convinced that no one can be trusted and the universe is an endless pit of despair. During their last job, a member of his crew was critically injured, and in order to get his crewmate the medical attention he needs, they need credits, and fast.

Both chasing the big pile of credits waiting at the finish line, as long as they survive that is, in order to fulfill their individual goals, Erin and Khatazo volunteer to participate in a research study wherein their physical and mental responses are monitored as they make their way through an escape room/haunted house-like facility called the Cursed Compound. The compound is made up of several rooms where monsters of all shapes and sizes lurk in dark corners, waiting to strike. There's also a mysterious red fog that gets unleashed sporadically, sending the participants into a state of insatiable lust.

Alliances between participants are allowed, but not only are they different species, they're also polar opposites in the way they view the world. Can this unlikely pair find a way to work together to make it out of the compound alive?

Alliance with the Alien Pirate is the first installment in the Cursed Compound series, featuring a plus size, 36-year-old woman trying to survive the monster-filled compound in order to win a bucket of credits and start her life anew. She has a sunny outlook on what lies ahead, but her grumpy ally keeps deflating her good mood with his pessimism. And the lust-inducing red fog that continues to follow them around the track isn't helping.

If you like huge aliens with forked tongues, the teammates to lovers trope, steamy love scenes, and happily ever afters, you'll love this series!