Review: Euphoria by Jayne Lockwood

It might take the arrival of an alien being to remind an isolated man what it means to be human.

With a stressful job, his boss breathing down his neck for profitable results, and an estranged wife and daughter, scientist Kurt Lomax doesn’t think life can get much harder. Until a nonbinary extraterrestrial with an otherworldly beauty, captivating elegance, and a wicked sense of humor inconveniently shows up at his apartment.

Vardam watched the destruction of their own world, and they don’t want to see the same thing happen on Earth. They are lonely, and feelings soon develop between them and the supposedly straight scientist—feelings Kurt reciprocates, much to his confusion.

The arrival of cheery interpreter Tom Soames—whose Goth appearance belies a gentle heart—is like a ray of sunshine in the somber lab. He acts as matchmaker for man and tentacled extraterrestrial, unwittingly instigating a national crisis when the news breaks out.

But will a misunderstanding ruin Kurt and Vardam’s chances for happiness together—along with the hope for peace between humanity and the Var?

4 Alien Loving Hearts!


A highly enjoyable sci-fi romp with all sorts to satisfy! This has time travel, aliens, a pending apocalypse, hurt comfort, mpreg, and nebulous tentacle shenanigans, all or some of which will surely interest many a reader!


The blurb is quite good at telling what’s what. Vardam is a peaceful, technologically advanced, non-binary alien who’s basically been traveling the galaxy in search of a new place for their peoples to inhabit since their home was destroyed by an asteroid. Their goal is to find a compatible planet and it just so happens to be Earth. However, there's a slight snag. The original inhabitants are on the brink of extinction, and Vardam, in their infinite capacity for appreciating all the complex facets of humanity, is willing to take a huge risk and leap of faith to travel back in time to try to stop the imminent demise of the human race.


Enter Kurt Lomax, a brilliant scientist whose abusive past has rendered him cold and unable to form meaningful relationships despite his desperate desire to do so. Unable to effectively connect and communicate with his estranged wife and daughter, he instead spends all his time and focus on helping his fellow man. This manifests as a twenty year long pursuit towards developing a vaccine that would fend off the virulent bacterium MRSA, in the hopes of preventing millions of difficult to treat infections. What Kurt doesn't know is that his creation will mutate in soon-to-start human trials, ultimately leading to the annihilation of animals and humans alike over the next two generations.


What ensues upon Vardam’s arrival to change the future was something I quite enjoyed. This is not exactly a straightforward sweeping romance focused solely on Vardam and Kurt. This also bridges medicine and science, corporate greed, and government oversight, all of which involves Kurt’s scientific team and how they deal with an intriguing powerful alien and the resulting fallout when the truth of their life’s work is revealed.


This boasts a great supporting cast to root for, a bad guy to really really hate, and another side romance to revel in. This is not erotica, but it is funny and touching and filled with some suspenseful action and harrowing situations. The best part of this was of course, Vardam and their unabashed honesty, their fascinating abilities, and their talent for thawing out a tortured Kurt to both figuratively and literally open himself up to the infinite possibilities of love. Lockwood nicely brings all of this to a great satisfying conclusion where of course, I wouldn’t say no to more stories in this awesome AU should she choose to create more!


Thank you to the author/publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.