VS Note: Portions of this post first appeared in the Roswell Daily Record.

I think almost every author has a book of the heart (or two) that never got the reader love and attention to truly launch it the way the author wanted or hoped for. What better subject to highlight around Valentine’s Day?  I asked some of my SciFi Romance author friends which book of theirs falls into this category and why, if they had an idea about that.

For me, I think the book I wish more people would discover is Two Against the Stars, one of my alien empath books. The alien woman was kidnapped by the interstellar mob and forced to use her powers to further their criminal aims. She escapes through a fluke and hides in the slums of  a planet she knows nothing about, finding work as a janitor, paid under the table. She’s faced with a situation where she has to decide whether to help a wounded ex-soldier and risk herself or allow him to be killed and remain in hiding. There wouldn’t be a book if she failed to step and rescue him of course. There’s a whole section of the book where they’re hiding in a forest and I drew a lot of that from my own childhood and a cabin my grandfather built at a lake near us. (Not that anyone in my family is an alien!). I’m proud of my four alien empath stories and would love for a wider circle of readers to discover them. I think the issue might be that the books are romantic suspense within a scifi romance framework, rather than an instalove woman-meets-hot-alien-guy  situation. So my four books about the alien empaths aren’t really in the current mainstream of the SFR genre.

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Michelle Diener is the author of one of the most classic and well regarded SFR books, Dark Hourse (Class Five Series Book 1). The whole series is well plotted and engrossing. But then she wanted to try writing something else, which became Sky Raiders, the book she cites as needing more reader love. Here’s her quote: “I wrote Sky Raiders after three books in my very popular Class 5 series, and I think a lot of readers were expecting either a book that was just like the Class 5 series, or they wished my next book was going to be a continuation of the Class 5 series, so when I wrote a true space opera (a fantasy / scifi blend) it wasn’t met with the same love. Those readers who have read it love it, though, and I do, too!” Add me to the list of people who loved this book. It was a fascinating blend of a medieval-style society invaded by aliens and trying to cope. The first book, Sky Raiders, sets the whole situation up very well, including how the humans could actually outwit and defeat the aliens despite the vast gap in their command of technology. And the love story was wonderful.    AmazonKU

Angelica Grymm has this to share about her book in need of love: “The Reckoning, my Book 3 of my space opera series. It has a sentient, smart-ass ship, things blowing up, and unrequited love (until the end). It’s my love letter to Battlestar Galactic and Star Wars. It’s not alien romance as the genre expects it, and is equally focused on the action as the romance. Oh, and there’s low level torture on-page about 1/2 way through.”  Sounds like a good mix of space opera and romance elements to me, although I might skim the torture scene, depending on how detailed it gets. Readership does sometimes fall off as a series progressed, which could also be a factor.     AmazonKU

Landra Graf’s Operation Escape (Space Force Rejects Book 2) was a book of the heart that didn’t soar to the heights she’d hoped to see. She says, “Operation Escape: its book 2 in a alien/fated mates/scifi romance series featuring two human MC. I think the lack of an Alien MC was the driving force. But its a book of my heart, 6 years in the making and was inspired by my love for Farscape.” Speaking for myself, I loved the TV series Farscape and that alone would be enough to get mer to check it out. I would tend to agree with the author that the current market in our genre is very hot for that alien main character energy which can make it hard for SFR that is “only” human to human to be seen.    AmazonKU

Maklr: Kagan Warriors by Holly Hanzo does feature an alien MMC, paired with a human woman. Here’s how the author feels about the book: “My book Maklr, is the book of my heart. It’s book 4 in my main series, but it doesn’t matter they are all interconnected standalones. Maklr is based on my husband and best friend, and is my thank you to them. The heroine, Nell, is partly based on my backstory, and her trust issues and selective mutism is something I struggle with.”  Talk about an author really putting a lot of herself and her life into the story – a reader couldn’t ask for more passion and investment than this. As one reviewer said, “…a soul-deep journey of healing, survival, and what it means to be truly seen by someone — even if that someone has horns and comes from another planet.”  That got the book on my To Be Read List for sure.   AmazonKU

Can adapting the ‘wrong’ fairy tale put a book at a disadvantage? Jessica Marting thinks it might have. She shares, “Spindle’s End is a book of my heart, one written when I was writing SFR fairy tale adaptation. It’s my far-future take on Sleeping Beauty and that just didn’t hit the market the way Beauty and the Beast adaptations have.” I will note the blurb doesn’t mention the fairy tale inspiration, which might have helped?     Amazon

Pauline Baird Jones surmises adding a mystery to the SFR structure might have kept her book in need of more love from as much success as she would have hoped for. “One Two Punch: An Uneasy Future – it is a scifi romantic mystery set in a future New Orleans. It connects to my Project Enterprise series (and my contemporary Big Uneasy series) and is a bit quirky.”      Amazon       AB

Author Nancey Cummings wouldn’t change a thing about her book (except the fact it didn’t light more readers’ fires): “I’ve got a backlist book that needs more love. Alien Warlord’s Miracle combines time travel with a Christmas romance. I know it’s a bit too weird for what readers want but I put together two things I love. I’m happy with the way it turned out.”      Amazon      AB

Ivy Knox brought in some unusual concepts with SFR for her title: “My backlist book that needs more love: Alliance with the Alien Pirate. It’s an adorable novella about a haunted house/escape room in space. Not sure why it didn’t pop off at the time, but I’m releasing book 2 this year and want to get people excited about it!” Sounds intriguing to me.   AmazonKU

Timing is everything, say author Greta van der Rol. If the hot topic in the genre is taking up all the space it can be very challenging for a book which is ‘other’ to find its place. Greta says, “I’d like to offer Morgan’s Choice. It is the book of my heart. It launched my Supertech universe and introduced Morgan Selwood, a woman with a computer hardwired into her brain who refuses to belong to anyone. The problem is that I released it when sci-fi romance was drifting away from hard space opera and readers were chasing either cozy aliens or paranormal romance. It didn’t fit the trend. I’ve done some revisions, redid the cover, and I think it will suit readers who love a good story to go with their romance.”      Amazon

Author Cynthia Sax thinks perhaps her title got in the way of success for one of her sizzling cyborgs.  “THE CYBORG’S SECRET BABY is one of the most emotional stories I’ve ever written. This cyborg romance has sacrifice and loss, laughter and love. It also unfortunately has, as one much beloved reader shared, “a very silly title.”      Amazon

Amy Murrell Haunold has only published two books so far and says, “…my sf romance was the kind of story I wanted to read but couldn’t find. Welcome to Andromeda has romance but also political intrigue and lots of interesting aliens. It is the book of my heart.”  I will say as a general comment it’s hard for a new author to get traction until there are more books out there for readers to find, especially if there isn’t an ongoing series. Building a readership takes time.     AmazonKU

For Christie Meierz: “Outcaste is a gay SF space opera romance with no explicit sex, and a couple one of whom will die if they touch – unless he’s willing to give up being human. The “no explicit sex” part got a lot of downvotes.” (VS NOTE: I only find a paperback version available currently.)       Amazon

Crossing genres is the hurdle Dianne Duvall believes held back her book from more success. “The Lasaran, book 1 in my Aldebarian Alliance series. I’ve wanted to tell that story since book 2 of my Immortal Guardians PNR series released in 2011. I love that The Lasaran enabled me to take my Immortal Guardians into space for action-packed adventure (I’m having so much fun with that series), but some readers passed on it because it’s a PNR/SFR crossover.”    Amazon      AB

Jody Wallace attributes her less than bestseller list-level success for Catalyst (Cat Ship Book One) to “It probably got overlooked because it depicted a FMC instead of a clinch or man chest and isn’t “steamy” hot.” I’m guessing also the cat on the cover might have sent mixed signals to some readers (although I love scifi romance with pets along for the cruise myself.)      Amazon       AB

I think the key point in all of this is that the authors themselves are happy with the way the books turned out, if slightly  wistful their heartfelt tales have yet to be shared with the widest possible circle of readership. Perhaps this post will help!

VS NOTE: Here’s the link to the 2025 post on books in need of more love, with 20 different titles presented by their authors (although I do see Jody Wallace’s book was included last year too! My bad. Still needs love! Here’s the cover of the second book in Jody’s series which needs love too…)

The graphic for the 2025 post: