Given to the Warrior
She was the daughter of a cargo hauling smuggler, living her entire life aboard the spaceship Thunder Runner. Suffering in grief after space pirates attacked and killed her parents, she was now stranded on a tiny alien world full of savage natives. Faced with no family or home to return to, she had no choice but to make a new life for herself in a world entirely different to her own.
He was a mighty warrior on the primitive planet Ta'nai. Born during a tremendous thunderstorm and named for their God of thunder, he had proven himself to be one of the tribe's best and most feared Fasaü. Burdened by grief, his soul mourned the loss of the woman he had loved deeply several winters ago, and he stubbornly refused to take another. Unwilling to open his battered heart to let another in again.
The arrival of the strange pale-skinned woman who fell down from the sky was seen by the Elders as a sign from the Gods. A special golden-haired gift from the Goddess, clearly intended to bring the sun's light back to the child-of-thunder whose sorrow left him wallowing in darkness. With the woman in need of a home and the warrior in need of a life partner, the Elders demanded he accept the opportunity that he had been given - lest the Gods be angered at his refusal.
Both unwilling, the two begrudgingly wed - Qiiraa, the offworlder who did not know their customs and could not speak their language, and Zü, the hardened warrior who did not want her.
Content Warnings:
You'll find a lot of common romance tropes sprinkled throughout this book. Including:
Arranged marriage/Marriage of convenience/Forced marriage, Damsel in Distress, Different worlds (Literally!), Emotional Scars, Enemies threatening to rape Heroine, Fish out of Water, Forced proximity, Hero being extra gentle because he knows that the heroine is scared of intimacy, Interracial, Language barrier, Only one bed, Opposites attract, Overcoming grief, Protector Hero, Shy virginal Heroine, Soul mates, Strangers to lovers, Warrior Hero, Widower's second chance... and probably more!
Main Male character's former partner and unborn child died several years prior to the start of the book and him showing his grief, and slowly opening his heart to love again are large components of the story.
Main Female character's parents are killed in the beginning of the story, and her grief is mentioned and shown a few times during the story.
This story is set on a planet of human-looking tribal natives, who have a strong spiritual connection to their Gods. It contains some elements of space travel and space ships (the main female character is from space, as are some minor characters), with one minor character who is not humanoid. However the vast majority of the story is a real-world-adjacent setting, with no magic or other high fantasy elements.
Sexual themes:
Given to the Warrior is available in 2 versions.
"Low Spice" version - This version has fewer and far less detailed intimate scenes. The main sex scene is included but subtle, with implied and euphemistic terms.
Regular version - This version has low to medium level intimate scenes, written to be more sensual than "spicy" and are not graphic/explicit. This version has more/longer intimate scenes than the low spice version and also has additional content warnings.
The following content warnings are relevant for the regular version only:
The word "rape" is never used - it is referred to in more veiled terms such as "Have some fun with her", "Take her to my bed", "They attempted to dishonour her" and "I will have you".
Due to the main male character being aware of these instances, and the fact that the female character is frightened of sexual contact, he is especially conscious of consent and her comfort in all their intimate scenes.
She is explicitly given the opportunity to decline the marriage once she finds out that she will have to have sex with the man she doesn't really want to marry, but affirmatively decides she will go through with it, even knowing that the ceremony includes public consummation of the union. However given the situation she is in, it is clear that she does not want to do it, and agreed only out of necessity.
The main male character realises that she does not consent to the consummation, so he instead briefly simulates the act (grinding against her while both are fully clothed) to pretend it took place.
Throughout the book the main male character is very aware of the female character's timidness when it comes to intimacy, and other than this one scenario where they must pretend to validate the union, he makes sure she is comfortable and enthusiastically consenting in all other intimate acts they do.