I'm back on my shit and didn't think I would open up pandora's box with an insect man but here we are... and I'm not mad about it. I really enjoyed this quick little 128 page read, it got me through the boring parts of my workday and reminded me that fictional men do be more emotionally available and competent than any man in my life.

The story revolves around Eden who has crash landed on a restricted planet after escaping the prisoner transport ship she was on prior to it's space pirate hijacking. Eden is saved by Vedhral, our knight in shining chitin, from a giant alien worm that was gonna eat her for dinner and finds herself cozied up in his underground den with all unspecified number of his legs (que me googling how many legs a centipede has and running into some other unfortunate bug photos)

Vedhral is wonderful, if I wasn't so afraid that his planet may contain giant alien spiders, I'd want one for myself (the odds of there not being giant alien spiders is really stacked against me). He's very sweet, extremely smart (I wish I learned other languages that fast), and Eden's own personal body pillow for how much body he's got. He also doesn't believe Eden has a bad bone in her body and very, very much wants to be her mate.

Que them slowly falling in love, a little turmoil here and there that really got the sad chest pangs going for me, and after some mission impossible like stunts - a happy ending :)

I think A.I. Lustre is a good author. The writing was easy to digest, and the characters were good. I enjoyed the storyline and only had super tiny nitpicky things to say in regard to a singular continuity error. All in all, it was an easy and enjoyable read so if you're looking to be cradled by an innumerable number of legs, The Centipede's Mate is the story for you. 7/10

Would I read again? Sure! I think it would be a good pick me up story