Yaaaayyyy! What a fun, solid read! Despite my assumptions based on the cover, this book is first and foremost a sci-fi story, with romance playing a very distant second. In fact, except for the prototypical romance alpha hero traits that Finn, the hero, exhibits, I probably would not have thought this was related to romance at all. I wish he wasn't so typical, but his character was handled well enough that it did not detract much. 
 The technology is more unique (in my experience of reading sci-fi anyway)-- rather than iterations of pyhsics/mechanics, mathematical, or computer-science/engineering technology, the tech is based off biological constructs, with influences of computers. The author describes the technology with enough detail that you can get your teeth in it a little, but is not so hard that you break your teeth. And IT MAKES SENSE. Yaaayy....yeah, I know, I wouldn't have been that excited if I read this thinking it was sci-fi to begin with, but I read it thinking it was ROMANCE, and well. Color me pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to turn off my brain. 
 The pacing is good, the characters are appealing and believable, not everyone is black and white, and there is some truly gruesome-yet-effective depictions of an alien world. The narrator also does not interject every other paragraph to needlessly explain each character's thoughts, but lets their actions and dialogue speak for themselves. (Another Romance novel trait that I detest. Once again, if I approached this bk as a sci-fi, not a romance, then this point would be moot) The only potential flaw I can see is that there is no strong villain. There are intermediary bad guys along the way, but as the story progresses, the true villain remains a distant figure; his dastardly presence is like an afterthought, and becomes almost buffoonish in how little impact he makes despite the dangers his actions put the main characters through. The world of Scarabaeus was the real antagonistic force, and it felt fresh, different, and truly terrifying despite all the alien worlds I've read before in the past.