I’ve heard only great things about Jessie Mihalik’s books from Cannonball Read. I already had Polaris Rising on my shelf, but I read Hunt the Stars first. Since it was selected by The Ripped Bodice’s fantasy romance book club, it got moved into the rotation.
The first Starlight’s Shadow book introduces us to Tavi and her space crew. They are space war veterans who use their skills now as bounty hunters. The war may be over with the Valoffs. However, most humans don’t trust this race of alien humanoids. They wear scary-ass space suits and are known to be ruthless. That’s why Tavi is reluctant to take the job offered by a former Valoff general named Torran. He is paying a lot to hunt human thieves on his planet. He needs her expertise and will pay even more if they succeed. Tavi is skeptical and pushes hard to renegotiate the terms. In the end, Torran’s ship escorts them to their planet. A condition of the agreement is a small part of Torran’s crew will ride over on Tavi’s spaceship. Tavi demands the Valoffs wear normal civilian wear while in transit. No freaky space armor to keep tensions on edge. Over the long trip, they reluctantly get to know the enemy and nearly start to respect them. When they get to the planet, Tavi’s gut feels this is a trap. Some facts about the theft don’t add up. They end up entangled in a political mess with no help coming from the human authorities. Tavi has to decide if she can trust Torran. Her body is certainly attracted to him. Her mind isn’t so sure. She wants to see the good in him but gambles that this will lead to only trouble.
I really enjoyed how this enemies-to-lovers story took the trope literally. Humans and Valoffs were war enemies, not to mention different species. Valoffs don’t seem too hard on the eyes. I liked Tavi from the start, especially her loyalty to her crew. She is tough and always strives to be fair, even with their alien guests. Her team is her found family. They survived too much. They vow to trust only each other. Torran oddly has a similar relationship with his team. There’s mutual respect along with attraction between the two space captains. When pretending to be on a date to remain undercover in the garage, I was finally on board with this romantic pairing. Several twists and double-crosses occur before these two can find their happily ever after in space. It’s well worth the ride. My FOMO on the discussion led to my speed reading the audiobook and e-book versions in a single weekend. It reminded what I always loved about Farscape, which was an unexpected romance between two people thrust together on a spaceship.
Once I read Hunt the Stars, I had to go and see what Polaris Rising had in store. Instead of an alien romance, we have warring space royal families reminiscent of Dune. All these high houses hold their power based on the ships they design and get ridiculously rich off of. We meet Ada Von Hasenberg as a captive of mercenaries. They throw her in a cell with a mysterious but dangerous-looking man. They want to curry favor with a rival family who put a bounty on Ada. She may have run away after her engagement to the rival family’s son. Instead of towing the family line, she escaped and lived under assumed names. She had a good run until someone spotted her on a space station. She begins plotting her new escape when she realizes she’s in a cell with a notorious war criminal named Loch. He’s known as the Devil of Fornax Zero. Although a bit afraid, she propositions him to help her escape in return for a nice pile of money. Even with trouble at every turn, there’s a growing attraction. Loch is impressed by Ada’s determination. Ada notices Loch may be ruthless, but he’s not the Devil of the rumors. It’s an unlikely pairing, but a rebel space princess and a supernaturally strong warrior make sense as a couple.
I loved the action from the older Consortium Rebellion series but preferred the slow-burn romance slightly more from the recent series. Ada and Loch clashed more and were ruled more by their emotions when courting each other. Think of hot and cold mood swings and paranoia about the other’s true feelings. Tavi and Torran were more level-headed. Loch was ready to wreak havoc at a moment’s notice. I’m still game to continue with both series. Because I’m a completist, I’ll likely go in release order from here on out. It’s all about what you’re in the mood to read. If you’re in the mood for Dune-esque politics, hit up Polaris. If you want more of a Farscape or BSG vibe, dive into Hunt the Stars.
Read more of my musings on my blog.