I was having a bit of a reading slump – nothing sounded good, and I returned several books to the library unread, which is a bit out of character for me. I had figured, though, that since I had such a fun time with Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis last month that her brand of space heists in novella format might be what I needed to jumpstart my oomph. Then we got word that Bothari43 had passed, and I knew that some chick-written sci-fic was what I needed to read right now, and thankfully my library system provided.
How to Steal a Galaxy 
Book 2 in the Chaotic Orbits series picks up right on the heels of Full Speed to a Crash Landing, and we are immediately with Ada Lamarr as she is wrapping up her job from the first book and avoiding taking on another. Until the carrot that is Rian is dangled in front of her, and then she agrees. The action of the book takes place at a fundraising gala at the Museum of Intergalactic History on Rigel-Earth. The technology that Ada stole in the first book only delayed the project, not killing it entirely. But there is a possibility of preventing the worst-case scenario, along with moving forward her own goals.
There is misdirection. There is plotting. There is making out in a stairwell. There is thwarting the actions of a worse group. It is a good time.
While this one does have its own arc, it very obviously is the planned middle book in a trilogy where things are revealed, but nothing is finalized. We begin with action in progress and end with action in progress, knowing mostly where book three is headed as we had a general idea leaving book one for book two. It was a very good thing I had Last Chance to Save the World in hand and could start it immediately.
Last Chance to Save the World 
Due to some timing issues, this was the only one that I didn’t read in a single sitting (12-hour workdays are killer). Action picks up a week later with Rian and Ada approaching Earth to attempt to prevent a corporate nincompoop with too much money and no intelligence (sound familiar?) from sabotaging an effort to fix Earth’s environment. In each of the three novellas Rian and Ada have been working at cross purposes while also working towards the same goal. And having the hots for each other. It all comes to a head in this installment when they both know the other is going to betray them as soon as their common goal is met but wishing it didn’t have to be that way.
But that is not the life that they lead.
This is perhaps the only one where I caught most of the machinations of the plot in real time but there was still plenty that surprised me and/or made me smile delightedly watching as the various pieces came into alignment. Ada’s undercurrent of rage and rebellion and self-preservation are all on full display, as is Rian’s legitimate belief that laws and regulations are the way to do the most good, not the skirting or outright breaking of the law that Ada personifies. If only he hadn’t fallen head over heels for her (and likewise she for him).
While this storyline is given a definitive ending, the ongoing saga of Rian and Ada chasing each other across the galaxy is left open, and I would *love* another trilogy of novellas with their further adventures.