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SF romance fans, your next great read is here! I got the ARC for Jessie Mihalik’s Hunt the Stars back in summer 2021, and it’s been KILLING me to have to sit on this review for SIX MONTHS before I could share it with you. If you like space adventure, action, intrigue, plot twists, and hot humanoid men clearly captivated by an oblivious heroine, come on and let’s go star hunting!
Tavi Zarola, captain of Starlight’s Shadow, does not want to take a commission from Torran Fletcher. Tavi and her entire crew nearly died fighting in the human-Valoff war, and Torran isn’t just a Valoff – he’s their highest ranking general. Plus, the bounty is to hunt down a missing item for Torran on Valovia itself, where there’s a price on Tavi’s head. But her ship desperately needs repairs, and Torran offers safe conduct on his personal honor. Unfortunately, the situation won’t be quite as straightforward as either of them hopes.
Tavi is a kind, caretaker captain – for those of you who get the reference, she’s what would happen if one of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling maternal dominants ended up in charge of a starship. She’s softhearted without being a soft touch, and she is practical and respected by her crew. Torran is sterner and more self-contained, but not because he doesn’t have feelings. One of my favorite tropes is a hero who is besotted with a heroine who hasn’t figured it out. Torran is clearly into Tavi long before she understands what’s going on. In Valovian culture, apologies must be accompanied by gifts, and it’s adorable and thoughtful what Torran comes up with when he messes up.
If you read a lot of space adventure romance, you’ll be familiar with a couple of tropes, especially with military heroines. First, they are always somehow fantastic fighters despite being lithe and petite. Tavi, however, has to train and work for her fitness, and she’s realistic when she goes to the training mat with Torran, that, as Tavi puts it, “Torran was going to kick my ass.” There will also be a climactic action sequence, generally rushed into and featuring poor tactics. Not here however, where we see the squad taking its time, doing drills and practicing. Hooray for military competence! My favorite military detail, by the way – Torran uses the Valovan word “nidru”, and Tavi
“didn’t know much Valovan, but every good soldier knew nidru was the word for ‘fuck’ because we were all twelve at heart and learning foreign curse words had passed the time.”
The last thing I want to praise about this book is the plot twists. And that’s as much as I will say about them so I don’t spoil anything!
Hunt the Stars is a satisfying mix of romance, adventure, action, and sci-fi. I am delighted to finally be able to tell you about it. Now for the next long wait – making it to December, when I can put it on my Best of 2022 list!
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
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Grade: A
Book Type: Science Fiction Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 31/01/22
Publication Date: 02/2022
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
I'm a history geek and educator, and I've lived in five different countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. In addition to the usual subgenres, I'm partial to YA, Sci-fi/Fantasy, and graphic novels. I love to cook.
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Thanks for this review. I didn’t know that Jessie Mihalik had a new book out.
Caroline sums up this book perfectly. It is the best anti-space opera romance ever! Tavi is the heart of the team; all the friendships and relationships grow organically. This is a character driven romance that also has exciting adventures.
I enjoyed the Polaris Rising trilogy – but every novel in that trilogy was plot driven.
I picked up the book based and could not put it down. This book is significantly better than Polaris Rising. I also give it an A!
Yay! SF/Fantasy romance lovers unite! And I agree with your assessment that this book centers the romance much more than Mihalik’s previous work.
Have you read any other Jessie Mihalik books? I read Polaris Rising after it was recommended to me, but I didn’t care for it. I was wondering if anyone who has read both could compare the quality of the stories and romances. It might just be me and this author doesn’t quite work for me, but I’d love to have a sci-fi rom author to look forward to.
Yes, I read her Polaris series. I thought they were ok but this was significantly better. So if you didn’t love Polaris, it still might be worth giving this a try!
Thanks!
This is definitely on my TBR pile; sounds great Caroline! Good work on the review.
Thank you for this review! I’ll be checking it out.
Sounds like exactly my cuppa!
Is it a stand alone?
It’s the first in a series.
Caroline, thanks for the absolutely delightful review. I don’t do Sci-fi …….Steampunk and Shifter are about as far off HR/CR as I go. But this sounds great!