Jessie Mihalik

Riela is a sharp, impulsive heroine with messy, unpredictable magic. While she frustrated me at times, her stubborn courage made her feel real. Garrick, the cursed, brooding ruler with fading power, is exactly the kind of dangerous love interest I can't resist. The enchanted forest, semi-sentient castle, and simmering tension pulled me in fast, and the slow-burning attraction crackles with distrust, longing, and restraint. Yes, it leans into familiar tropes, but it does so with wit, show more emotional depth, and strong pacing. The ending left me satisfied yet desperate for more. show less

3.7 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Lady Bianca von Hasenberg still emotionally and physically deals with the trauma her first marriage caused. Now a widow, she works to help other girls and women through her network of spies and her technological skills. When her brother Ferdinand and the von Hasenberg heir disappears, she won't be patted on the head and told to stay home by her show more father or their Director of Security, Ian Bishop.
Ian shut down Bianca's flirting when he was her bodyguard and even now as the Director of Security, he still doesn't think he is worthy of her, but he can't stop his protective feelings for her. Bianca manages to get information he needs and she won't take no for an answer when it comes to rescuing her brother. Ian needs to rescue the heir, keep his own secrets, and never let Bianca know how deep his feelings really go.

Softly, he asked, “Why do you have to fight me on everything?”

Second in the Consortium Rebellion series, Aurora Blazing stars Bianca von Hasenberg, the sister of the heroine from the first book, Polaris Rising. The first book gave us glimpses of Bianca as she helped her sister and a few glimpses at the tension between Bianca and the Director of Security Ian Bishop. The author makes good on the tension and slow burn she hinted at in the first. Polaris Rising was a debut and one of the complaints I had was about the story needing a lot of fat trimmed, Aurora Blazing had none of those problems, the author did a great job shoring up the story and fulfilling on the promise I found in the first.

The Consortium series, so far, follows two main characters threads, one has readers following one of the three major ruling houses, the von Hasenbergs. Aurora Blazing is told solely from Bianca von Hasenbergs' point of view. The second is about soldiers that were part of the Genesis Project (soldiers who were experimented on to create “super” soldiers), Ian Bishop is hinted at being tied into that. These two threads are swirled into plot threads that involve the three ruling houses conspiring, maneuvering, and possibly going to war with each other for power and resources. This creates a fun, absorbing, and intriguing space opera/scifi ride.

“I promise I won’t ever use any of your secrets against you,” I said quietly.

As I mentioned, the romance is a slow burn, as in you won't see the (soft) snap in the fraying rope between these two until around 50%; the space opera aspect controls more of the attention in this series with the romance being more of a very important secondary character. I loved the dynamic and tension between Bianca and Ian, I could feel the emotion bubbling underneath. For the most part, I enjoyed how the author didn't blatantly spell out Ian's emotions but towards the end of the story, when we're supposed to get the big payoff, I felt like things were rushed. The ending sex scenes also felt out of place, they felt graphic and jarring placed at the end because the preceding 90% of story had a different tone between the couple.

His gaze was scorching, his eyes hot with desire. “We are not done,” he said, his voice a low command.

Without Ian's point of view and more of a look into his background, I found Bianca to be the stronger of the two characters. Learning about her first marriage and how her health issues causes her to lie to her family, thus isolating her even further, was heartbreaking. It was immensely satisfying to watch her not gain emotional and mental strength from what was done to her but instead use the strength that she already had but had been a bit too young to mature to. The times she refused to back down because she knew she had the skills and know-how to get the information quicker than Ian made me cheer for her even harder.

I was engrossed in the first half of this story and while I was locked into the space opera plots, the romance was too rushed for a satisfying payoff. I would love if Bianca and Ian got a second book as I think their story definitely supports it and the series would benefit from it. I don't know if it is due to the first person pov structure but there were at times I felt like I was only getting half the story on some things, scenes felt left out, and more background was needed. Overall, though, I found this an amazing continuation of the series and the author has dangled threads (the leak in the von Hasenberg house, the war between the three houses, and Ferdinand and his romance with the daughter of an enemy house) that I'm fully on board and can't wait for the next in the series. show less

Fun and well-done example of the genre. There’s not a lot of substance to it, but honestly, it met the goal for sheer entertainment.

What makes this one different from other novels I’ve read? Whew. Give me a minute.

We have a female lead who is a former war veteran who escaped service under a cloud after heroic actions (reminds me of [b:You Sexy Thing|53205880|You Sexy Thing|Cat show more Rambo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616096132l/53205880._SY75_.jpg|80438452], as well as [b:Rules of Redemption|43954881|Rules of Redemption (The Firebird Chronicles, #1)|T.A. White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549936025l/43954881._SY75_.jpg|68359033]) who are now working as mercenaries/transporters/etc across the galaxy. Our group of stalwart companions are destitute and need to take a job that they’d normally decline with prejudice to get them ship-shape. Yes, we’ve seen this before.



Mind you, I’m not complaining; I just want it done well and I’d say it is here. In this case, the job is recovering an item stolen from the household of General Torran Fletcher, one of the leaders of the Valovians. The interpersonal challenge is that it’s only been a few years since Octavia Zarola and her crew were fighting the Valovians in a decades-long war between the Federated Human Planets and the Valovians and old grievances don't die easily.

Its quickly apparent that this is a romantic sci-fi adventure and all the stops are out when it comes to building rapport (See romancelibrary's review for a solid but spoilery list of the tropes in play) Torran and Octavia ('Tav') are at odds but find common ground as they travel towards Valovian territory. Scenes bonding over leadership of their respective teams, a shared love of cooking and an adorable cat-like creature feel almost natural in context of a voyage and not at all contrived. It takes more page count that it should from what seems like a McGuffin plot, but it works because it’s all about the bonding.

“Earlier he’d called me udwist. The spelling was trickier, but he’d either called me stubborn or wizard. I kind of hoped it was the latter, but I figured it was the former.”

Eventually the ship--and the plot--get to Valovian space and the actual job, and just as Tav suspected, she and the crew have been kept in the dark about critical details. She continues anyhow, because by this time she’s even more invested in the outcome.



One of the major weakness, I think, is that I had trouble believing the Octavia was anything but a woman in her twenties with limited life experience. She felt like a blend of young adult and mature. War veteran? Squad leader? I don’t know. She was decisive in spots, but also her main skill as a leader apparently was willingness to sacrifice herself. What this really felt like, though it did not contain nosy siblings and wasn’t set on Earth, is an installment of Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy series. Again, not complaining.

World-building is solid. By ‘solid,’ I mean that I didn’t find myself stopping to question the mechanics; explanations are largely accepted within-the-‘Verse: boilerplate sci-fi of divergent human evolution pathways to explain the psychic skills, wormholes to deal with distance travel. Everything else feels very twenty-first century, right down to a handheld communicators with cracked screens and the lasagna. The first-person narrative voice works well. There’s some nice touches of humor, lending itself to the lighter side of relationship building instead of melodramatic angst:

“‘I’m just offering one hug, freely given. Here.’ I opened my visor and blinked at the resulting darkness. ‘Now I can’t even see who I’m hugging. Could be anyone. Maybe a bear wandered by. No one knows.’”

Cute. Overall, I’d call it a solid genre four stars–I’d even read it again. show less

Octavia Zarola will do anything to ensure she and her small group of bounty hunters are able to stay afloat. After all, they have been looking out for each other since they served together in the war between the Valovians and Federated Human Planets (FHP).

Times have been tough, and now Tavi is offered a job by none other than Torran Fletcher, a former general and a Valovian. The job is being kept a bit of a mystery, and it means working with a potential enemy and putting her people in show more harm's way. The money offered is too good to pass up, and Tavi and her team are the considered the best for a reason.

But as the investigation begins, Tavi learns that the stakes are higher than previously thought, and as the weight of the galaxy hangs in the balance, she'll find an ally in the most unexpected place.

This is the beginning of a new series from Jessie Mihalik and I really think that she's becoming one of the current go-to's for the sci-fi romance genre.

Hunt the Stars works very well as a series opener. There's a lot of initial setup not only of the futuristic world but also of the characters. For me, while the story still held my interest, it takes a bit for it to pick up speed. It's not until over the halfway mark that the actual mystery of Tavi and her crew are hired to find is addressed with more focus. From there the plot takes of running and the consequences of where it leads will be felt across the rest of the series I think.

I love the initial setup between Tavi and Torran. Two people on different sides of a conflict come together years later with a common goal but still without much trust between them. It makes for a good amount of tension. I like seeing how that tension morphs into something more. The invariable twists and turns that come with working with someone you cannot fully trust will cause complications, but I loved seeing how Tavi and Torran moved through those.

While the focus is on Tavi and Torran, Jessie Mihalik sets up the rest of the crews rather nicely. I kind of like that we're already seeing how the others will pair off. I think it makes the build up all the more sweeter as we get into the other books.

Jessie Mihalik is comfortable in a sci-fi futuristic setting and makes readers comfortable too. Nothing is too difficult to grasp and technologies and new species are described with ease. I think her writing is perfect for those wanting to try the sci-fi genre, but are wary of picking up a more complicated tome.

I look forward to the next book and seeing the continuation of the story threads but seeing a different pair of characters pick up the mantle.

*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less