Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Jessie Mihalik - Hunt the Stars (Starlight's Shadow #1)


Jessie Mihalik - Hunt the Stars (Starlight's Shadow #1) 

5 ⭐

Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction 

Pages: 425

Format: Paperback Proof 

Publisher: Harper Voyager 

Date Published: 1st February 2022


Huge Thank You to Harper360YA & Harper360 for a copy. 


Book Blurb: 

Octavia Zarola would do anything to keep her tiny, close-knit bounty hunting crew together—even if it means accepting a job from Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy. When Torran offers her enough credits to not only keep her crew afloat but also hire someone to fix her ship, Tavi knows that she can’t refuse—no matter how much she’d like to.

With so much money on the line, Torran and his crew insist on joining the hunt. Tavi reluctantly agrees because while the handsome, stoic leader pushes all of her buttons—for both anger and desire—she’s endured worse, and the massive bonus payment he’s promised for a completed job is reason enough to shut up and deal.

But when they uncover a deeper plot that threatens the delicate peace between humans and Valoffs, Tavi suspects that Torran has been using her as the impetus for a new war. With the fate of her crew balanced on a knife’s edge, Tavi must decide where her loyalties lie—with the quiet Valoff who’s been lying to her, or with the human leaders who left her squad to die on the battlefield. And this time, she’s put her heart on the line.

The critically acclaimed author of Polaris Rising takes readers on an exciting journey with the start of her brand-new series about a female bounty hunter and the man who is her sworn enemy.



My Review: 

So, I am not a huge fan of Sci-Fi books, but Hunt the Stars was amazing! Such an easy, entertaining and well-written read! I loved the writing, the characters were very well-developed, there was some mystery element to it and of course, it had tension and romance (with some mild spice). This a great recipe for an excellent book!

The book follows Octavia a former war veteran who is currently a bounty hunter across a galaxy with her team. Octavia loves her job and her team, as well as enjoys being as far away from politics and talking about war as possible. However, General Torran Fletcher from Valovia asks her to take a special mission to catch a thief who stole his family's heirloom. He also offers an amazing sum of money for this mission, which makes Octavia very conflicted about whether she wants to work for an enemy…Yet she needs money desperately to keep her crew and ship going, thus she agrees to work with Torran and his team to find the missing heirloom. However, soon it becomes apparent that for this mission to succeed, both crews have to put their differences aside and work together.

I liked the setting of this book, especially the explanations of Valovians and how humans got into a war with them. It also explained quite well how humans became excellent at travelling through the galaxies and fighting in trans-galactic wars with human-like creatures. In my opinion premise of this book was good and it is a very solid foundation for a series, as I know there are two more books in this universe.

I also really enjoyed the characters. All of them seemed very well developed and added something to the book and plot. There wasn’t a character that wasn’t needed in this story. The friendships and relationships, as well as the development of both between the characters, were also very well thought out.

There was some romance and smut but it wasn’t at the forefront of the book, which was interesting and made the premise of the book, the mission, more entertaining but also intense and suspenseful. I enjoyed the tension and passion between Octavia and Torran…as it made the main mission so much more entertaining, yet scary, as I was rooting for both of them to make it out alive and finally be together…

Overall: I was very sceptical about reading this book, mainly because I am super picky about Sci-Fi books, but this book was just amazing! It had all the right ingredients for me to not only enjoy it but also love it! Honestly, I wish I read it sooner, and it is going to be in my top 10 books of 2023! I am definitely picking up the rest of the series because I need to know what happens next with Octavia and her crew, as well as Torran and his Valovian counterparts.

 


About the Author: 

Jessie Mihalik has a degree in Computer Science and a love of all things geeky. A software engineer by trade, Jessie now writes full-time from her home in Texas. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing co-op video games with her husband, trying out new board games, or reading books pulled from her overflowing bookshelves.

The Consortium Rebellion trilogy: Polaris Rising, Aurora Blazing, Chaos Reigning.

The Rogue Queen novellas: The Queen's Gambit, The Queen's Advantage, The Queen's Triumph.
https://www.jessiemihalik.com/

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