#Review - Capture the Sun by Jessie Mihalik #SyFy #Romance

Series: Starlight's Shadow # 3
Format: Paperback, 432 pages
Release Date: June 20, 2023
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera

Acclaimed author Jessie Mihalik returns with the thrilling conclusion to her Starlight’s Shadow trilogy. An intergalactic thief must join forces with the charming teleporter who stole her last job—and may now be her only hope for saving her former crew.

As a recovery specialist, Lexi Bowen’s jobs typically require more trickery and thievery than honest work. Her former captain might not approve of her flexible morals, but stealing artifacts for rich assholes pays the bills, and Lexi’s had enough of war and death. The FHP left her to die once; she doesn’t plan to give them a chance to finish the job.

Unfortunately, her latest contract takes her to Valovia itself—and right back into the orbit of Nilo Shoren, a Valovian teleporter who already cost her one payday and nearly stole her heart.

Armored against his clever charm, Lexi plans to get in, get the job done, and get out. But when her former crew goes missing in Valovian space, Lexi will have to work with Nilo to figure out what happened—and stop it—before the galaxy’s two superpowers can use the disappearance as an excuse to return to war.

Jessie Mihalik's Capture the Sun is the third and final installment in the authors Starlight's Shadow trilogy. This book features Lexi Bowen and Nilo Shoren. As a recovery specialist, Lexi Bowen’s jobs typically require more trickery and thievery than honest work. She just happens to be the best thief in the galaxy. Her former captain, Octavia Zarola, might not approve of her flexible morals, but stealing artifacts for rich people pays the bills, and Lexi’s had enough of war and death. The FHP left her to die once; she doesn’t plan to give them a chance to finish the job.

Unfortunately, her latest contract takes her to Valovia itself and right back into the orbit of Nilo Shoren, a Valovian teleporter who already cost her one payday and nearly stole her heart. Lexi is offered a ton of money from a man named Besor to recover a stolen figurine. What she doesn't know is the the Valovian Empress Napru wants Lexi, and will do anything to get her. When Nilo shows up and teleports her away, and she soon learns that the crew of the Starlight's Shadow has disappeared in Valovian space. Lexi will have to put away her angst, and work with Nilo to stay alive.  

With two very bad people working together in order to rekindle a war between the Federated Human Planets and Valovian, Lexi will have to find Tavi and the crew, and try to stop the galaxy’s two superpowers return to war. The reason for my review is that the author focus a whole lot of time between Lexi and Nilo and under the covers, if you know what I mean. I have no offense about having sex scenes in a novel, but in this case, I thought it was over done, and unnecessary. There is the possibility that people Lexi loves will die, but her angst for Nilo often over weighs her focus.

If you are curious about the timeline of this story, it is said to take place in the middle of the second novel in this series, Eclipse the Moon. As a reminder, Lexi and Nilo had history from before the start of the series, there was a job that she had, he flirted with her, and then stood her up while he was snagging that job for himself. They did have the first book to spend a bit more time together, but yeah, there were still some bad feelings there. I did appreciate that all of the characters from the first two books make a showing, including one ridiculously adorable Burba, Luna who has the combined Human/Valovian crew eating out of her hands. 

Finally, the book is narrated in its entirety by Lexi which is kind of sad since Nilo is a character who needs to be explored more. It is also highly recommended that future readers of this series read the books in order so you know who these characters are. These books follow the crew of Starlight's Shadow, a bunch of ex-military humans and powerful alien warriors called Valoffs, through epic missions in space and on various planets. Valoffs are human-like, telepathic aliens who all have impressive individual powers (telekinesis, telepathy, etc.).

Overall: I would definitely recommend this series to those are into romance, space opera, and some marvelous and creative writing by the author.  

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#Review - Honor & Shadows by Jessie Milhalik / Betwixt by Darynda Jones #SyFy #Paranormal

Series: Starlight's Shadow # 0.5
Format: E-Book, 64 pages
Release Date: November 1, 2022
Publisher: NYLA
Source: Amazon
Genre: Space Opera

Captain Octavia Zarola needs an infusion of credits—fast—if she’s going to keep her close-knit bounty hunting crew paid and fed. Tracking down an escaped embezzler on a backwater planet should be a piece of cake, but bounties are rarely as easy as they seem.

As the crew closes in on their quarry, the hunt becomes entangled with a local criminal overlord, and Tavi will have to decide what’s more important: money or honor, and how much she’s willing to risk for either one.

Jessie Milhalik's Honor and Shadows is a 10,000 prequel to the authors Starlight's Shadow series. The crew of the Starlight Shadow is down to basically supplies and looking for a bounty to collect to keep the ship running, and stocked with food. So, Captain Octavia (Tavi) Zarola, 1st Officer Elias Bruck, and engineer, Kee Ildez, set their sights on a man named Alan Hudson who has eluded capture for 2 years. When Tavi and crew arrive, Megan Gail knows that Tavi is after Alan, and agrees to help as long as the crew helps them get off planet, and away from her father who runs the town, and the mines, and has used Hudson to get rich. Even though this is a fairly short story, it is entertaining, especially when it leads directly into the first installment called Hunt the Stars. If you've read Hunt the Stars, read this novella! You won't be disappointed!

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Series: Betwixt & Between # 1
Format: EBook, 256 pages
Release Date:  February 18th 2020
Publisher: Feather & Leaf, LLC
Source: Amazon
Genre: Paranormal

Divorced, desperate, and destitute, former restaurateur Defiance "Dephne" Dayne finds out she has been bequeathed a house by a complete stranger. She is surprised, to say the least, and her curiosity gets the better of her. She leaves her beloved Phoenix and heads to one of the most infamous towns in America: Salem, Massachusetts.

She’s only there to find out why a woman she’s never met would leave her a house. A veritable castle that has seen better days. She couldn’t possibly accept it, but the lawyer assigned to the case practically begs her to take it off her hands, mostly because she’s scared of it. The house. The inanimate structure that, as far as Dephne can tell, has never hurt a fly.

Though it does come with some baggage. A pesky neighbor who wants her gone. A scruffy cat who’s a bit of a jerk. And a handyman bathed in ink who could moonlight as a supermodel for GQ.

She decides to give it three days, and not because of the model. She feels at home in Salem. Safe. But even that comes to a screeching halt when people begin knocking on her door day and night, begging for her help to locate their lost objects.

Come to find out, they think she’s a witch. And after a few mysterious mishaps, Dephne is beginning to wonder if they’re right.

Darynda Jones' Betwixt is the first installment in the authors Betwixt and Between series. Divorced, desperate, and destitute, former restaurateur Defiance "Dephne" Dayne finds that she's been bequeathed a house by a complete stranger named Ruthie Goode. She leaves her beloved Phoenix and heads to one of the most infamous towns in America: Salem, Massachusetts. She’s only there to find out why a woman she’s never met would leave her a house, and why people are all of a sudden eager to speak to her when barely a minute has passed.

The home is a Victorian that has seen better days. In fact, it needs a lot of work! It comes with a cat named Ink, and a handyman who wears a kilt and calls himself Roane. With barely a dime to her name, how can Defiance keep the home? As a twist, the house, aka Percival, well, it appears to be sentient! and it's not happy that Defiance is thinking about getting rid of the house. She decides to give it three days, and not because of the model. She feels at home in Salem. Safe. But won't stop begging for her help to locate their lost objects or missing persons.

To top things off, she learns several things. 1. Ruthie Goode is her grandmother who has been watching over her for 40 years. 2. She's something of a witch called Charmling. Charmlings were created by original witches thousands of years ago. They were a coven, and they saw the injustice women suffered at the hands of men, even in the witch realm. They sought to balance the power by creating three beings no man can defeat. They pooled their power and the power of their ancestors and funneled it into three witches to be a beacon of light. A balance of power.

Along with her best friend Annette, who decides to pick up her life and be with her friend Dephne, Defiance now has to deal with learning her own powers that have been hidden for decades. She has to deal with new people asking her strange questions. Then there's Roane who is, well, eye candy. One of the thing that Jones is very known for is the snarky commentary of her characters and that doesn't change in this book. Defiance does and says some irritating things, but when all is said and done, I'm good with the overall direction the book went in and will continue with the series. 

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#Review - Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik #SyFy

Series: Starlight's Shadow # 2
Format: Paperback, 448 pages
Release Date: July 12, 2022
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera

Kee Ildez has been many things: hacker, soldier, bounty hunter. She never expected to be a hero, but when a shadowy group of traitors starts trying to goad the galaxy’s two superpowers into instigating an interstellar war, Kee throws herself into the search to find out who is responsible—and stop them.

Digging up hidden information is her job, so hunting traitors should be a piece of cake, but the primary suspect spent years in the military, and someone powerful is still covering his tracks. Disrupting their plans will require the help of her entire team, including Varro Runkow, a Valovian weapons expert who makes her pulse race.

Quiet, grumpy, and incredibly handsome, Varro watches her with hot eyes but ignores all of her flirting, so Kee silently vows to keep her feelings strictly platonic. But that vow will be put to the test when she and Varro are forced to leave the safety of their ship and venture into enemy territory alone.

Cut off from the rest of their team, they must figure out how to work together—and fast—because a single misstep will cost thousands of lives.

Eclipse the Moon, by author Jessie Mihalik, is the second installment in the authors Starlight's Shadow series. This story begins right where Hunt the Stars left off. Kee Ildez is a specialist onboard the Starlight's Shadow. She's been a hacker, a soldier, and a bounty hunter. Varro Runkow is a Valorian weapons expert who came aboard along with Torran Fletcher in the previous installment. After saving the heir to the Valovian Empire, the crew is now hunting for Commodore Frank Morten.

But Kee has unrequited feelings for Varro and decides that she needs to get away from the ship for awhile and put some space between them so she can get over her feelings. Kee knows that if she gets off the Shadow, she might be able to use Bastian space station to track down Morten before he can start another war between the FHP (Federated Human Planets) and Valovian Empire. Varro, however, has other plans and follows Kee to the station.

Digging up hidden information is Kee's job, so hunting traitors should be a piece of cake, but the primary suspect spent years in the military, and someone powerful is still covering his tracks. To make things more interesting, there is a fashion show onboard Bastion which features prime designers from both FHP and Valovian which is sure to lure out all the trouble makers. When Kee is offered a position as a model for an important designer, she says yes which of course leads to chaos. 

A fashion show is that has both Valovian and humans collaborating to create clothing that combines both art and technology together is almost unheard of. This is all in an effort to bring their two races together in peace rather than continue to promote harm and war between the two of them. Varro rarely shows his emotions. He has a powerful ability that forces him to keep a tight leash on his feelings so that he doesn’t impose on other people’s will.

Because of this, he is difficult to read, as Kee learns throughout the story. Even though there are more than a few moments of penned up frustration on Kee's part, Varro really does mean well. So much so that he gets angry when she gets hurt, or someone tries to hurt her. Kee cries easily, loves hard and opens herself to those around her. She's pretty much an open book when it comes to emotions. His most adorable aspects is making cookies for Kee which makes her weak at the knees.

This has been a pretty interesting series so far and the third installment is likely to be even better with two characters stepping into the starring role. While Kee may be the brains onboard, the rest of the crew has formed a unique bond that aims to stop another war from breaking out. The combined crew of humans and Valovian's cooks real food, eats together, and watch videos together. Sometimes they connect with each other like Tavi and Torran. The Starlight crew is determined to help maintain peace and root out the people intent on destroying it. Espionage, kidnappings, daring and dangerous rescue missions at what keeps this series from wandering off target.  

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#Review - Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik #SyFy

Series: Starlight's Shadow # 1
Format: Paperback, 432 pages
Release Date: February 1, 2022
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Source: Publisher
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera

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.

Hunt the Stars is the first installment in author Jessie Mihalik's Starlight's Shadow series. The story takes place after a war between humans and an alien race called Valoffs. The war ended with a tentative peace between the two races, but both agreed to keep to their own sectors of space and not bother each other. Octavia "Tavi" Zarola, hero of Rodeni, is the captain of Starlight's Shadow. She and her crew, Elias Bruck and Kee Ildez, are bounty hunters who hunt criminals and murderers. They're not exactly rolling in the dough.

When Torran Fletcher, a ruthless former general and her sworn enemy, 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. The catch, however, is that they must travel to Valovia in order to find the heirloom, and Tavi just happens to have a bounty on her head and isn’t welcome there. With so much money on the line, and a bounty on Tavi's head, Torran and his crew, Chira, Varro, and Havil, insist on joining the hunt for protection. 

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. There's a lot of history and world-building that explain why they are enemies. But even enemies can become allies in the right situation. Putting together two crews who fought on opposite sides of a devastating war has many challenges, yet this crew makes it work. 

When you add to the mix Anja Harbon and Lexi Bowen, both who saw war against Torran's people, you get an eclectic group of men and women who are loyal to their leaders. 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.

Torran has the ability to move objects with his mind and can actually kill that way too, so Tavi treats him as a threat to her crew at first, until they develop some trust. Torran’s fellow officers aren’t developed as much, although there is some nice tension between Kee and Varro, Torran’s first officer. I absolutely adored Tavi’s pet burbu Luna, a small, fox-like creature that she adopted from Valovia and who is devoted to her and her crew. Burbus have the ability to communicate telepathically in emotions and images. Luna absolutely adores Tavi and her crew, and seems to tolerate Torran's people. 

I read that the next book in the series, Eclipse the Moon, will focus on Kee Ildez and Varro Runkow, a Valovian weapons expert who makes her pulse race.  In the grand tradition of Princess Leia, Rey, and Wonder Woman, this series features fierce, powerful young women who through adversity and battle, come into their own and become warriors. Terrific love stories, a fantastic tale spanning galaxies, and kick-butt heroines, all make for an amazing, cross-promotable series. These books are sure to appeal to readers of romance, sci-fi/fantasy, and the ever-growing YA fantasy market.

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