scijessreads

This was so much more than “The Love Boat” in space (although that is a great catchy descriptor for the story). We find Sunny as a hospitality specialist on the Ignisar, sent off ship to a company “retreat.” Where she manages to find a Tinder-style one-night stand that is the stuff dreams are made of. What Sunny does not expect is to later find Freddie again, as the new cultural person assigned to the Ignisar. Not wanting to mix business and pleasure, they settle into a friendship with each other amid the watchful eyes of the rest of the crew. A friendship with simmering tension and a lot of emotional baggage that eventually comes to a boil.

This story has the humor, the heart, and the absolutely bonkers ship passengers like Garran that make it incredibly fun to read, and incredibly easy to fall in love with not only Sunny and Freddie, but everyone around them. The hijinks are worth a read alone. But the real heart of everything is Sunny and Freddie. Their connection, and the unspoken secrets that threaten to keep them apart (there are some emotional histories for both of them). And also some political-style thriller moments that one would not normally expect from a pleasure cruise spaceship wandering between the planets.

I loved that the leads were older, that they had a push and pull that kept things moving and respected each other’s boundaries (even when it was hard). And that even the miscommunications and omissions made sense in context. Jess Hardy writes “mature” romances so well (The Bluebird Basin series is a favorite), and it extends into space romance perfectly. I found myself blinking back tears one moment, and laughing out loud the next as I read this one. I hope we can come back and revisit the Ignisar again (there are a lot of stories left to tell with this ship and crew).

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own. Publication date is December 10th, 2024.