Sophie's Reviews > Hunt the Stars

This was a great book and a lot of fun to read, a nice blend of romance, science fiction adventure, and found family. The romance is technically enemies to lovers because Torran and Octavia fought on opposite side of the war so she does have a bit of distrust towards him, but Octavia works hard to make her ship a respectful place for everyone and treated Torran and his companions well. And speaking of respect, I really loved how much Mihalik cared about consent in this book. Torran has some special abilities and he consistently asked Octavia for permission to use them on her every step of the way, regardless of if it was for tactical or sexual reasons. (view spoiler)[And later, when Octavia believes that the relationship between them isn't on equal ground, she refuses to do anything with him until it balances out again, which he abides by. (hide spoiler)] The romance didn't feel rushed or unearned at all, I was really pleased with it.

I also loved the found family dynamic of the ship, Octavia and Eli and Kee ARE family and even though Octavia is captain she rarely makes big decisions without consulting them and making sure that everyone is on board with it. They weren't as developed as I would have liked but it is a series with them presumably getting their own books so I look forward to reading more about them. My main quibble with the book is that I didn't really feel the vibe that Octavia and all of them are bounty hunters even though that's basically their background'/the premise of the book.

Octavia has this alien "pet" named Luna who absolutely stole the show for me, I need more Luna!