Oh my goodness, I LOVE this author.

I knew I loved T.S. Porter from the very short story I first read from them in Fairytales Slashed 8, and then again three months later in Heart of Steel, but this is the first time I've gotten to read anything from them that was longer and standalone.

What I got was something similar to enemies to lovers and lesbians in space trying to save the royal children. And yet it was more complex than that, because Sophi--captain of the spaceship Rhyssa--is recognised as a man by the aliens who are her crew. And although it's never mentioned in terms of monogamy vs. polyamory, Sophi has many other lovers and doesn't show signs that that's going to stop given the HFN ending she gets with Cadan.

I loved these nuances.

I loved the plot. The aliens were given their time in the spotlight and were fleshed out enough to truly seem other. Raa was my favourite of all the aliens, and his relationship with Cadan was unutterably sweet.

I'm struggling to think of a bad thing I could possibly say about either character, plot, pacing or anything else and coming up entirely with a blank. This was a basically wonderful book for anyone who enjoys a bit of a space opera.

3.75 Stars. This was a good read. I must admit the cover attracted me instantly. When I saw this was actually lesfic sci-fi, I knew had to read it. This is a good sci-fi, space opera type of book with some action and a better than expected romance.

Sophi is the captain of the Rhyssa; she is a smuggler that finds she often is bending if not breaking the rules. Cadan is the hand of the King. It is her job to do the dirty work for him in secret. Cadan and Sophi have a long history together, but they are like oil and water. They often spend their time together having heated arguments or ripping each other’s clothes off. When someone kidnaps the King’s children, Cadan knows Sophi is the only one that can truly help her find them.

At first I found the book to be a little confusing. There was a bunch of new terms and learning about all the aliens. The aliens have different takes on gender and sexuality. One alien type considers Sophi a male (while she is female) the other type sees her as a den mother. But once you get into the book a little ways, everything becomes clear and the book flows much better.

I really enjoyed the two main characters. Cadan is an absolute badass, she is basically like a super hero, but believable due to her enhancements. I really thought all the characters were well done; from the aliens even to the kids.

I was surprised how good the romance was. As I said these two were like oil and water, or maybe gasoline and fire as they were pretty combustible. I really enjoyed how they went from driving each other nuts to something more. The growth in their relationship was really well done. The sex scenes were pretty steamy too. And the book was a tad kinky in places. There was this alien, with one human, orgy that was a little odd for my tastes, luckily it didn’t go too far.

Overall I was impressed. This was a pretty good sci-fi-romance read. I would not hesitate to recommend this to sci-fi fans. I will absolutely keep my eye out for what Porter writes in the future.