Three years later and it’s time to admit this one got away from me. The premise reminded me so much of Cathy Pegau’s Rulebreaker that I was unable to resist, but time makes fools of us all. Best of luck, little book, and I hope to circle around to you sometime in years to come!

I found this very disappointing.
This started well but unfortunately I found the plot slow and I just could not relate to the characters.t just was not for me.

liked the concept but the writing wasn’t my cup of tea. sadly DNF :((( maybe i’ll try again some day

The premise for this book was incredible and I jumped at the chance to read it. Unfortunately, I really struggled with the narrative and it almost came across like a translated story. It’s a shame, as the story sounds awesome.

Lauren, Lauren, Lauren. You always do this. You read a book you love and then when it comes to writing a review you just simply can't find the words to describe how great of a read it was.

In my defense I read this shortly after breaking my wrist and I knew this was likely going to be a lengthy review so I wanted to wait until I gained more movement back.

Typing one-handed for over a month was not a fun adventure guys. It seriously slowed the roll on productivity.

Anyway, back to a great book.

I don't typically read a lot of science fiction even though I do enjoy it. (Yet the month I read this I also read two others the heck?) One of my reasons for being very picky with scifi is because often it'll make me feel dumb if they throw in too much scientific jargon.

Aries 181 doesn't do this. Well, it does have science talk but I never felt stupid when reading it. Thats not to say I didn't understand everything 100% but there was enough context for me to feel okay with it.

I also got to learn that aerospace doesn't mean the book will be set in space. (Sorry for those of you who are like well d'uh Lauren. Look I (and Allie) saw space and RAN with it ok!)

Where was I?

More elements of this book:
+ women in STEM
+ girl power!
+ queer characters
+ disabilities
+ problematic relationships
+ female friendships
+ hacking
+ heist
+ guns
+ geekery
+ spoiler: powers!

So who are these characters that I love so deeply?

My precious bean; Jess who stumbles across her boss stealing technology to further his own aerospace company and wants to do the right thing without loosing her job.

& the bright Hayley who finds herself having a very quick change of job path. All because she won a hack competition and gained the attention of some a-hole with her confidence and ability to handle herself. Her desire to win, to prove herself, and his charms land her a fiery pit of a mess for sure.

Which leads me to *drum roll* your new fave volatile couple since Harley and the Joker.

I really enjoyed Hayley's chapters because of the action they provided. As well as the inner turmoil of whether what she is doing is really what she wants and having to come to terms with her own mistakes. And the mistakes made at his manipulation.

To contrast, Jess' chapters are little slower on the action front but she is still a dream to read about as she makes great use of her own skills, social media, and will power to try and fix things without jepordising her life.

Hayley and Jess also end up having a few things in common when it comes to relationship. I think Aries 181 did a great job at portraying how abusive and manipulative relationships can be very different and shows very different extremes.

Sometimes it is just the sly jabs, the "oh that friend isn't good for you" and you do have to come to terms w that and figure out what actions are best to handle it. & y'know sometimes its a pressuring you into trying to rule the world.

Both of these girls were great to read about. They were such interesting characters who stole my attention.

I really love the conclusion to this story too and how its a lil bit open so we could possibly? get? a? sequel?

hint tiana: i'd love to read more about these two brill super women.

3.25 Stars. After hearing such good things about Warner’s Mermaid Ice series, I decided to give her newest book a try. I thought this would be more of a tech-thriller but it was actually a super hero/villain type story. I love Marvel and DC superheroes so this really should have been right up my alley. Instead I’m left feeling a little off. I’m trying to be more articulate here trust me, but this book hit me in an odd way. I didn’t dislike it, but something stopped me from really enjoying it and I’m having trouble putting why into words.

Since I read mostly lesfic, I do want to point out I would consider this more a book with LGBTQ characters than actually lesfic. I know someone could probably debate this point with me but it is my honest feeling. One of the mains is a lesbian with a girlfriend that has a very small part in the book. The other main woman is bi and in a relationship with her male boss. Both mains are college age so the book also had a New Adult feel to it.

The main premise is about two women who work for a big tech company. After an accident in the lab, one character takes the path of a villain while the other character tries to be the “hero”. One of my issues was I found both mains to be hard to like and connect with. The “hero” is not very hero-ish and she lets people walk all over her for a good chunk of the book. While the villain is at times almost a little comical which I liked, it was still hard to empathize with her character so I didn’t really care much about her either.

Since there are a lot of romance readers out there I will mention that this is not a romance. There are some m/f sex scenes but they are not explicit. There are no f/f sex scenes since the secondary character of the girlfriend hardly makes a dent as a character.

On the good side I do want to mention the book got more entertaining as it went on. Something happens to the “hero” that was interesting and I wish we got to see more about it. The ending of the book was left a little open-ended, so I would not be surprised to see a book 2. And because of how this book ended, I almost wonder if I might enjoy the sequel more than the first. So I’m left with this odd feeling that while I didn’t really enjoy this book, I would be tempted to still read the next installment. Weird I know but the whole book was a little weird.

If you are a superhero/villain fan you might like this oddball kind of book. I can’t personally recommend this, but I would not say stay away either. I am still going to read Warner’s Ice series in hopes that it works much better for me.

A smart, savvy sci-fi rooted enough in reality to make it a probability.

Jess has just got an internship with Aries, one of the biggest aerospace companies in the world. Gaining this internship is a dream but her team lead is a misogynist boss from hell determined to obstruct her in every way. Despite him, she struggles with a human recognition project in her own time hoping that this work will make her eligible for a scholarship. The scholarship money is critical to Jess to continue living with her girlfriend and continue studies.

Halley is seeking an internship. She goes to a tech fair hoping to score leads. Willy-nilly she enters a hackers’ challenge and much to her surprise, she wins. As a result of the win, she is hired by Tony, the founder of Aries as his personal assistant.

Completely unscrupulous and immoral, Tony is driven by the ambition to make Aries the biggest aerospace company in the world and is willing to do that by any means, including stealing IP from other companies. Halley is caught in Tony’s sticky web and they end up becoming a modern day Bonnie and Clyde…with a little help from an accident which renders them with a little beyond regular powers.

This is not strictly a lesfic except for the fact that Jess has a girlfriend and Halley is bi-sexual. However, both the MCs are immensely likeable and relatable. You are constantly rooting for Jess. But it is the wrenchingly broken and achingly vulnerable Halley who burrows into your heart and makes you feel extremely protective of her.

The language and references are current and young making this an easy fun read.

It was hard for me to get in this book. Somehow the prose didn't click to me and characterization seemed to be kind of bleak. It improved further in the novel and finally I got interested, but still something in the style of writing didn't work for me. It's good book for geeks and maybe superhero fans, but for me it was just ok.