I would like to thank Cat Rambo and Tor Books for kindly providing an electronic review copy of this book.

Although the title sounds like a Harlequin Romance, "You Sexy Thing" by Cat Rambo is a delightful and exciting space opera. This book is packed with all kinds of delicious space opera goodness like super fast sentient bioships cruising the galaxy via wormhole gateways, a militant Holy Hive Mind sneakily taking over the galaxy, a squad of ex-Holy Hive Mind soldiers running a restaurant while trying to avoid evil and deadly pirates, a mystic priest who talks with the dead, many different types of aliens, exploding space stations, and a whole lot more.

This was a really fun read! I recommend it for anyone that likes books with spaceships, AI, aliens, pirates, soldiers, and outstanding chefs.

This is right on the edge of "too silly" for me. It mostly doesn't fall over, but skirts precipitously close. There's mention of magic to do various things (although it all happens off-stage) at the same time that this is a galaxy-spanning society with a multitude of species and, it seems, a variety of FTL options for travelling around. There's a bit of prophesying going on, too, just to add to the mix.

The blurb suggests this is Farscape meets Great British Bake Off. Yes to the Farscape: improbably different alien species interacting, living and working together; up to and including a biological ship, now I think about it. There's also a bit of Firefly. These comparisons are good for me; if you're able to suspend your disbelief about humans and squid-like and bird-like and vegetative species all being in the same place, then you'll be fine with this. The GBBO comparison is a bit thinner and honestly that's where I was a little disappointed. Cooking is definitely a factor here - the protagonists are running a restaurant when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and features sporadically throughout. It's not a competition and there's not much _baking_, and really there could have been more food in general. So if what you're really craving is a pretty food-based narrative, I don't think this will meet your needs.

The story is a fairly straightforward one - which isn't a negative: Niko and her companions were soldiers, now run a restaurant, things go boom (not their fault, swear), and then adventures ensue. Including hijacking and piracy and identity trouble and pasts coming back to haunt, etc. It's fast paced, there's a good amount of banter, there's engaging characters, and no desire to make this any sort of morality tale or a solemn exposition of galactic society. It's a romp, and for that it was well worth it.

(It should be said that there's some rather surprising violence about halfway through - surprising because up to that point it hadn't been graphic at all - which I found disquieting because it seemed so out of place.)

All up, a fun read, and honestly isn't that something we need right now?

This was a really fun read! The GBBO comparison is a litttle bit weak - while cooking is featured throughout, the competitive nature of it is only in the VERY beginning. Regardless. the crew and ship interactions are really fun! The plot pacing is a little oddball - it doesn’t have the same sort of arc that I expect from this kind of book. It almost felt like it was at odds with what kind of book it wanted to be - examination of relationships/identity or high stakes adventure-y - it does both, and it works ok but feels a teeny bit herky-jerky at times. That said, unpredictability is not a bad thing and I enjoyed the ride regardless!

What a fun and entertaining novel. The characters are very similar to what you’d find in Farscape or Battlestar if it were more light hearted. A quick 300 page burn, but a fun one. What a cool author pen name too!