Ah, it’s good to be back in Jessie Mihalik’s world again! Right from the start I loved the verbal sparring between the female, Captain Octavia Zarola, and male, General Torran Fletcher, leads. Sworn enemies from a galactic war (her on the human Federated side; him on the humanoid Valoff side) and a sizeable bounty on her head placed by the Valoffs, the Captain accepts the General’s offer to find a precious missing item that was stolen from him in Valoff territory—after bartering for more than the initial payment.

The plot of this book, Hunt the Stars, is more like a prologue to a bigger, more complex setup in the 2nd and 3rd books. However, the pacing was good—nothing felt too sudden—and the retrieval scene was most definitely gripping. It’s not an action-packed novel, it’s more character development, but it didn’t lag in any places where I went, Oh my God, can we not move on?

Always looked forward to when Torran and Octavia interacted, wanting to see who would the better of whom. The individual crew members on both sides were well formed and not cookie cutter. The *only* *only* quibble I have with the book is the *almost* insta-love between the two main leads. It happens at the end and I know working intensely with someone in close proximity can yield a close bond, but I wouldn’t have minded the tension for another book or so. Though I did get some good steamy scenes, literally! That being said, not everyone got paired off at the end. There are some open questions about who is going to get paired off with whom—if that happens—and I like that some things are left open. Cannot wait to read the second and third books!

Miscellaneous Notes:

Jessie Mikalik said on her blog, “Isn’t [REDACTED] adorable!!” My response: “[REDACTED] *is* adorable!!”

Food is main theme in this book. After all, everyone knows that the way to a woman’s heart (and mine) is through her stomach!

I know planets are sometimes called stars, but they literally go to one planet and stay there. I’m not quite sure how Hunt the Stars refers to the plot, but sometimes the authors don’t have control over their books’ names.