This is one crazy whirlwind of an adventurous romance. Poor Alpha doesn't know what hit him when he meets Mia. And as he puts it so well, he has no idea what happens to his control when she's around him. I felt a bit sorry for Mia though. She spent so much time fighting off attackers and getting patched up. But she's a scrappy, resilient little thing.

On another note, I'm reading this series backwards so on to Book 1 'Escape Velocity' for me.

Directly preceding Cover Fire, a novel by Jess Anastasi I reviewed back in June (you can read the review here) is the novel Damage Control, which I am reviewing today. And, yes, I read them out of order, which you probably shouldn’t do. However, if you’re a fan of Laura Griffin or Suzanne Brockman and like the idea of a little sci-fi thrown in, I recommend that you give the Valiant Knox series a try—but, in order. 😉

I enjoyed Damage Control almost as much as I enjoyed Cover Fire. There is a lot of action and a good mystery, although because I had read Cover Fire, I already knew who the spy was. Still it was interesting to watch it all unfold.

Leigh Alphin, the hardass Captain, and Mia Wolfe, the recruit, come together relatively early on in the novel. Mia isn’t sure that she wants to be a fighter pilot, but the psych program put her there and she hates to quit anything. What she is good at is engineering and being a hacker, which all comes in handy when it’s determine that there is a traitor in the squadron.

The romance between Leigh and Mia is kind of ho-hum. I never really became enamored with Leigh, who seemed like, especially at his age, he should know better than participating in stupid behavior while I thought Mia was kickass. She’s the one who hacks into systems and makes things happen. She can also handle herself in hand-to-hand and pretty much everything that comes up.

Now, one thing I didn’t like in Cover Fire is done multiple time in Damage Control. I’m going to call it “dumb bunny.” Dumb bunnies are characters who essentially can’t get a grip on their lust and must do the deed wherever they are. Forget the fact that there are probably (most definitely) cameras focused on the jets—let’s just have sex in a cockpit. Forget that this is the officer’s wardroom and someone can drop by at any time, let’s have sex. Lust scenes lose their impact when the reader is rolling her eyes.

The action, however, makes up for the dumb bunnies.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Back into the action with the crew of the Valiant Knox. Kai is still adjusting to being back in control of his ship and impending fatherhood! So now it is up to the aptly named Alpha to save the day.

Leigh Alphin is at the top of his game. Designated as CAFF he is in charge of an elite wing of pilots.
But when a shuttle carrying recruits is targeted by the CSS, he gets onboard and saves a new recruit, Mia and her friend. But he seems to take way much more interest in her than he knows is healthy. And when she becomes a necessary aide in his mission to rout out the moles on board, they steadily grow closer.

Mia knows it is a BAD idea to mess around with her instructor. But he is everything she ever wanted in a man. They both know they have to be careful and that nothing can really come of their relationship. So why can't either of them keep away?!?!? Mia may be young but she is incredibly smart and a pretty awesome hacker! She manages to scrape up some good leads...all whilst fending off the odious Steve and his cronies AND trying to pass the flight exams.

There is a real slow burn to the passion, given the characters age gap and kinda taboo nature of their relationship. But Mia is no princess and she can give as good as she gets and surprises everyone on board, not just Alpha. My favourite scene between the two of them occurs in a jet and well... lets just say cramped quarters does wonders for the passion rating!!

We see a bit more of the CSS in this and I'm dying to know what happens next?? Who is next to fall in love - Brenn, Seb or maybe Cam????

That was awesome again. Reminded me of Bianca d'arc's Starlords series. Can not wait for the next one!

This is a voluntary review via netgalley my thoughts are my own!