I received this book for free from Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet Series: Endeavor #1
Published by Sourcebooks on January 1, 2019
Genres: Sci Fi Romance
Pages: 416
Format: eBook
Source: Advance Reader Copy
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Captain Tess Bailey and her crew of Robin Hood-like thieves are desperate and on the run. Pursued by a vicious military general who wants them dead or alive, Tess has to decide if she can trust Shade Ganavan, a tall, dark and arrogant stranger with ambiguous motivations.
Shade Ganavan had oodles of arrogance, oodles of charm, and oodles of something that made me want to kick him in the nuts.
What Tess and Shade don't know about each other might get them killed... unless they can set aside their differences and learn to trust each other - while ignoring their off-the-charts chemistry.
Shade swallowed the bad taste in his mouth. Two hundred million. He could buy back his birthright and live like a king forever on that.
Captain T. Bailey.
Beautiful. Ballsy. And Brave.
A wanted criminal.
Indecision clawed at his chest. He knew where she was.
The easiest nab and grab of his life was waiting for him. He could land two hundred million in his account. Double that if she still had the goods.
I was in the mood for a Space Opera and this one is in Kindle Unlimited, so I snatched it up! Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I have it already, courtesy of Netgalley.
This story opens with Captain Tess Bailey and her ragtag crew hiding from a really intense military general whose goal is to bring her in. But Tess has stolen a small laboratory (and a man inside the lab as well), and she makes the decision to fly through a black hole and kill herself (giving her crew the option for escape) rather than be taken in again. But they all made it through to the other side and it flabbergasts them. But even bigger than surviving the black hole…Tess had let her true identity slip.
She’s really the daughter of the Overseer, and the general coming after her is her uncle (this is not a spoiler as it’s all in the first chapter).
The Overseer is not a great dude. He runs the whole galaxy and he wants anything that instills any kind of strong emotion. Books are censored, media is carefully curated, etc. So she and her crew are now heavily damaged, in possession of a secret lab, and need somewhere to hide. They make it to a planet and hire someone to help repair the ship. Enter Shade.
Shade isn’t what he seems, but in this story, nobody is. He’s got some…connections, so to speak. And he finds out that there is an enormous bounty on Tessa’s head, and that kind of money could help him buy back his parents’ legacy. But he’s gotten to know Tessa and her crew, and he isn’t so sure he wants to turn her over, but that’s when he realizes that just because he isn’t going to turn in Tess, doesn’t mean others won’t.
He and Tess have the beginnings of a relationship, but with each of them holding secrets, they aren’t sure how far it can go.
I liked this book, it definitely scratched my Space Opera itch, but the shifting points of view drove me nuts! Tess is the main narrator, and she speaks in first person point of view. But Shade gets a turn or two and his is in third person. I don’t enjoy books with first person point of view between more than one character, but to switch off every now and then, not even that often, just kind of sporadically, and have the other narrator use third was annoying. I realize this is a “me thing” and may not bother anyone else, so I’m not saying this to turn you off. But in case this is something that bugs you too, you can go in aware. In the meantime, the book is good, it sets up the world really well, and isn’t super bogged down with First Book In The Series Syndrome. I think if you want a good Space Opera/Sci Fi then you’ll enjoy this one.
***ARC received from Sourcebooks via Netgalley
