Polaris Rising A Novel

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance Polaris Rising is the first book in the "Consortium Rebellion" series and its a science fiction romance and what a BOOK!!! Wow.....I had no idea this book would fascinate me so and with the space opera feel to it this story worked for me in EVERY way. I have no clue why I waited so long to grab this up, I think I wasn't sure about the level of romance but seriously....you never need to worry on that score, because this story has romance galore and I loved every moment of it. This author is going on my watchlist from now on because her writing is stellar. This story begins with Ada von Hasenberg who is a royal princess, but when she decided she wants to craft her own destiny, she decided to be proactive and find her own path and so she has been on the run for over two years from her father and fiancee, who really only want her as a pawn to use in their political chess game. But her luck as failed her and now she has been captured and is thrown into a cell with the infamous and highly dangerous super soldier Marcus Loch, but they form an alliance to work together to escape. But as they join forces they find something more empowering than a simple alliance in striving for freedom....but love and finding their own happy destiny but they will both have to climb some difficult mountains of challenge and adversity and politics before reaching their HEA Polaris Rising was such a pure delight and I had such a blast with this book from beginning to end. It was such a delight to read this book and honestly, if you love science fiction romance, I honestly couldn't recommend a book enough because every romance reader needs "Polaris Rising" in their lives. This space odyssey was packed with many elements that worked for me in every way. Lets first discuss the plot....whew....the plot was so engaging and there were so many elements combined within this plot that made it so "on the edge of the seat" feeling. It's packed with plenty of surprises to delight in. There were so many things going on from the hero being a military man on the run to our runaway princess forging her own journey in desiring freedom, to the friends they form along the way, the battles, the suspense, the adventure and the complex political game that forms.....you will never be bored in reading this book. The romance was delicious in every way, from the first chapter, I knew the romance would be stellar amazing and it surely was. The connection that Ada and Marcus form together is powerful even from the start, you see how drawn they are together. But they are from two different universes and backgrounds but they are both fighters, both passionate and both on the run. They have much more in common than they realize, and their differences only complement each other in all the right ways that brings balance in their relationship. I truly loved how Marcus and Ada both are willing to fight for each other even when they have disagreements .....in the end, their relationship only thrives in this story. Overall I found Polaris Rising to be a space filled gem of a story that lifts the reader to new heights and delights, its a book that will charm and thrill you from beginning to end.....AN EXHILIRATING RIDE

💀 DNF at 52%. Newsflash! I’m a complete, utter, total idiot! (view spoiler)[ Oh come on, I know this isn’t exactly breaking news, but you could at least pretend it’s a huge surprise and that, until this very moment, you’d always been blown away by the dazzling sagacity of my two grey cells. Not to mention forever full of grate that I’d condescend to mingle among you, Brainless Little Barnacles. (hide spoiler)] I mean, I obviously wouldn’t have read this ROMANCE set in space if I wasn’t. Because, you know, it’s ROMANCE and stuff (view spoiler)[ Yes yes yes, I know, I said something vaguely similar in my pre-review down there ↓↓ but this is one of the devastating side effects of my vicious Lovey Dovey Crap Allergy (LDCA™) and therefore cannot be helped (hide spoiler)]. But I did, so I am! A complete, utter, total idiot, I mean! (Don’t mind me, just rehashing for the slackers in the back of the classroom.) Yay and stuff! Anyhoo and stuff, when I started reading this most titillating book, I was super extra ready for some scrumpalicious intergalactic action. It had been a while since I last used my modified phaser (it’s got a special handle so I can grab it with my pincers, just so you know), and I just couldn’t wait to get it out of storage and go kill things dead. So when Jessie Mihalik showed up unexpectedly and invited me for a ride, I was quite a little ecstatic and stuff. No, this is not actually Jessie Mihalik, in case you were wondering. It’s her chauffeur, Engelbert the Scandalous. Hop in I did. And a moderately epic debacle this silly jolly romp in space turned out to be. Because as daring and pugnacious and resilient as I might be, there are some things that are bloody shrimping too much, even for me: ① 💕 Insta-lurve 💕! My favorite! Yay! ② Clichéd as fish romance! Clichéd as fish characters! Clichéd as fish everything! Yay! ③ A Mary Sue heroine! Another favorite! Yay! She’s a princess! She’s super clever! She’s streetwise! She’s good-looking! She’s in great shape! She’s augmented! She kicks ass! She cooks a mean paella! (That has yet to be verified, but Ada is so Super Extra Gifted I have no doubt she can prepare a paella, shoot at someone, haggle with the local fence and kiss the Gary Stu hero all at the same time.) Yay again! ④ Everyone one is white! Everyone has blond hair! Yay! The MCs both have “bronze” skin and dark hair, but the rest of the universe apparently fell into a bottle of hydrogen peroxide when they were born! Yay! Yes, when I say “everyone,” I do mean everyone. Even space bovines. ⑤ Eyerolling material aplenty! Yay! (Nearly lost two or three eyeballs while reading the book. Quite the hazardous reading material this is.) ⑥ Ridiculously convenient plot points galore! They’re totally unrealistic, but who the shrimp cares?! They’re convenient and handy and most opportune, and it’s all that matters! Yay! ⑦ Bored bored bored bored bored! Yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn! Yay! ➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): ① + ② + ③ + ④ + ⑤ + ⑥ + ⑦ = P.S. Yeah yeah yeah, I know it’s not me you, it’s you me (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]. [Pre-review nonsense] This is NOT Sci-Fi, it's bloody shrimping ROMANCE in a Sci-Fi setting. My thoughts exactly. Note to self: even though the way books are shelved on Goodreads tends to be a constant wellspring of hilarity, sometimes, just sometimes, it also happens to be a somewhat reliable source of information. So, you know, maybe, just maybe, you could bloody fishing check it you before reading a bloody book. ➽ Full review to come and stuff.

TL:DR – OMG THIS IS SO GOOD! GO BUY IT NOW! I’ve mentioned before that I love scifi romance, and this is exactly everything about that genre that I adore – a tropetastic scifi wonderland. Hi-tech hi jinx, space travel, multiple planets, galaxy-wide suspense… plus a kickass heroine and a hero who loves her for that. I first heard of Jessie Mihalik through Ilona Andrews’ blog, and became a fan of her writing from reading a serial she posted on her blog, and seriously could not contain my excitement when I got an ARC of this book. I’ve now read it three times (!!!) and honestly, it’s still as good on the third read as it was on the first. “Marcus Loch was a deserter, a killer, and a traitor to the Consortium. And he was just the man I needed.” Ada von Hasenburg has been on the run from her father for two years. As the fifth of the six children from one of the prominent Consortium families, she was expected to marry the son of one of their rivals (all the better to spy on them, of course). Captured by a small-time mercenary crew, she ends up in a cell with Marcus Loch, a notorious criminal wanted for slaughtering his military squad. Left with few options, she bargains with him to escape – but of course nothing goes according to plan, least of all their attraction to each other. “Picking my battles was a skill I’d learned the hard way while growing up, but one that I had eventually learned. It took until my early teens for me to realize that banging my head against Father’s will got me nowhere. Feigning compliance while ultimately working toward my own goals worked much better. All of my siblings had learned to be crafty in their own way because the other option was to become a slave to Father’s will, and we were all too stubborn to let that happen.” A lot of my enjoyment of the book comes from how much I loved Ada. I loved her voice and her practical worldview. While you’d think her upbringing would have made her more cynical, she’s instead quite warm and cares deeply about others, to the point of constantly trying to pay off Marcus in order to get him out of her (possibly dangerous) orbit. In her travels, she picks up a ragtag band of friends, new and old, all of whom Ada wants to protect, even at the cost of her own life. Despite her estrangement with her father, she still cares about (and keeps in touch with) her brothers and sisters, and when war threatens, she views it as her duty to go home and help the House fight. Luckily her family and her friends are there for her when she gets in too far over her head, though she’s certainly not one of those TSTL heroines – she knows her limits and is usually willing to make use of her friends’ expertise. Loch is a bit more of a cypher, due in part to the story being told solely from Ada’s first-person POV. While I thought it worked exceptionally well, there were times I really wished I could’ve known what Loch was thinking. He’s almost the perfect sort of alpha male archetype, with the added bonus that he fully recognizes Ada’s competence and lets her take the lead when needed, though he does tend towards the alpha male overprotectiveness. While this can be off-putting for me, in this case, Ms. Mihalik seemed to strike a good balance between using the protectiveness to show his growing feelings for Ada while still allowing her agency. I think this was my favorite part of the relationship – that they did seem to have some sort of innate trust that let them depend on the other and understood that it didn’t make either of them lesser. A lot of the bumps in their relationship happen due to Ada’s inexperience with relationships and her desire to keep any harm from coming to Loch, while Loch is too ready to believe that he’s not “enough” for her. The plot was action-packed, with crash landings, hijacked ships, and enough intrigue to satisfy me. There were a few lulls in the action, but for the most part, it skips along at a brisk pace. The side characters are lovely and well-formed, and I loved watching Ada’s interactions with them. There’s also a sort of winking-eye fan service in the book, as well. Loch’s a well-built specimen of a man, and neither Ada (nor Ms. Mihalik) hesitate to let the reader know exactly how hot he is, or to bypass an opportunity to describe him without his shirt off. I think some of this could’ve come off as weird or tedious, but instead I found it unbelievably delightful and charming. Nothing like giving the reader exactly what they want, right? “Ian stared at me for a few more seconds as if judging my seriousness, then he smiled. Bianca’s eyes widened before she regained her icy control. She had it bad, but he was incredibly gorgeous when he smiled. I wondered what would happen if I accidentally locked them in a closet together.” I’m very much looking forward to reading about Ada’s sister, Bianca, and the mysterious Ian, the couple of the next book, which is due out this fall. I guarantee I’m counting down the days until I can beg for an ARC! Overall, if you like scifi romance, smart and tough heroines, and alpha male heroes, just go buy this book already! I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

It took 2 attempts to finish this book. Second time around I ended up finishing it by listening to the audio but it was actually a really enjoyable read. I will say that I heard Ada’s name in a Birmingham accent even when I was listening to the audio because that’s the name of a character in Peaky Blinders but that is totally unrelated to the book. There aren’t many sci-fi romances out there in the world so I always knew I wanted to read this one but I took my sweet time about it. It wasn’t quite as I expected, there were a couple of plot twists but I did see some stuff coming. I really enjoyed it all the same, it was nicely action packed so you don’t get too bored (expect when I did the first time I read but that was more my mood reading kicking in).

Adda von Hasenberg has been on the run for the last couple years, after her father tried to force her into an arrianged marriage. When she ends up captured and thrown into the same cell as Marcus Loch. A man who is one of the most wanted men in the consortium.. My brain seems to be broken today and I hate everything I write.. But I loved this book, I fully expect to love the other two books that are already out in this series..

The 4th try or maybe 6th try is the charm! I've been trying to read this book since it came out; it has everything I like, but I just couldn't get into it. I've been on a string of spacey books lately so I thought, let's try it again. I'm so glad I did! Loved this book! The book starts off fast and the action never really lets up. It's a real page-turner. Ada gets out of one problem and falls directly into another. Other reviewers mention that this doesn't have a lot of scifi. I agree, its my space opera meet pirate (which I guess is kinda all of space opera, but I digress). I enjoyed the tech and space that there was, any more heavy explanations would have detracted from the pace. I thought the romance was well done and I could see chemistry between the two leads. (view spoiler)[ All my past romance reading where the ML gets all chummy w the FL then betrays her, betrayed me. I kept reading and this trope became so obvious, that I was just waiting for it. But in a strange twist it never happens! Oh glorious communication. So def need to re-read to enjoy with the mounting imaginary tension in my head (hide spoiler)] What I really enjoyed other than the action was the family dynamic in play. I think it was a tad unbelievable but it was so nice that I didn't care. I also loved how they were mini-spies and such. The side characters I think suffer the most in this book. I wasn't sure why I should care about Veronica and her just throwing everything in w/ Ada seemed strange. I liked Rhys but he seemed more like a deus ex machina. Overall, loved! My favorite of the series.

3 stars. A fun little space adventure, but the writing style isn't great. A lot of the dialogue between characters is stilted and unnatural. For example, they don't use contractions very often, saying "I am" or "I will" instead of "I'm" or "I'll." But not a terrible read overall.

I've been reading mostly contemporary and historical romance titles, but I received an ARC of Polaris Rising from the publisher and my Star Wars loving heart immediately was drawn to read it as I haven't seen many Space Opera Romances on the shelf. While I found the hero, Marcus Loch, to be a bit one-dimensional, my love for Ada von Hasenberg, Space "princess," kick-ass pilot, and political schemer more than made up for it. The world-building reminded me a bit of Dune, with the competing houses, the special (and secret) mineral, etc. Also, I'm so here for a Space Opera with more explicit (and consensual) sex scenes. Huzzah! I'll complete a better review closer to the publication date, but you'll definitely want to add Polaris Rising to your TBR pile straightaway.