Summary:

Bianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to save other young women. Information is power and Bianca has a network that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.

After an attack, Bianca’s oldest brother, the House von Hasenberg heir, disappears from Earth without a trace. Determined to find him, Bianca leaves against orders. When she refuses to return, her father sends Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security, to haul her home like a recalcitrant child.

Bianca leads Ian on a merry chase across the universe, but when their paths finally collide, she persuades him that they would be far more successful at finding her brother if they worked together. She will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.

As clues lead them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely. . .

Goodreads

Thoughts:

Another fun space opera romance featuring galactic princesses and bad-ass warrior types. I continue to have a good time with this series!

In this sequel to Polaris Rising, we follow Ada’s older sister, Bianca, as she goes on a rogue rescue mission after their eldest brother is kidnapped. I really loved Bianca as a protagonist! We get to know a lot more about her including how she comes by so much intelligence. Bianca is a little different from Ada but she’s just as fierce in her own way. I think because I read a lot of romance I’m used to the way that the protagonists shift with each book in a series as that’s pretty typical for the genre. Gotta follow a new couple finding love, after all! So I didn’t have an issue at all which switching to a new protagonist for this book. Bianca is extremely smart and savvy but she doesn’t have a lot of experience in the field and sometimes that shows. That being said, she’s quick at learning!

I loved Bianca’s dynamic with Ian, the head of House von Hasenberg security. They have a bit of a second chance romance in some ways? In that they both clearly have had feelings for each other for years but then circumstances came between them having a relationship and now here we are. At first in this story they get on each other’s nerves so much because Bianca chafes at Ian’s overbearing presence as she feels like she’s trapped in a gilded cage and Ian, just trying to do his job, is irritated whenever Bianca bypasses his security measures. And when she’s runs off without him, well. It’s not exactly a cat and mouse game but there’s a bit of that feeling to it at times. I do like that they talk things out eventually and come to an agreement to work together and it’s then that the magic starts between them. As for Ian, well, I will admit that I’m a bit over alpha-male types as love interests and even though he felt overbearing at times (especially as this was from Bianca’s POV) his personality didn’t annoy me as much as it should have. He also has his secrets and you can really see that his annoyance comes from a place of real concern.

The plot of this was pretty straightforward–her brother is kidnapped and she feels like she needs to be involved in the rescue due to her special abilities and so she takes off and starts investigating the trail. This takes her all over the places as various leads are investigated and contacts are met–intelligence gathered in fun and interesting ways. It was a bit like a detective story, they even go undercover a couple of times. I thought the pacing was pretty good as well, the story moves right along for the most part.

If there’s any criticisms….well, I don’t feel like this story really brought anything new to the table? I read a ton of romance so the relationship stuff, while very much my bread, butter and jam, also felt like it was pretty typical. Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this sequel. I’m very much looking forward to the final book in the series. 4/5 stars.