ARC Review--Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik

 

Kee Ildez has been many things: hacker, soldier, bounty hunter. She never expected to be a hero, but when a shadowy group of traitors starts trying to goad the galaxy’s two superpowers into instigating an interstellar war, Kee throws herself into the search to find out who is responsible—and stop them.

Digging up hidden information is her job, so hunting traitors should be a piece of cake, but the primary suspect spent years in the military, and someone powerful is still covering his tracks. Disrupting their plans will require the help of her entire team, including Varro Runkow, a Valovian weapons expert who makes her pulse race.

Quiet, grumpy, and incredibly handsome, Varro watches her with hot eyes but ignores all of her flirting, so Kee silently vows to keep her feelings strictly platonic. But that vow will be put to the test when she and Varro are forced to leave the safety of their ship and venture into enemy territory alone.

Cut off from the rest of their team, they must figure out how to work together—and fast—because a single misstep will cost thousands of lives.

 

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

Jessie Mihalik returns to Starlight's Shadow with the second installment, Eclipse the Moon! I was beyond excited to read this book as I knew it featured Kee, the outspoken, computer whizz! And while I am in no way either of these things, I positively loved Kee's personality in the first book! This book was positively explosive and I am eager for the next installment, which based on the hints from these first two books, I have a good feeling I know who will be involved and I am SO excited!

After Kee and the crew of Starlight's Shadow uncovered a twisted conspiracy involving the empress and their former, traitorous military leader, Morten, they knew they hadn't seen the last of them. Though Kee has been struggling with more personal issues lately. She has found herself falling for the quiet and stoic Valovian, Varro. 

Despite making her interest obvious, Varro just doesn't seem to show any interest. In order to cope with her heartbreak, she talks her captain, Tavi, into letting her stay at the Bastion station to try to track down any information that could lead her to Morten's location. There happens to be a fashion exhibit going on that may or not be a front for something else. All the more reason to go. Plus, the time away will allow her to mend her heart over Varro.

Despite keeping her plans a secret, Varro figured out what she was up to and "surprises" her with a visit. He's determined to keep her safe, no matter the cost. Even if Kee thinks there's no present danger at the station. But then Kee accepts an offer to attend the fashion exhibit as a model for a very prestigious designer with Varro following along as protection, and things go utterly disastrous as the party became under attack and if not for Varro's quick thinking, Kee would've been taken with a few of the other fashion designers.

Now it will be up to Kee, Varro, the rest of their team, and a few new faces to rescue them from a familiar with enemy with powerful help on his side. 

This book was a breeze to read! I felt like when I reading this one, the pages were just flying by! There just was not enough time during the day to do all the reading! Lol. This is a book that moves at a remarkable pace! It's not so fast you can't keep up, but it's enticing enough that you don't want to put the book down, even if you have to for work related reasons! 

Kee was a delightful character! I positively loved her spunk and her forwardness. She's not pushy, so much as she says what's she thinking...usually with some filter too! Varro is pretty much her polar opposite with being more moody and somewhat cold, but more in a closed-off fashion. And yet, there is some serious heat brewing between these two! I sometimes wish that these books could come in dual point of view, because like with the first book there was more than one occasion where I wanted to know what our hero was thinking of our heroine! It was that intense! The romance was definitely the slow building type. But things really intensify towards the end between them and I was all for it!

Honestly, I sometimes feel like less is more in these situations. Because once those romantic moments do finally start happening with only a handful of pages left in the book, those moments really pack a punch! For the reader and the characters! It was remarkably done and I positively cannot wait for more!

The ending to this one sets us up for what is to happen next! I have my theories about who our next leading lady and hero will be. There have been enough hints in these two books that I feel confident in my guess. Though there is still one character I would very much like to see get a happy ending, I just don't know if we'll see it happening in the background or not. Time will only tell...

In regards to what is next, we definitely get the vibe that the next book will be where the big showdown will occur! I feel confident this is a trilogy like Mihalik's last series was, so needless to say this next book will be epic beyond proportions! As far as "Sci-Fi" vibes go, I would say this one is definitely on the lighter side, as I had no problem following along with the terminology and such. I don't read too many "space" books, but this is a series that has captivated me from the get-go and I cannot wait for more! This is one galactic adventure you will not want to miss out on!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars

Eclipse the Moon releases July 12, 2022