ARC Review--Capture the Sun by Jessie Mihalik

 

Acclaimed author Jessie Mihalik returns with the thrilling conclusion to her Starlight's Shadow trilogy. An intergalactic thief must join forces with the charming teleporter who stole her last job--and may now be her only hope for saving her former crew.

As a recovery specialist, Lexi Bowen's jobs typically require more trickery and thievery than honest work. Her former captain might not approve of her flexible morals, but stealing artifacts for rich assholes pays the bills, and Lexi's had enough of war and death. The FHP left her to die once; she doesn't plan to give them a chance to finish the job.

Unfortunately, her latest contract takes her to Valovia itself--and right back into the orbit of Nilo Shoren, a Valovian teleporter who already cost her one payday and nearly stole her heart.

Armored against his clever charm, Lexi plans to get in, get the job done, and get out. But when her former crew goes missing in Valovian space, Lexi will have to work with Nilo to figure out what happened--and stop it--before the galaxy's two superpowers can use the disappearance as an excuse to return to war.

 

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

Jessie Mihalik’s Capture the Sun brings the Starlight’s Shadow trilogy to an end and it was an exciting and action packed kid of ending! This time we follow thief extraordinaire, Lexi Bowen as she goes on a mission to hopefully get the lead she needs to find Fev and Morten and put an end to them, but she gets waylaid by Nilo Shoren, the man’s she has a complicated “history” with!

Needless to say the premise of this one just screams excitement! Since Lexi and Nilo made chaos inducing appearances in the first two books, I have been dying to get their backstory and I will admit, I thought it would be a little messier than what it was. I guess I thought it would be more complicated than what it was.

When Lexi finds herself with no choice but to work with Nilo in order to catch the bad guy. But their complicated past makes trust a difficult thing for Lexi to get passed, especially when the attraction between them is just as strong as ever. But just when they think they have a lead on Fev, who would in turn hopefully lead them to Morten, Lexi learns that her friends, Tavi and the rest of the Starlight crew have been taken, so now she must make it her mission to rescue them.

This book was so excellently well-paced! I loved the together time that Lexi and Nilo got to have. It got even better when everyone came back together for the grand finale. I don’t quite know if I should blame my trying to read with distractions or if perhaps it really was just the story,  but I felt like things got a little rushed towards the end. Things were wrapped up a little too quickly, too cleanly. I guess I expected the final wrap up to be a little more detailed, maybe a little more complex. I don’t mean this as a bad thing, but it seemed maybe a touch abrupt, but not so bad that I think negatively of the story.

I really enjoyed Lexi’s character. She was complex character and I loved her personality. Nilo was of a similar nature and these two butted heads like crazy, but they made a good team that eventually rolled back into a fiery romance that I’ve come to expect from Mihalik!

Capture the Sun was explosive in nature and made for a fun and engaging read! I loved the found family dynamic that remained present through the series, the endearing friendships, the deep and slow-burning romances also made everything wonderful. This truly was an amazing series and this comes from a reader who doesn’t usually enjoy books “in space.” I definitely plan to read more of Mihalik in the future!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

Capture the Sun releases June 20, 2023