This was a ok story.
Unfortunately it was very slow in places which made it very difficult to finish.

Excellent debut character-driven novel

This is Merethe Walther’s debut novel and what a debut it is. The story is great, with good pacing and fascinating well fleshed-out characters. The action scenes are excellent and I liked the political overtones. There is even some romance. While science fiction created the backdrop for this story, it takes a backseat to excellent character development, which is a strength of the book. I look forward to reading more books in the series.

Aralyn Solari can't seem to catch a break. Fresh out of prison, Ari is trying to settle one final courrier job before switching carreers. Of course, nothing will go as planned when she finds herself with an absent buyer, holding some very illegal contraband and being picked up by the police. To add insult to injury, her old flame and partner in crime is now an officer of the law and holding her leash. The adventure to follow will include chases through outerspace, breaking into prisons and a blackmail scheme from which none of them may escape. This is a light science fiction romp with a cast of complex characters. Ari is at times fierce, but also shows compassion. Caden's motives become clear as the story progresses and Kita is just a ball of energy and spunk. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and look forward to the second one. For fans of Ann Aguirre.

Mercury in Retrograde is very much a romance novel - yes, it has a sci fi setting but all the romance conventions are here: lack of hard science, no edginess, sweet personalities, misunderstandings coming in the way of true love, and a focus on relationships rather than conflict. It made the writing problematic for me: about half way through, too many plot points felt either very deus ex machina or completely unlikely/unrealistic/unlikely. As a result, i couldn't get into what felt like fake characters in a very bog-standard tepid romantic genre plot. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate romance in the sci fi genre. But I also expect the intelligent and intricate plotting as well.

Story: Aralyn is a small time smuggler who ran away from her family's fortune in order to chart her own course in life. Bitter after a betrayal by her lover landed her in prison for several years, she's now free and about to do a job for a former prisonmate that will give her enough money to start again. Unfortunately, things are never as easy as they seem - she'll have to partner up with another con, face her former lover who now works for the law, and deal with betrayal after betrayal as she finds herself deep in over her head.

We have three main characters - Aralyn, her ex boyfriend Caden, and Kita (a hacker, natch, because this is sci fi) - but the POV is only from Aralyn. We're expected to believe that she had a very hard time in a top prison yet Aralyn seems pretty well adjusted and surprisingly trusting. I just didn't believe she'd have lasted five minutes there - and even then, not so emotionally stable afterwards. Caden, as a love interest, is fine if bland. It's obvious from the onset that he's a good guy and that she has completely misinterpreted the situation. That she doesn't trust him at all but seems to trust every other person blindly didn't make sense other than to set up a reason for her and Caden to not get back together again immediately. Of course, it's yet another case where one person just telling the truth would make this a 10 page book instead of 300.

The deus ex machina was strong here. From a prison that they immediately escape easily (through a person-sized pipe in their cell ceiling?!?) to Aralyn happening to partner up with a hacker in the same cell- just the person she needs to fix her problems and ensure the second part of the escape. It was incredibly convenient all around. Of course, both Kita and Aralyn have perfect excuses for being on the wrong side of the law; I miss the days when we could have an antihero or a character with depth and a questionable conscience. Both women were pure enough to have little birds braiding their hair in the morning, Disney fashion.

I have to admit, I just got bored half way through. I couldn't invest in the plot or the characters because they felt too much like archetypes. Plotting 101 and romance novel heroine and hero 101. That doesn't mean this is a terrible book; I think for undemanding readers, it would be an enjoyable Summer read. But I've read enough books now to want more than the bog standard that is Mercury Retrograde. I hope for a hook or angle to make the book unique and not another romance novel retread: character names and settings changed. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.