i am not a sci-fi romance reader but this book worked for me and I can't wait for what is next in the series.

The first book in the series. Tavi and her crew end up in Valovia to fulfill a bounty only to get more than they bargained. ARC from NetGalley.

I loved Jessie Mihalik's previous series but this starter sadly fell flat for me. I was expecting an adventurous romp through space but what I got was repetitive descriptions of cooking, eating, and going to the gym. Things picked up a bit once the crew got on-planet but by then I'd lost interest.

I just loved this book, and though it’s a shameless mash-up of a “Girl meets Prince” romance and space opera, it worked for me on all levels. You’ll have as much fun with this novel as I did, so go ahead and grab it!

For the slow burn Girl Meets Boy plot, we have bad-ass fearless Octavia Zarola, who’s ex-military turned bounty hunter and is surrounded by her deeply loyal crew who served on her military squad and whose lives she saved. She’s got PTSD flashbacks to the brutal war between the alien race and humanity. She’s also got animosity towards the human military leadership who she believes betrayed her unit. Then there’s Torran Fletcher who served as a Volaff General in the war, and who leads his devoted crew with stoicism and mental prowess. But did I mention how handsome he is and how irresistible sparks start flying between the two? Of course a lack of trust keeps getting in the way.

For the space opera thriller: Torran offers Octavia a fortune to bounty hunt for something’s that been stolen from him by humans on the Valovian home planet. Tavi needs the money, for critical fixes to her ship, but is taken back to discover that Torran and his crew insist on accompanying her on the mission to see it carried out as well as to ensure safe passage for the humans in Valovian space. And Torran’s been holding back some critical pieces of information, that end up putting all of them in jeopardy.

As sparks fly, both romantically as well as in the tension of the humans and Valovians getting comfortable with each other, a larger plot emerges that threatens the delicate peace between the races.

Just how long will we have to wait for the sequel?! I’m already imagining popping a fresh batch of popcorn and settling in for a delicious ride as the plot continues.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon & Harper Voyager for an advanced reader’s copy of this book. All the candid views expressed here are my own.

This was a great book and a lot of fun to read, a nice blend of romance, science fiction adventure, and found family. The romance is technically enemies to lovers because Torran and Octavia fought on opposite side of the war so she does have a bit of distrust towards him, but Octavia works hard to make her ship a respectful place for everyone and treated Torran and his companions well. And speaking of respect, I really loved how much Mihalik cared about consent in this book. Torran has some special abilities and he consistently asked Octavia for permission to use them on her every step of the way, regardless of if it was for tactical or sexual reasons. The romance didn't feel rushed or unearned at all, I was really pleased with it.

I also loved the found family dynamic of the ship, Octavia and Eli and Kee ARE family and even though Octavia is captain she rarely makes big decisions without consulting them and making sure that everyone is on board with it. They weren't as developed as I would have liked but it is a series with them presumably getting their own books so I look forward to reading more about them. My main quibble with the book is that I didn't really feel the vibe that Octavia and all of them are bounty hunters even though that's basically their background'/the premise of the book.

Octavia has this alien "pet" named Luna who absolutely stole the show for me, I need more Luna!

4.5/5 Stars

I have been looking forward to picking up Jessie Mihalik's next series since I finished the Consortium Rebellion back in 2020. I loved that series so you can imagine how excited I was when her new series features a female bounty hunter captain and an enemies-to-lovers romance! And y'all! I love this series even more than the Consortium Rebellion and it has definitely earned a spot for Jessie Mihalik on my list of auto-buy sci-fi authors!

I loved so much about this book that I could rave about it for days! I was totally on board for the slice-of-life, twisty mystery, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers romance vibe this book had going on and I need more! The characters! The world building! The politics! The back story! The found family! The romance! The psychic alien race! I seriously loved everything about this book!

It's fun to read an author's work from their debut because you can see how their writing is growing and changing. Jessie Mihalik is definitely getting better at writing those plot twists that you can only partially see coming. She totally surprised me several times while reading this book because I thought I had things figured out and than wham! plot twist! It made this such a fun story to read!

I quickly fell in love with Tavi and her crew! Kee and Eli are polar opposites with Kee being the sunshine and Eli being the grump but they are highly protective of each other and Tavi. I especially loved Luna! It was intriguing to see the crew interact with Torran and his team, their once sworn enemies! I loved how Tavi's plan to keep her enemies close turned into both teams finding some common ground.

The one thing I will say I wish this book had (and it's something I wanted in Mihalik's other series) was multiple POVs or just a dual POV with the love interests. While I came to like Torran's team, I didn't come to love them as much as the Tavi's crew because Tavi's POV was the only one we had. I get why the author didn't because some of the plot twists wouldn't have worked with a dual POV but it is something that I find myself wanting every time I've read one of her books.

I cannot wait to read more in this series as Tavi, Torran, and their teams start to hunt down who is trying to restart the war between humans and the Valoffs! I will admit that I am shipping some of Tavi's and Torran's crews together. I have my fingers crossed for a certain doctor and first officer pairing but we'll see if that happens. The seeds are there for that romance though! The next book is Kee's and I can't wait because the love interest looks to be a specific Valovian weapons expert and I ship it!

this is one of my favorite writers. I love her space world-building and how they all feel different from each other. I also really enjoyed watching these people, who were enemies learn to forgive and get the truth of a situation before they judge.

Ok, so I was disappointed when Mihalik announced that her next trilogy would be unconnected to her first one, because I really needed the rest of the Hasenberg siblings to get their HEAs. And the pitch as a gender-crossed Mandalorian meant nothing to me since I hadn't seen the show yet at the time and knew very little about it. So while I was excited for this book, I wasn't exactly dying for it the way I was with her previous two books.

So it makes me all the more happy to say that this book is amazing!! I loved every minute of it.

Tavi was a military hero in the human war with the Valoffs, an alien species similar to humans but with telepathic and telekinetic abilities. But now that the war is over, all she wants to do is protect her crew. Taking a bounty job from Torran, a general in the Valoff military, to recover a missing item is the last thing she wants to do, but she and her crew need the money, and so they agree to take Torran's job. But the farther they go into enemy space and the more they learn about what they're hunting, the higher the stakes become. And while she wants to trust Torran, she's not sure if she can.

I had so much fun with the premise of this book, and it was just so delightful seeing Tavi and her crew slowly let their guard down and bond with Torran and his crew, expanding their little circle of found family.

I also really loved all of the twists and turns with the plot. I loved how everything was slowly revealed and just kept upping the stakes higher and higher. It was an intense book! It was so difficult to put it down to go to sleep because I needed to know what happened next, and I really liked how Mihalik used the plot of this story to lay out the plot of future books.

I also really loved the budding romance between Tavi and Torran and how they came to see past their prejudices and get to know each other. I especially appreciated how he made amends when he screwed up and how seriously he took Tavi's trust.

Honestly, my only complaint is that I wish there'd been a bit more romance. Even just a few more scenes at the end where they talk about what they mean to each other and more firmly finalize their plans for the future would have been perfect. I could have used a bit more confidence in their HEA (there's definitely one set up, but I wanted them to discuss their life together a bit more) and more intimate, soul-bearing scenes to go back and reread, because as soon as I finished this book, I just wanted to go back and reread all the pivotal scenes in Tavi and Torran's relationship. And I think a few more scenes between the two of them with their guards down would have helped me get to know him a bit better, too. Obviously we know all the important parts, but I want to know everything!!

All in all, this was another great action-packed scifi adventure from Mihalik with an excellent romance to go along with it. And while I do think everyone in the two groups was paired off just a little too neatly, I still can't wait for the others in the crew to get their own romances! I love a good sequel bait, and Mihalik definitely delivers on that front.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2022/02/17/%f0%9f%8e%a7-hunt-the-stars-by-jessie-mihalik/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

If you enjoy this author's other series, you will enjoy <strong>Hunt the Stars</strong>.  I was thrilled to start the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/319729-starlight-s-shadow" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em><strong>Starlight's Shadow</strong> </em></a>series.    While the overall story arc might be urban fantasy style, there is a new couple in each book.  It feels like fantasy romance.  The situations are very much military,  space opera with plenty of tech.   The romance lightens the story and I love this author's style. Her female characters are strong leaders.

Our main characters are Tavi,  a human and bounty hunter, who led her team on the human side during the war.  Torran, is a Valoff, and a general on the Valoff side.  So we begin with no trust, a desperate situation for each of them, which moves along into attraction.  It's an intense version of enemies-to-lovers.

Both of their teams are talented and compassionate.  Both have suffered loss and changes from the war.  They are united in this finding mission.  However, the truth is tough to pin down.  Slowly, with trust, some truth is shared.  But it's easy to feel betrayed when details are omitted.  The battle is hard fought to complete their joint mission, which turns out to be more far reaching and consequential than first known.

I loved this exciting story with strategies and battles,  as well as a surprising romance.  I believe in these characters and am looking forward to more.  The ending makes it clear where things will be heading next in <strong>Eclipse the Moon </strong>releasing in July

I read Jessie Mihalik’s last science-fiction romance series and absolutely loved it. So I was really excited that she was writing another sci-if romance series set in a new world. Plus I always am a fan of the enemies to lovers trope!

I’d recommend Hunt the Stars if you like
1) Enemies to lovers
2) Found families
3) Action-packed mysteries (that also have some adorable slice of life scenes)
4) Political intrigue (but not too much!)

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five was because literally every member of both crews ended up coupled up (or at least with the suggestion of romantic interest) by the end of the book. I just would have preferred to see the relationships really develop over the course of a few books.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series, Mihalik’s books are some of my favorite comfort reads. Definitely one of the best sci-if romance writers out there!

While I've read a fair amount of historical romance, this is the first time that I've picked up a speculative fiction romance and honestly, I wish I hadn't waited so long. This was a good introduction to the sub-genre and definitely made me want to check out more.

Hunt the Stars is firmly in the slow-burn, character-driven side and if I hadn't enjoyed the characters so much, I might have struggled a bit with the pacing. The first half of the story is firmly focused on Tavi and Torran's crews getting to know each other while they travel to the planet where they need to investigate and a lot of time is spent on character relationships, both between the leads and the side characters. It's told in 1st person from Tavi's perspective (which honestly isn't my favorite and made me feel like I didn't really get to know Torran beyond him being attractive) but I really enjoyed the interaction between the characters and it gave me substantial Firefly vibes.

I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of romance with their sci-fi rather than a romance with a bit of sci-fi because the focus here is on the characters rather than the setting. I was interested in some of the world-building but it definitely takes a back seat. And while I loved the story up to about 80%, the writing gets a bit purple towards the end and because it's been so slow burn for most of the book, it feels oddly rushed by the end.

Overall though, this is firmly in the camp of a popcorn read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the characters, I appreciated that Mihalik didn't neglect the friendships with the side characters and it gave me the found family with romance vibes that I was in the mood for.

Bounty hunter Octavia "Tavi" Zarola has her own ship with a great crew. As a former soldier, Tavi is weary of any Valoff she comes in contact with including former general Torran Fletcher. The history between humans and Valoffs hasn't always been easy and Tavi is suspicious of anything that has to deal with a Valoff. When Torran brings Tavi an offer - she literally cannot refuse. The money is too good to pass up, but she's not quite sure if she can work along side the general himself when he insists on coming on board with Tavi and her crew. Will Tavi and Torran find a way to work past their animosity towards one another and more importantly will they be able to recover the stolen item that Torran is so desperately searching for?

Hunt the Stars was such a delicious slow burn romance full of so much angst, tension and plenty of suspense. As soon as I started reading I was hooked. I could feel the tension anytime Tavi was around Torran as well as the crew. The strains between the humans and the Voloffs runs deep and it was made very apparent right from the beginning. I really enjoyed the slow progression of enemies to friends for each of the crew members and of enemies to lovers for Tavi and Torran.

Parts of this book weren't always easy to read. I felt so much pain for both Tavi and Torran, as well as the crew on board. Their uneasiness with one another was always transparent. My heart was aching so many times and I needed to understand why. Why were these characters at odds and what would it take to get them to be on the same ground.

The relationship between Torran and Tavi was so so sexy. Each time these two were on the page, you could feel the sexual tension simmering. Be forewarned that the romance is a very slow burn, but I loved the chemistry that these two had.

If you're looking for a slow-burn, suspenseful and sometimes angsty romance I would highly recommend Hunt the Stars. Overall I would give this book 4.5 stars.

I ultimately enjoyed this space opera cum romance, but I was frustrated in equal measure. Jesse Mihalik usually delivers with her space adventures, but this was a slight exception. I found the plot to drag a bit, and genuinely worried the main characters would never even touch, let alone kiss. “Will they or won’t they?” is one thing-“do they even like each other?” Is another entirely. I enjoyed her first trilogy much more, but this was far from horrible, and it got there in the end. 3 stars!

Octavia Zarola leads a team of ex-military bounty hunters. When a General from the army of her former enemy, comes with a a highly lucrative job, Octavia is forced to try to play nice her her former enemies. As they travel to the job, she and her crew become accustomed to their client, until more and more information about their job is revealed, threatening not only budding relationships, but also their lives and peace. 

I really liked this one! It's a found family space romance that is just a ultimately more about the characters the overarching plot. In fact most of the story is spent in transit with the characters just living. These are easy to love characters and I especially loved Octavia, an awesome leader and vulnerable.

It's a nice enemies to lovers storyline, with brooding silent type who seem stern from the outside but has a heart of gold. The broader story has the same energy as some other good-hearted stories set in space these days. Definitely recommend! And I'm looking looking forward to the next book in the series. I'm also planning on reading the author's backlist! 

Thank you to HarperVoyager and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

This was a really fun read and exactly what I needed when I picked it up. This is a very cozy mystery romance set in space. It has a lot of romance tropes that I have enjoyed, mainly reluctant allies to lovers but in general the dynamics reminded me a lot of dynamics I had seen in ACOMAF so in general if you liked that book some of those tropes do exist here and I would recommend you give it a try. That said when we were not focusing on the character interpersonal relationships, whether romantic or team base I found the book dragged at times. In general the plot was not important to me and was just a vehicle for the romance so I didn't think it was bad but that is the reason why this is a 3.5/5 and not a solid 4/5. I am excited for the other romances that are set up to be in this sci-fi romance series and will probably be picking them up since I do like how the author delivers on that part of the story!

The war between the Valovians (human like aliens) and the Federated Human Planets (FHP) may have ended, but tensions are still high. So when Octavia Zarola, the captain of Starlight's Shadow and leader of a ragtag group of bounty hunters, is offered a retrieval mission by Valoff General Torran Fletcher in exchange for a large sum of money she is initially hesitant. After a lengthy contract negotiation and at the insistence of her crew, Tavi accepts the mission to retrieve an important ring but there's a catch....there's always a catch, Torran's crew will accompany her to assist. When they get to Valovia, Tavia quickly learns that all is not what it seems, there was a specific reason her crew was singled out for this mission and the thing that was stolen is more precious than first believed. She and her crew must find the item as soon as possible before a new war is started!

I would say this is light sci-fi meaning it isn't overly technical, there aren't random creatures running around, and most of the time is spent on a planet that sounds a lot like our own without a ton of action. I liked most of the supporting cast of characters and enjoyed each of their personalities. Also, there is a cute ferret/cat-like pet named Luna thrown into the mix that loves food and likes to claw things. Hunt the Stars has plenty of political intrigue intertwined with the primary mystery and the ending sets up a sequel nicely that is scheduled to come out in July 2022. There is a slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance with a few mild spice scenes and a HEA. This is my first book by Jesse Mahalik and I still want to dive into her Consortium Rebellion series.

Special thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Harper Voyager for access to this arc.


I’m generally not a fan of the trope in contemporary romance but it works well in SFF because the stakes are often believably high. Which is precisely what we have here.

Set in some unspecified future time when humans have colonised space and the Federated Human Planets (FHP) have been at war with the Valovian Empire – wherein lives a humanoid race known as Valoffs, who have extrasensory powers such as telepathy and telekinesis in varying degree – Hunt the Stars begins some time after the war has ended but when the wounds of it are still fresh. As is the case with many wars as best I can tell, mostly there are losers rather than winners – and here, a truce was eventually reached which kept things at the prior status quo rather than continue to fight and get basically nowhere.

Captain Octavia (Tavi) Zarola is now a bounty hunter with her own ship, Starlight’s Shadow. She served in the war and became known as the “hero of Rodeni” although Tavi doesn’t believe there was anything heroic about it. Half her squad perished in the battle and immediately after the remainder of them made it safely back to base they all resigned their commissions. Still, PR narratives being what they are, the moniker has stuck and for reasons, she is unable to do anything to counter it. Tavi’s crew consists of Kee, her systems engineer and Eli, her first officer. They served together during the war and are family to one another. Tavi also has a “burbu” a kind of cross between an arctic fox, a ferret and a cat. Luna adopted Tavi after she rescued the Valovian native animal during the war. Luna likes to scam extra meals from people, plaintively pretending she has not already been fed – as a pet owner this sounds familiar!

Tavi is approached by a group of Valoffs to accept a commission. She does not want to – the leader of the group is General Torran Fletcher – a powerful telekinetic and equally famous soldier from the Valovian side of the war. Torran offers her a deal she cannot refuse however – more money than she’s seen in ever – which would give her a chance to undertake necessary upgrades and maintenance to her ship and to tuck the rest away for when work is scarce – something that happens fairly often. Torran is accompanied by Varro, Chira and Havil and for the duration of the contract, they will join Starlight’s Shadow and accompany them wherever the search takes them – which initially is Valovia. Before leaving, Tavi adds a mechanical engineer to her crew – Anja and they plan to collect Lexi (a private contractor who was a member of their squad during the war) on a nearby planet on the way to the Valoff home world and seat of their power.

The commission offered to Tavi is to find “something that was stolen” – what, why and how are things which are revealed as the book progresses – but the first part of the mission is to try and build some trust between the two groups and cobble them together as a crew. The first half of the book focuses on this as they journey, via a series of wormholes at various space locations, to Valovia. As they cook, clean, spar and travel together, the two sides find things in common and various romantic sparks fly – and not just between Torran and Tavi. There’s plenty of mistrust to work through however and various setbacks as information is revealed which changes the picture. All of the crew have a part to play in the adventure story and each has a distinct personality and arc – albeit that some are more truncated than others. Hunt for the Stars is setting up the entire series and introducing a relatively large cast (another member, Nilo, joins it once the ship arrives on Valovia. Notwithstanding that he’s only in half the book, he’s a pivotal character) so I found the beginning a little slow and at times clunky as backstory was laid out.

Tavi has few character flaws – perhaps exaggerated by the book being told from her first person perspective – but I liked her regardless (and let’s face it, there are quite a few romance heroines who fit this mold so it’s unfair to suggest this book is unique in that respect). I thought her assistance to Anja at the beginning was mainly to show readers that she is a morally upright character and was a bit heavy-handed.

However, as the story progresses, all of that smooths out. The characters become more interesting and three dimensional and the story picks up in pace. By about the one third mark, I was well and truly invested and enjoying the group dynamics and the early sparks of romance but the book became exponentially better again once they arrive on Valovia.

There were some reveals in this section which I didn’t see coming but which made perfect sense in hindsight. (It may be I’m just a reader who tends to take things at face value and so didn’t look hard enough but I suspect I was supposed to feel this way). The stakes increase and questions about Torran’s true motives and what really happened on Rodeni are answered.

The found family aspect is an important part of the book. Each character belongs and is valued for their contribution to the wider team. In some ways this almost eclipses the romance.

It is well over half way before there is much more than a suggestion of mutual attraction between the main protagonists and consummation occurs very late in the piece. I mean, it makes sense; at the start, Tavi and Torran are essentially enemies and it’s a long way from that to a HEA. This book does have a distinct beginning, middle and end but the romantic relationship is still in its infancy. The book does end in a firm HFN though (which I believe will become a HEA by the end of the series). I’d described Hunt the Stars as a space adventure with romantic elements and it works really well viewed through that lens. I see from your blog, that the next book in the series, Eclipse the Moon, has Kee as the POV character but I expect there will be more about Torran and Tavi in that story, just as the beginnings of Kee’s own romance are seeded in Hunt the Stars.

From what I can tell the broader “mission” of the crew of Starlight’s Shadow forms the arc of the series and within that there will be (I guess?) three books with three different heroines as the main POV character. My speculation is that Lexi is up after Kee.

The back half of the story in particular is full of tension and risk, with daring escapes, personal sacrifice and grand gestures. After a slowish start, Hunt the Stars turned out to be a great read and a lot of fun and I’m keen to see where the rest of the series takes me.

Grade: B+

Well that was just a fun, enjoyable read and I want more!

Tavi runs a spaceship, and her and her crew take jobs for money - usually finding lost things. She is offered a lot of money from her sworn enemy Torrin. He has a high rank in an alien race that' is the sworn enemy of humans. Although there is a truce in place, there is still total distrust between the races.

As Tavi digs deeper into the job, she finds that it is way more than she expected. Then she finds that Torrin may have betrayed her. Who does she trust and what should she do? And to top it all off, she as developing feelings for him.

What can I say? It was a fun, easy read. It had a sci fi touch, but wasn't too heavy on it - it was more on the fantasy side. There were some romance, but it wasn't overdone. There was action, there was mystery, there was adventure.

My main issue is that this book screams out for a sequel and I hate to wait!

Thank you to the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the chance to read and review this. It did not impact my opinion.

I think at this point I am classified as a Jessie Mihalik super fan. I have pushed her books into the hands of so many readers. Her books are great for those who love an action-packed story filled with angst and danger and romance all with the backdrop of space!

Hunt the Stars was a great addition to Mihalik's sci-fi romance/adventure repertoire. Mihalik has a very distinct authorial voice and character beats she likes to hit and I think you can see the Ilona Andrews inspiration shine through in her books. In Hunt the Stars the Ilona Andrews inspiration I saw was Connor Rogan vibes in Torran Fletcher, the love interest, and believe me, that is not a complaint.

So, what is Hunt the Stars about? It follows a team of bounty hunters, captained by Octavia (Tavia) Zarola, a retired war hero with a massive amount of war trauma and resentment at the decision makers in the FHP to go with that, who are hired by the "enemy" to locate a missing item. The enemy happens to be a group of Valoffs led by General Torran Fletcher. There are a lot of adventures and discoveries learned along the way and the book was full of delightful found family vibes and a simmering tension between Tavia and Torran. Plus, the most excellent animal companion.

Even as I type this review, I'm finding myself wondering why this book is so clearly not a five star in my head because all of the things I'm talking about are things I enjoy and so I'm left with this: There is something about the pacing in this book, paired with the fact that I don't think I should have read this book via audio due to not vibing with the narrator, that felt just slightly off to me. That said, I think it's a great book and I'll hopefully re-read it before the sequel drops in July (which, btw, I am SO excited for because this book has excellent sequel bait!) and then maybe can resolve my feelings on this book in a more coherent manner. But for now, I'll just say, if you've liked Mihalik in the past OR if you want a solid space/romance adventure, this book is a safe bet for you to enjoy!