Eclipse the Moon

Crewmembers of the Starlight’s Shadow again race to prevent war between galactic superpowers in Mihalik’s thrilling sequel to Hunt the Stars. All bounty hunter Kee Ildez wants is three weeks leave on the Bastion space station to clear her head, away from the source of her muddled feelings: fellow crew member Varro Runkow. The Valovian weapons specialist has been unresponsive to her attempts at flirting, and it’s beginning to affect Kee’s ability to work. Meanwhile, her search for nefarious Commodore Frank Morten, of the Federation of Human Planets, or FHP, has proven fruitless, and she hopes Bastion will provide access to more information. It’s not long, however, before Kee discovers that Varro has followed her to the station. The tension between them is one more thing for Kee to worry about, on top of hacking the FHP servers and monitoring the tenuous collaboration between Valovian and human fashion designers. When disaster strikes the fashion show, with Kee and Varro attending, it thrusts them to the center of a larger plot that threatens the delicate peace. They’ll need to work together to save the day. Mihalik again does a fantastic job balancing space opera action and slow-burning romance. This keeps the series going strong. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (July)