Capture the Sun by Jessie Mihalik
Starlight’s Shadow #3
Science Fiction Romance
June 20, 2023 by Harper Voyager
ARC

Review by Angela

The third and final book in the Starlight’s Shadow science fiction romance series features the crew’s daring recovery specialist, Lexi Bowen, and the Valovian teleporter, Nilo Shoren, who once left her standing in a bar by herself while he stole her job.

To say I was excited about this book would be an understatement. I was in full gimme, gimme, gimme mode. I will admit to being super bummed to find out that this would be the final installment in the series, I was hoping that the rest of the crew, specifically the polyam lovers, would get their own HEA. And I guess they kind of do… in like a secondary character, let’s have a brief conversation to wrap up that plot line and give those characters just a tad bit of closure way. That’s not to say I didn’t devour Capture the Sun as soon as I opened my Kindle to read, I totally did, but I do wish there would have been at least a novella for the secondary characters left hanging. I’m kind of hoping they appear in a later series.

Lexi agrees to take a job and it brings her back to Valovia, which she knows is a bad idea, but the money is right so she heads there anyway. And OF COURSE it’s a set-up, and guess who comes to her rescue when the shit hits the fan…

Yes, that’s correct. Nilo Shoren. Teleporter extraordinaire.

This puts these two in close quarters and forces them to work together when they find out that their friends and found family are in trouble and headed into a dangerous situation. So they make a plan to follow, and help them defeat the bad guys and prevent another war.

This book felt sexier than the previous two for me, maybe because of the set-up and the fact that this couple already had an established connection and chemistry. At the same time there is a whole lot of time spent doing the mundane work of figuring out a way to help the Starlight’s Shadow, getting the tools needed for their rescue attempt, and figuring out a way off planet. So while I did like the “will they or won’t they” aspect of the first part of the book, I also thought the beginning dragged a bit. Then they finally get to where Tavi, Torran, and crew are being held and the stakes get higher and the action picks up.

I liked the way this author managed to wrap up the plot points all nice and neat. I won’t won’t spoil anything, but I think fans of this author will be happy with the ending. Lexi and Nilo’s relationship goes from zero to a hundred pretty quickly, but I did like their chemistry and balanced relationship. I’m a sucker for competent protagonists and these two have it in spades. There is a touch of hurt/comfort with Nilo sacrificing himself to save Lexi several times and her having to take care of him while his body and mind heal.

All in all, I enjoyed the entire series immensely and am keeping my fingers crossed that we will see more of these characters in the future.

Final grade- B

Amazon * Goodreads