Thanks, Carrie, for recommending this to me!
"Polaris Rising" was a fast-paced book that's a really fun binge read. I loved the combination of sci-fi space adventure, romance, and political intrigue; it makes for an engaging story from any standpoint. The characters were also just straight-up entertaining and I came to like every one of them in their own way. It gets a teeny bit trope-y a points, but honestly I thought that was part of the fun. It was a bit like reading a REALLY good fanfiction at points: just enough fanservice to keep readers delighted but tons of plot to make the story keep moving.
The main thing that I rolled my eyes at were the repeated moments of male characters basically saying "No, I'm going with you/guarding you/being protective because I'm a Man and you're a Lady and it's The Proper Thing", but even that was never badly written so I'm not gonna complain too much. ;) The main romance was honestly very cute and made me grin like an idiot multiple times, and that made this worth reading all on its own!
I'm super eager to read the next book come October- can't wait to see what happens next!
( )

An enjoyable and easy to read space opera. Is everything a little too convenient? You bet, but I will be reading the next one in the series. ( )

Typical somewhat shallow sci-fi romance.

I must admit I was positively surprised how well-done the story climax was. Usually, this type of book gets worse and worse story-wise the further you read.
This wasn't the case here.
While being decently executed throughout there just wasn't anything original about neither the story nor the romance.
I probably would've liked this book a lot more if I had read it a few years ago.

Even though I have oddly little to complain about, I initially wanted to rate it only 2 stars.
But while it's unoriginal in the extreme, laying the blame for that only at this particular books feet seems unfair. Originality seems so arbitrary as a quality measurement because it entirely depends on the difference in experience with other books between the author and the reader.

Don't get me wrong there are quite a lot of hackneyed and corny clichées in this book but they mostly aren't exploited as cheap plot devices.
Something I should mention because lots of people despise it is the insta-lust™ that rapidly develops into very-fast-love™.

I guess I'd say avoid if you are already familiar with the sci-fi romance genre and are looking for something original. Otherwise, this might be an enjoyable and light read for you. ( )

I expected this book to be a sci-fi adventure, which it was. I was not expecting this book to be a love story. Overall, I liked and enjoyed this book. There were some things that were annoying. The romance in this novel was fine however, it felt like an afterthought. Like an editor said shove in romance and the author did so. Then finding out that this book series, each book is about somebody different the way romance books are and not a continuation of the original story the way most sci-fi books are, was disappointing. The other thing I found annoying, is this civilization is thousands of years into the future and the main character Ada kept complaining about her bra. There is all sort of advanced technology, including nanobots, and regeneration gel to keep humans’ hole, so why would a character need a bra to keep her breasts lifted. Wouldn’t they stay naturally perky because of the nanobots.? It’s just one of those things that was two “now” to make sense in this book. The story is a fun romp, but it very much feels like a first effort. I am looking forward to continuing the story about the sister, but I am sad that this ended, and we will not be going on more adventures with Ada and Lock. ( )

This is really not my usual fare. I'm not a huge scifi fan at all. But this book caught my attention so much that between the cover and the blurb I preordered it.

And it was really good. The action was fast paced and intense. The plot was interesting enough to keep my attention. I liked all the characters and I loved Ada and Loch. The setting is usually not really my thing but I enjoyed the space opera with the futuristic tech. Nanobots to heal, identity chips embedded into arms. It was fascinating and I loved it. Especially stealing a spaceship. Total badass.

Ada was awesome. She was a strong female protagonist - likable, competent and fierce. But she also knew her limits and was able to stand back and say I can't go further, I need help. The relationship between her and Loch is intense, but aside from a small miscommunication they are probably one of the most straightforward and honest couples I've seen. While Ada is a shark when it comes to playing the political game she is very open and willing to express her thoughts. Loch is reluctant to speak but he also doesn't tend to hold back when he does open up. I liked the way their relationship developed and how they backed one another. Although it was definitely a romantic suspense relationship development than contemporary. And he was so sweet to her. The dress. Aww.

I loved how Ada manoeuvres and manipulates the figures in the political arena. That was definitely one of the best bits. Blackmail and revenge at its finest. I also really loved Veronica and her own circumstances. She was very creative and self sufficient and it was fun to read. I liked Bianca but I don't know that I'm invested enough to read the next one in the series. I've never really been a fan of the he broke my heart and now he's back type stories. But if it comes up cheap, who knows.

So overall, great strong story with creative tech and interesting characters. Loved it. 4 stars. ( )