what I’m reading: calamity by constance fay.

Newly named captain of a ragtag ship, Temperance Reed is just trying to pay the bills and keep her crew together. When she is contacted by the Escajeda Family to scout a backwater planet, Herschel 2, she has no choice but to take the job. Unfortunately, the job comes with the second child of the Escajeda family, Arcadio Escajeda, whose presence on Temper’s ship is not all it seems. Sparks fly between Temper and Arcadio, but between cults, volcanic eruptions, and a super secret weapon, will the crew make it off of Herschel 2 alive?

I enjoyed this book. It is a mix of romance, science fiction, space opera, and action adventure. I was a little surprised at how much romance was in this book – I thought this was a mainly science fiction book but there are definitely some steamy scenes. My research led me to discover that this book is published by Bramble, a new imprint of Tor Publishing group “dedicated to a wide array of romantic stories for the modern reader”.

I love a found family trope and Temper’s crew are a real found family. I loved all their interactions. In addition to Temper, the rest of the crew was intriguing and what little background we are given of them left me wanting more. If I could change anything about this book it would be to include more development of the side characters.

The world-building was interesting and it reminded me of Jessie Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion series, another sci-fi romance series where, in the future, different wealthy families rule over the stars and space. It also reminded me a bit of the mafia with its controlling families which I am here for.

I am a little bummed that this book is the first in a series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – books that are parts of a series need to have this information included on the cover. I need to know going in that I am reading the first (or second) book in a series. This book didn’t end on a cliffhanger or anything, so that was satisfying, however there are some plot points that were not resolved which I think are the basis for later books in the series.

I liked this book, however I’m not sure that I am invested enough to read more in the series when they come out.

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