Star bringer

Romance powerhouses Wolff (the CRAVE series) and Croft (the Dark Desires series) come together for a high-energy space opera replete with juicy interpersonal personal drama and budding love. A diplomatic tour of a research station dedicated to preventing the explosion of the Senestris System's sun ends with the whole structure imploding and a mismatched crew escaping together on a self-flying ship. Now "a princess, a priestess, a bodyguard, a prisoner, a con artist, a goofball," and the "self-appointed asshole in charge of them all" are trapped together. United by desperation in the face of numerous threats, the group develops close relationships: self-designated captain Ian becomes enthralled with Princess Kali, despite her naivete about the damage her family has done across many planets; and priestess Rain discovers first love with pilot, ex-rebel, and recent prisoner Beckett, whose use as an unwilling experimental subject has left her both scarred and angry. The setting is hastily sketched, the science is largely technobabble, and the intergalactic politics are unsubtle to the point of parody, but the fun is in the forced proximity of the colorful cast. The authors' relationship-building is so top-notch that it would be hard to leave this without a slew of new favorite characters. Readers will gobble this up. (July)