To ensure she cannot escape again, the fiery princess is thrown into a prison cell with Marcus Loch. Ada eluded her father's forces for two years, but now her luck has run out. The spirited princess flees before the betrothal ceremony and disappears among the stars. When her father arranges for her to wed a noble from House Rockhurst, a man she neither wants nor loves, Ada seizes control of her own destiny.

As the fifth of six children, Ada von Hasenberg has no authority her only value to her High House is as a pawn in a political marriage. In the far distant future, the universe is officially ruled by the Royal Consortium, but the High Councillors, the heads of the three High Houses, wield the true power. Jessie Mihalik is an author to watch.'-Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling author A space princess on the run and a notorious outlaw soldier become unlikely allies in this imaginative, sexy space opera adventure-the first in an exciting science fiction trilogy.

(Feb.'Polaris Rising is space opera at its best, intense and addictive, a story of honor, courage, betrayal, and love. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. Mihalik‘s storytelling leaves an impression of having checked off plot requirements and never draws readers into Ada’s world, leaving them bored well before the end.

After a bit of hopping planets, manipulating connections, and killing people who are in the way, Ada and Marcus end up with a stolen House Rockhurst ship with a new kind of faster-than-light travel technology, an understanding that the failure of Ada and Richard’s union means inter-House war, and a sexual connection too strong to ignore. As she eludes pursuit by her undesired betrothed, Richard Rockhurst, she finds an unlikely ally: fugitive Marcus Loch, considered one of the universe’s most dangerous criminals. Ada von Hasenberg, fifth child of one of the three High Houses of the Consortium, has spent two years running from her father’s forces in order to avoid a political marriage. The opener to Mihalik’s debut trilogy, a simplistic space opera with a side of erotica, starts far too slowly and fails to build dramatic tension even in its most frantic escape scenes, while both character and plot development lean toward the bland and stereotyped.

Polaris rising a novel