4.5 Wine Glass #Review of Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet

Title: Nightchaser
Series: Endeavor #1
Author: Amanda Bouchet
Format: Kindle Edition, 352 pages
Published: January 1st 2019 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
ISBN: ASIN B077Y5YXC5
Links:  Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: NetGalley
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Tess Bailey: the galaxy's Most Wanted.
Captain Tess Bailey is in deep trouble. She and her crew are on the run, pursued by a tyrant who'll take them dead or alive. Tess's best hope is a tall, dark, and much-too-appealing stranger, Shade Ganavan, who says he can help her. But his motivations are far from clear...

Shade Ganavan: arrogance, charm...and that special something that makes you want to kick him.
With the dreaded Dark Watch closing in, what Tess and Shade don't know about each other might get them killed...unless they can set aside their differences and learn to trust each other before it's too late.

Linda's Thoughts:
I sat back in my captain’s chair and breathed, slow and deep, letting my body adjust to traveling at a normal speed again. It was risky to come here, but maybe we’d finally get a break. We needed one. So did the ship.
Outside the bridge’s windows, stars winked back at me from the endless Dark. The view didn’t look much different from anywhere else we’d been to in the galaxy lately, but no one in their right mind would be here. I was counting on it.

The release of Nightchaser marks the exciting debut of Amanda Bouchet’s new sci-fi romance Endeavor trilogy. I’m a huge fan of her Kingmaker Chronicles so I’ve been looking forward to reading this introduction from the moment I saw that it was in the works. The series features twenty-six-year-old Captain Tess Bailey as a strong, kickass heroine in a deep space setting where the government is controlling and all-seeing.

As the story opens, our heroine and her crew of misfits in their spaceship Endeavor are on the run after they brazenly stole a top-secret batch of vaccines. The vaccines are desperately needed by the orphanage where Tess grew up after her mother died of a fever. When Tess turns to an arrogant stranger for help, it could spell the end of her freedom or the loss of her heart.

I connected to Tess from the start. She is a skilled thief with the best of intentions. Technically, she’s a nightchaser - a rebel fighting against the Galactic Overseer Novalight’s regime. Besides the fact that Novalight is an evil tyrant who wants a bland universe of robotic citizens, Tess has valid reasons of her own for despising Novalight with every fiber of her being. Learning who she is and why she’s so important in the scheme of things made me pull for her success even more.

While Tess is strong, capable and respected by her crew, she’s also lonely and vulnerable. In walks Shade, big, strapping, talented, mysterious, charming and cocky space rogue extraordinaire who seems to present the perfect solution. They are great together and off-the-charts sparks fly between them from the beginning. That said, I wanted to kick him where it would hurt too many times to count as he had competing motivations – one of which could spell doom for Tess and the universe. Regardless, their fun and sexy banter is delightful and their steamy scenes are scorching!

Her ragtag crew are survivors, on-the-run criminals like Tess and extremely loyal to her. They all have interesting back-stories that will pull at your heartstrings. There’s Tess’ first mate, Jaxon, who possesses a heart of gold. Tess has known him since they were in prison together. There’s Fiona, a scientist, lab rat and medic. Miko lost a hand when she escaped from her incarceration. She is the ship’s navigator. Miko’s mother, Shirori, is blind and is the crew’s pseudo Grandma, providing a calm and comforting essence to them all. Lastly, there’s Bonk. He’s a cool cat who was gifted to Tess by a wonderful lady who owns a book shop.

Following please find a few of my favorite lines from Nightchaser:

“Never seen hot and dirty before?” he asked.
--- 

I took his hand back, because I was a numbskull like that. “I don’t bite.”

What seemed like a wry huff escaped him. “Actually, I kind of hope you do.”
---

“You’re a dream I didn’t know I had,” he rasped.
--- 

“I want to do this every day,” I said.
“Baby, we can do this ten times a day, upside down, tangled up, and hanging from the ceiling if you want.”

Nightchaser sets a high bar for what promises to be an entertaining, high-energy, out-of-this-world adventure. All I can say is beam me up, Amanda! I’m fully on board to continue my Endeavor journey with Starbreaker coming in April 2020! 



Suggested Reading Order: 
Nightchaser (Book #1)
Starbreaker (Book #2) - Expected publication: April 2020
Dawnmaker (Book #3)