Date Night on Union Station

EarthCent Ambassador Series, Book 1

By: E.M. Foner

Narrated by: Hollie Jackson

Length: 4 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Kelly Frank is EarthCent's top diplomat on Union Station, but her job description has always been a bit vague. The pay is horrible and she's in hock up to her ears for her furniture, which is likely to end up in a corridor because she's behind on rent for her room. Sometimes she has to wonder if the career she has put ahead of her personal life for 15 years is worth it.

When Kelly receives a gift subscription to the dating service that's rumored to be powered by the same benevolent artificial intelligence that runs the huge station, she decides to swallow her pride and give it a shot. But as her dates go from bad to worse, she can only hope that the supposedly omniscient AI is planning a happy ending.

©2014 E. M. Foner (P)2017 Tantor

If you can read this, buy this book.

Any additional comments?

A gem of a book that came as a complete surprise to me.

Date Night at Union Station is a combination slice of life science fiction mixed with light-hearted comedy. Frankly, a match made in heaven if you ask me. The book follows two characters. Primarily it follows Kelly, who is Earth's top diplomat in a section of space at the largest space station. She is surrounded by all sorts of oddball races and species, but they are nothing compared to her mother nagging her to get married since she is already past 30! The other character is Joe, who sorts and sells scrap in the space station with his adoptive son. Sound like a romance? Well, it kind of is, but it kind of isn't. It's more a series of tales about dates that are anything but. You have a maybe homicidal queen in need of a king. Or you have a space pirate selling counterfeit goods that mistakenly agrees to a date through a dating service with the woman trying to catch him. Or beyond the dates there are rich little girls selling flowers to buy a baby brother. Or an entire alien species that is sabotaging humanity's chances at a video game tournament.

You get the idea. The book is just like that, some fun bad first date stories in space.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes slice of life or light-hearted laughs with a light feeling overall, something like a spring day before it gets too hot.

Funny and well written!!

This is not a it, sexy romance. It is a funny and well written book you'll want to listen to multiple times. Ending was a little abrupt so I'm thrilled there is a follow on concerning her married life. If you want a good beach read that will keep you laughing, this is it!

A wonderful listen.

Good bit of humor and a quite believable set of characters and situations. I wish the others were available in Audible as well.

Date night on union station

This book was funny and entertaining. I really enjoyed it. No weird things happening and you could follow along without having to have a college degree. It was a unexpected jewel in a sea of crap. I give you 10 stars. Margaret

Excellent start to a wonderful series

I have the entire series (so far) in Kindle, and have a really strong liking for the characters and stories told in these books.

The stories are clean, with an undercurrent of humor, and the personalities and detailed story line make the series enjoyable.

I've decided to buy the entire series in audiobook format too, just to tide me over while waiting for the next books written by this author.

It's a feel-good experience to go through this series. It's been a while since I read book 1, so I was a little surprised that there were a few parts to the first book that seemed to go slowly. But, if you read this series of books, you will see that the world-building is detailed and sophisticated. So, the foundation of this world is being set in Date Night on Union Station, and the main characters introduced. The story picks up pace closer to the end of the book, and that's pretty much the pace set for the rest of the series.

I recommend this series to everyone - even non sci-fi readers. Because it's about interaction - between people, between people and aliens, between people and AI. It's fantastic.

It's the opposite of dystopian, or trashy, or violent books.

It's refreshing.

The author's vision of a future world where humanity has gone into space, how business is conducted, how things work - communication, agriculture, holograms, food, games, all kinds of tech, makes the series even more interesting. All this sophisticated visionary predicting is casually woven into the story lines with straightforward and sometimes mischievous dialogue.

It's great writing. The narrator does a good job. It didn't take long to adjust to her voice and soon I was deep into the story.

Warm, Intelligent and Funny

Date Night is the first of E M Foner's excellent, caring, humorous and engaging "Union Station" series. The characters (human and alien) are well-developed, the narration is strong, and this is highly-recommended entry point to a great, and very unusual, series.

Better than I expected

I had this in my wish list for months and was very hesitant based on a couple of reviews. But after the first few chapters I really because as me intrigued. By chapter 17 I bought 3 more audible credits and the next book in the series. I don't think I will be disappointed. Not as slap stick or continuously funny as some books this book still had some good humour. I would recommend.

Light engaging well written

This is a fun lighthearted romp. It is not a deep philosophical treatise; however; in subtle ways without beating you over the head, it does give you pause to think… The characters engage with each other in different situations and
you can see them growing… Overall a lighthearted and fun easy listen! Would not be embarrassed to listen with my parents or teenagers or ten your old grandson. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

fun read

enjoyed the kindle book do much, bought the audible. the books remind me of the Keith Laumer Retief series with some romance thrown in. also worth noting is no foul language, violence or adult eroticism. just fun clean stories.

Pleasant

What did you love best about Date Night on Union Station?

I found this book to be... pleasant. It often made me mentally smile. It was clever and humorous. I nice diversion for those looking for something more "fun" than deep.

Funny boom

funny space scifi romcom, the narration was spoton. will be looking at spending credits on other books in the series.

Fun, lighthearted science fiction at its best

Date Night on Union Station is a fun, lighthearted story. Despite the title, it has almost nothing to do with dating. It follows earth's ambassador to an alien space station, as she goes on a series of "dates", all of which turn into working lunches at which she solves the latest diplomatic crisis.

The story has a classic space opera setting, but none of the violence or horror you'd normally associate with that genre. Instead, there's a lot of humour, and likeable characters who solve their problems through diplomacy. A lot of the humour comes from the aliens patronizing attitude towards earth's "primitive" culture.

There isn't much of a plot - this novel is almost a collection of short stories. However, this is the first novel in a long series, and acts as a prolog to a story told over the course of several short novels.

After listening to this novel, I bought the next few books in the series, in rapid succession. The series just gets better, as you get to know the ever expanding cast of characters.

If you enjoy light, innocent science fiction, which doesn't take itself too seriously, then this series is well worth a try.

Very disappointed

This is a confusing story from the start with little description and no situational awareness. Eventually I lost track of who and why. I no longer cared.

It is short at 4 hours and although I persisted I couldn’t finish the last 45 minutes.

Very light and untaxing

What did you like best about Date Night on Union Station? What did you like least?

Best - its a very easy listen it has some light humor and some good scenes.

Least - its too short which makes it quite expensive per listening hour.

Would you recommend Date Night on Union Station to your friends? Why or why not?

Possibly it depends on the friend though. There are other books I would recommend first.
It is a very easy listen it has no violence or X-rated content, in fact if it was a film it would probably have a U certificate so friends who wanted something light might enjoy it.
Personally I would be more likely to recommend the Half Moon Hollow series by Molly Harper though - that has much more humour, or for Sci Fi the Hitch Hikers guide is definitely more likely to make you laugh out loud.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Not sure there is a stand out scene. I loved the 2 flower girls though, any scenes with them in were quite entertaining.

Do you think Date Night on Union Station needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

There is a follow up book, which makes sense as the first book, though complete, certainly leaves the possibility open. Undecided whether I will download though - the books are relatively expensive for what they are.

Any additional comments?

If you want a non taxing book with light humour and a very predictable story this could be for you. Its not a page turner though I found it easy to dip in and out of.
In general I prefer books that I don't want to put down - this isn't one of them.