Only Good Enemies

Galactic Bonds, Book 2

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang, James Fouhey, Max Roll

“This is space opera at its finest.”—Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling author on Only Bad Options

New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Estep continues her Galactic Bonds series with a new, action-packed adventure that blends science fiction, fantasy, and historical romance. This rollicking space opera features a mix of magic and technology, along with a soul mates, slow burn, and enemies-to-lovers story. Perfect for fans of Star Wars, Bridgerton, and Pride and Prejudice.

A WOMAN ON A MISSION . . .

My name is Vesper Quill. I used to be a lowly lab rat, toiling away in obscurity developing brewmakers and other household appliances. But thanks to my seer magic and my own ingenuity, I’m now a Regal lady and the head of a successful corporation.

My mission? To destroy the Techwave, the dangerous group that has stolen my designs and plans to weaponize them against the Imperium. But when my mission takes an unexpected turn, I’m once again surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.

Further complicating matters is Kyrion Caldaren, an arrogant Regal lord whose fate is bound to mine. Kyrion doesn’t realize the two of us still have an unwanted connection that puts us both in grave danger . . . or does he?

A MAN SURROUNDED BY ENEMIES . . .

My name is Kyrion Caldaren. As the leader of the Arrows, the Imperium’s elite fighting force, I’ve been tasked with tracking down and destroying the Techwave before they seize control of the Archipelago Galaxy.

My other mission? Find a way to assassinate Lord Callus Holloway, the Imperium ruler who wants to take my psion power for his own. Holloway is also a threat to Vesper Quill, who haunts my thoughts, despite the broken bond and distance between us.

When I realize Vesper is in danger, my priorities change, and I vow to use all my telepathic, telekinetic, and other abilities to help her. I will save Vesper from her enemies and mine—even if I have to burn down the whole bloody galaxy.

©2023 Jennifer Estep (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

Bad Sci-Fi, entertaining story

For anyone considering this book, this is Romance first, Fantasy second and Sci-fi genre being distant third. Story is mostly good and entertaining, with some drama and action. But the Author had made some mistakes too. Hero forgets his own telekinetic abilities (twice) and nearly fails to rescue his loved one. Planets have too generic names and science is mostly missing - the Author is just being too lazy to prepare proper world/universe setting. Another is mistake is that author uses exactly same sentence several times through this book, making the same mistake as David Weber with needlessly bloated book. And the book would be better without those sex scenes.

overall it's good story

How many times can a person can be kidnapped or capture? To many times.... The author seem repeat a lot, like feel just adding words.

Still good but

Story, intrigue still good the draw out of fight scenes did not do justice to the story. If your going to have an action scene it has to move fast, may at a dribble while we dig deeep into everyone’s mind. That was not a typo. It reminded me of when people pretend die for 20 minutes. The narrators were good as usual.

Only Good Enemies

Only Good Enemies by Jennifer Estep
Galactic Only Good Enemies by Jennifer Estep
Galactic Bonds series #2. Science fiction space opera. Fantasy romance, slow burn. Fated mates. Dual POV. Best read in series order.
Vesper Quill used to be a lab rat, designing different pieces of household appliances. Or so she believed. Between her seer Magic and telling the wrong person about a design flaw, and fleeing for her life, Vesper is now a Regal lady and head of a successful corporation. On the bad side, she’s still fighting for her life and hiding her mating from Kyrion Caldaren. Or so she believes.
Kyrion Caldaren is the leader of the Arrows. He’s trying to destroy the Techwave before they seize control of the Archipelago Galaxy. He’s also trying to find a way to assassinate the Imperium ruler who had held and killed his family and still hold power over Kyrion. Vesper continues to haunt his thoughts even though their bond has been broken. Realizing she is still in danger changes his priorities and he will do anything to get to her and protect her.

High action and adventure, danger and altruism. Vesper and Kyrion work to protect the other and realize there is more to the whole bond thing than either of them know.
An interesting hook at the end will have you wanting to read the next book immediately. Book 4 just came out October 2024 and the last and final book will be October 2025. I’m really looking forward the rest of this series. Vesper and Kyrion are strong and ultimately fighting for good even though there is a lot of gray in there in the middle.
4.5

The audiobook version is compelling and will,keep your attention. Love the narrator.

Fantastic!

A great sequel to Only Bad Options! The story was truly wonderful and the narration was perfect. It took awhile, but the wait for Kyrion and Vesper to get their act together was worth it. Even after 14 hours, it was over way too soon. I loved Zane's POV bonus chapters at the end. I can't wait until the next one.

Good 2nd Book of Series

This is a good series so far that is keeping me fron putting the book down. As this progresses the characters develope more depth and there develop twists in the story.
The narrator are doing a very good job with this Series.

Needs Trigger Warning

The story is very good but I was not expecting the torture scenes. It really needs a trigger warning at the beginning.

Very good

I really enjoyed this audiobook. Plenty of action and angst. Well written fight scenes. Good slow romantic build. The narrators did an excellent job bringing the story to life (my preferred audiobook speed of 1.5x).

This is surprisingly funny

I laughed and I cried. Really good character development. Give this a listen. Really well read audiobook.

A great continuation of this series

5 stars - I loved it!

"A Regal lord and a lab rat, an Arrow and an inventor, a powerful psion and a struggling seer, forced together by extenuating circumstances and hunted by dangerous enemies."

Well this book had me hooked from the very beginning and I couldn’t put it down! Vesper is now a Regal Lady but spends her time running her new company and planning on how to stop the Techwave and Lord Callus Holloway. When she is kidnapped by the Techwave she finds herself fighting for her life and being rescued by Kyrion, who has just realized the bond is still there.

Vesper and Kyrion’s relationship changes so much in this book. I loved seeing them work together to fight against their enemies and come to a partnership, then a romantic relationship. It was just the perfect progression to a relationship with two people who have extreme fears around trusting other people and truth bonds. When we finally saw them kiss for the first time I screamed “finally” because the tension between these two was so hot and intense. While I don’t usually love slow burn romances, this one has been so worth it and I can’t wait to see how their relationship progresses.

This world continues to be fascinating with its mixture of magic, technology, and politics. We finally get to learn more about the Techwave and Erzton, including going to an Erzton planet. I am very fascinated by the Erzton and their society, especially the Lady Asterin Armas, who I can’t wait to see more of. Vesper and Kyrion’s fight against their Lord Callus Holloway was intense and dangerous. I loved seeing these two come together to fight against him and I can’t wait to see him finally taken down.

Overall, this was a wonderful continuation of Vesper and Kyrion’s story. I am loving this world and all the characters that have been introduced, even the villains. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book and hopefully learn what is going on with Zane now that he knows the truth.

Trigger Warnings: on page kidnapping and torture; violence, blood, and death; references to the death of parents, patricide and child abandonment;