Hierax

Star Guardians, Book 4

By: Ruby Lionsdrake

Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

As a database programmer from Arizona and a fan of sedate, indoor activities, Indi Smith doesn't belong in outer space. Certainly not in a star system with a broken wormhole gate and no way home. But through no fault of her own, that's where she's landed, and nobody on the ship, not even the genius chief engineer, Hierax, knows how to repair the gate. The only clue that could help is an untranslatable transmission coming from an uninhabitable planet with no atmosphere.

Though she's a fish out of water, Indi is determined to use her knack for analysis and recognizing patterns to decode the transmission and help Hierax fix the gate, whether he wants the assistance of some civilian woman or not. She refuses to die in the middle of nowhere, even if it means she has to prove her worth to an arrogant, know-it-all engineer. She's had experience dealing with geeks, albeit not ones with such big, sexy muscles, but that doesn't mean working with him will be easy.

Chief Hierax is used to being in charge of all things mechanical, and he's used to being the smartest person on the ship. Few of his burly Star Guardian colleagues were recruited for their brains. So when Indi shows up with a clever way of looking at the alien transmission, one he hadn't thought of, he's not sure what to make of it - or her.

His focus should be on fixing the gate, but he finds himself speculating about romantic endeavors. Would she be interested in seeing his hobby projects or maybe his favorite tools? It's hard to tell. He has a hard time understanding women - and people in general, for that matter - so charming her may be tougher than finding a way home.

©2017 Ruby Lionsdrake (P)2017 Lindsay Buroker

Fabulous

Having been a bit of a geek myself I can truly appreciate geek love And this book definitely fulfills expectations in that area It is adorable as are geeks

As exciting as previous books

The crew and guests have wiggled their way out of the predicament they found themselves in in the previous book. The adventures are awesome and the romance adds to the story. I have thoroughly enjoyed the series so far.

Two STEM geeks find love between puzzles

Another installment where the romance and chemistry fell flat for me, probably because the narrator didn’t match the MCs or the geek-humor. Also, this author sometimes glosses over descriptions and backstories; in this book, it was 75% of the way thru when suddenly there’s repeated mention of Indigo’s hair extensions, curvy figure and dark skin. So, yeah, she’s black … and yet the narration was the same for Indigo as Angela or Tala (there may have been an occasional Southern accent, but it was sporadic, as if the narrator also didn’t realize the character was black until she’d narrated 6hrs of this book). The math and engineering flirt-banter was clumsy, but not in a sexy, fun way, I think I would have enjoyed this far more with a different narrator (maybe someone with good comedic timing, like Rene Raudman, Lorelei King, Jacob Morgan or Bronson Pinchot). The single get-together might have worked better for me with a narrator who could sell all the engineering euphemisms about his tool.

On the space opera side, this was a better story. Each book advances the series arc, but this one was more of a one-off castaway episode, where the crew are stranded after going thru a stargate and do some Indiana (Indigo?) Jones sleuthing on an abandoned planet to fix the gate and get home. Only, which home: do they continue on to return the gals to Earth or turn back to help the Star Guardians fend off invasion? That question is left for the final (and next) book. This non-romance side of the book was also better because the other series regulars stuck around (compared to some of the prior books which left the main couple alone for most of the book).