Space Balls: Houston, We Have Liftoff

Space Series, Book 4

By: Sara L Hudson

Narrated by: Samantha Brentmoor, Lee Samuels

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Billionaire Rose West suffers no fools.

Growing up abandoned by her parents and left to the socialite wolves at an all-girl boarding school, Rose learned early on how to survive with a smile, a wink, and cleavage full of cash.

As an oil baroness, a soon-to-be honors graduate from a prestigious university, and a fairly attractive woman - if you're into big hair and bigger boobs - Rose is poised to take over the world.

Too bad she has no idea what she wants to do with her life.

Hashtag quarterlife crisis.

NASA astronaut Vance Bodaway made a deal with himself a long time ago - be an astronaut, be alone.

After his army captain father died in action, Vance saw firsthand what losing a husband did to his mother. He promised himself to never put someone he cares about in that situation.

So he keeps his dating life casual and has made peace with not having a family of his own.

Until a feisty blonde with a penchant for glitter and trouble enters his orbit, challenging all his hard-and-fast rules.

Hashtag friends with benefits.

But between Rose's pole dance classes with Vance's mom, their hands-free shot contest at the bar, and a run-in with mall security during a Black Friday shopping fiasco, their no-strings-attached booty calls agreement starts to cross emotional stopgaps neither one of them knew they had.

And when a different clock starts ticking - the kind with a T-minus nine months countdown - will these two be able to power cycle through their emotional baggage and lift-off into love?

Or will they crash and burn?

©2021 Sara L Hudson (P)2022 Sara L Hudson

Not the hilarious romcom I was waiting for

Wow it started with a bang. Literally. While we’ve seen Vance and Rose in previous books in the series, they only meet each other for the first time during Jackie and Flynn’s wedding. They sleep together right away, not knowing who the other is. And they keep running into each other–of course, they have common friends. Until they decide to have a friends with benefits relationship.

Both characters were quite interesting. Rose is a twenty one year old billionaire, with money but no purpose. She does whatever she wants at the time, often offending people with her outrageous behavior. It seemed consistent with the young socialite we imagine her to be. But she also cares a lot, and does things for people. Her caring also means she’s critical of herself. She’s more than just a shallow young woman, like many people think. It becomes even more obvious when she discovers she’s pregnant with Vance’s baby.

She has quite an age gap with her romantic interest, who’s in his mid thirties. The fact that Vance is Native American was important for the character. He’s struggled to get where he is–he’s an astronaut. His past has resulted in a fear of commitment that Rose is going to challenge in many ways.

I loved that despite all their differences–of life experience, of maturity, of taste, of family, of struggles…–they get each other. They see what others don’t, go deeper into the other’s personality, even though their relationship is supposed to be of the no strings attached kind. And together, they were fire!

We’re going back to space–at least virtually–with this installment in the series, and the nerd in me liked that a lot. Vance’s work as an astronaut is also an important plot device. It’s the reason why he doesn’t want to commit to someone, even Rose; the reason why he starts the whole friends with benefits thing, since he’s leaving soon on a mission and it’s kind of a deadline for their relationship.

Though I loved a lot of aspects of this book, it felt a little bit off. Rose is definitely over the top, yet she isn’t as funny as she thinks she is, and Vance is way too serious. So despite a couple of absurd situations, this book was less funny than the others, in my opinion. I enjoy serious romances, but I was expecting laughs and I didn’t get them. Not enough, at least.

Not the fault of the narrators. The female narrator gives all her energy to Rose, while the male narrator’s composed voice is perfect for Vance. A very good audiobook, just not the hilarious romcom I was waiting for.

Space Balls

This is the fourth book in the Space series. This is Rose and Vance’s book. Rose is the youngest of the West siblings. She is crazy outgoing glitter fanatic. I thought going into this book that it was going to be an easy super funny Rom-Com. But it was a little bit more on the serious emotional side. This is a age cap fake dating trope. I loved it! I have loved this entire series. Samantha Brentmoor and Lee Samuels did a fantastic job narrating this series.