Refuge (Zone Cyborgs Book 5) by Jessica Marting

4 Stars

The writing and editing of the ARC version of the manuscript was very clean, with no typos that I found and well constructed sentences. The world building was quite vivid, with the worlds in the Brava system that our protagonists visited, and the decrepit outlaw space station in the Zone, all coming to vivid life. The characterization was deft, with both hero and heroine being sympathetic individuals with strengths and weaknesses. The development of the romantic relationship was sweet and organic, with me falling in love with the hero alongside the heroine. The plot and pacing was exciting and tight, meaning I read this novel in one sitting. There was a medium amount of angst on the part of the hero and very high stakes throughout, so I enjoyed the novel. I prefer high stakes in my romance novels. This novel used the Amnesia trope and the Partner in Trouble trope. The world building, plot, and pacing were all four stars in this novel. The characterization and development of the romantic relationship were also four stars. I therefore gave this novel a combined rating of four stars. The novel ended on a Happy Ever After ending instead of a cliffhanger, so that was a plus. I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy sci-fi romance with high stakes and good world building. I will keep my eye out for new books written by this author. I will probably buy myself keeper copies of this whole series, because I quite enjoyed the whole series. I am happy that the author wrapped up the overarching story arc in five novels.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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