Fiasco

Fiasco by Constance Fay

This is the second in the Uncharted Hearts series, and Fay has proven that they really know how to write a prickly femme MC with a soft center. Like Temper from book 1, Cyn is on her own as a bounty hunter, and she has developed a tough outer shell to protect herself. The only beings she seems to let in are her pet lizard and her feisty older neighbor. Cyn has long wanted to catch the kidnapper who killed her cousin, and when an opportunity comes up to resume the hunt, she joins the crew of the Calamity and follows the trail to her home planet, which she hasn't visited since her cousin's death.

It was fun to be back on board the Calamity (from book one), to see the crew through Cyn's eyes, and to watch them each offer acceptance to the prickly bounty hunter in their own ways as they begin to work together. There were a couple fun plot twists that made this a truly engaging read, and a solid on-board romantic thread to keep things interesting.

As always, I really enjoy reads featuring found family, but in addition to that, this book does have some scenes of reconciliation with family of origin that are appropriately messy and heartfelt. I found myself less invested in the romance (though it was a good one), and more about the other relationships that surrounded the main couple, which I think is a testament to the strength of the secondary characters and their interactions.

I would recommend this book for fans of SciFi & Romance, for readers who like a good investigation with some plot twists, and for folks who enjoy watching misfits settle into their found family.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, this is an unbiased review.