Review: Spacer's Cinderella

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Spacer's Cinderella Spacer's Cinderella by Adria Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Now see, this is why reviews matter. I saw a mention of this book in a writer's Twitter feed and it intrigued me. A Cinderella story set in space sounded like just what I needed in a week filled with crazysauce, but this debut author's work captured me far more than I expected it would...and it never would have happened if someone hadn't left a review.

Aurora is a grad student conducting research on terraforming. She's living on the edge of poverty, working as a research assistant, a TA, and conducting her own experiments, all in the hopes her struggling home planet will benefit. Her mentor is fired and his successor is antagonistic and it's all circling the drain, so when her BFF insists on a night out clubbing, Aurora gives in.

That's where she meets Magnus Thorne. Fill in the blank with every hunky, muscled, brilliant hero description and you've got him. The evening doesn't end the way Aurora expects and she tries to get on with her life, but her research and events at the university spiral into sabotage and political backstabbing that can only happen in a grant-rich, publish-or-perish (literally) environment.

I had some minor quibbles with the ending--I wanted to see Aurora's experiments in action after the huge build-up, but overall the world building was excellent and the love story hot and intense. I would definitely buy more from this author, and I hope she'll give us the story of Naia, Aurora's BFF. There were hints of that near the end of Spacer's Cinderella and I look forward to reading it someday.

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