Why I picked up this book:

After pulling my hair out for over a week trying to research comparative titles for a story I’m working on, I was shoved toward this book, and boy am I ever grateful! The moment I read the blurb, I knew the plot was really similar to one I’m working on now. Not only have I found a great query comp, but a great new author to follow.

This review may contain spoilers.

An Accidental Goddess

Raheiran Special Forces captain Gillaine Davré has just woken up in some unknown space way station, wondering where the last three hundred years have gone. The last thing she remembers is her ship being attacked. Now it seems that while she was time-traveling, she was ordained a goddess…. Gillaine’s only hope of survival rests with dangerously seductive Admiral Mack Makarian, who suspects her of being a smuggler—or worse. But he can’t begin to imagine the full extent of it. For Gillaine is now Lady Kiasidira, holy icon to countless believers, including Mack—a man who inspires feelings in her that are far from saintly…feelings she knows are mutual. But when their flirtation is interrupted by a treacherous enemy from the past, Gillaine’s secret—and secret desires—could destroy them both….

    

What I loved:

I pretty much loved everything about this story. It was fun, immersive, and had two wonderful main characters who were really set in their ways and shoved into situations that flipped both their lives upside down.

Simon is such a great character. Although he’s just a voice in Gillie’s head for most of the book, I really connected to his dry, sarcastic wit. It gave him a very fun, ageless quality.

For the most part I am not a fan of focus toward belief systems in fiction stories, but Sinclair pulled this off really, really well. Each encounter left enough of an imprint that even as a reader I was feeling Gillie’s disgust with the whole ideology.

Areas needing a touch of refinement:

Right about the 25% mark, Admiral Mack did something that completely blind-sided me. I kinda screamed ‘no no no, too soon’ for a few pages, then just went with it. After reading the story, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. The whole connection feels very too soon, but I also see that it was part of a lover’s struggle. Purely subjective and others may love it, but for Mack & Gillie… I’d have rather gotten deeper into their love story first.

The last 25% of the book had a few scenes that I think may have been told from the wrong POV. We start seeing Gillie’s fights through Mack’s eyes, and again other scenes seemed like we were seeing Mack’s struggle but through Gillie’s eyes. I’d have rather been immersed in the darker moment for each character instead of getting placed in the corner.

Overall:

This was a very fun read, and honestly, apart from a few hiccups I couldn’t have enjoyed the book more. I loved the characters, the settings, and the very real struggles each character had to endure. I will be reading more from this author, and searching the skies for a follow-up novel because there’s still ships out there. Still a war going on, and I want to see the rest of it.

Kindle users: Just fair warning, the kindle edition had extra spacing between paragraphs and some other weird layout issues. Not sure if this was just my machine, or the publisher’s choice. I found it distracting, but not enough to forego the story. Just really distracting.

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