If you’ve been following my reading journey you know how much I love Jennifer Estep’s Galactic Bonds series. I even got to do an exclusive interview with Jennifer recently for the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books romance blog. There are a lot of reasons I love these books, from the fun combination of sci-fi action and Bridgerton-style royal shenanigans, to the enemies to lovers romance, to the hilarious side characters.
But as romance-heavy series get longer, they can sometimes lose the romantic tension necessary to keep readers emotionally invested in the action scenes. Especially once the main couple is happily ensconced in a committed relationship. Like a lot of readers, I went into this instalment excited for another adventure in one of my favourite series, but also worried about whether the tension would hold. If you’re wondering the same thing, I’m happy to report that Only Cold Depths holds its own.
Yes, the last book that focused on our main duo (Book #2, Only Good Enemies) left Vesper and Kyrion in acceptance of their feelings for each other, but their continuing story is still full of complex relationships and big feelings that kept me turning pages, needing to know what would happen next.
Vesper and Kyrion have really only been together for a few weeks as Only Cold Depths opens. And although they thought they had their truebond magic figured out when they used it to defeat Callus Holloway in Book #2, their connection is suffering intermittent blakcouts and they’re not able to share each others’ powers. Worse, a new bounty hunter duo is hot on their heels, and Vesper and Kyrion’s magic is so weak, they only barely escape.
Desperate for respite, they head to Sygnustern, where Asterin has promised House Collier will offer them refuge. But when they arrive, Vesper and Kyrion discover that Asterin’s place in her house is not as secure as they’d assumed. And when Vesper’s estranged family shows up, including Vesper’s brother Zane, Vesper and Kyrion are forced to share the House Collier guest wing with a potentially deadly enemy.
For me, this tension between Vesper and her family is where the suspense comes in. I know Vesper and Kyrion will find a way to make it as a couple. But will Vesper ever be able to forgiver her grandmother for hiding her birth from her father? Will she allow the father who so obviously longs to build a relationship to get to know her, or has her heart been too damaged by her mother Nerezza’s abuse and rejection. And most of all, will Zane choose to aide the sister he never knew, or fulfill his duties as an Arrow and drag her back to Caullus Holloway and the Imperium?
All the tensions come to a head when the bounty hunters show up.
If you know me, you know how much I love a good action sequence. And this is where all the emotional drama pays off. All the questions about the various relationships come into play and are wound perfectly into the several chapters-long action packed climax deep in the bowels of the mines of Sygnustern, where we really get to see the cold depths not only of the mines but of several of the characters’ hearts.
There were moments where I had to keep reading far longer than I’d planned because I needed to know what would happen next, and moments where I couldn’t help awww-ing out loud.
If you’ve been enjoying the Galactic Bonds series, you don’t need to worry about the series losing its heart as it gets longer. Only Cold Depths really holds up to the challenge. You’ll love the way various relationships are explored, and you’ll be pre-ordering the next book, Only Rogue Actions in eager anticipation for the story to continue. Or at least, I know I am!
I highly recommend Only Cold Depths to readers of the series, and highly recommend the series to lovers of action, space opera and romance. If you want to know where to start, check out my review of Only Bad Options, Galactic Bonds Book #1. And if you’re all caught up, be sure and check out my recent interview with Jennifer Estep on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, to get the inside scoop on Jennifer’s plans for the series!
