If you’ve been following my blog, you know I’ve had a rough time finding good quality novellas lately. This week was another one where I knew my schedule would only allow for a novella-length read, and I just didn’t have it in me to go through another string of DNF’s.
That’s why I turned to Veronica Scott. I’ve read this author before, and I knew from past experience that Scott produces quality work. Songbird in particular has such a fun premise, and as I expected, Scott executes it to a T.
Military veteran Grant Barton is working as a security officer on a luxury space cruise liner while he transitions from military service to civilian life. It’s not his ideal job, but he’s struggled with addiction to pain killers and he cares for a war-trained sentient eagle who’s dependant on him, so he’s got some figuring out to do.
When Grant is temporarily assigned to guard pop icon Karissa Dawnstar during her tour aboard the spacecraft, he tries to get out of the job. But as gets to know Karissa, he discovers that behind her gregarious showmanship the singer hides intelligence, talent, and a struggle with addiction that mirrors his own. Soon Grant begins to find a sense of purpose in protecting the woman he’s coming to care for.
And when he discovers that Karissa’s manager is plotting a dangerous takeover of the pop star’s assets, the bodyguard will risk everything to save Karissa from a deadly end.
This story is narrated solely from Grant’s POV, and he’s so matter of fact and serious that I found the first chapter a little hard to get into. But after the initial setup in chapter one, this novella really takes off.
The interactions between the playful pop star and the serious bodyguard are cute, protective MMC’s are perennially attractive, and as with Veronica Scott’s other work, both characters exhibit a refreshing amount of maturity and levelheadedness. It’s nice when an author can advance a plot without making the characters act like total idiots.
This novella was originally published in an anthology featuring pets in space, so I was a little worried that the pet war-bird thing was going to be annoying and gimmicky. But Scott totally pulls it off, weaving the eagle Valkyr’s own little romance with a caged songbird in as a sort of mirror to the romance between the ex-warrior and the musician.
The ending feels a little rushed and the sexual tension isn’t the tensest, but overall I’m really impressed with the way Scott builds so much depth and worldbuilding into such a short story. I thoroughly enjoyed Star Cruise: Songbird, and highly recommend it to all romance readers. This one will appeal not only to the usual sci-fi romance crowd, but will also have crossover appeal for readers of rockstar romance. And I think a few Swifties out there will enjoy this one, too!
The moral of the story: when in doubt, pick up a book by Veronica Scott. According to Goodreads she’s written eighty-one books and counting, so you should be stocked up on quality reads for a good long while.
