Dragonfly by Erica Hayes #scifi #romance #spaceopera

Title: Dragonfly
Author: Erica Hayes
Genre: Scifi Romance
Publisher: Momentum
Available: Amazon $5.90 (Kindle)
Rating:  4 stars
Rater: Pippa 





Blurb:
Carrie Thatcher is a tough Imperial counter-terrorism agent. Her mission: pose as a sexy cyber-thief to entrap the notorious rebel Dragonfly, who's planning a heist on the space station Casa de Esperanza - an orbital casino on the fringe of Imperial space.

And this assignment's personal: Dragonfly murdered her closest friend, and she's in no mood to show him mercy. Even getting stuck with the partner from hell--Malachite, her sociopathic ex-lover and the Empire's most dangerous agent--can't dampen her relish for the kill.

With Carrie's expert weapons skills and penchant for cracking codes, insinuating herself into Dragonfly's confidence should be easy. But is he the ruthless killer she was led to believe? Or has her precious Empire deceived her? With Malachite watching her every move, the slightest flinch in loyalty means death.

Carrie is soon racing to uncover an audacious treachery that will shock the Empire to its core ... if she can stay alive for long enough to expose it.

What I liked.
The world building was in-depth, complex and intriguing. The plot was high tension and action packed. There was quite a bit of science (maths) and technology, something I love but that might put off those not so keen on heavy SF elements. The characters are captivating, and the hero particularly takes some figuring out.

What I didn't like.
This was quite slow at the start due to a heavy amount of set up and world building, but had a lot of tension throughout, right to the final conflict...and then totally flopped for the final few pages. I think this book had the most disappointing ending I've come across, even if it had the required HFN for a romance. Also I got a little tired of Carrie with her 'he's my enemy, he has to die, OMG he's hot and I want to sleep with him' mental routine. I prefer my sexual tension a bit more subtle. Others might enjoy her constant mental conflict more than me.

In conclusion.
If you're a fan of the Firefly/Farscape style of space opera, this is for you (Carrie was a very Aeryn Sun type character to me). Be prepared for some heavy-ish technobabble and world building though, and having to stick with it for the first couple of chapters to get to the adventure.