Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - Chilling Effect

I LOVE funny and quirky space adventures and now one with a Latina main character!? I loved this book.

My favorite thing about SciFi is that it’s a genre that allows you to be as creative as you want, and Valdes did just that! Psychic cats, dinosaur orgy, a main love interest whose emotions you know through his smell? THIS is what I love.

I also really enjoyed how the use of Spanish and Latin American culture wasn’t justified. It just existed and that was fine!

I loved Eva as a main character, she was funny, sarcastic, grumpy, and I want her to be my best friend. Vakar is my love, I’ll protect him till the end of time.

This isn't the kind of book that will have you constantly turning the page, but instead is a book you can easily put down and pick up at another time and still have fun.

Also, it had Star Wars references, so it immediately won me over 🥰

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ariel790's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This one was difficult for me to finish reading. The main reason was because of poor pacing. There were times it flowed, but others that it was too busy. I understood where the author was going, but felt so much was going on that the story often lacked the attention to detail it deserved. Then it would slow down and have a more intimate, character building moment. Making more sense, and drawing me back in. Eva and her crew are definitely interesting. Care was given to them, but elsewhere not so much. Particularly in world building. So many alien species and different worlds brought up that were never described. Fast paced action that often got lost in itself. If I hadn't read other Sci-fi that had similar concepts, I probably would have totally been lost.

I do like the characters and the author's sense of humor so I may try the second one sometime in the future, but when I have more time.

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emilineopines's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Captain Ava Innocente has crew she loves, a ship she adores, and enough freight work to keep everyone a float. After her sister is kidnapped by a galactic criminal organization, she's on the hook to complete jobs to keep her sister as safe as possible. Also, there are psychic cats.

What follows is a break neck, amusing series of events that never go exactly the way anyone wants. It's laugh out loud (like actually) funny. It's filled with references to other sci-fi books. The plot is interesting enough to keep it moving.

It was a fun, diverting read filled with real friendships, family drama, and redemption.

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5am's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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obviousthings's review against another edition

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I liked the characters, but the plot felt a bit too contrived at times.

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joeyisreading's review against another edition

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I stop at 25% of the e-book on Hoopla. I had to DNF this book because I wasn’t enjoying it. I didn’t like the crew. None of the characters were good. Eva was annoying. I couldn’t stand her. She’s trying too hard to be a badass person. Eva completes the first two assignments way too easily. It feels like Deus ex machina. I also couldn’t stand her speaking Spanglish (Spanish and English). As a Spanish speaker (Mexican), I find Spanglish annoying. Some words in both languages, don’t sound right. For example, “El Cabron giant spider” doesn’t sound right. Cabron can either mean “bastard”, “bitch”, “son of bitch”, or “fucker”. That’s not what it’s really saying.

Overall, I didn’t like this book because of flat characters and Eva is annoying.

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