After twenty-five years of single-minded determination, Marianne Gordon has finally achieved her ambition and been promoted to Principal of the Vesper School for Zero-Gravity Artistic Display.
But her moment of triumph is cut short when she discovers that she must share her position with Josephine Knight, a celebrated zero-gravity performer who doesn’t know the first thing about teaching. Deeply insulted, Marianne does her best to carry on as though Jo isn’t there, but Jo has a way of making her presence felt.
When the future of Marianne’s beloved school is threatened, Jo may be the only person who can help – but only if Marianne can learn to let her in.
Romance novellas have a tall order, aiming to take the characters quickly but satisfyingly from meet-cute to falling into each other’s arms. In Sparks Fly, it was more of a meet-grump, but I like that flavor too! (Maybe even better, in fact.)
We join Marianne at a time that should be a major win – being promoted to the head position at her art school. Instead of the sweetness of victory, though, Marianne is left with a bitter taste when Jo, injured but highly regarded zero-g pilot, is given the position alongside her.
I enjoyed the character development and the story, although at times I found the descriptions of the art form entirely baffling. Marianne and Jo had things to learn from one another, which highlights their strengths as a couple and lends credibility to their character arcs. I loved Marianne’s sass and wit, and loved her better at every show of steel. Jo, I took longer to warm up to – but she eventually shows a protective streak that won me over (into a puddle).
The novella also gave us just a taste of a fun and unusual sci fi world – just one corner of it, like we only see one corner of the heroines’ lives. As I said, I had a hard time picturing the artistry of little zero-grav flying units zooming around to music, shooting sparklers all over. Still, I love inventive and different looks at science fiction worlds – imagining an artistic culture that might arise specifically from a space station is great fun.
Overall, this novella had good pacing and build-up, fun world building, and relatable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Rating: 4.5/5
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