LOVE IN THE TIME OF WORMHOLES

A hospitality director on an interstellar cruise balances intrigue in deep space with an unexpected reunion in this SF romance.

Life on the Ignisar, an interstellar pleasure cruise ship, is uncomplicated for Sunastara “Sunny” Jeka, just as she prefers. As the ship’s hospitality specialist, she is responsible for ensuring the vessel’s guests have everything they need, from comfortable accommodations to spectacular entertainment. Her personal life is similarly unencumbered as she drifts from one casual encounter to the next, assiduously avoiding any attachments. Sunny enjoys this life for five years, until she encounters the ship’s new languages and customs expert, Frederick Caruthers. Months earlier, they met on Squee, a dating app. Users of Squee use pseudonyms, and they called themselves Phoebe and Joshua. They enjoyed a passionate night together, one that seared itself into Sunny’s memory. She desires Freddie but wants to keep their relationship strictly professional. Freddie proposes a solution to her dilemma: They will remain professional at work, but at night they’ll resume their relationship as Phoebe and Joshua. Sunny and Freddie fall in love, but secrets from their past and a mystery on the Ignisar threaten to put their relationship—and their lives—at risk. Hardy’s latest novel is an appealing second-chance romance with an SF twist that offers irresistible characters and a fast-paced story that deftly balances action and passion. Sunny and Freddie are appealing protagonists whose role-playing as Phoebe and Joshua gives their scenes a lively spark. The author’s worldbuilding is robust as events on the Ignisar unfold over the course of several subplots, including a case of espionage targeting a senator from the planet Tranquis and her family. A rich vein of humor runs through the tale, from the title’s sly nod to Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera to the sharp, quippy prose (“Clever, vicious, brutal, and with no allegiances aside from the all-mighty credit, they were, in Sunny’s opinion, exceptionally bad cruise ship guests”). That said, Freddie is alternately referred to as “Freddie Carruthers” and “Frederick Caruthers.”

An enjoyable romp through space with a sizzling love story at its core.