“Jessie Mihalik is an author to watch.”–Ilona Andrews, #1 New York Times bestselling authorTo save her brother and protect her family’s future, a powerful princess must join forces with a dashing man from her past in this thrilling space adventure, the second novel in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy.As the dutiful daughter of High House von Hasenberg, Bianca set aside her personal feelings and … Hasenberg, Bianca set aside her personal feelings and agreed to a political match arranged by her family, only to end up trapped in a loveless, miserable marriage. When her husband unexpectedly dies, Bianca vows never to wed again. Newly independent, she secretly uses her wealth and influence to save other women stuck in dire circumstances. Information is power and Bianca has a network of allies and spies that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.
When her family’s House is mysteriously attacked, Bianca’s oldest brother, the heir to House von Hasenberg, disappears. Fearful for her brother’s life, the headstrong Bianca defies her father and leaves Earth to save him. Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security—and Bianca’s first love—is ordered to find and retrieve the rebellious woman.
Ian is the last man Bianca wants to see. To evade capture, she leads him on a merry chase across the universe. But when their paths finally collide, she knows she must persuade him to help her. Bianca will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.
As the search takes them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely . . .
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I loved the first book in this series, so I immediately pre-ordered the second book. But when it came time to sit down and read, well, there was NO TIME to sit down and read. Sigh. Instead, there was plenty of outdoor walking, so I ponied up and bought the audiobook too. I’m glad I did! The narrator did a good job of pulling me into the world, and I was right back in the universe Mihalik built in the first book. Bianca’s story was fast-paced and action-packed, and the enemies-to-lovers storyline was believable and fun. I can’t wait for the last book in this series!
I LOVED the first book in this series, and I love this one even more! All the space politics and amazing world-building that you could hope for. I especially love how the heroines in this series are ass kickers, but not necessarily in the physical sense. They know how to play with perception and are totally willing to go the distance and use their unique skills to do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. Throw in a dash of enemies to lovers and a lot of interesting tech hacking, and I couldn’t put it down!
Aurora Blazing follows events that were started in Polaris Rising and yes it is best read after the first book. Only because a reader gets a better grasp of events that happens in Aurora Blazing since the opening chapter has two main houses of the Consortium already at war. As I said before I loved the set up of this series. Ms.Mihalik has definitely built a world that is both familiar in story/plot but unique in execution. In Aurora Blazing, Bianca and Ian gets to be the main star of the show. While the first book was all action in space with bits of cyber tech thrown in, here its more cyber stuff with a bit of mission impossible thrown in. And you can see where the author’s background comes in since it has a lot of technical stuff which I adore. In terms of the romance aspect its a little bit slow burn since both characters have trust issues to get through. This work really well since Bianca, a widow from a politically motivated marriage, was abused. Since the book is told in the female leads point of view, Bianca’s motivation, her character development has more emphasis. And like Polaris Rising, the male leads character development is more a given rather than an in depth discussion. But the dialogue between Bianca and Ian sheds a lot of light on how their relationship can work and how committed to it they are by the end. The action/ adventure sequence is superb, the empowered Bianca is done so well and the strong alpha male side kick is excellent as well. These characters get physically hurt a lot, so this book doesn’t have superheroes as leads. But they do have great technology to help with healing! The plot is also twisty so you don’t really know where its going, definitely edge of your seat outcomes! This is a series so there is a sort of cliffhanger for the main plot and I cannot wait for the next book!
This is a fantastic follow up to Polaris Rising, and features widow Bianca von Hasenberg and the director of security for House von Hasenberg, Ian Bishop. When Bianca’s brother Ferdinand disappears, Bianca is determined to find him, and leaves against her father’s wishes. Ian is sent to bring her home, and after avoiding him for awhile, Bianca finally convinces him to work with her to find her brother. They both have secrets, and it takes quite a few adventures before they start trusting each other. At first I thought Bianca was pretty weak, after enduring experimentation by her husband which affected her health, but she definitely showed just how strong she was during the course of the story. She didn’t back down, no matter what Ian threw at her, and was able to show him just how valuable an ally she could be. A pair of mercenaries rounded out their team, as they followed the clues that Bianca was able to uncover. With plenty of action, a nasty villain, as well as an evil corporation, a nice touch of romance, and a couple that end up making quite the unstoppable pair, the current threat against the von Hasenbergs was eliminated, but there is a deeper plot still to be unearthed, someone who is pulling all the strings, and that will be addressed in the next adventure, which features younger sister Catarina.
After I finished listening to Polaris Rising I dove right into Aurora Blazing. I really enjoyed Polaris Rising and Aurora Blazing was just as good. While Aurora Blazing has a slightly different tone and focus than Polaris Rising, I thought that worked well here and I really enjoyed listening to Bianca’s adventures.
From the start I really liked Bianca. She shows her kindness in chapter 1 already and that’s one of the things I like most about her. Unlike her sister Eda, Bianca isn’t as physically strong, although thanks to her training she can hold her own in a fight. Instead her focus is on gathering intelligence and I really liked the first few scenes and more later in the book where we see how she uses her information network and contacts to find out what’s been happening. She’s very capable, but also has been hurt badly by her now dead husband. There is a reveal about Bianca early in the book that was quite interesting and I liked how it played a role in this book, even though it was a double edged sword that also hurt her.
Aurora Blazing follows Bianca’s story after she runs away from Earth to find out what happened to her brother Ferdinand. Her father orders her under house arrest and she knows she can’t find out the truth under house arrest so she runs. With security director Ian Bishop right behind her as her father orders him to bring Bianca back. What follows is an exciting read where Bianca goes to far lengths to find out what happened to Ferdinand and where to find him, as well as trying to avoid Ian and later teaming up with him. There are some exciting twists and turns, interesting characters and dangerous scenarios along the way. The story kept my attention, although there were some parts that I enjoyed less, all in all it was a great read.
I liked the idea of Bianca and Ian and their romance, but it took a long time to actually feel their romance and become invested in the idea of them together. These two are both incredible stubborn to the point where their stubbornness just becomes ridiculous and lacks common sense altogether. Ian wants to protect Bianca and keep her safe, Bianca knows she can help and neither of them gives and inch. So it’s just them butting heads, having the same argument over and over. She’s trying to convince him to help, he wanting her out of harms way. I was so happy when they finally decide to work together, even though their stubborn arguments continue for a long while more, at least it got more bearable. And even then it takes a long, long time before things progress into romance. I did like that subtle change and I liked their romance. They really were awesome together when they’re finally working fully together and confide in each other. I just wish it happened earlier as I feel that we got to see only very little of them together. I wanted more of the sweet touching romantic scenes and them working together and less of the stubborn arguments.
While this is Bianca’s story, we still see a bit of Eda as well, which was fun. As well as Locke, Rhys and Veronica. As Bianca’s story starts out on Earth we get to see a bit more of her other siblings and relationships among them, which I liked. We see how she interacts with her twin Benedict, as well as Hanna and Catarina. And we learn a little bit about Ferdinand as well. Bianca also meets some interesting characters along the way. Eva and Alex among them.
I liked seeing more of the world in this series, this book continues with expanding on the world building. There’s more of the house politics we see and how Bianca is part of this. This book also continues the overarching plot line regarding the war with Rockhurst a bit.
That narrator does a great job with this book. I liked the different voices she had for different characters. Each character had their own voice and I liked how she did the voices for Bianca and Ian and how they differ from the main characters of book 1. I can hardly imagine how I had trouble getting used to her narration style in book 1 as with this book I slipped into the story effortlessly and liked the narration from the start.
To summarize: This was a great sequel. It has a slightly different tone in a way than book 1 because Bianca is quite different than Eda, but I liked it. There is plenty of action, intrigue, danger and adventure with Bianca trying to figure out what happened to her brother. Bianca is a likable main character. I liked reading about her and her intelligence network and how capable and kind she was, but also how she was hurt due to what her now dead husband did and how she struggled with some things. I liked the romance between Bianca and Ian when things finally heated up. I did find the build-up a bit tedious as there is a lot of arguing and them both being ridiculously stubborn. I was happy when they started working together and when their relationship turns into something more it was wonderful to see. They make for a great team. While this is Bianca’s story and her adventure, there is still some we see of characters from the previous book which was fun.As well as more we learn of the other siblings and some new characters too. The world building and politics are expanded upon in this book. Emily Woo Zeller did a great job with the narration and I really enjoyed listening to this book. I can’t wait for book 3 and plan to listen to that one as well.
Oh, wow! I *so* loved this book. I’d read Book #1 in rough form before release and loved that, but Book #2 eclipsed Polaris Rising. (Full disclosure: once I finished Aurora Blazing I bought a finished copy of Polaris Rising which is on sale on Kindle right now and loved it even more on the re-read.) Bianca is a fantastic heroine, relying on her brains and grit to save the people she loves. And Ian the hero… well, I love me a quiet, secretly in love with the heroine but suffering silently kind of guy. The universe is well thought out, with a fierce race to corner sexy FTL tech. Steamy, smart, and tense – highly recommend this book and series!
Jessie Mihalik, where have you been all my life?
Guys, if you are looking for a sci-fi/space romance, look no further because the Consortium Rebellion books rock. I loved Polaris Rising, and would totally recommend it, but you could enjoy this second book as a standalone, too.
Bianca is a princess in one of the High Houses and she has a mysterious past. Everyone knows she had a terrible relationship with her late husband. Some people even think she killed him herself. But what no one knows is that he did experiments on her during their marriage and now she can intercept digital messages with her mind. It makes her invaluable when it comes to information, but it comes with a price.
When her older brother (and family heir) is kidnapped, she is determined to use her abilities to rescue him. But the head of security, Ian, has other ideas. He wants to keep her safe at home. I’ll bet you know how that works out.
I loved the push and pull between Bianca and Ian throughout the book. Even though it’s all in her POV, I could feel the current of attraction that ran both ways. Attraction, but also doubt…mistrust…questions. And so much heat.
The book moves fast, but not too fast. The action propels it forward, but I could always keep up. I just wanted to keep turning the pages to find out what would happen next.
No complaints. If I had another book from this author on my shelf right now, it would bump everything else on my TBR.
Jessie is a talented author who knows her way around world-building! Great heroine: strong yet vulnerable, and very engaging. Fun, adventurous story!
This book started very slowly for me. I am a fan of kick-ass heroines , but Bianca initially came across as as very nasty, very-ice- princess rich girl. Her “super-power” if you will, is that she discreetly “helps” (not sure how) various people in bad situations and they become spies for her network. I am a fan of science fiction, but I prefer science fiction that is big on imagination, and low on the technical details.in other words, I like blasters but I don’t need to know how the author thinks they should work. This book had too many technical, geeky details about the systems accessed etc. to be totally enjoyable. However, about mid-way through the book, the action increases, and Bianca starts to thaw a little, and by the end, I was totally on board and sad to see it end. Stick with it, and it will be a solid read. I recieved a complementary copy of the book for an honest review.
Excellent, page turning read. It satisfied my love of both science fiction and romance, and gave us a kick-ass princess who’s good at keeping her special skill set hidden until it’s needed. She’s also good at weaponizing fashion, not just in the sense of how jewelry can do double duty, but knowing how the right dress, the right look, can slay when one enters a room.
The hero was the kind of buttoned-down-we’re-just-waiting-for-him-to-explode person any princess would want at her back, and after some rough starts he comes to fully appreciate her in all her guises.
[author:Jessie Mihalik|17023471] is a capable author who delivers the goods, and that’s exactly what a reader wants when diving deep into strange worlds, cyberhumans and high stakes politics.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Avid Reader –
M/F Romance
I would definitely read book one before reading this book, but it’s not necessary.
Bianca kicks butt, takes names, and is brilliant. I loved her in this book. She’s steady, calm, knows what she wants and how to go about getting it. In this book, she’s also more able to rely on her siblings, which I found really amazing. She has had to deal with some hardships in her life and her father being one and her husband being another, I expected Bianca to be much more wary than she was. She is a tough lady.
Ian is steady, but a hard character to read. He is good at his job but keeping tabs on Bianca is a full-time job in itself. I did wish that Ian had a point of view in the book, because we mostly had Bianca and it felt that there was something missing. We get to see his interactions with Bianca during the beginning of the story, but really only glimpse his frustration.
The story really picks up about halfway through. I enjoyed this story a lot. While this book had less action than the first one, it was no less entertaining. You have blackmail, mercenaries, kidnappings, slavery, and love. These two characters have great chemistry and it’s fun to watch them try to figure out their relationship.
I can’t wait for more books in this series. It was fun to get to see the characters from the previous book too.
Potential Triggers: Kidnapping, Mutilation, Blackmail, Killing
Sarah –
This second book in the Consortium Rebellion series continues the epic Von Hasenberg space opera with more action, more politics, and more close escapes. It’s another thrilling ride and Bianca is just as fabulous as her kick-ass sister was in the first book.
I’m not a huge sci-fi fan but this series is full of the joy, the fun, and the excitement that made the original Star Wars trilogy and films like Starship Troopers and Guardians of the Galaxy firm favourites. The worldbuilding here is wonderful, the plot is tight, and the pacing just about perfect.
I love the women in these books and I especially love Bianca’s hacker skills. Unlike her sister, she’s physically weak but her mental skills are essential to her brother’s rescue. I love that all the characters in these books are complicated and their morality is more shades of grey than black or white.
This story is marketed as a romance but while there is some great friction and chemistry between Bianca and Ian, the focus of the story is more on Bianca and her mission to save her brother than it is on the relationship between Bianca and Ian. I love the female driven narrative and the fact that Bianca, like her sister, doesn’t need rescuing. She can save the world on her own terms.
Shelby –
I will say that this story was much more low key than the Polaris Rising, it was a slower moving story, but no less interesting. I do like how the two stories have a completely different feel from each other.
Aurora Blazing is the story of Bianca von Hasenberg, who we met in book one. We learned a little about her then, but she’s a much more complicated character than I envisioned. Being that we mostly follow Bianca for the first half of the book, I feel connected to her. I can confidently say that the ladies of House von Hasenberg are strong, brave, and relentless!
Bianca is in the midst of trying to figure out what happened to her oldest brother and is using all her skill to achieve this. What she doesn’t plan for is being joined in her quest by Ian, the head of her house’s security force. Ian is more difficult to understand, he’s quiet and closed off, he seems to antagonize more than console. The worst part is that Bianca’s had a crush on him for YEARS.
The romance definitely took a back seat to the story development. We learned all about the virtual reality realm that Bianca inhabits regularly, we see her skill with data, and her special abilities. We see what she’s gone through and the hell she’s lived before reaching for her freedom. What we don’t see is Ian’s background, we don’t know what he’s lived through – and this bothers me. I want to know him. We follow them to different worlds and situations, but it seemed more low-key than I was expecting.
I enjoy this world that Jessie Mihalik has created: I love the politics involved in the Consortium, I love the different worlds, I like the characters. I just didn’t love this story, it seemed to move slow, the romance took forever, the action was present but not thrilling. I will continue the series – I need to see who wins this war!
Erica –
Spoiler-Free Review.
Aurora Blazing is the second installment in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy. To be honest, and I fear my rating was influenced by this… after an amazing debut, I’m always apprehensive over reading the next installment, as it’s next to impossible to outshine the first. This goes with books, movies, and TV shows. Generally, if the first was just okay, the second blows it out of the water. As I said, I fear this influenced my rating, because I was too busy comparing Aurora Blazing with Polaris Rising.
I actually reread Polaris Rising immediately before Aurora Blazing, simply because it had been many months since I read it, with a couple hundred books in between, and I needed a refresher. There was an obvious difference between the two novels, the vibe given off, the flow and pacing, the excitement delivered, to the point it didn’t feel like the same writer or the same characters, but perhaps this had to do with the different setting.
Ada was our previous narrator, so we were introduced to her sister, seeing Bianca through Ada’s eyes. Bianca’s character felt different than the way her sister perceived her. Strong, highly intelligent, perceptive, and proficient, which made her the ultimate of heroines.
Widowed young, her husband treating Bianca in the most egregious of ways, by performing experiments on her. Bianca evolves throughout the novel, finding herself. Bianca resonated deeply with me, finding her a strong character with an even stronger backstory. My issue with the novel was simply the pacing, flow of information, and the overall vibe given off.
The romance took a backseat to the spying. While I’m not a reader who needs romance, enjoying the plot to shine, I needed more Ian. I needed to know his side of things, what influenced his actions. Ian was an intriguing character, still intriguing at the end, simply because I never felt as if I got to know him. Incomplete, without more interactions to build a strong foundation. I needed more on this front.
What I adored were the cameos of Ada & Loch, and Rhys & Veronica, filling in the gaps of what was missing from Polaris Rising.
On the pacing front, Aurora Blazing was much slower than Polaris Rising, especially the first half of the novel, but it did pick up considerably in the last half, amping up a couple notches to bring the excitement.
Middle of the road sequel for me, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the characters, nor that I’m not chomping at the bit to see what happens next.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
These books are action packed and fun. I love the characters and the world is so fascinating. If you’re looking for a page-turner adventure in space with romance, pick up this series. I can’t wait for the next one!
Polaris Rising was great, but somehow Aurora Blazing surpassed it. Bianca is my everything. She’s a smart, tough heroine who has been through some crazy shit, but come out the other side a badass survivor who hasn’t just reclaimed her power, but committed herself to using it to make sure others don’t have to suffer like she did.
I would kick-fight an angry kangaroo for this heroine.