🪐 In Everina Maxell’s 2021 debut novel, Winter’s Orbit, Prince Kiem, the black sheep of the Empire’s royal family, is married off to Count Jainan, a widower and political representative of his planet, in order to stabilize interplanetary treaties. As they navigate the ups and downs of their forced together-ness and unpeel the layers of Jainan’s past, they also discover something they weren’t supposed to: a conspiracy to embroil the Empire in an all-out war.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading, but this book had me glued to my Kindle way past my bedtime with its soapy romance and twisty political thrills. Here are some of my personal highlights on Winter’s Orbit! 

• Yessir, we have a good, ol’ fashioned arranged marriage trope! You’ll love this if you can handle a slow burn with a bit of miscommunication and misunderstanding. It really depends on how it’s handled for me, but this novel is paced really well, where the will-they-won’t-they dynamic is fun and satisfying to read. It’s never too slow and frustrating or too fast and unearned.  
• I was endeared to Kiem and Jainan from the first page. They are just so, so incredibly loveable. Kiem is a little reckless, very wry, and oozes charm all while wanting to be a good, considerate husband. Then, there’s Jainan (my fave, my starshine), who is gentle and intelligent and cautious and burdened by his past in heartbreaking ways that are revealed as the book progresses. They don’t know how badly they need each other in the beginning, and it’s so delightful to read about the ways they grow together.
• Reading this feels like reading sci-fi lite™. By this I mean that, yes, I would consider this sci-fi because of the setting—we’ve got space ships, treaties between planets, encrypted bracelets that hold all of our information, etc. But these aspects of the novel felt so secondary to the character dynamics, the romance, and even the interplanetary politics. And I say this knowing that perhaps my view of sci-fi as a literary genre is less nuanced than it should be, but the novel just felt very grounded and easy to follow for something that takes place in space (P.S. Does anyone have sci-fi recs for me?). 

If any of this is sparking your curiosity, I definitely recommend giving Winter’s Orbit a read! I was able to find a copy at my local library, but you can also find it on Bookshop or any other book retailer you like!