Review of The Henderson Helios by Beatrice Crowl

Elly Henderson is a brilliant engineer from the wrong side of the tracks whose revolutionary engine plans were stolen by one of the mega-corporations that rule the world. When Myka Benton, her nemesis and the right-hand woman of the vice-president of said mega-corp, fortuitously – or not? – gives her the opportunity to steal her plans back, Elly jumps at the chance. Which leads to all hell breaking loose and Elly running for her life while handcuffed to Myka.

One of the best feelings in life is reading a story by an author you haven’t read before and loving it. There’s so much potential for the future and it’s terribly exciting. The Henderson Helios was my first book by Beatrice Crowl, I think it’s her first f/f and I loved it. It’s not perfect, the verb tenses are sometimes random and there are a couple of missing words, but nothing too distracting. On the other hand, it’s gritty and witty, the pace is excellent and both Elly and Myka stole my heart.

Elly is brilliant but broken, or so she believes. While this story works well as a novella, I would have loved to know more about her background, not the abusive family, what happened after. I like that it’s kind of mysterious though. Like Myka. Myka is smart and gorgeous and not at all the cold fish Elly thought she was.

There’s only one Myka in my world so of course I read with Joanne Kelly’s face in mind. And her body, yes, because as Elly says, she has a good body.

I love sci-fi and I’ll read all kinds but my love of the genre was born with Star Wars so there will always be a special place in my heart for space operas and Han Solo types of characters. And Leia, of course, but that goes without saying. It therefore can’t be surprising that I’ll love an enemies-to-lovers romance in space with a sarcastic MC and hilariously dry one-liners. I had a lot of fun reading this novella and I’m looking forward to more sapphic stories from this author.