My original Star Cruise: Outbreak audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Star Cruise: Outbreak by Veronica Scott is the fifth book in a series called A Sectors SF Romance. Dr. Emily Shane reluctantly joins the crew of a luxury spaceship cruise liner as their doctor. Emily, a hero of galactic wars, struggles to overcome the flashbacks of trauma in her past that turned her into a reluctant hero as well as manage her growing feelings for the handsome security officer, Jake Dillon. However, before long Emily is no longer dealing with the overblown ailments of the rich and entitled passengers, but instead attempting to contain an outbreak of an unknown origin before it can take the lives of the passengers aboard.

This is a romance story wrapped up in a futuristic war where people take space cruises for vacation. I think the story is well done and keeps the reader engaged in the mystery of what the outbreak is and where it came from. The world that is hinted at through the dialogue and character's lives seems interesting. The characters work together well and the dialogue is engaging, but only the main character of Emily has depth. She struggles with the complexities of fame and post-traumatic stress disorder prior to even entering the cruise ship. This story is a romance wrapped up in a science fiction outbreak thriller. Scientific evaluation and journey in discovering the origin, cause, and potential cures for the outbreak were interesting to follow along with, but the solution seemed too neat. The romance aspect almost seems inevitable but is wrapped up in Emily’s feelings toward her experiences during the war. Despite its heavy subjects, the story was fast-paced and luckily didn’t get mired in the heaviness. Ultimately, it was a satisfying and quick read

The narration by Michael Riffle is well done as well. He captures the voices of the characters well, especially Emily’s. The production quality is good as well. I would recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in a fast-paced story set in a technological future that is mixed with science, repercussions of trauma, and romance.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. ( )

I enjoyed this Science Fiction romance that takes place on a space cruise ship that has an outbreak of a deadly pathogen on board.

This was my first time reading this author and starting with the 5th book in an on going series didnt have me lost at all. The heroine was a Dr who had served in the Sector Wars which left her with a bad case of PTSD. Her father basically pushes her into taking a job the Nebula Zephyr, a luxurious interstellar cruise liner, as the ship's doctor. It not something she wanted to do but its not long before the passengers are coming down with what at first just looks like a stomach bug. Turns out that is just Phase 1 – the second Phase is fatal.

The ships security team is made up of retired soldiers and Jake Dilon has been assigned to Emily. She doesn't remember him but she saved his life back in one of the worst wars that left her being known as “The Angel of Fantalar” for her bravery under fire as a medic. The two are attracted to each other but the outbreak and trying to find the source and how to stop it from spreading is the main focus.

Being a huge SyFy fan it was interesting to see the future world the author built here. Instead of a cruise ship on the water its one in space and all the entertainment on the ship being cool holograms, the ship having Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is just as much of a character in the book as the human characters were, and the cool medical instruments they had. Plenty of suspense as everyone worked to find the who, what and why of the pathogen and then having to figure out a cure on their own as they were forbidden to dock anywhere. ( )