I don’t remember when I first heard about Calamity by Constance Fay, but it must have struck me favorably because when the book showed up as available on kindle unlimited, I snatched it up.

It is really a very good space opera romance. There are a lot of terrible ones out there, but this one had good characters, a continuously changing plot, and a romance that I enjoyed. The heroine and her love interest were suspicious of each other, but not to the point of stupidity or of self-sabotage or of pace-killing. The world-building was interesting enough that I want to know more about the ruling families, but also the other groups mentioned–the strange cults, the “little” people trying to make a life in the shadows of the families. Fay created a lot of types of sf technology, then used it in smart, entertaining ways.

Basically, I devoured this. It is full of the good tropes; the kind that you see coming and you smile in anticipation. Calamity got five stars for fun.

An equivalent would be the Kinsmen series by Ilona Andrews so if you liked that series, you will probably enjoy this. I know I did.