Rayessa and the Space Pirates by Donna Maree Hanson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A romp though space with a pair of adventurous teenagers. Ideal light romance for the 12+ age group. A version of the following review first appeared in the now defunct webzine, The Specusphere, in February 2013.

With this charming novella for young adults, Canberran author Donna Maree Hanson takes her first step into longer-length publishing. She already has a good handful or two of short stories under her belt, and she won respect and acclaim from fandom with her Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview.

Escape Publishing is a new imprint (should we call it an imprint when its product is entirely digital?) from Harlequin, purveyors of fine romances for many years. They are obviously keen to move with the times and to suss out exactly what readers want. Whether you’re after romantic suspense, historical romance, GLB romance, erotica, fantasy or sci-fi romance, you will be sure to find something to your taste at the Escape shop. What’s more, they are not frightened to publish e-books of any length from short stories to fat fantasies – and for all ages from 12 upwards! Search their website and you’re sure to find something to suit your taste.

Rayessa and the Space Pirates is light and frothy fare: an easy read and very suitable for the younger end of the target age group. Girls 12-15 will love this one, and older readers will find it entertaining, too, although they will question the credibility of some of the situations. It would be unfair to reveal these because they will inevitably result in spoilers, but I must say that I, as an adult reader, kept thinking, ‘Hey, wait a minute – that can’t be right!’ I don’t think the little solecisms will bother the younger readers, though.

This is one of the earliest books released by Escape, and it was done in something of a hurry. Unfortunately for Rayessa and the Space Pirates this shows up in an apparent dearth of copy-editing. I noticed several typos and even one or two misused words. This is a shame, and I hope Escape will lift their game now the rush of getting the imprint up and running is over.

Congratulations to Donna Maree Hanson. May Rayessa be the first of many romantic heroines to spring from Donna’s keyboard into publication!

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