ndependent shipper Trilby Elliot is one disaster away from bankruptcy. Her ship's systems are all breaking down at once, and she doesn't even have enough ready cash to dock at a proper spaceport in order to effect repairs. As Finders Keepers begins, she has landed the Careless Venture on a remote, barely habitable moon, hoping to patch the ship's systems together so she can head out on a desperately needed delivery contract.
Her plans are thrown to the wind, though, when an alien fighter craft crashes near the Venture's location. Hoping to turn her luck around with some profitable salvage, Trilby investigates the fallen 'Sko spacecraft. To her surprise, she finds an injured human amid the wreckage. Salvage gives way to rescue and medical aid, and soon Trilby is playing host to one Rhis Vanur, a lieutenant in the Zafharin fleet. Trilby is a citizen of the Conclave, a government that was until recently at war with the Zafharin. Now an uneasy peace reigns as both human factions deal with the 'Sko threat. Trilby's guest is anxious to return to the fray as soon as he can.
The two characters are drawn to each other from the start, initially bonding over their shared fondness for tweaking ship systems in inventive ways. Another of Rhis' chief attractions, as far as Trilby is concerned, is his lowly status within the Zafharin fleet. The chronically broke working-class pilot has learned the hard way that dating upper-crust men can only lead to heartbreak. Rhis seems safe; unfortunately, he has lied to her about both his rank and his mission. What's more, not even his growing affection for Trilby will allow him to place her dire financial situation above his own military priorities.
Love, danger and heartbreak
Linnea Sinclair's Finders Keepers has the trappings of military SF on a grand scale: battleships, interstellar conflict, goofy androids, plenty of intrigue and an inscrutable alien menace to the human race. Don't be fooled by the familiar scenery, though—the core of this novel is the love story. Mistaken identity, betrayals and the characters' fear of love give this plot far more energy than its looming space war. Though external threats to Rhis and Trilby arise over the course of the book—attacks by the 'Sko, for example, and the Zafharin higher-ups' decision to use Trilby as bait for bandits—these dangers pale to insignificance against the romantic story arc.
Sinclair manages the sexual tension between her main characters skillfully, drawing readers into an intricate dance of attraction, conflict and thwarted desire. The author's sure hand with characterization makes each twist of this emotionally laden storyline as suspenseful as any well-wrought battle scene. It all works because there is real substance in the attraction between Trilby and Rhis. The two have genuine shared interests, they are temperamentally suited, and each struggles honestly with the barriers posed by their divergent backgrounds and different mother tongues.
What's more, Finders Keepers offers some tidy exploration of the ways in which people reinvent themselves when thrown into unfamiliar situations. The Rhis Vanur that Trilby comes to know and love is a very different man from the arrogant Zafharin captain feared by his peers and subordinates ... and when he is returned to that life, he will inevitably have to choose between his two "selves."
With peppy, laugh-out-loud dialogue, an outstanding cast of supporting characters and a big serving of adventure in the mix, Finders Keepers is guaranteed to show readers a pleasant and thoroughly entertaining time.
