After a comet destroyed Earth, the survivors fled the carnage, splintering into three factions - Shippers, manufacturers of the best spaceships; Combatants, experts in hand-to-hand combat; and Nukes, masters of chemical, biological and nuclear warfare. Reaching their destination of Isosceles first, the Nukes turned the Shippers away before they could land and attacked the Combatants on the ground. Their numbers decimated, the Combatants fled again. While they battled Shippers for the technology to maintain and upgrade their aging mother ships, the Nukes depleted Isosceles of its meager natural resources. Within 20 years, they needed a new, more bountiful and permanent home and know just the planet. Unfortunately, it belongs to Shippers. Secretly, Nuke and Combatant commanders come to an agreement. Together, they would defeat the Shippers and settle this planet, calling it New Isosceles.

Shock reverberates through the Combatant ranks when they hear the news of an alliance with their hated enemies. Second-in-command Lieutenant Jess "J.J." Johnson won't willingly ally herself with Nukes, especially when Nuke Lieutenant Jason "Rub" Rubelli becomes her roommate. Never mind that he's sex on wheels; he's a self-centered buffoon! An egotistical, womanizing jerk! And she's so not going there!

Rub is sure J.J. will kill him in his sleep. No matter how hard he tries to warm her up with his sparkling personality, nothing seems to penetrate her cold hard exterior, much less get past that mile-wide mean streak of hers. Rub just plain rubs J.J. the wrong way. Not good considering she's gradually becoming more than just a challenge to Rub. He wants more with her than his usual fun and games, and just when he's beginning to get that message through to her, Rub's sent away on a lengthy mission. What is J.J. to think when he sends back progress reports, but no message for her? Just when she's discovered how much she loves him, has he decided he doesn't love her after all?

On the Way to New Isosceles is filled with intense hand-to-hand combat and thrilling firefights in space. There's blood spilled, friends lost and a wild party or two along the way. I liked that the action-packed plot kept pace with the budding relationship between J.J. and Rub, with neither one taking a back seat to the other. The sexual tension between the two builds throughout the novel, making the few spontaneous and spicy sex scenes especially enjoyable.

This book has many good qualities and endearing moments, but for me, Leigh Wood's quirky writing style takes more away from this otherwise fantastic story than it deserves. Although her exciting plot, adept world building, and wonderful character development and interaction easily rate 5 Angels, she lost me numerous times, forcing me to go back and re-read too many paragraphs to grasp her train of thought for me to give this book 5 Angels across the board. Still, it was enjoyable enough for me to hope that Ms. Wood will give her marvelous supporting characters their own stories sometime soon.

Reviewed by: Merrylee