GIRL GONE NOVA
by Pauline Baird Jones
L&L Dreamspell
Friendsville, TX
ISBN: 9781603182041

Delilah Oliver Clementyne (Doc) is a genius whose expertise is making the impossible possible. Doc’s secret name is the Chameleon and she fits this moniker well, being able to change herself at will to blend in with whatever situation she finds herself. Doc’s aboard the Doolittle, in the Garradian Galaxy, waiting for instructions from her superior, when she meets Helfron Giddioni, leader of the Gadi. Doc is shocked at her attraction for him but there is strife between the Earth ship and the Gadi and war seems imminent. When Doc heads toward the small planet Kikk in order to try to access their weaponry, she is kidnapped by a band of aliens trolling the galaxy, collecting wives for the men on their planet. Doc manages to get away, only to find herself time-traveling with the Gadi leader, trying to avert a war that will destroy her ship and its people while dodging the leader of the wife-stealers, who is intent on having her as his own.

Jones is adept at creating kick-butt women characters who can give as good as they get. Doc is mentally quick and physically lethal. She’s a woman who has never felt like she fit in until she meets Giddioni, whom she is instantly attracted to. But that doesn’t stop her from doing her job, even if it means battling the Gadi leader and his minions. The action is nonstop, the suspense gut-wrenching, and the plot rollicking fun.