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A review by snapcracklepoppies
Space for Growth by Emily Antoinette
5.0
Gosh, this is such a hard review to write without gushing over all the little details that made me fall in love with both Paul and Hadrell and the story as a whole. There are so many things that I wasn’t expecting that made this read so enjoyable, and so many others that Emily has shared in snippets, trope maps, and conversations that I looked forward to earnestly. In the spirit of ARC ethics re: avoiding major spoilers, I’ll try to stick to being as vague as possible with the promise to update my GR review at a later date with specifics, I think.
Space for Growth takes us full circle with Paul’s story, allowing him a beautiful character arc that brought tears to my eyes. He was not the most likable character when he was introduced back in the first Spire Station novel, and while he did get better in the second one, he grows so much throughout his story that he might as well be Paul 2.0, new and improved! I found his character extremely relatable on a lot of notes and very attractive on others. This will sound kind of horrible but I really love that Paul is kind of pathetic. And I don’t mean because he has severe anxiety or medical PTSD, although those things also endeared me to him because hello, same. I mean because he’s a mess. He cries and scares easily, he doesn’t think very highly of himself, he laps up every scrap of praise and affection tossed his way, and he has let himself stay too comfortable for too long in his privileged little bubble. He’s also a Simp with a capital S. (I promise when I say I love a pathetic man I do not mean it as a bad thing; its a very good thing in my book. I am sooo tired of macho alpha male types, it's beautiful when we get a character that is a little wobbly in the knees and isn’t afraid to shed a few tears.) He’s also like, the perfect subby little vers for Hadrell, which pushed allll the right buttons for me.
Hadrell also pushed all the right buttons on every front. They were the right combination of dominant and caring, gently pushing Paul towards the things that he knew Paul was capable of without *pushing* him, ya know? Both in and out of the bedroom! And their chemistry was unreal (like, holy wow the spice in this one was top-tier). But what really made Hadrell for me was that they were incredibly kind, compassionate, willing and wanting to help as much as he possibly could, even after working for years as a pirate seeing the worst of the worst that the universe had to offer. Yes, they had a devil-may-care attitude, yes they were incredibly flirtatious and a bit of a scoundrel, but it worked for him so perfectly. (And yes, I am using both they and he pronouns, as Hadrell is a transmasc nonbinary seladin! Which Emily handled incredibly.) I can’t gush too much about the ways that Hadrell also grows in this story without hitting on major spoilers, unlike Paul who its a little easier to be vague with, so I’ll just have to say that by the end of the book there was a moment that I teared up for him too. Emily has a way with eking out the more tender emotions that are sometimes hard to reach, and this story was such a great example of that.
The overarching plot, the adventure(s) that we go on with Hadrell and Paul, the incredible crew of interesting side characters (Yaz’s story pls!), and the revisiting of old friends… all of it made it incredibly difficult to put this book down. And at a hefty 400+ pages, I had to really fight with myself to not inhale it all in one sitting — staying up too late be damned lol. Spire Station and its universe beyond will be a series that I know I’ll revisit because Emily’s characters feel like friends, and the stories, while packed with emotion and adventure, feel like sharing a cup of cocoa in a cozy, safe space where you’d be valued and loved. And we all need a little more of that in this currently tumultuous world.
Space for Growth takes us full circle with Paul’s story, allowing him a beautiful character arc that brought tears to my eyes. He was not the most likable character when he was introduced back in the first Spire Station novel, and while he did get better in the second one, he grows so much throughout his story that he might as well be Paul 2.0, new and improved! I found his character extremely relatable on a lot of notes and very attractive on others. This will sound kind of horrible but I really love that Paul is kind of pathetic. And I don’t mean because he has severe anxiety or medical PTSD, although those things also endeared me to him because hello, same. I mean because he’s a mess. He cries and scares easily, he doesn’t think very highly of himself, he laps up every scrap of praise and affection tossed his way, and he has let himself stay too comfortable for too long in his privileged little bubble. He’s also a Simp with a capital S. (I promise when I say I love a pathetic man I do not mean it as a bad thing; its a very good thing in my book. I am sooo tired of macho alpha male types, it's beautiful when we get a character that is a little wobbly in the knees and isn’t afraid to shed a few tears.) He’s also like, the perfect subby little vers for Hadrell, which pushed allll the right buttons for me.
Hadrell also pushed all the right buttons on every front. They were the right combination of dominant and caring, gently pushing Paul towards the things that he knew Paul was capable of without *pushing* him, ya know? Both in and out of the bedroom! And their chemistry was unreal (like, holy wow the spice in this one was top-tier). But what really made Hadrell for me was that they were incredibly kind, compassionate, willing and wanting to help as much as he possibly could, even after working for years as a pirate seeing the worst of the worst that the universe had to offer. Yes, they had a devil-may-care attitude, yes they were incredibly flirtatious and a bit of a scoundrel, but it worked for him so perfectly. (And yes, I am using both they and he pronouns, as Hadrell is a transmasc nonbinary seladin! Which Emily handled incredibly.) I can’t gush too much about the ways that Hadrell also grows in this story without hitting on major spoilers, unlike Paul who its a little easier to be vague with, so I’ll just have to say that by the end of the book there was a moment that I teared up for him too. Emily has a way with eking out the more tender emotions that are sometimes hard to reach, and this story was such a great example of that.
The overarching plot, the adventure(s) that we go on with Hadrell and Paul, the incredible crew of interesting side characters (Yaz’s story pls!), and the revisiting of old friends… all of it made it incredibly difficult to put this book down. And at a hefty 400+ pages, I had to really fight with myself to not inhale it all in one sitting — staying up too late be damned lol. Spire Station and its universe beyond will be a series that I know I’ll revisit because Emily’s characters feel like friends, and the stories, while packed with emotion and adventure, feel like sharing a cup of cocoa in a cozy, safe space where you’d be valued and loved. And we all need a little more of that in this currently tumultuous world.