And all because of one reactionary professor who wouldn’t even listen to new ideas. She half suspected Matt had suggested this cruise as a kind of goodbye. So, they’d be separated for at least a year-more likely two. That looked like a lost cause now, though. That way they’d be able to stay together. When Matt left for Hawaii next year to study volcanoes, she’d hoped to have a chance at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy telescope array.

The loss of time required to start over was even more frustrating. Jackie had a solid minor in archaeology, but all the ancient texts had already been thoroughly mined in that discipline. She might even have to change her major and start over. Her chances of ever getting a legitimate research opportunity now were nil. No matter what she found, though, the label of cryptoastronomer was going to stick. Just a very interesting day for observations with some unusual alignments. It wasn’t as if she really expected the day after tomorrow to be the end of the world. So the question of what else they might have known was a valid one. Or how else did Heinrich Schliemann find Troy and Mycenae? The Mayans really had known a great deal about astronomy, including some things that modern science wouldn’t discover for hundreds of years. It had worked in other disciplines, after all. Studying ancient texts was a perfectly valid line of research, whatever the closed-minded old blowhard might think. She didn’t have a chance at getting closer to a really powerful telescope since Professor Banks had labeled her a “cryptoastronomer” as if she was just like some cryptozoologist out beating the woods for signs of Big Foot. She’d only agreed to come on this Apocalypse Party Cruise with her boyfriend for the good viewing out here away from the lights of the shore.

This prequel gives a great taste of what is to come.Jackie adjusted her telescope. Mansfield's writing is solid, and she draws me into the characters which is important to me. What will you choose when you know you're different from the people around you, the people you love? It fits deliciously with the young adult angst over identity and testing your world boundaries. I love the world in this story, the tension that comes from cultures where there's the magic that's embraced and the magic that's reviled. And to trust the one man who can help her learn to use her magic-the same man who betrayed her trust once before.

When her people are threatened, Kiara must make the choice whether to reveal her hidden talents in order to save them. Considering the way her people react to magic, that might be just as well. She can sense magic in others and she's maddeningly sure that she has the potential for magic, too. Living among a people who distrust magic in any form, Kiara has a secret.

Becoming Lioness by Meredith Mansfield