Lydia Ashley lost her parents and sibling at a young age and since then has thrown herself into her work with the goal of joining the Deep Water Research Command Endure. Now, just 21 and a Nobel Prize winner, she’s about to achieve that dream.

However, the problem with dreams is they don’t always pan out as one imagines and soon Lydia realizes that the guy she’s idolized for ten years isn’t as perfect in real life, and that her dream job comes with a nightmare in terms of a deadly secret project.

MAVEN is a story that kept my attention, though there were scenes I questioned the value of (who holds a ball when there’s a virus being devised? My other problem was with Lydia “Mary Sue” Ashley. She’s young, pretty, intelligent and has a Tragic Backstory. Good grief. However, the plot good enough that I could ignore her perfection.

Daniel Brewer, the love interest, is better developed and I loved his bad boy image. I do think he fell too quickly for Ashley, given his playboy antics, but that’s a minor quibble. The story is divided between him and Lydia, which gives a nice balance to the relationship arc.

The science in MAVEN is excellent. Huchton either has personal experience or is great at research. The world she built was utterly believable, though I would have liked more description of the Endure. It’s obviously a submarine and just as obviously not your run-of-the-mill design, but I didn’t really get a good picture of it in my head.

As MAVEN is the first in The Endure Series, the ending doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat bow. Enough ends are tied up to be satisfactory, while the ones left loose definitely made me eager to pick up the next book.

The only reason MAVEN gets three stars instead of four is Ashley – she’s just too perfect and everyone loves her. That made it very hard for me to connect with her. Otherwise, the writing is superb and I wasn’t aware that it was self-published until I came to write this review.

This book was provided by the author for an honest review.

Genre: Sci Fi Romance
Length: Novel
Primary Book Format: e-book and paperback
Publisher/Imprint: Self-published
Blush Quotient: Red
Smart Girls Rating: 3

Blurb: How far would you go for love?

Since losing her parents at fourteen, young prodigy Dr. Lydia Ashley has focused on one thing: an appointment on the Deep Water Research Command Endure. Now twenty-one, she’s about to realize that dream, but nothing is how she imagined it would be. Her transitional sponsor forgets her, her new lab is in complete chaos, and, as if that weren’t enough, she’s about to discover something so horrific it could potentially destroy all life on the planet.

Daniel Brewer, a noted playboy and genius in his own right, may be exactly what she needs… Or he may make everything worse.

Has she finally found a puzzle she can’t solve?