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A romantic science fiction thriller in which a young woman from a dead-end planet gets cast on a reality TV show to compete for the hand of the prince—or princess. But not everyone is there for the right reasons...

Spice rating: 2/5 open door.

Temmi, a young trash collector stuck in a dead-end job on a garbage planet, finds herself with a golden ticket she never expected: the oppor­tunity to be cast on an interstellar dating show starring the brother and sister heirs to the galactic empire. Through diplomatic challenges and dramatized dates, twenty-four women will compete to marry the prince and princess—and to win the dynasty’s favor for their home planet.

Temmi may have been hand-picked to date the quiet, bookish prince, who is immediately taken by her brash personality and their shared passion for the sciences. But she can’t seem to keep away from the princess—and even though she’s strictly off-limits, their chemistry is undeniable.

But when contestants start turning up dead, whispers begin to circulate that some competitors might be harboring anti-imperialist motivations—Temmi among them. And suddenly it’s clear that so much more than feelings are at stake.

In fact, very few of the participants of Love Galaxy have come on the show to find love.

Sexy, snarky, and revolutionary, this fast-paced thrill ride will hook lovers of reality TV, fans of thoughtful sci-fi, and anyone who lives for drama.

Don't just take our word for it...

“I raced through this book! Come for the reality dating show in space, stay for the murder and sapphic yearning. Readers who love an underdog protagonist, a genre-blending plot, and rich but accessible world building will adore Love Galaxy.”
– M. Stevenson, author of Behooved

“Like the reality shows it invokes, Sierra Branham’s Love Galaxy is so much more than meets the eye. It satisfyingly replicates all the messy magic of the best/worst reality shows, but feeds it through the eyes of Temmi—a consummate outsider whose attitude toward media made in the heart of empire gives readers space to question their own enjoyment.”
– Micaiah Johnson, author of The Space Between Worlds

“Combine swoony queer romance, rich science fiction worldbuilding, nail-biting political intrigue, and a lovable main character who can’t seem to catch a break, and you get Love Galaxy, the finest romanti-sci-fi this side of the universe!”
– Riley August, author of The Last Gifts of the Universe

Taste the very first page

The soldering iron paralleled Temmi’s life: shitty but still sputtering. To be fair, the same could be said of everything on X72. Her planet wasn’t called the Expan Empire’s trash bin for nothing.

She pushed her safety goggles onto her forehead to better inspect the iron’s tip. It was badly oxidized. Not unlike my ex’s dick, she thought. And then laughed out loud because she was absolutely hilarious. Or exhausted to the point of delirium. Probably both.

Glancing around her crowded kitchen, she tried to remember where she kept her flux-cored solder and brass wool. Both were necessary to remove the oxidization. The counter next to the sink looked hopeful.

She set the soldering iron on the table next to her current brainchild, a small, winged invention she’d lovingly named “Have a Lung, Bitch.” A purely genius creation (if she said so herself) that would eliminate the need for pulmonary therapies, emphysema treatments, and lung transplants on X72.

When Have a Lung was finished, Temmi would have a base prototype from which fully ambulatory synthetic lungs could be mass-produced. Not only would she be able to save her mother’s life, but the Advancement Guild would be begging her to join their ranks. She could already taste the fat fellowship grants that would accompany being a member. There’d be no more worrying about paying down her family’s mountain of medicals bills, holding her brother Ollie back from the brink of self- destruction, putting food on the table, or keeping a roof over their heads.

She scooted her chair back from the chaos that was her kitchen table: handsome power tools, naked electrical circuits, pretty coils of copper wiring, sheets of warped aluminum, a dozen dissected power cells of varying sizes. That was the one perk of living in the empire’s dumping grounds: endless opportunities for free supplies. What most people saw as garbage, Temmi saw as potential.

She shimmied between the kitchen table’s edge and her mess of towering crates to reach the counter. The brass wool should be around here somewhere.

As she searched, she plucked out her foam earplugs to let her eardrums breathe for a moment. From the living room came the blaring of the cursed holoscreen. A masculine voice was announcing theatrically, in near- flawless Expanese, “. . . imperial Expani heirs, Nix and Spielin, are rumored to be orbiting distant X72 with plans of touching down in the planet’s capital city, X72-1, this afternoon. The local authorities have issued a shelter-in-place order for the city’s nonessential personnel to ensure the heirs’ safety during this final portion of their Love Galaxy promotional tour.”

April 2026