3 ⭐ CW: panic attacks, sickness, quarantine 

Within the Cosmic Darkness by Bethany Thompson is book two of the Starlit Skies series. I got these books out of a desire to support a Maine author writing scifi. I did enjoy book one, but this one fell a little flat for me. 

This time we follow Marika Sussin-Thomas after the events of book one. The Sapphire Sky is missing a good chunk of its crew, but is still determined to continue to explore new worlds. Marika is still reeling from her ex-boyfriend's actions, and she finds it difficult to relax and let anyone close to her, despite the efforts of the very charming Luca Lascano. 

This story was a bit slow, and it was mostly a teen workplace drama for the majority of the book with the only conflict being command telling the Sapphire Sky to come home before they are ready. It isn't until we're 65-70% of the way through the book that the major conflict comes into play with a microbe from a planet inflecting everyone on board, and they have to find a cure. It's mostly character focused on Marika and her growth over the course of the book. 

This was a little simple for me. Both books are definitely targeted toward younger teens and is great beginner scifi, but this one in particular just didn't do it for me.