The concept pleases me, but I will have to read it to give you any analysis of the quality, save that "__________ Romance" is often many steps down from the genre it is a deviation from.

I found the male character very unbelievable as far as a man goes, but the overall fascination with goggles was quite hilarious (I will not spoil it but it is quite a funny interaction between Captain Pye and Mr. Fletcher). As I have been told by my female counter part who is an authority of MacAlister she normally does not write from a male so this may explain the lack of believability.
Over all the genera was quite believable one of the engineers tells the male character about breaking up of quarks (a type of fusion) which is how they are able to fly their ships. Their weapons also work via this fusion.
I would recommend it, but I would skim the harlequin features MacAlister peppers though out the book.