The Sound of Stars surprised me.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but what I found was a heartwarming story about love, hope, and how forbidden books and music can bring two people together.

Morris is an alien, part of an invasion force to subdue the humans on Earth, with a love of music-something his race has taken away from him. Ellie is a human girl with a forbidden library of books-something the aliens have taken away from her. Human expression=bad news for these aliens. Morris and Ellie are are drawn together for their love of these things, and find themselves on the run together in a race to save humanity, and each other.

This was such a sweet book, full of twists and surprises that kept me guessing as to what would happen next. Sometimes these twists would come out of the blue, with no indication beforehand of what was going to happen (that I was aware of), so it did feel a bit jarring at times plot-wise. However, I was okay with that, and it doesn’t detract from the story. If anything, it keeps you on your toes!

I found the idea that this book starts post-alien invasion was unique. Most alien invasion stories start out with the actual invasion. This book starts out with the humans having lost, and what that looks like. The aliens were also really interesting, with their abilities and the way they look. Their social structure is also a fascinating part of the book.

My favorite part of this book was towards the end, with the Starry Eyed. That was a fantastic twist! I’d love a spin off novel about the Starry Eyed. Just going to put that out there!

I’d also love to see someone put together a soundtrack of all the music mentioned in this book. This is definitely a book that needs a soundtrack.

If you’re looking for a science fiction, pop culture fueled romance, this is the perfect book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read The Sound of Stars as an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Five: 
The number of weeks until The Sound of Stars hits shelves. 

Four: 
I don't care if it's beFOUR or after the World ends, nobody is borrowing Lady Midnight. 

Three: 
The 'older than 3 months' section Netgalley moved my arc to because it took me entirely too long to actually read this book. 😩 

Two: 
“I’m Ilori and, sometimes, it feels like I’m human, too. I’m of two worlds.” 
 *Insert Hannah Montana 'Best of Both Worlds' gif*

One: 
The amount of times Alechia got a Red, White & Royal Blue reference in.  JSKSKSJSKS

The Sound of Stars is author Alechia Dow's debut novel. 

(quote)The Sound of Stars is about love and… annihilation.(quote)

I mean... basically. It is a mixture of Science Fiction, Dystopian, and Contemporary. In my opinion, it leans a little more to the Contemporary side. I've actually sat down to read it a few times, and I should have easily already finished it. I'm a mood reader, though. And because I recently read my arc of The First 7 and enjoyed it, I thought it was about time to tackle another Alien Invasion. I hate that it took me so long because it really is a good book. It was fun and full of Pop Culture references that read like a love letter to fandom. They got a little cheesy and over the top at times and there were times the story became a bit preachy, but it was an important message, still, full of hope and love. Ellie is very relatable. If she weren't fiction, I'm positive we would be friends. H-E-L-L-O amazing anxiety rep. 😍

The Sound of Stars is a mash up of The Love Interest, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Amid Stars and Darkness, Defy the Stars, Partials, and The Hate U Give. Trust me. Check it out. 😉 

***Thank you to Inkyard Press, Harlequin Teen, and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy.***

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know where to start with this one! It took me a bit of time to get into the story, recognize the characters, setting, and understand the alien race/their reasonings of being there. However, that’s typical with a lot of first book, science fiction, YA. I would say Part Two is when the plot really kicked off and stakes became real.

This book goes back and forth between the perspectives of Janelle (“Ellie”) and Morris with little snippets of interviews and quotes from the Starry Eyed (band). It was nice to get the perspectives of each of the characters but I found it got really repetitive really fast which just got annoying and maybe a tad unrealistic? I can see myself acting like Ellie maybe when I was 13 around a crush but not at the age of 17.

What this book has:
Representation of different genders (male, female, non-binary)
Representation of different sexual orientations
Commentary on race
Commentary on being born vs. artificially made
Commentary on global warming, climate change, and pollution
A crap-ton of pop culture references and YA books

I liked closer to the ending when things started making sense. I saw the twist coming closer to halfway through the book but I did love how it brought everything together. I don’t think this book needed to be set up as a sequel however. I would have rather read 100-150 more pages of this story coming to a conclusion. The last 20% was just a set up for a sequel that was disheartening to read because I think this would have been a great stand alone.

Overall, 3 stars. Average book in my opinion but I do see that I am not the target audience and sci-fi / light fantasy young teen fans would enjoy this. I probably won’t continue with the series but I will pick up another book by Dow.

**review on blog closer to publication date**

I had such a mixture of emotions while reading this one. Like most of the sci fi and fantasy books I've read it took a little while to get into this story. There was some info dump in the beginning but the story got better once Ellie and Morr1s went on the run even though at times the pace would ebb and flow.

I enjoyed the world building in this story. I felt like Alechia Dow put a lot of thought into developing the Illori and the labmades. And she wrote some beautiful things about the problems in our world including climate change, corrupt governments, and race relations. There were quotes in this story that really touched me. And I love how she contrasted all the bad in the world with the good things like community, family, and art.

While I loved that this book pretty much had it's own soundtrack sometimes the book and music references could be a little overkill. I did like the song lyrics by the fictional band The Starry Eyed before every chapter. But there were references to YA books I did not recognize at all and it was a little strange when Ellie would go on to tell Morr1s a story and provide us a synopsis of a book and we were supposed to guess which one it was. Other times Morr1s and Ellie would break out into song or be focused on music and dancing when I was focused on the danger they were in.

Everything having a label was a little too much for me at times as well. Sometimes I would think "Are we really still this obsessed with labeling everything in the future instead of letting people be who they want to be?"

Morr1s and Ellie were a cute couple. He was a little cheesy at times but he had a big heart and it was nice to see a male love interest in YA so open with his emotions and not trying to play the cool guy. She was a very different kind of heroine for me. She wasn't like other girls but not in the obnoxious way often seen throughout these stories.

3.5 rating for me.

This book. This. Book.

The Sound of Stars follows main characters Janelle (human) and M0rR1S (Ilori) during the alien invasion of Earth by a race called the Ilori. Lovers of books, music, and art, Janelle and Morris meet and connect immediately. Embarking on a road trip to save themselves and humanity, the two bond over the universalities that connect them and the forms of expression they both love.

Right away, I loved this book. About seventy pages in, I preordered it. Janelle was a massive bookworm and having her reference the YA books I read was so fun. She was strong and brave and ace and loveable. I was slightly less attached to Morris, but I've always loved SciFi for the opportunities for the invention of wild and beautiful new worlds, and through Morris, Dow was able to do this in a fun way.

The book was also peppered with mini-chapters about Janelle's favorite band: The Starry Eyed. We get song lyrics, podcast episodes, and interviews about them, and I actually found that to be a delightful inclusion.

I think the stars just kind of aligned for me with this book. One of my absolute favorite childhood books was The True Meaning of Smekday, and this book felt A Lot like that one, in the diverse, slightly older targeted way I've always wanted. I'm also the kind of person who not only always has to be listening to music while she reads, but the person who has to listen to The Right music, and I nailed it with this one (Dow even references the band I chose later as inspirations for The Starry Eyed (: So, like. Listen to M83 with this one just sayin).

The reason this book is four stars instead of five is the action. Dow did really well with the slower, more slice of life scenes. The action, though, felt rushed and half-baked, at times. Because of this, the climax of the book kind of fell flat for me, and the last 25% or so had me kind of losing the insane "Ilovethisbooksomuch" energy that I'd had for the entire book up until that point.

All in all, I highly recommend this book. I really, genuinely loved it, even despite its flaws. A big round of applause for our first entry on the "Favorite Books of 2020" list.

I liked the soundtrack in this book, such as The Cure and Fleetwood Mac. Great song choices.
However, I'm not into alien books or books about the destruction of the human race.

Sorry.
Thank you for the ARC.

Ellie Baker lives in a world where an invading alien species has taken over Earth, rounded up the majority of humans and banned all creative outlets, in an attempt to dampen humanity. When she accidentally befriends one of the aliens, they must travel across the country to implement the plans of an underground alien rebellion intent on saving humans, the Earth and the Galaxy.

The Sound of Stars was another weird one for me. I really enjoyed the book. The story was interesting and well written. The characters were flawed but had growth. That being said, it literally took me forever to actually get invested in the story. I can usually bust out an enjoyable story in a few days. The Sound of Stars took me a few weeks. I’m not sure why. By all accounts, it doesn’t make sense (Insert Cronk with line graph here)

The way that Dow wove the Starry Eyed into the story was awesome. I sorta guessed at their importance around a little over half way through and it was rad to see my predictions come true.

All in all, I really liked The Sound of Stars and would recommend it to any sci-fi/rebel with a cause sort of fans!

More like 3.5 stars
So lets just get the cover out of the way, Wowza that is beautiful. And despite it beautiful cover the book isn't near as stunning.
I did enjoy The Sound of Stars I liked how the author wove the importance of music and literature to humanity's hope and that without it we wither away. The Sound of Stars is book after any music enthusiast of book lovers heart. Each chapter has a reference to a musician or band when our POV (M0Rr1s) is speaking and the other are book references when the second POV (Ellie) but if your not a book nerd I don't think some of the readers are going to get the connections. I think the author should have stuck to more classic references where everyone would know. I also enjoyed the LGTBQ references in the book I know some may not like all the labels being thrown around but humans like to label things and found the author nailed that part. I also liked the road trip our two MC's went on you never really see that in a YA SciFi book featuring aliens. I thought was unique. I will say when reading the book I got some similarities to a book I read a couple years ago called Zero Repeat Forever. by: G. S Prendergast. so if you enjoyed Zero Repeat Forever you will most likely enjoy The Sound of Stars.

Overall The Sound of Stars is a nice and unique addition to the teen science fiction genre. That will sure to please book lovers.

This book moved a little slow for my liking but in the end I loved it.
What I disliked the most were the song lyrics and the interviews with the band that the main character was a fan of. I just skipped those sections. We find out toward the end that they "might" be beneficial to read but I felt no need and found those areas to be daunting and withdrawing from the story.
Overall, the story line was great. The characters were great.
The setting was amazing.
I would read more by this author with the hopes that lyrics are not included in future books.

**Thank you to Inkyard Press, Netgalley, and Alechia Dow for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review**

The Sound of Stars reminds me a lot of The Host by Stephanie Meyer, where alien forces invade Earth and take over the humans. There is a fun sci-fi twist where the aliens, Ilori, are labmade to resemble humans in order to survive the atmosphere. Ellie is a human looking to stay alive, M0Rr1S is a special labmade Ilori in command of Ellie's quadrant in NYC. The universe brings them together in a way that they did not expect - and they become an unlikely pair.

I wasn't sure how to rate this, because my feelings changed frequently during this book. I had a hard time getting into it, was very interested in the middle, and got lost again in the end. The end made it seem like this will be a duology, which I wasn't expecting because it doesn't look like any has been announced. I went in expecting a stand-alone, so the fact that it didn't end well wrapped up threw me off.

I do love the concept, because I loved The Host. As more information is released you become more sympathetic to the Ilori, which was well thought out and constructed. I just wish for more in the beginning that would have captured my attention, and a less confusing ending.

The Sound of Stars brings a new voice into sci-fi with great LGBTQIA representation (all the aliens introduce themselves by name and gender identity). Many characters are non-binary and our female MC is self-reported as demi-ace... (makes me think this may be an Own Voices work?). There is also a lot of political, racial, and environmental discussions that draws direct lines to today's climate, which is refreshing to read and an addition that caused me to rate this book higher.

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Alechia Dow creates a story in the not-so-distant future where alien races have landed on and conquered Earth. We follow two characters: Janelle Baker, a black human girl who runs an illicit library, and M0Rr1S, a lab made Ilori commander who loves music. As Janelle and Morris become friends, the responsibility of saving the humans from the Ilori conquerers falls to them.

I was intrigued by the premise of human and nonhuman characters connecting over art. And the story did deliver that.

Music was so very important to this story. The characters sing to each other. There are intermittent songs written out in between chapters. There are interviews with Janelle's favorite band featured. The language of the Ilori was described as unfamiliar mechanical sounds. Basically, I feel I would have better appreciated and engaged with this story as an audiobook. As it was, I found the 1337speak spellings of Ilori characters' names to be visually abrasive and kind of unnecessary. I also found the song lyrics to be distracting, even though they served as foreshadowing.

I loved the representation in this book. Janelle is a black female who is demiace, self-described chubby and expressed interest in both male and female characters. She also has hypothyroidism and anxiety. AvR0la is a nonbinary Ilori, and (based on how the Ilori introduce themselves to others) it seemed commonplace and accepted for Ilori to be male, female, or nonbinary. These are just a few things that stood out to me, but it was great how they were incorporated so smoothly into the story.

Even with me liking the premise and some of the things that the story accomplished, I found myself not connecting with the characters and not invested in the story until almost the very end. Even then, I was more interested in characters other than our main pair. Perhaps I might have had a different experience with an audiobook format, but as it is I'm left a bit lukewarm.

Dow definitely leaves room for a sequel, and I look forward to seeing future works from her.

I didn't feel that there was one big thing that made this not quite gel for me, but a lot of little things. The pacing felt off - somehow it felt like it took a long time to gear up and then continued to have very little action for huge chunks of time, and as if when action happened it was sort of zipped through? I never really felt as if the characters were in significant danger - and Morris's POV especially included a lot of infodumps. Janelle and Morris's romance didn't feel nearly as epic as the text tried to make it out to be, and didn't feel more plausible because it was canonically called out for falling into the YA instalove trope. I liked that Janelle was established as demi-ace early on, but I sort of felt as if the ace part fell off the map part way through? I would have appreciated even a little check-in as the book went on - the idea of shifting understanding of your own sexuality is an interesting and important one, but it just seemed to be swept past. Though I was glad that it did come to something, I didn't get much from the inclusion of the articles/lyric sections between chapters. I thought the emphasis on books and music (or human creation/art in general) was nicely described and impassioned, but the inclusion of specific stories/books ended up feeling sort of clunky, especially when Janelle was thinking about her favorite ships before being kissed. I did appreciate how the narrative integrated current prejudices and problems into the post-alien world, recognizing that racism/health issues wouldn't go away and might be exacerbated by the traumatic situation.

As the other ratings and the niche it fits into suggest, I think this will totally work for a lot of readers, it just didn't quite do it for me.

There is not a possible universe in which I could have hated this book more. Puzzlingly, I don't have a pithy reason for you, or any reason. It just...didn't work for me, which, possibly because the premise had some merit, was extremely disappointing.

Thank you to Harlequin Teen via NetGalley for the eARC , all opinions are my own.

I read some other reviews though and feel very alone in my way of thinking about the book, so I am concluding that my old curmudgeonly self is not the target audience, even though I have read within the YA scifi /romance genre before and loved it.

So what threw me off? The labels, right from the start, the labels threw me off and I never recovered. Why does everything have to be labelled so that I need Google to understand how people are being described? When I was a kid these things were just considered....like...normal. I don't understand how this is productive to teens or society in general

At first I was just getting annoyed by the labels as I had to Google the check-check-check list of every label the author was using to describe people's genders and It just felt like a huge dump at the start of the book. I really do not believe that people talk like these characters and I hope it's not the future. Also for all the fact that Janelle didn't want to kiss Morris until she liked/trusted him, that's fine and reasonable, but is she really going to love him in the span of a week or so and THEN decide to kiss him? Actually that sounds like a pretty normal teenage girl thing but the author made a huge deal out of it. Trust might have been a more appropriate sentiment to the setting than love and more in character. People are so fixated on these labels though that I feel like the normalcy is lost on the rest of us, when really everyone is just being who they are.

Avr0la also confused me as this is the first time I have seen "they" used to describe a singular person. I am lost trying to understand how someone is supposed to differentiate between one or two or more people being present when we read this? I don't ask this sarcastically, I am just bewildered and confused. I looked it up and I guess English just lacks a more proper pronoun so 'they' has gotten shunted into this role, but it's so confusing to me on paper and my head is spinning. That said though, Avi was a great character and maybe my favorite, and I hope there is more of it in the next book. I might read it.

Even without the labels throwing me for a loop, this book is intended for a very niche group of book worms. I got about 75% of the literary references used but are a lot of readers going to know who, for example, Jesper and Wylan are? I can read YA but the whole thing felt very young to me with all the song lyrics and corny bits. I wouldn't hand this to a middle grader but I think a specific target group of YA would enjoy it. I also wasn't expecting this to be setting up a sequel so the ending lost points.

My last gripe is that the book was SO repetitive, even writing a character with anxiety doesn't mean we have to repeat the same things over and over and over ad nauseum; I found myself skimming a lot. The end just opened up a whole huge can of worms for the second book.

I can't really recommend this outside of the niche group I specified. I did finish it though so that was something, hence the 2* rating.

I really enjoyed this read. I felt like the characters and the story were both very well written. Some of the romance aspect felt a little rushed to me, but I still enjoyed it.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Sound of Stars is a story about the power of hope, love, and art. Full of fantastic representation, Dow's debut novel is a testament to resistance. The Sound of the Stars is a story about re-discovering our hope. Like Ellie, I have been feeling rather bleak and hopeless. Ellie, a biracial black teen, has seen firsthand the effects of racism on her family. The micro aggressions, the way humanity seems to be destroying itself long before the aliens arrived. Because of this, Ellie's perspective resonated with me, not only because she is a huge book worm, but also because she's isolated, left wondering about the good in humanity as neighbors turn against each other. She's scarred not only by the past, but also now the daily quest for survival.

The Sound of Stars is a story centered around art that inspires hope and love. Characters desperately wanting, stretching their hands over the great expanse looking for connection. And the way art and passion can bridge that gap, create relationships where only ashes and ruins existed before. While in many ways it seems like a story about the end of humanity, The Sound of the Stars is the exact opposite. It's a story about how art can save humanity. Our quest to save the essential pieces of ourselves, freedom and expression, in the face of defeat. It's a celebration of love, friendship, family, and hope.

There's no denying that my favorite character has to be Ellie. I adored the fact that Ellie is a plus size biracial demisexual and anxious main character. In science fiction especially there are not enough diverse characters which take center stage and Ellie's representation is a source of hope itself. There are plenty of other diverse characters especially non-binary and bisexual characters! Morris, on the other hand, read very innocent to me. For the beginning of the book I wasn't sure how I felt about Morris. He's an intriguing character, created in a lab to serve the Ilori, Morris' hope for his friendship with Ellie felt a bit naive at times. Even though Morris is not responsible first hand for the imprisonment of humanity, he is part of the alien force and his expectation of Ellie's trust sometimes felt a little unrealistic.

That brings me to my only caveat about The Sound of Stars - the romance. Both of these characters aren't free and I think that is what draws them to each other. What begins as bonding over the importance of art transforms into a deeper understanding of the forces that constrain each other. I enjoyed both characters individually, it just took a while for me to get used to the idea of them being together.

The Sound of Stars is a story about hope and resistance. Most importantly, I adored the fact that in the middle of this science fiction book, there's such an emphasis on art. The message that music, art, and stories can create connections to other people. A reminder we aren't alone.

The Sound of Stars is a post-apocalyptic ya sci-fi novel that tells the stories of 1) Janelle (Ellie) who is dealing with the aftermath of an alien invasion and 2) Morr1s who is a member of the imperialistic colonizing alien race (the Illori).

I really wanted to love this book, but in the end I only liked it. The characters are very well written and relatable (even Morr1s), and the storyline is all about survival, rebellion, and hope.

However, I felt like the characters were written in an attempt to be the next power-couple rebellion leaders, a lá Katniss & Peeta or Clary & Jace or whomever else (which I get, who doesn’t want to write the next blockbuster ya movie), and the rolls seemed kind of forced.

The other thing I found kind of strange was the romance aspect. In the beginning of the book, both characters talk about not liking “hooking up” with virtual strangers because it lacks an emotional connection, but the two of them are basically declaring their love for each other after knowing each other for a less than a week. It was weird.

Anyway, I’ll definitely recommend this to some of my hardcore ya sci-fi/dystopia folks, but probably not for my occasional readers.

A great premise with sweet, relatable characters. The book itself was well-written. Fans of light sci-fi will enjoy this.

*Review will be posted on my blog closer to publication on 2/18/19*

*3.5 Stars*

Thank you to Inkyard Press and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.

The Sound of Stars is a very interesting mesh of the sci-fi, dystopian and romance it’s infused with love of music, books and the love of love really. It explores so many subjects like race, and colonization plus it has aliens! There is a lot going on in this surprising book.

Janelle or Ellie, as everyone calls her, lives in New York City but the world has been taken over by aliens called the Ilori and their labmades. Say what? Yes, Earth’s problems have become insignificant with this way bigger threat taking over. Humans have been killed and are now undergoing a process where they will be given vaccines and their bodies will be husks. The Illori will be able to inhabit these husks to vacation on Earth. Yes…Earth is basically being colonized by these powerful aliens who have been colonizing planets all around the universe.

Ellie is just a teenager, who keeps a secret library. If she is found out by the Ilori it would mean a death sentence. But she meets an Illori, a labmade commander named M0Rr1S, or Morris, who wants to trade. He will keep her secret if she can get him some other kind of contraband – music.

This story is a journey of books, music, love and watching two different species find common ground.

What I Liked:

*Love for books and music is at the heart of this book. It reminds us that no matter what’s going on, how as people we can be divided or conquered, the written word in story form or music form transcends hate and can bring people or in this case species together.

*I was intrigued about this alien race, the Ilori, and their labmades. This story lays out some of the problems on Earth from climate change, to race relations and the corrupt government (hmmm sounds very familiar!). But with the Ilori invasion (which didn’t start out as one really), the humans have pretty much united to fight the aliens. Learning that the Ilori have been colonizing planets for awhile made me want to learn more about their alien race and these planets that they have found in the universe.

*Labmades are an interesting part of the Ilori. They aren’t true Ilori, they were basically, made in a lab. So in their society, they are looked down upon. So Ellie being black and Morris being a labmade shared the feelings of being inadequate and “less than” everyone else.

*It’s a unique story all around with the romance between a human and labmade. The way the story unfolded reminded me almost of a space opera (though they are not in space) – but Ellie and Morris travel throughout America to get to their destination and it feels like this epic space journey…but on land. If that makes sense?

Things That Made Me Go Hmm:

*The romance at first for me…was totally cute. A labmade and human relationship? I was totally for it! And I think a lot of people will find it an amazing part of the story, but at the end it was getting a bit cheesy for me. 🤣 But that’s just totally a “it’s me” thing…Ellie and Morris totally fell for each other and I swear it started to become some space opera musical (yes with singing involved).

*The first few pages was hard for me to connect to because it’s sci-fi (not my favorite genre) with a lot of technical jargon that just left me scratching my head. I just needed to be patient, because soon I was 40% done with the book without knowing I was reading that fast. I loved learning about this Earth as aliens take over and their plans for humans. The story kinda lost me again 75% in and maybe because of the romance and cheesy/cuteness.

*I don’t know that I connected to a character most…maybe Morris because I was fascinated with his life as a labmade.

Final Thoughts:

Even though it was sci-fi and dystopian, it had lots of romance and optimism because of the love between Morris and Ellie. They are seriously the sweetest couple. The world-building of the Ilori and Earth after an invasion felt realistic and I wanted to know more about the aliens! There is so much going on in this story. There is adventure, deception, humans on the brink of being hosts to aliens, Earth being made into a vacation destination, music, books and love. For me, The Sound of Stars was a very unexpected yet fun story to read.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

First, we have to talk about this cover. I know it has nothing to do with the story, but it is GORGEOUS. I was drawn to it for just how beautiful it looks (and also because it sounded like a good book).

The book itself is quite good. There's a lot of set up, so you have to be patient, but I thought it was well worth it because Ellie and M0Rr1S are sweethearts. They are just trying to find their way in a horrible, scary situation and doing their best to find small amounts of happiness. I love them both so much and it was a joy getting to learn more and more about their stories.

When the story picks up, it dashes off--I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough! My favorite part is the middle with Ellie and M0Rr1s on the run, learning more and more about each other as people while also trying to save the Earth. It was thrilling and sweet all at once and really, just perfect.

The biggest annoyance I had was with the characters once the journey started coming to an end. I'm not going to go into major details to avoid spoilers, but it seemed as though the characters' reactions felt forced to continue the narrative Dow wanted to write rather than seemed a natural reaction from them based on what we knew. The book bounced back for me and I thoroughly enjoyed how it ended and how everything resolved, but I was getting quite frustrated with Ellie and M0Rr1s towards the end of the book.

With that said, the rest of the story is beautifully crafted. I loved the worldbuilding and how Dow took the time to really think about what Earth would look like and how people would act after an alien takeover. The depictions felt incredibly realistic and it's clear she spent a lot of time crafting that. I also love how she has an entire universe in this book but doesn't spend a whole lot of time dragging the story down with details of other worlds and races, but things are hinted at enough that they're definitely there, and I really appreciated the fullness of that. I could see a sequel coming out of this universe for sure.

If you love science fiction and contemporary romance, I would highly recommend this book. It's quite the page-turner and you will love the characters.