I had fun reading this! There were moments I wish had been more fleshed out or motivations I wanted better explained, but I enjoyed it!

I loved the starry steampunk vibe it had going on, and I'm a sucker for forced proximity love stories. I wished there had been more Vika and *love interest* content (don't want to spoil) especially because I sort of felt like they went from 0 to 100 real quick, but they were cute together nonetheless.

Mira deserves the world!!! That's my space auntie now ok

And ok hear me out...it wasn’t necessarily how he was described in this book,, but the whole time I was reading I pictured Sky as Milo from Atlantis. They have the same energy, what can I say?

Anyway, if you're looking for a cute scifi space steampunk love story with a murder mystery??? Go read this. It's somewhat predictable but it's YA and you'll have fun !!

ARC provided through NetGalley (thank you!!) All opinions are my own

In general, I like to root for a book’s main character, not want to throw them off a spaceship.

In this book, the main character, Vika, is plucked from her poverty-ridden life and given a chance at being an heiress on a different planet. But as soon as she has money, she becomes selfish and spoiled and all the things she previously hated. She worked as a beleaguered bartender on her home planet, but she treats the help on her new planet terribly. She leaves her family on the run-down planet to go play dress-up on the fancy one, while her family continues to struggle to eke by. When someone suggests she send some of her allowance home to help cover the wages her family is no longer getting from her income, she recoils. She literally asks herself why she should send them money, because she says she’s been given that money to make her time on this new planet more fun, not to subsidize her family. She’s a spoiled brat. She thinks she was too good for her previous life and says this new life as an heiress in pretty dresses with fancy cocktails and vapid people is where she belongs. But this new life still gives her plenty of time to complain — which feels like all she ever really does. I couldn’t stand Vika, and that colored my opinion of everything else within these pages.

That wasn’t my only issue with the book, though. The dialogue never felt natural (not much does, if I’m being honest), the “romance” has no chemistry and comes out of nowhere, and the plot points never really deliver much of a punch. It is, however, an accessible read. And the direct setting (the houses and whatnot) are nicely realized, even as the overall setting (the planetary structure, the planets themselves, etc.) remain a mystery to the reader (and maybe to the author). I think part of my frustration with this book is that it has a lot of potential to be really, really good. I mean, if things had been cleaned up, a rags-to-riches story set in space with a mystery of who is killing heirs to a massive fortune sounds like an absolute blast.

Instead, Vika just made me want to blast my brains out — or hers.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for proving me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The start had such promise with the upper/lower class dynamic. I love a good sci-fi but this fell a bit flat for me. There was one good twist and then it started to go downhill for me. To me, the MC read as a whiny brat. I know many of my friends who would enjoy this book but it wasn't for me.

Thank you to St, Martin’s press & Netgalley for the eArc!

4.5 stars

I didn't really know what to expect from this book, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. I felt connected to the main characters and cared about what happened to them. I liked the journey they were on and the realizations Vika had about her life. Yes, I suspected what would happen with the reveal, but it was still rewarding/satisfying. Quite an enjoyable read.

The Quick Cut: A space based fantasy where a girl from a lower class family gets a unique opportunity to become a part of the upper class. Chaos ensues when people start dying.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing the ARC for an honest review.

Life is all about opportunities and how we respond to them. For a select few, the opportunities are endless and neverending. For many, they are far and few between. For lower class Vika, she's about to get one that is more trouble than it appears.

Vika has always felt like she wanted more out of life than being a barmaid. While she has had a mystery benefactor supporting her family her entire life, she can't escape the planet she lives on and the minimal opportunities available. That all changes when she find out the benefactor is a billionaire who recently died and named her in his will. Is this the beginning of a new life? Or a whole new list of troubles instead?

I have admittedly torn feelings about this book. Is there anything technically wrong with it? Absolutely not. However, I still find myself wanting to nitpick so many details as I kept reading on. Considering how much I loved this author's debut novel, that is a very different response to her writing then I've had before.

Vika is an unfortunately unlikeable main character. She gets thrown into an entirely new life, so transitional issues are bound to happen here. Vika takes that and goes to the extreme. She becomes self centered and vapid and quickly forgets the family she's leaving behind. Her true self is exposed and it's not a pretty picture.

I'm not the type to eviscerate a book, so I will talk about the parts I enjoyed. Sky, the male lead, is amazing. He's fighting to discover the truth behind what has been going on, including the people being framed for killing a ship full of people. His story and the complexity of his situation makes you adore him as a reader. It makes you want to see his life work out! I would've loved this book centered on him instead.

A space story that fails to take off.

My rating: 3 out of 5

I also received the audio version of this book, so I used both to read it.
As I mentioned in my review of the audio version, It was a bit slow in the beginning, but picked up halfway through. But I enjoyed seeing Vika and Sky (and Amber, who is the best) grow and change through the book. Their relationship was definitely slow burn. While Vika was annoying for the majority of the book, I also think she was true to herself in that and I like seeing that. This was my first book by Cristin Terrill but I will be reading others.

First, I would like to say thank you so much for the e-arc of this! I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to read and review this before release! Now, onto the review. I disliked Vika so much. Something about her was just insufferable. I think she came off as extremely spoiled. Also, I don’t think that this book was really for me at all. I didn’t enjoy the plot very much either, but I think that’s just because I’m not the right audience for it. I would say this book would probably be great for younger readers who are looking for something to start with in the Sci-Fi genre. The authors writing style was decent, it wasn’t bad but it also wasn’t amazing. This was definitely a solid 3 stars for me.

The Stars Between Us is a romantic young adult science fiction novel by author Cristin Terrill. The book takes a pretty classic romantic premises - girl from a lower class background, scrambling to survive who is surprisingly given the chance to thrive in an upper class city with wealth and fortune - and marries it to one twist (the rich boy she's supposed to marry dies immediately) and to a science fiction setting (with the upper and lower classes on separate planets. Add in an underground resistance movement and well there's certainly plenty that could be done here with the setup of The Stars Between Us.

Unfortunately, The Stars Between Us doesn't really take this setup in any particular interesting direction, with its characters and plotline going in pretty standard directions. The characters are fine, as the book splits its narrative after the first act into a two protagonist SF romance, but the romance never really did too much for me, and the mystery the book presents to keep throwing difficulties in its protagonists' paths is laughably obvious. And well the book's dealings with class, revolt, and the powers and dangers of money are paper thin and rarely delved into as deeply as one would hope. The result is a book that's inoffensive, but not really that interesting at its core.


-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------------------------------
Vika Hale is tired from her life. She works everyday as a barmaid to support her family on the poor planet of Philomenus, dealing with the drunks at her job and her bitter sister and mother at home, with only memories of when her father's career was prosperous enough to get her a satisfactory education to keep her warm. And there seems no hope of anything changing in the future or her life getting better in any way.

And then she gets the strangest news of all: an eccentric billionaire, who had apparently once arranged for medical tests of her as a child, has willed that his only son and heir must marry HER of all people, in order to claim his wealth. And so it seems Vika will get away, to the wealthy planet of Ploutos, at the cost of an arranged marriage she never wanted.

But when things continue to go as Vika could never have predicted and said potential husband is killed before he even lands on the planet, she winds up with wealth on Ploutos without the marriage she so dreaded. But Vika's newfound wealth may only be temporary unless she can find a wealthy new husband to actually call her own......and if she can survive the strange incidents which seem to suggest that her potential husband's death may not have been an accident.

And then there's the mysterious stranger Sky Foster, who keeps poking his head around Vika's life...a man who Vika is both irritated by and potentially interested in, but whom has none of the wealth she needs to get away from the life she hated.....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Stars Between Us has a pretty classical setting: poor young woman from a lower class neighborhood finds herself by happenstance in a rich upper class neighborhood - here a planet - and wants to do anything to stay there, with her initial entry into that society being by marriage. Of course here there's a number of things that are different: the initial marriage never happens due to the potential husband's death, there's someone clearly after her wealth (as hinted by occasional pages told from the unnamed antagonist's point of view), and she finds herself desperately searching for a new arranged marriage to continue her prosperity in perpetuity. Still, if you heard of this setup and thought "I bet she falls in love with someone who doesn't have wealth instead of what she planned", well you'll be completely unsurprised because of course that does happen here.

What throws things for a loop here at least a little bit is well Vika's and her eventual love interest Sky's personalities (Sky becomes a second point of view protagonist after the book's first act, when his secret is revealed to the reader but not Vika). Vika isn't some ideal heroine like many characters are in her type of position: she's tired from being the good supportive daughter, especially with her mother and sister being bitter and unsupportive, and so when she gets the chance at wealth, she barely even thinks about trying to send money back to support them. She's selfish and spoiled to a certain extent, especially when she first comes into that newfound wealth, as you'd expect from a teen who just got out of poverty miraculously. But as things go on, and she realizes she cares for the elderly couple who are now supporting her, and she sees how superficial the upper class is around her, well she begins to turn back in somewhat to the unselfish girl she once was, and act to try and help them and support them...and to solve the mystery of who might be behind the attacks upon them. Sky meanwhile is someone who falls head over heels for Vika from the beginning* but finds her cold and distrustful towards him...and so he finds himself caught trying to be helpful to her and to honor her wishes for him not to be around...a struggle that drives him nuts, especially with the secret he can't dare tell her.

*The book tries to hide that Sky could become a love interest at least through the first act, but the publisher plot summary gives it away, so I'm not hiding it here either, even as I'll hide his more major secret.*

Still while Vika and Sky are solid characters, especially with Sky's secret dilemma that I won't spoil here, the plot around them and the attempt at tackling themes is just entirely ho-hum (as is their romance, which is pretty meh in terms of chemistry honestly). The story attempts a mystery with its real antagonist, who gets occasional point of view pages here and there of him acting mysterious and menacing, whose identity will be obvious after the first act (in which Sky is eliminated from a possibility) by the lack of any other potential characters who could be suspects, making the eventual reveal kind of underwhelming....especially as the antagonist's motives are extremely underdeveloped and basically only revealed at the end. Other side characters who aren't Vika, Sky and the elderly couple who take Vika in are paper thin, even characters you'd think would merit more discussion - for example Vika's mother is treated by everyone as like this awful person not worth a thought and the book never really gives any justification for that; the same with Vika's sister who is just sort of treated like an extraneous person not worth a mention who shouldn't dare be bitter for her own poor lifestyle because she wasn't working like Vika was.

And well, the book kind of has a bunch of themes about class that it kind of wants to talk about....and yet doesn't really know how to deal with. So we have Sky realizing the issues with the world of poverty he didn't grow up in and a group of revolutionaries who want to fight for a better system....who do absolutely nothing. You have one of the elderly guardians become kind of ruined by his greed and the book takes a "you can't just assume money corrupts, it can do good" approach at the end it doesn't really earn. And then the book just assumes that the protagonists, who now are secure with a ton of money, are able to just drop that money exactly where it needs to improve things for a better world. It's pretty much a fairy-tale-esque ending that really doesn't fit the themes dealt with here.

And so while there's nothing absolutely wrong with The Stars Between Us, it just doesn't do anything particularly well enough to stand out or even just exist as an example of a well executed new version of old classic tropes. It's just kind of blah, and well, while it won't make anyone angry, it doesn't give any reason to recommend it either.

OK, so before I start... I went into this book pretty blind and I'm not sure if that helped or hurt my enjoyment lol What I thought was going to be more of a SciFi/romance (which it kinda is), turned out to be more of a mystery/suspense in space haha

What I enjoyed:
- the mystery and intrigue - I truly had no idea where the plot was going for a good chunk of this book (this would probs not have been the case had I really read the book description)!
- Sky(our hero!)

What I didn't like:
- really did not like our heroin (Vika) for most of this book - she just was such a brat at times, I couldn't take it.
- needed more world building to hook me into some of the sub plots that were going on
- Vika's mom/sister - it was not really described well why there was so much animosity between them all.

I loved this book!!!! Thank you so much Wednesday Books for sending me a beautiful arc. I will cherish it forever.

This story was super atmospheric, full of sparkles, and packed with alluring intrigue. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, the execution, the pacing, ALL OF IT.

I did have one problem which I will address at the end after the spoilery section.

Viktoria was an interesting protagonist. She had a lot of traits that I wouldn’t have expected considering her upbringing. Most notably she was selfish, completely self absorbed but not in a way that was distasteful. That stood out to me as we progressed through the book because of how she battles that fact about herself, and how she feels so guilty for allowing her “selfishness” to overcome her when it reality she is just enjoying the one time she allows herself some sort of happiness. Besides that, she was stubborn and caring and she fixated a lot. I feel like this combo is something I haven’t seen before, which I liked. Also, she wasn’t perfect by any means, and I respect the author for writing her like that because it just added dimension to her character.

S P O I L E R S 🛑 PROCEED WITH CAUTION.




I was very ecstatic with how Cristin revealed to us the true identity of Sky Foster. To me, it wasn’t extremely obvious, but, I’m sure other readers would disagree. It just that I’m easy to trick since I’m so god damned gullible. (Jokes on you because I get more out of books that way). Anyways, I liked how this was executed because once we did find out who Leo was, it was cool to watch his character develop. Overall, I appreciated his softness and his politeness too, he was such a sweetheart and a gentleman.

Second surprise was finding out the identify of the villain. I was so blindly set on Hal because of course. Of course, it’s the nice-guy-turned-scumbag who cheated on precious Mira. Why wouldn’t it be? He grew to be a bitter, distant asshole; going as far as to treat Sky like absolute garbage and as I mentioned before, he cheated on Mira. Also, Cristin literally threw evidence of him being the culprit in our face— and no I’m not that stupid, THAT is when I started to doubt that he was the villain. LOL.

Anyways, learning that it was actually Archer was both shocking and blatantly obvious once you get to a certain part of the book, but all in all Cristin managed to get me. I enjoyed how it all unfolded at the end and how we are given yet another plot twist within the twist. I was just truly entertained the whole way through.

My only gripe is the ending itself. It sort of reminds me of Jade Legacy where we are given this beautiful and lush world, but then we’re left with such a short, simple, and furthermore, vague ending.

Right after the reveal of Archer as the villain takes place, the book just speed runs the rest of the way through. There is a brief meeting between Sky and Archer in which Sky barley asks any questions. There’s no real conclusion between them—not one that satisfied me anyway. After that there is a brief period of our two protagonists being apart, and then brought back together by none other than their number one supporter Ariel. After they come face to face? Book over.

This is, of course, NOT Jade Legacy so I didn’t expect some grand extravagant finale, buuuuuuut I do wish that we were given a concrete ending; one that left me complete and whole rather than wanting more (unless there’s gonna be more 👀). Anyways, that is what brought my review down one star. Other than that? Extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend this one!

OK so I practically read this book in one sitting. Just so we are clear, that is 400 pages of unputdownableness. I felt like this was a regency romance in space with a little bit of Rebel Resistance thrown in. Vika is sassy, but at the same time naive. Leo sweet, but also a bit spineless. And yet somehow it works. I’m not sure if it was the setting, the character dynamic, the mystery, or the writing. But i became completely invested by the end of chapter 1 and was a little sad when I reached the end. I didn’t want to let these characters go. I also want a whole book devoted to Ariel.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

This book was not for me, I didn’t realize it was more sci-fi then romance. I would def recommend it to other people who love this genre!’

Thank you to St, Martin’s press & Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title before publishing!

I really wanted to like this more than I did. The premise is fun, and it’s a very light approach to sci-fi, which I was excited about as someone who feels intimidated by the genre. There’s a fun mystery to uncover pretty much right out the gate. After this, I mostly feel a lot of… meh.

First and foremost, I found the characters to be very one dimensional and bland. Vika, our MC, had some good potential at first, but she veers from strong-minded and sharp tongues into a territory that is more superficial, self-centered and just overall difficult to like. I think this was an attempt to show character development, as her priorities do change through the book. The problem is… we don’t really have context for why or any sort of journey to get her there.

This brings me to the romance. There were entirely too many unbelievable confessions of love in this book, and none of which felt genuine or moving. Sky decides internally that he is in love with Vika very early on, and he goes on to describe her as a lot of pleasant qualities that quite frankly, the reader has never seen from her.

I’m not a hater of love triangles, unlike a lot of readers nowadays. Our other member of this triangle, Archer, was the most interesting for me to read. But we also got so little of him too. Come the end, I really wanted to have had more understanding of who he was, what his life was like, why he cares about he things he cares about.

Which brings me to the ultimate end, which felt wildly rushed and emotionally stunted. I was ready for this book to be over, but I was hoping for some sort of reveal, which one could say that we got. However, it felt like a let down and was easy to see coming from a mile away.

I’m ultimately glad that I read this as a bit of a light foray into sci fi, and it was easy to get through. Unfortunately, it left me wanting in a big way overall. This is a 2.75 star read for me

3.5*

The Stars Between Us was entertaining. The Stars Between Us was also wildly predictable. These things can coexist at the same time; they are not mutually exclusive. And as such, I did end up liking the book even though I kind of knew what was going down. So I'll break down what worked for me versus what I struggled with, as one does.

What I Liked:

►Like I said, it was just entertaining. You have a girl plucked from obscurity to be a princess. That is cool right there! Then, it's set on some random planet that is a mess, and I am sold! Then the girl goes to the Fancy Planet™? Um YES please! There is a lot of stuff that this book does have going for it, just in the synopsis alone basically.

►Character growth. Okay, we'll get into this a bit more below, but I kind of hated the characters at the start? But! There is a really good amount of growth, so I can get behind some degree of unlikability if characters can become... you know, less shitty.

►The world itself was really cool- and quite relevant. Obviously, it is clear to see the inequalities mirrored in our own society. While people have clearly expanded to space in this story, they still haven't given up on classist crap, which is super evident. I also really loved the idea of being able to take a quick space shuttle to a different planet- how fun is that? I maybe would have liked a bit more world backstory, but what we did have I enjoyed.

What I Struggled With:

►Seriously, so predictable. Like- my Kindle notes were all my predictions, followed several chapters later by "knew it!" So suffice it to say, I was not exactly shocked by this story. Even when I wasn't totally right about something... I was still mostly right. I can deal with some predictability, obviously, but this was a little much for me to overlook.

►Wow did I loathe the characters at the start! I almost called it quits early on, if I am being totally honest. I really did not like Vika. She was incredibly vapid, and just unlikable. When a love interest stated his feelings for her, I was so lost, because why? She certainly fancied herself lovely, so maybe it was her looks, but then my dude, how shallow are you? She was treating this guy like absolute trash, and he keeps coming back for more! I couldn't understand his motivations, and I certainly couldn't understand why she was the way she was. She did grow as the book continued, which helped. She was never my favorite, but at least she was tolerable by the end.

Bottom Line: I was absolutely entertained, but it was still lacking some excitement in its predictability.

In The Stars Between Us readers follow the story of Vika as she finds out who her mysterious benefactor is and why she was supported to begin with.

The story follows Vika as she attempts to make a new life for herself even when it seems someone is out to murder her. Along with the help of the mysterious Sky Foster, Vika must acclimate to a new world and new social standing while fighting for her life and a future she wants. Terrill's work covers sci-fi, mystery (though a bit predictable), coming of age, mild YA romance, and examines what some would do to step outside of their designated class order to be more and have more in the world.

The characters are believable, if at times frustrating, as is the world building, while minor. The plot kept me turning the pages and anxiously waiting for the murder to get what was coming to them. Add in a few supporting characters with struggles and stories of their own, and this made for a really good read. Fast paced without a major lag at the beginning or middle, a rapid and a satisfying resolution.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars. I absolutely despised Vika for the first half of this book, which made it kind of difficult to continue. But she grew on me as she softened up and started caring more. I loved Sky - and I'm happy that the author didn't try too hard to conceal his secrets. The world and the characters remind me a lot of the Starbound Trilogy, so if you liked that, you'll probably like The Stars Between Us.

Vika Hale used to live a privileged life, until it all came crashing down. Since then, she's felt she deserved more from life. And a mysterious benefactor helping her family over the years did nothing to sway her sense of self-worth. But then the benefactor dies, and he leaves an unusual will- for his son to marry, he must marry Vika. Becoming accustomed to the glittering life of opulence and privilege, Vika is regularly annoyed by the presence of a man from her past who reminds of her daily of where she came from. Then it becomes apparent someone is after the heirs listed on the will, and Vika is the only one who sees the connection.

I won't lie, this was a very difficult book to get through. The world building was fabulous, the mystery engaging, and every side character was well constructed. But Vika was the literal worst. Even at 50% she was still a spoiled, self-entitled, rude menace that had such an over-inflated sense of self that she was insufferable. When other characters proclaimed themselves in love with her I could only ever pause reading out of confusion as I sat in my disbelief. She had done nothing to deserve her wealth, but constantly felt entitled to it, to the point that when another character implied she was sending money home to her still poor family (she wasn't) she berates him and acts even more high and mighty, thinking to herself that she deserves her riches, while they don't. It's maddening. I kept waiting for SOMETHING to trigger her change in character, but it never comes. All we have instead is forced proximity for two weeks that we aren't even shown. We see a small handful of scenes and then its magically two weeks later and I'm supposed to believe she's a vastly different person? A single lunch chat and she sees the worth of a character she's been berating and insulting the entire book? For no reason, I might add?

So many things, especially toward the end, were told to the reader that it made the last 15% or so really difficult. Once Vika, as a character, became bearable, it was like the story lost all value and needed to just end. I found the entire book tedious and frustrating, let alone disappointing. The mystery had me guessing until the reveal itself, but that was the only thing that kept me going.

Every since Vika was a child, she had a mysterious benefactor who paid for her education and ensured her family was provided for on the impoverished planet, Philomenus. Until one day, when she learns that her mysterious benefactor was a billionaire and his will gives his entire fortune to his son, Leo, but only if he marries Vika. It seems like all of her dreams are coming true, financial security, a way off of her planet to the rich sister planet of Ploutos, and a way to provide for her family. But as soon as Vika gets her hopes up, they are crushed when Leo dies in a suspicious accident. The new heirs to the fortune kindly take Vika in as a guest, and she is desperate to make herself a more permanent member of high society. But suspicious accidents surround the family, and she starts to wonder whether Leo's death was an accident after all. And then there's Sky, a new acquaintance from her time on Philomenus who suddenly works for the new heirs. Sky isn't who he says he is, but is he part of the plot to take out the billionaire's heirs, or is he the only one who can help her uncover the mysterious plots surrounding her new life? I really wanted to love this book. The plot and world-building were excellent! It had a Dickensian feel, with members of the lower class being thrust into the world of the elite, and I really enjoyed it! The mysterious plot was also very enjoyable, with characters that Vika couldn't quite trust and a web of intrigue surrounding her at every moment. But I really disliked Vika as a character. I understood her drive to escape poverty and her desire to join the elite, but she was really unlikeable and came across as spoiled and rude most of the book. Several times, she became insulted if the staff was too familiar with her, thinking she was a higher class than them when she would have been a lower status than them only a few weeks before. It was hard to enjoy some of the book just because of how unlikeable she was, ruining a lot of the book for me. Overall, I enjoyed the read, but I wish I liked Vika and could have loved the book.

This book takes place in a dystopian/futuristic/sci-fi setting which is little bit different than my normal and was really intriguing. I was pretty much interested from the get go -- like okay whats the button do!? It takes place in a place where there are several planets inhabited by people of different socioeconomic class/status. It's third person dual pov narrative follows a girl from one of the poor planets and a boy from, well I can't exactly say with out spoiling. It begins with an arranged marriage, but not necessarily between the main characters -- and follows how their relationship develops through out the aftermath of a few big events.

At first everything happening was a bit confusing for me. I could really figure out the setting, but as time goes on it does become more clear. Sometimes the chapter just kind of changes POVs without warning. Along with my confusion in the beginning of the book, I found I wasn't really connecting with the characters, which made it hard for me to stay interested in the story. There's a big plot twist in the middle that rekindled my interest in the book and then honestly, I just got kind of bored again. Because of all this the book kind of dragged for me. I hate saying that, but I do want to be honest. However, just because I didn't find it very exciting to read doesn't mean someone else won't!

This book was incredible. I haven't read science fiction in such a while, and this was just what I needed at the time! The worldbuilding is wondourous- the galactic and futuristic elements were really fascinating. I loved the twists and turns in this story; it made it feel way more exciting! I fell in love with the characters as soon as I met them. Vika was so raw and real- her character was really well written. She is not flawless, she makes many mistakes but she always learns from them. Her famial love is admirable, and the choices she makes in the end were meaningful. The main love interest and the other side characters were also written really well! I loved how this had the love interests POV>>> not many books have it! This is arranged marriage (in a special, twisted way), and it's one of my fav tropes too! My only problems with this book is that it took a while for me to get through the first few chapters, and I thought the love interests personality was a little unfinished?? I'm not sure, I just think some parts of this book are just not my cup of tea. But the worldbuilding and the strong-willed MC made up for it. I would definitely recommend this for science-fiction lovers, people who like a little sprinkle of the mystery element and those who are fans of the rags to riches trope.