I love a good dystopian YA story, and the fact that this one is in another galaxy is icing on the cake.

As an adult reading YA, I always have to think back to how my (in this case) 18-year-old self would think of things to be able to put myself in the characters’ shoes, and though I understand the naivety of both Vika and Sky, I had a hard time connecting to Vika because she had this great relationship with her dad—which was some of my favourite parts of the whole book—but I found it really hard to believe that she would be so selfish and not help her family out more than she did. She was smart enough and had suffered enough in her life to know that they needed her, making me dislike her more than I think was intended. That said, I really enjoyed Vika and Sky’s story and how they interacted with each other—it was fun and believable. And though I would have liked to understand Vika’s mom and sister a little better, the rest of the secondary characters were very nicely written. I had a good sense of them and where they belonged in the world that was created.

Speaking of the world-building, which I thought was very good, I wish I knew a little bit more about planets outside of the two main ones that Vika was part of because I would have liked to understand the dynamics of the universe a little bit better. I also wish Terrill delved a little deeper into the rebellion and what they were doing (and how) because it was mentioned a lot, and we got a lot of surface information into what they were doing, but for how heavily the plot leaned on it (or tried to), I felt like I didn’t have all the pieces. I also felt the ending was rushed—but I’m not going to go into detail because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone.

There were two things I absolutely loved. One of them is a spoiler I’m not going to talk about beyond just saying I like that Terrill let the reader in on Sky’s POV from the beginning. The other is that there were many twists about who the bad guy ultimately was—and I was guessing most of the way through the book.

I think lovers of YA and sci-fi/fantasy will devour this book. I wish it were in a series so we could see how things play out for the characters after the conclusion of this arc.

4.5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Not going to lie, I had high hopes for this story but unfortunately, it did not deliver. While the cover is stunning and the description enticing, the story gets slow really fast and it failed to make me feel anything but frustration.

We follow our MC, Vika, as she gets thrown into the world of luxury and forgets her hometown in a second. She is bold and not in a good way. We get it, you are beautiful, it doesn't mean you deserve special treatment.

I did enjoy the Sci-Fi setting which was quite easy to understand - it's grounded in the stuff we already know. The chapters also alternate and we get glimpses of POV's of other characters which was refreshing after being in Vika's head for too long.

Sky deserves better and there was no chemistry between him and Vika.

I don't really have anything else to say but I am sad this did not live up to the expectations I've set and maybe it's my fault.

2.5/3

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I had been so hopeful for The Stars Between Us. Not only did it have a gorgeous cover, but I adore sci-fi and space settings, and the idea of Bridgerton meets space reminded me of one of my favorite books, These Broken Stars. Despite the comparison I feel like I hadn't set my expectations too high, but maybe I did? I don't know. Either way, I became too frustrated with this book, DNFing at the 50% mark and then reading the last two chapters. Where it still felt like almost nothing had happened from where I had skipped from. But let's back things up for a sec.

The Stars Between Us follows Vika, a poor girl living on a poor planet, who is tired of working a job she hates and dealing with her female family members. She used to dream of becoming wealthy and moving to a better, more beautiful world, but knows that will never happen now. Except it does. Because some weird insanely-rich guy who used to pay for her education and get DNA tests done on her... to test her fertility? (No, this doesn't really make sense. No, her parents shouldn't have agreed to this.) All because he decided that she was a potential candidate for who he wanted his son to marry. So upon his death people show up and tell her that she's now wealthy - if she marries the guy's son. And it just goes on from there, with the husband-to-be immediately dying and her moving to a new planet because of the will, etc., etc. If you're going, wow, that doesn't seem so bad, maybe you'll like this book. But, if you're like me and are wondering where the plot is and thinking back to how the blurb was kind of vague, you are 100% correct in your ponderings. Because there is no plot. There's a flimsy romance and an attempt to make a statement on wealth gaps and supposedly nefarious things going down but the bad guy is painfully obvious. There were literally no surprises at the end of the novel when I skipped to it. There was one plot twist I didn't see coming, but despite the fact it was interesting, it didn't actually affect the story all that much which was very... odd.

Then there's Vika herself. I love prickly and unlikable characters, so I thought things might work out with Vika, but I was wrong. She was so selfish and rude that it was unbearable, she had no redeeming traits despite the fact that everyone adored her for no reason. I could understand her wanting better for herself and being willing to leave her family to see what living a wealthy lifestyle was like, but the fact that she was getting a MASSIVE allowance each month and had never considered sending any home was insane. Maybe because she seemed to actively hate her mom and sister? Either way, she was actively selfish and rude and just outright unpleasant. She kept talking about her beauty, which I liked, it was fun to have a confident main character. But that was brought up over and over, and the phrasing was very frustrating because she was essentially saying that she was more beautiful than all of the other working class girls on her planet, so she deserved to be treated better than them. Like, girl. You have no electricity, no money and no friends? Look at your own life. Then there was her and Sky. Sky was spineless and madly in love with Vika, heavy emphasis on madly, because she treated him terribly. She was condescending and rude, and told him to avoid her at all costs and not to talk to her unless necessary. Only to get mad at him for not being friendlier and talking to her when they were forced to work together. They also had no chemistry, there was no reason for Sky to even want to talk to her, let alone fall in love.

Just to add in some positive traits. The writing was super readable, and while this was far from some intricate sci-fi world, the lack of world building worked because of her use of familiar traits. I liked Ariel, she seemed bun and like she might have actually gotten past some of Vika's misogyny to actually being her friend.

TL;DRI could have kept reading this book, but honestly, I just don't have it in me to finish things I dislike anymore. Maybe someone else will like this, but rather than coming across as an epic sci-fi romance, it was just the story of a selfish brat. (also Hal the old man was creepy as hell to keep kissing her, he didn't even know her??).

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

The Stars Between Us follows Vika, a girl who lives a poor life on a struggling planet, but whose betrothal to a rich young man promises a future life of luxury. But when her betrothed is killed in an explosion, and a similar incident threatens Vika's life, a mystery unfolds around who is targeting the heirs to a massive fortune.

The Stars Between Us poises itself as half mystery, half romance, though it ends up being primarily romance. The mystery remains on the periphery until about 60% of the way through the book, which was kind of shocking to me. Even so, Terrill approaches the story with a relatively slow pace, so the last 40% does still feel like a solid mystery story. Perhaps it isn't the best read for readers who are looking for a true mystery, but if you like romance with intrigue, this is definitely a book worth picking up.

Overall, despite things playing out far differently from my expectations, I did enjoy this book. I found the main character incredibly annoying in the first half, though she did kind of redeem herself and certainly showed a lot of growth by the end. I lowkey adored Sky, though. While this wasn't an incredibly twisty story, the romance definitely had me in my feels, and I found the world to be interesting and well-developed. The story was solid and well-written and the characters were complex and given room for a measure of nuance. I will definitely be picking up Cristin Terrill's backlist, and anything else they publish in the future.

A promising start…good but simple world building and an interesting premise. However, the pace was so slow and the main character was painfully unlikeable. It’s hard to read a book when you actively dislike the character you’re supposed to be rooting for. I stopped reading at around the 40% mark when I realized I had no interest in the ending.
I think there is definitely an audience who will enjoy this book but it wasn’t me.

Great and entertaining futuristic mystery. Love the space setting - it reminded me a little bit of Gossip Girl set in space

3.75 ⭐️ This was a great story that I thought was really good. The character ARC of Vika and Leo were well done and I loved their transformation. There were some things that I felt didn’t get done well though, but overall this was a great story and I did enjoy it.

While "The Stars Between Us" is not quite as strong as Terrill's debut "All Our Yesterdays", it is still a very solid novel that perfectly blends science fiction, romance, and murder.

When one of the richest men in the universe dies, he leaves behind a startling will: he will only give his son Leo his inheritance if Leo agrees to marry a mysterious girl named Vika.

The story is told through Vika's perspective, and she is rather unlikable in the beginning. Clearly the enactment of the will turns Vika's life upside down. She goes from living in poverty to having more money than she could have ever dreamed possible. Yet she is so busy being swept up in the newfound glitz, glamor, and money that she forgets all about the family she left behind. She barely spares them any thought. However, Vika does undergo some well-written character growth; as the novel progresses she starts becomes less selfish and more attentive to the world around her.

The romance here borders on instalove. Leo becomes enamored with Vika the moment he meets her, and goes out of his way to win her affections thereafter. Their relationship is sweet, but it would have been stronger if there was more interaction between the two before they fell in love.

Ultimately, "The Stars Between Us" is an entertaining read that will appeal to fans of "These Broken Stars" or "Illuminae". It proves again that Cristin Terrill knows how to write incredibly entertaining science fiction.

Life on Philomenus is anything but luxurious; under a pollution-darkened sky, people do their best to eke out a living from one day to the next, and Vika Hale is determined to find a way out. When Vika is notified that she is to become the wife of the wealthy Leo Chapin and escape to Pluotos and the reality she has always known, she feels the stars have aligned for her. But Leo’s starship is destroyed en route to Pluotos, leaving Vika stranded and aimless as the future she had begun imagining is stripped unceremoniously from her. And in the days and weeks that follow, Vika begins creating a new life as she observes the intensity with which money can control more than she ever believed possible.

This young adult novel is quite slow to start, introducing readers to characters and a setting that has little drive or momentum. By the midway point, however, the pacing begins to pick up and continues to engage readers until the end. Vika is the primary protagonist of the novel, but occasional additional perspectives are included that, while they are not immediately obvious, provide clues about motive as the mystery unfolds. Beginning as something of a dystopian novel, the story turns midway through to something more of a sci-fi based romance novel for new adults that focuses on how the main characters will ultimately come together.

The resolve of this book is satisfying, but it does take some tenacity to get there. It is difficult to become invested in most of the characters, especially as there is not a significant amount of character development within the story. However, the delivery of the narrative is intriguing, and the seemingly disparate pieces at the beginning make sense as everything comes together at the end. Told using phrasing and terminology found in colloquial British jargon, the dialogue places readers more in a future English colony than any other. Occasional moments of romance and strong language are found within the story, but it is primarily focused on the interpersonal relationships within it and the lies and deception that abound. This story is well-designed for a young adult audience and it is worth sticking through to the end.

Thank you Wednesday books for the eARC.

Unfortunately, I made it through the first 70 or so pages on my kindle before I gave up and DNFed it.

I think the main thing that really turned me off from this book was the writing style. It was, to say the least, definitely an experience. A very chaotic one. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way the author seemed very wordy and there would be many paragraphs of information that felt irrelevant and I found myself skimming through a lot. It took away way too much from the plot and the characters, which could really explain why i had a hard time understanding what was going on. Moreover, some of the use of different word replacements were…weird. The one that really bothered me was the word “fecking” meant to replace an F-bomb. There were a bunch of other weird word replacements I didn’t like, and I cringed every time it was used.

I also wasn’t a huge fan of the worldbuilding. Something about it felt off, and I really didn’t know many of the new terms or places, and quite frankly, it just felt like a plain ol’ sci-fi dystopia. I felt like a lot of information was dumped onto us and overall I didn’t like the feel of it.

The multiple POVs was another thing that turned me off. Don’t get me wrong, I love multiple POVs but it felt very unnecessary and didn’t add much to the book at all.

The plot also felt very slow, and it felt like nothing was really happening, or that there was no goal in mind. To be fair though, I did skim a lot of it so I didn’t always understand what was going on, but it didn’t keep me hooked.

The one thing I did like was the main character, Vika. I think her character did have a lot of potential, and I liked hearing about her struggles, and I did connect with her motives. However, in ways, she also felt very flat and passive, and I wish she had more of an active role in the community.

Overall, I don’t think this was the book for me. Thank you again to Wednesday books for the eARC, and all opinions are mine. 1.5/5 stars.

space is all anyone can talk about right now so why not add a little murder mystery to it!

I love the dark cinderella-esque story where girl wants more, gets m0re, and ultimately realizes its not what she thought it would be.

A lot of the characters were interesting, the MCs being Vika and Sky-- Vika is kind of relatable in that we all wish we were millionaires and go through an annoying phase while Sky is probably the most spineless love interest i've ever read. I'm glad they found each other tho bc she walks all over him and he likes it, I guess.

At face value the story was really interesting-- the space aspect was fun and the world building was very well done! But while some of the reveals were actually surprises, I did feel like the "who did it" was kind of underwhelming and a bit obvious.

3.5/5 thanks Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for the ARC!

The cover: beautiful. The premise: Intriguing. Unfortunately, in my personal opinion, this book missed the mark in execution. I found the main character to be selfish and vain, and I was put off by how the love interest simply fell in love for her the moment he saw her, because of her oft-mentioned beauty as well as her stubborn attitude, despite seeing her selfishness and vanity. Many readers may enjoy this sci-fi Dicken-inspired novel, but it was not for me.

I am just starting this audiobook listen but OMG the story so far pulls readers and listeners in. I love the narrator and cannot wait to finish the listen

I enjoyed this book and the story. The writing was well done and I did not want to put it down. The characters were easy to fall in love with.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book! I overall enjoyed this book but it was extremely predictable and I didn’t really like any of the characters. The main character was insufferable and the romance made little sense to me.

I was expecting this to be an easier read and I was correct. The idea of the story is super interesting and I genuinely enjoyed the world building of this book. I have missed dystopian style novels and the addition of galaxies and space really added to it. in terms of the plot itself I found it fell flat for me and was a bit predictable. I also couldn't really connect with Vika as I found I couldn't connect with her personality. So personally the book was not for me but I do have friends who would enjoy this style of book and I will be recommending it to them.

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to review this eARC

The premise of the story is what drawn me in but the story was just okay to me.

The writing style was amazing and how she wrote in accents was chefs kiss. My favorite character of the book was Ariel by far. She is who keep me reading the book.

I love the world building but at times, I felt some connecting details were missing. I like the contrast of the worlds on the two planets with wealth distribution but I was not aware the extent of the disparity until closer to the end of the book.

I really wanted to like the MC, Vika. At the beginning, I was enjoying her portrayal but as the book progressed, I found her to be selfish, spoiled, and unnecessarily rude. She somewhat redeemed herself at the end of the story, but not enough to love her.

I found Sky/Leo to be a more compelling character than Vika and his arc was the one I enjoyed in this book.

I was here for the mystery whodunit aspect of the book, until the climax. I feel like the whole build up was wasted on a Scooby Doo style reveal.

I think this book could have been and deserves to be more than it is. I am giving the book a 3/5.

Thank you Netgalley and SMP for the arc!

Overall The Stars Between Us is well written and executed wonderfully, but it is just not for me. I struggled to like Vika, and just wasn't hooked into the story as I hoped I would be.

An absolutely beautiful and imaginative book - enchanting, really! The word choices were supreme, I really adored Cristin Terrill's writing in The Stars Between Us.