Book received for free through NetGalley

This book was quick to get into and hard to put down. And enjoyable read.

I had high hopes when it was supposedly like illuminae. Then I was hesitant about the comparison to Bridgeton. Overall, it was like neither and just a very long book. It was a little bit tedious and frustrating. The names were a little bit ridiculous that I had a hard time keeping up, and it was just dragging on and on. I loved the cover and the title, but this wasn’t the book for me. I think this would work for people just getting into sci-fi.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday books for the digital review copy.

2.5 stars

E-arc provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was touted to be a mix of Bridgerton and Illuminae (it did give me Bridgerton in space vibes and ngl, that was cool) and I'm sure it worked for others, but it just didn't for me.
Maybe it's because I couldn't connect much to the female protagonist.

Loved this book! A beautiful blend of action, romance, and science fiction? Sign me up!

This book did a wonderful job at worldbuilding and mixing genres. I loved each character and their faults.

Vika, the main character, was a refreshing character to follow along. She was selfish and snobbish but nonetheless, it was interesting to read about a main character who doesn't necessarily have good traits.

I loved the plot of the book-- full of suspense and mystery! Overall, The Stars Between Us is a stellar book for sci-fi fans who love an addition of romance and mystery.

Bridgerton, but in SPACE.

Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting to read, but it was not this! The writing was a little confusing at times, but I did enjoy the overall story. The characters were fun and original and I really enjoyed the mystery and "WHO DUNNIT?"

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC!

Vika is a girl living on a poverty-stricken planet. She has been working ever since she was able to help her family, and only dreams of riches. When the richest man in their planet system dies, Vika finds out that the heir to the fortune has to marry her in order to obtain his riches. Teetering between being thankful and hateful of this turn of events, she is cast down to poverty again when the heir is murdered. Feeling sorry for Vika the second set of heirs to the fortune take her in to their home and let her live the high life that she has always wanted. The novel is a cross between Cinderella, the Prince & the Pauper but set in a sci-fi/space setting, with murder tossed in. It relies heavily on a rags to riches theme for the majority of the novel as Vika, is swept up to high society because of kindly benefactors. Vika struggles with the way she clings to high society while leaving her family behind in poverty. But, this second set of heirs is threatened, too, and we are tossed into intrigue trying to figure out who is behind the attempted murders.
My favorite thing about this book was the way I teetered between loving Vika, then absolutely hating Vika and then liking her again. I never really fell back in love with Vika, though. While the who-dunnit was predictable, (I figured it out about 60% through the book) I still enjoyed the ride Vika and Sky were on together as they tried to suss out the culprit. My favorite character was definitely, Ariel. She was such a spunky thing, and in a lot of moments I forgot how old she was.
Overall, this book was a quick, easy read. I loved the eco-commentary about pollution and resources—as well as the internal struggle that Vika experienced as she learned to navigate herself. Sky was an interesting character, I felt like his hemming and hawing about coming clean as his true self was unnecessary. If he would have simply had the reason of "wanting to find out who was behind the attempted murders before coming back from the dead" that would have been enough. He wanted to "help" so much that he seemed to forget that in order to really provide people with help, you need access to funds, so I found his story arc a bit lacking in that regard. This reminded me a little bit of The Ones Were Meant to Find, being more of a journey of self revelation rather than a specific story arc.

dnf @ 20%

I requested this because I remember loving the author's debut...wow was it almost 10 years ago now? Anyways, I could tell from the start that the writing was not for me; I had also read a few reviews beforehand, so I already knew I would probably skim this book at best. I got to the 20% mark and then skipped to the last 15%. I called the villain from literally the beginning and only missed predicting the other twist because I didn't read far enough to know enough. Honestly, this book felt very 2014 YA...there was just something to it that felt dated. Maybe this book will work for you more than it did for me though!

***Thank you to Netgallery for giving me an Arc of this book***

Rating: 3.8/5 stars

Favorite Quote: "In that moment, she had become terrifying to him. Because in that moment, he'd realized he was completely, stupidly in love with her."

Tropes:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Rags to Riches
- the one you least expect

I came into this book with low expectations and came out loving this book with my whole heart. The dynamic between Vika and Skye at times made me want to tear my hair out while at the other times made my heart swoon. Two people that seem like total opposites come together and attempt to figure out why Vika was chosen to be a bride candidate for Leo Chapin. I love how this story portrays them growing as individuals and eventually you see them grow together as a unit.
Vika is resembled as the perfect cinderella story where girl went from rags to riches overnight. She was portrayed as a real person who was selfish, vain, and a little lost/confused at times. But, she was also a girl that knew what she wanted and would do anything to make sure she had a good future ahead of her. I loved that still story showed that money can change people for the worst. In contrast, Sky was a burst of sunshine who realized money cannot buy happiness. Although money can provide comfortability in life which is important, Sky realizes that that sometimes being rich can cause just as many problem as it does being poor.
As much as I loved the characters in this book, the world building fell a little flat for me. It was hard to picture/understand all these different plants and all the traveling that took place. It took a bit time to really grasp this new world. I just wish more time was spent on explaining the wealth gap and how people were separated to different plants due to this.
Although, I did figure out the culprit in the story before it was revealed.... I do admit the twists and turns had me second guessing myself a bit in the story. This book overall was a fast and easy read and I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good mystery book with a touch of romance embedded in it.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Stars Between Us started off on an interesting note. In it, you will meet Vika. Now she was a character that gave me whiplash. Constantly. For most of this book, she rubbed me the wrong way. Especially after finding out the truth behind her family's "wealth". For the most part, she was pretty selfish and entitled. I also didn't really like how she treated Leo/Sky and thought he deserved way better than her.

Speaking of Leo/Sky, I really liked the guy. Felt horrible for him because he basically chased Vika like a little lost puppy. Don't even get me started on the romance between these two because I have no idea what he saw in her to begin with. Eventually she became a decent and more likable person, but I still think he deserves better.

Other than those two, we do get some mystery and drama throughout. I'll admit that I was a little disappointed with the ending/reveal. For some reason, I was expecting something completely different than what we got. Maybe I'm a little hopeful that these two will work things out and become a stronger couple. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm hoping Leo runs away and finds love elsewhere.

In the end, I'm really happy that I got the chance to jump into this. Will definitely be on the lookout for another book written by Cristin!

First, can we admire this cover? This was what lured me in at first. I mean it's absolutely stunning!

Now, onto the story and my review.

I really enjoyed how even though I am very easy and quick to point out how the story will go, progress, the shocks that will come, I cannot say the same for this book. Granted there were a few plot points that really had me thinking, "yep I saw that coming" but then there were quite a few that really took me by surprise!

I don't want to spoil the book because I truly feel this is an absolute must read for any Sci-Fi/Romance reader. I really feel you will be pleasantly surprised by this book.

Is this a series because I feel like that ending left it open for more to come.

Rating: 3.5/5

“He tried to scream, but his mouth only opened in a silent wail. Oh, he thought with the last of his ebbing brainpower, feeling strangely calm. So this is how I die.”

Sci-fi is a new realm for me, and Terrill an unfamiliar author, so I picked up this novel with no expectations or preconceived notions. Once I settled into the flow of the chapters (which was quite easy given her prose), I was delighted to find elements of mystery, romance, underhanded plots, greed, rebellion, dystopia, and world building. There were, unfortunately, several reasons I ended this with 3.5/5 stars, but we’ll get to those in a pinch!

What you need to know: Meet Vika Hale, an impoverished barmaid on Philomeni, a planet riddled with power outages, thick coltane pollution, military barracks, and mercenaries around every corner.

Vika dreams of simply being, more. Her character is defined; snarky, intelligent, dominant, strong-willed, but also greedy, conceited and self-serving. She resides in a small flat with her family (narcissistic mother, jealous younger sister, work-weary father), whom she helps take care of financially, before a world-shattering choice is thrust upon her. A mysterious benefactor dies, leaving a fortune in her lap. However, there is a catch:

She must bind herself to another, or she receives nothing.

Fate isn’t finished with her yet, however. The action rolls along as a strike is launched on the billionaire’s son, to whom she’s intended. Vika is summoned to Ploutos, the neighboring planet and enforced benefactor of Philomeni, where she meets the new benefactors of the will, former caretakers of the grounds (the Gardners). They take pity on Vika and decide to invite this complete stranger to live with them and share in the fortune (this part of the story was slightly difficult for me to believe). She, of course, accepts and willfully succumbs to the lifestyle of a wealthy, entitled, “societal princess.”

Meanwhile, back on her home planet, her family is forgotten, and the Philomeni Liberation Front is the scapegoat for recent insurgent attacks, bringing martial law down upon the already repressed populace.
Sky Foster is the other main character we meet when he approaches Vika on Philomeni for a leased apartment in her father’s building. He clearly has ulterior motives, hidden secrets, and is distrusted from the start by Vika. His forthcoming kindness and compassion are unexpected, but his lack of convictions (and frankly, personality), and his simpering in the face of Vika is often frustrating.

His POV is still preferred over Vika – as a main character, she is almost impossible to empathize with. Her character is lacking, her principals feeble, and overall unlikeable. I understand that she’s a teenager, but her growth and progression is minimal, she acclimates to her newfound affluence far too easily, and I finished this novel having never made a connection to her.

Another attack is made against Vika and the Gardners, making it clear that the will beneficiaries are being systematically targeted. Vika and Sky form an unlikely alliance to hunt down whoever is behind the explosions and intent on murder. The villain we get is not the one I expect, the plot has a few delightful twists, scenes are depicted vividly, and there is enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Now to our rating…
The world-building is present, but the amount of interstellar travel and elements of deep space that I expected were marginal. The minorly mentioned spaceships and ferry trips to “cross the stream from atmospheric docks” are mentioned so sparingly that I often forgot the setting was meant to be set in outer space. Salvage crafts roam the stream, collecting scraps, and there is one high-speed escape scene in one of these crafts, but we are not given more than that.

Secondly, the romance. I’m afraid it fell short for me. There was very little romantic build-up, maybe because there was so much animosity between the characters for most of the novel. It isn’t enemies-to-lovers, as some have suggested. The “relationship” is mostly comprised of internal monologues. The “passion” that I yearned for was tepid, and I felt like our man deserved more!

The background aspects on the tension between the two planets and the rebellion were lacking, and the ending felt almost underdeveloped: abrupt and vague. I wasn’t left with any nostalgia, mixed emotions, questions, or prolonged imaginings off into space as I usually do.

This novel is worth reading if you’re hoping to branch off and explore the sci-fi genre, but I can honestly say I’m not entirely sure I would read a sequel, were one forthcoming. I would like to express my gratitude to the publisher and netgalley for providing this copy to me.

“An Unforgiving Planet?” Yes.
“An Unforgettable Love?” Afraid not, ma chère.

Freeze cream, anyone?

***I was given a free advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.***

This was an interesting read. It’s a young adult sci-fi story with an assassination plot mystery, rags to riches trope and romance sprinkled in there too. Here is what did and didn’t work for me:

+ I liked the creativity – the whole sci-fi world building was interesting to me. Vika lives on poor planet Philomenus and life is hard, she wants more and coincidentally she gets more and gets an upgraded life by moving to Ploutus which is the rich planet basically.

+ I was intrigued enough to read this in one sitting. I figured out a few things about the plot in the beginning but it still made me want to read through to the end to see if I was right. I was mostly right! There are assassination attempts, changing wills, suspect characters and Sky’s secret.

+ I thought the characters were pretty fleshed out – even if some of them were unlikable. At least they were true to themselves.

~ Vika is unlikable. ambitious – she wants out of the poor life and she has a way out and takes it, barely looking back at her family back home on Philomenus. She’s a snob, selfish, shallow and beautiful of course – but she does have a little growth by the end of the book.

~ Sky Foster is Vika’s opposite – I just really wished he had some kind of backbone around her. Vika could eat him up, spit him out, stomp on him and he’d be fine with it. He’s a dutiful boy, sweet to his friends, a good guy really…I just wish he didn’t let Vika push him around at times.

~ The insta-love on Sky’s part. Like, come on man, what do you see in Vika?! lol…him falling in love with her was weak. There was hardly any build-up between them, she hated him for the most part. But by the end of this book they are in love.

~ Would have been nice to have more sci-fi in the story, it’s a pretty lite sci-fi story. I felt like the most sci-fi thing about the story was the setting, economy and the transportation.


Why you should read it:
*you aren’t used to reading sci-fi – this one is a lite sci-fi story with romance and intrigue

Why you might not want to read it:
*Vika is unlikable – and usually I can deal with unlikable characters but I did not see why Sky fell for her so fast

My Thoughts:

Overall I think the story did a good job with the rags to riches trope. Vika went from rags to riches in the blink of an eye and does that change her? She was pretty unlikable when she was poor – but I found her hunger for more commendable. When she finally gets more she finds it easy to forget her parents and sister back on Philomenus. She’s cold and yet Sky, the sweetest, nicest guy can see past all her selfishness and fall in love with her. You know he’s fallen hard! There is some growth in her character but I still felt like she was the thing that didn’t make me enjoy this story as much as I wanted to. I did like the mystery of the assassination attempts though, and the world building is creative.

I was glad I learned about this book and got it from Netgalley - I had never come across a Cristin Terrill book before, and it's fun "meeting" a new author.

The protagonist in this book, Vika, lives on an impoverished planet, where people need to work very hard to (hopefully) get the basic necessities. Vika's family is better off than some, because an unknown person has paid for education and some medical care. When the reasons are finally made known, Vika takes her chance at riches.

I struggled through much of this book because, honestly, Vika was hard to like. She was quite selfish and entitled and all too human. But by the end, I kind of liked her. I did like the other characters quite a lot, and I'd love to see sequel stories about some of them!

I feel like I’m in the minority here, but I liked this book. This book is what you’d get if you mixed inheritance games and a space opera (mostly planet side). I thought the premise of the book was unique and the story had me hooked from the beginning. If I had to put the book down to do something, I found myself wanting to go back to read the story. There were some things I didn’t see coming throughout the book so overall I really enjoyed this.

Very cute story. I often thought I figured out the twists, but then the author made a unique choice. The characters were well fleshed out and the world building was easily understandable. Would recommend this.

This book is great! The writing has an edge that kept it interesting and the characters were fun to follow. Not in love with the cover but it is still eye catching.

I ended up not finishing this one, unfortunately. It moved REALLY slowly (especially considering it’s YA) and just never grabbed my interest.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!

I have to be honest, I couldn’t get into this book. I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood or if I didn’t actually like the plot/characters, but something was stopping me from actually caring about this.

First of all, the writing style felt pretty inconsistent. I could get over the grammar and the slang, even though they felt kind of awkward, because at least they went with the world-building. It bothered me at first, but I could adjust.

But sometimes the writing was really nice and descriptive and it flowed well, and sometimes it was pretty clunky and annoying, and that made my reading experience just kind of rough. And what was worse, the slang and adapted grammar that I mentioned earlier was also patchy.

It came up mainly in the beginning but then petered out. I guess it was a reflection of Vika’s adaptation to high society rather than the slums, but it’s not that easy to change your thought styles and preferred phrases.

The world-building was actually really good. I loved the whole galaxy theme and the dystopian setting and how fleshed out all of society was. The economy of Philomenus and the corruption on Ploutos felt very realistic and well-thought-out. Not to mention the aesthetic this provided.

My one complaint is that the world-building within the book is mainly centered on the sister planets of Ploutos and Philomenus, and nothing outside of it - though it’s heavily implied that there’s much more in the galaxy beyond. I would have been interested in seeing more of this system of planets and how it all fit together.

The plot of this book was something I expected to be much more exciting. I kind of knew from the synopsis vibe of “poor girl with a mysteriously charmed life transforms into a fancy lady” that this was going to include some cliches, but it just didn’t feel that intriguing to me.

It took me a long time to understand what was going on and how relevant those things were to the plot, and by the time I was near the ending, I still hadn’t formed any connections to the story. I just found it hard to care.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have always and will always be a guilty bitch for the rags-to-riches trope, no matter how trashy it is. This was no different. When an unsuspecting girl has to navigate the bloodthirsty, glittering society she’s been sucked into?? Pure gold.

And Vika’s character did that a little too well. The second she went from Philomenus to Ploutos, she became this selfish, spoiled brat who refused to let herself feel anything but contempt.

I loved how scrappy and bitter she was in the beginning, because I thought it was setting up for actually good character development. It didn’t. It just made her ~ambitious~ and ~ruthless~ within the ranks of Ploutousian upper society. She became this self-absorbed pick me girl with no remorse and no emotions other than anger, scorn and stupidity.

I might be exaggerating. She certainly had the redeeming quality of being aware of everything around her. But the way she settled from poverty into wealth without even caring that much about the corruption of that wealthy (until it started affecting here) was just not it.

I love bitter protagonists. I love angry protagonists. I don’t like protagonists who acknowledge that “oh I should probably send my starving family money because I’m not working and providing money for them anymore” and then saying in the same breath “but they’re fine because I’m not taking up space and they never loved me so why should I care”

Like…girl??? Your sister and mother might be absolute bitches but they’re STARVING bitches, meanwhile you get yourself drunk every day and spend thousands on jewelry just so you can make friends with fake girls married to rich men twice their age.

Oh wait, you plan to be one of them too.

Then there was Sky Foster, who had as much personality as he did brain cells. That is to say, almost none. His entire narrative was pining after Vika or his ~awakening~ in finally seeing the ~bad things~ in the world.

He was so passive, it was pretty obvious his only role was to awaken sympathy in the audience for his horrible plight and to give Vika a love interest. Because no one else was going to fall in love with someone like her.

Speaking of which, the romance? Was literally not romance. It was Vika being a bitch and Sky being bland as hell, to the point that neither of them knew what to do in the same room except make eye contact and have ~internal monologues~. Vika looked down on Sky so much, and for what? Because he was creepy?

That didn’t stop her from going after an old divorced guy just because he owned a business.

The love triangle was just not even a love triangle because there was no relationship. Archer (who I didn’t talk about simply because he only appeared when it was necessary to lend more ~tension~) was just sooooo fascinating and handsome to Vika. Sky scared her because he made her feel guilty about being a spoiled bitch.

And Sky? He found Vika so perfect no matter how selfish she was. Because he just had no room in that brain of his for any other thoughts.

My main problem with this book was that everything felt so useless. Things happened to the characters, but were they actually doing anything? No. The story was driven by outside forces only, and they were just along for the ride, which gave the audience literally no interest in anything they actually did within the story.

The one climactic scene near the end was the only time I really actively read what was going on, and while that was actually really good, it wasn’t enough to carry the remnants of the plot for me.

I liked the messages this book carried about poverty and rebellion, but it honestly felt like such a constant dystopian trope that it was easy not to pay attention to. Nothing excited me, and nothing made me want to pay attention to what was happening.

Overall, this book was not my kind of thing. It’s probably correct to describe it as a “intergalactic Bridgerton” type of set, but I haven’t seen Bridgerton so don’t quote me on that. I just know it gives me very futuristic-Victorian-romance vibes with a little rebellion thrown in.

Maybe this book would be perfect for someone else, but to me it just wasn’t that great of a read. The characters were unlikeable, the story didn’t feel compelling, and the romance was just not really there. It would be a fun trash read in my opinion, but I couldn’t get myself to care past that.

The description of the book has sold me when I saw this. I immediately requested it and luckily, I was approved.

However, as I read on, I found myself kind of regretting it. The plot is confusing for me, the characters especially the main character are bland. And I cannot root for any of them. I was hoping the ending will change my opinion, but sadly it didn't.

The Stars Between Us, by Cristin Terrill, is a space opera-esque(heavy on the “esque”) fantasy about a struggling barmaid named Vika who desperately wants a different life.
I really wanted to love this book, but in the.end it was just missing a certain something, and I had a hard time connecting. I think it was something that could be fixed on the editorial side, because the story is solid. Additionally, this novel was described as a space opera, but that is quite a leap, since 99.9% of the story takes place planet-side.
3/5⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.