I really wanted to like this. I just could not get over Vika, I didn't like her as a character whatsoever. I couldn't connect with her at all, she was so spoiled and selfish. But not in the fun bitchy way that people can be spoiled and selfish, in the way that causes people to commit homicide. I'm people.

The only thing that kept me from giving it 1 star is the setting. I adore books set and space and I thought the concept of twin planets was super interesting. That's it.

Actually, I'll just give the feedback. The prose wasn't for me and I think the whole thing just skews a bit young for my taste. Nothing personal.

Saying this book is unreadable sounds harsh to my ears - but I have tried multiple times to get through this 400 page book and my frustration has increased each time I picked it up.

I’ll keep it brief. Veka is highly unlikeable as our MC. Which is my main reason for disliking this book - I found it difficult to connect with this world or it’s characters. The second is it’s too long and the plot is moving to slowly. Much of the dialogue doesn’t do anything to move the story along and caused me to skim quite a bit.

I’m very disappointed because I was very excited for this one.

DNF @ 60% - I really tried to like this one. it felt like divergent meets the inheritance games, but wayyyyy less interesting. the characters were bland, and I found myself caring less and less about the mystery at hand. it just didn’t even matter to me who the mystery benefactor was by the end.

I liked this book! The writing was pretty good and the story was amazing! I can't wait to read more from this author.
(netgalley e-arc)

The cover did it for me. The premise too had me eager to read this book. After a few chapters I was hooked and couldn’t wait to see where things went. We learn about Vika and her life and watch as it threatens to change only to remain the same. Then we learn about Sky and at first he came across weird but then allowed us to see who he truly is and I found myself rooting for him the entire time. I kept waiting for things to get going but it feels like the story stalled for quite some time. We see their daily life which is nice but it didn’t leave enough time for when things actually went left. It felt like all the action was squished in at the end and felt rushed. That sucked because otherwise I definitely would have said it was a 5 star read. Instead, it felt like everything was squeezed in to the end and left the ending feeling meh. I’d still recommend others read this as it was a fun read. I just wish some of the slower parts weren’t there. 3.5 stars.

There are so few Sci-Fi books out right now, so to find one that is also fabulous is just a bonus! Knives Out was one of my favorite movies, and this had all the same vibes!! Plus, anytime you can show the disparity between classes and the dysfunction of governments, I'm sold on that story. There were the perfect amount of plot twists that kept me guessing.

I like this book. The characters are interesting, so you might not relate to all of them. But the plot is solid. My only issue is that it moved a bit slower than I was expecting. The author wiring style is very descriptive which I particularly like.


Thank you NetGalley ,St. Martin Press and Wednesday Books for my ARC.

I had a really great time reading this book! I really enjoyed her first book, and this one sounded really great! I really enjoyed reading Vika's story, and watching her go from rags to riches. Well, not her own riches, because this story wasn't what I expected!

I thought that by being her benefactor, that the money would be going straight to her, so I wasn't expecting that it would be a condition that his son would get the money-if he married her. That the guy was evaluating her to see if she fit his standards of what he wanted from his son's wife. Yeah. That was strange, but I enjoyed watching it play out!

Sometimes, I wasn't sure if I liked Vika all that much. She got caught up in this world of glamour and glitz, and was kinda appalled at the thought of sending money back home. I'm like, do you really need to spend all that money on clothes? Really?

That ending though? I didn't expect that, that was pretty explosive, and I loved how everything worked out when the dust settled. It was great to see that they'd learned from their experiences-and how they grew from them. And I love what I can picture for their future!

This was a pretty great book from Cristin Terril, and I can't wait to read more!

This was a VERY different book than I’ve ever read. I had trouble connecting with the main character. I guess I thought she would be more, compassionate and sweet considering things she had been through. I just found her sort of boring to be honest. I liked the author’s writing style despite my lack of character connection.

The story itself was very interesting and that is what kept me reading.

There are a lot of things about Vika that don't quite make sense, but when Mr. Archer Sheratan stops by her family's small flat on Philomenus with news of her mysterious Ploutos benefactor's death, some questions are finally answered. Soon her world has been rocked and turned upside down, and she has to figure out what her self respect is worth and what she is willing to compromise to get the life that she wants.

I liked this book a lot. Vika , Sky, and Archer are interesting characters, and the fact that they aren't perfect, there are stumbling blocks and character growth for everyone (the growth may not be a positive thing for some). The only thing that I wished was included was a pronunciation guide since the book takes place on 2 different planets and that there are some word variances that made my brain stutter in trying to work out how something was pronounced.

I received this free Advance Reader copy from NetGalley and MacMillan. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book.

Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to my expectations. I hoped I was getting into an epic sci-fi romance, but instead it struck me more as a soap opera about selfish and shallow people.

Characters are important to me, and I'll stick around for them even if the plot doesn't dazzle me, but the characters were actually the biggest frustration for me.

I didn't like Vika at all and found myself getting increasingly annoyed with her. She flounced about without any care for the disasters she left in her wake for others to clean up. She literally considered throwing a fit like a toddler twice because things weren't going just her way (who cares about the actual grieving people in the room with her the second time). She forgets about her family very easily, and every time she's reminded of them and the difficult life they live, she gets snippy or brushes them off. It got to the point where I wanted misfortune to befall her just so I wouldn't have to watch her be a brat to everyone anymore. Oh! And the way she treated or thought about the staff was appalling. You'd think she'd be more compassionate and just plain decent since she came from the same situation as them, but, no. How dare they not look thrilled to serve her?

It baffled me every time a character would say they loved Vika because she was kind or sweet or generous. I wondered what alternate version of Vika they'd met.

Another character bugged me because they chose to let people suffer and get arrested just so they could pretend to be poor. It really rubbed me the wrong way.

The plot itself was pretty flimsy, especially when you start to realize how easily this could all be solved if one character would just speak up. It also didn't really make sense to me why Vika got to go pretend to be rich anyway (without giving away spoilers). Pull at the plot even a little and it all starts to fall apart.

I wish I could have enjoyed this book, but even the sweeter moments were spoiled for me because they felt out of character for Vika. Unfortunately, this book was not it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

the stars between us promises a sweeping sci-fi mystery starring a main character with a rags to riches arc. ultimately, the reason that the book falls flat is because you never care enough about the main character to cheer for her.

vika is a working class girl who’s informed that she will get a huge part of a dead billionaire’s inheritance if and only if she marries his grandson. however, when the grandson is killed in a spaceship crash, vika inherits the fortune anyway and goes to live with the former caretakers (who have also inherited part of the fortune) on the billionaire’s grounds. here, she meets a young man, sky, who works for the caretakers. despite initially distrusting sky, after vika is targeted in another spaceship explosion the two end up working together to unravel the mystery of who’s targeting the heirs of the billionaire’s will.

keep in mind that this is a paraphrased summary from the back of the book, and it’s already confusing. though you do get to know characters and their motivations over time (especially through the dual pov) it’s hard to keep track of who the characters are, what they want, and why.

this is perhaps most true for the main character, vika. at the beginning of the book, vika is a working class barmaid who understandably resents the rich for their wealth and their reluctance to help the impoverished. but when she does luck into a fortune, she seems to have forgotten her past. because her money is new, vika isn’t taken seriously in high society, and to solidify her position among the upper circle, she devotes herself to finding an old-money husband, completely forgetting about her past in the process—she literally forgets to send money back to her family (who are still poor) because of this. this is the perfect example of the ultimately lacking characterization in the book. it becomes impossible to sympathize with vika when we see how weakly principled she is. throughout the book, we are left questioning how much vika really cares about solving the mystery and why she’s trying to solve it— is it because she cares for her caretakers’ safety, as they are potential targets? or is it just because she wants this inconvenience in her new, shiny life to be pushed aside as soon as possible, so that she can solidify her place as a woman who belongs in high society?

what’s more, the book fails to deliver on key components of its pitch: the dickensian space opera worldbuilding and the romance.

to be considered dickensian, a book must be characterized by honest representations of poverty, exaggerated characters, and/or plot contrivances; all of which the stars between us fails to deliver on. the majority of the book occurs when vika has lucked into a fortune and revolves around high society, the characters are not interesting enough to be considered over-the-top, and the plot is not unbelievable more than it is simply unengaging. the space setting has almost no bearing on the actual plot— aside from the fact that characters have to travel in spaceships in between planets every once in a while, this book could have been taking place on earth. a setting should be more than just the backdrop of a story; it should mold the plot in a way that makes the two inseparable.

the romance was pitched on the author’s twitter as an enemies-to-lovers, but the two leads aren’t actually enemies. sky never hates vika, and falls for her almost as soon as he meets her. vika doesn’t hate sky either, she just doesn’t trust him because she suspects that he’s hiding something. if anything, the romance should be considered boy falls first. aside from the tropes, the romance subplot feels like it was thrown in last minute, as though the author couldn’t think of how else to change the dynamic between sky and vika. there was very little romantic buildup from vika’s side, and i genuinely thought it would make more sense for them to stay friends rather than actually get together.

however, i feel that it’s important to point out that i didn’t find this book actively bad, it was just underwhelming. in fact, i was shocked to find out that this wasn’t terrill’s debut, because the book has potential and ultimately lacks in execution that i would chalk up to inexperience. the book does have aspects that i enjoyed. sky was an interesting character that i would have loved to learn more about, and the descriptions throughout the book were vivid and detailed.

I received this arc via NetGalley and I would like to say thank you to St. Martin’s Press Wednesday Books imprint as always all thoughts are my own.

The Stars Between Us follows Viktoria Hale and her life on a planet destitute with poverty and every generation repeating the cycle, until one day the legal team of her mysterious rich benefactor; who been providing for her since a child shows up to give her the news that she was in his will to receive his inheritance by marrying his only son. But as the story progresses Vika starts to realize just how much money shows a person true colors.

There were things that I enjoyed about this book but also things that I would change, let’s start with what I enjoyed. What I enjoyed about this book was that the running theme throughout the story was money and how when people have a certain amount of money they tend to transform into a person that’s unrecognizable. In the story we see Vika struggle with this a lot because she wants to become rich and never have to go through the poverty on my planet anymore and provide for her family, but can she be okay with losing who she is a person if she gives herself over.

Personally what I would change or did not like was how slow moving the book was in certain places like when I started the book the end of the prologue hooked me from the beginning but then it would lose but by the middle of the story a plot twist would hook me in again and I would keep reading to find out but it would take multiple chapters to get be hooked again. But that should not stop you from reading this book because it does tell an important message of what greed does to a person and lengths they would go to achieve it.

The Stars Between Us is available in all major retailers on August 2nd 2022.

2.5 stars**

We started really strong but then in the middle it went down hill.

Enter Vika, a girl who suddenly may win a fortune, thanks to the will of a wealthy man, but there's a catch, she had to get married.

This begins intriguing and then... yeah.

I think the biggest problem with this book is Vika herself, at first she is a hard working person and then out of nowhere she's extremely ambitious (but in the stupid way). She loves her family, but then totally forget about them. This transition is not smooth and her hate for Sky is uncalled for, she met him and immediately she hates him.

Another big problem, the romance. I didn't feel a lot of chemistry, sure there were some, but NOT that much.
I could go on, I won't because the thing is: this got potential, all the elements for an excellent book are there but need more polish. The romance, the characters, the world building.

This is a very mix review but I will wait for more of this author in the future.



Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I had high hopes for this. I mean… Bridgerton in space?? Sign me up. However, I felt this fell very flat. The worldbuilding was sloppy, the science iffy, and the plot kind of lackluster. While I’m sure there is an audience somewhere out there for this book… It was not for me.

The Stars Between Us was so much more than I expected. It's a constantly moving story filled with romance and complex politics. Vika, the main character, went through a pleasantly realistic arc and went from being a character I didn't like to one that I felt close to. My favourite part had to be her realization about money: both the benefits and the consequences. Good read!

This was an incredibly unique, interesting book!! From the twists and the turns to the incredible world building, I found myself on the edge of my seat often. One of my favorite things for me though was the character ARC with our heroine. Cristin did a wonderful job of making her flawed and complex, and also making her go from someone you frankly wanted to throw your book at to routing heavily for. You don’t often see heroines this flawed, but it was real and raw and done well. This read is lower on the romance scale but definitely high on the YA/Sci-Fi, so if that’s what you are looking for, its definitely worth picking up!

I was provided a free ARC of The Stars Between Us by Cristin Terrill from St Martin’s Press via NetGalley in return for my honest review of this book. Any opinions stated in this review are mine completely and are not influenced by outside sources.

I want to start off this review by saying I really frekin love this book, which is weird because usually I'm not a sci-fi fan. Vika felt so realistic as a character and I felt that I could really put myself into her shoes and see why she made certain decisions. I never really knew who to trust in this book and just as I thought I could trust someone they were hiding something. I highly recommend this and I will be purchasing it when it comes out.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Stars Between Us, and I read a lot of mixed reviews; however, now that I have finished, I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book! I really liked Vika as the protagonist; she definitely had her flaws, but, for me, that's what made her so relatable. At times, she is selfish, egotistical, and brash, but at other times, she is kind and thoughtful. I also really liked Sky as a character; his chapters were some of my favorites! Similar to Vika, he is not a perfect character - there is plenty to dislike about him, but he is realistic. Ariel is just great!

The book follows Vika as she transitions from being a bartender and taking care of her family on a more rundown planet to living the life of luxury (to include gowns, galas, and all the riches) on the more well-off planet. How she got to Ploutos and whether she is able to stay is all part of the narrative. I thought the book was well-paced and the dialogue was well-written. The ending is satisfying and there is plenty of action.

While this appears to be a one-off and not the first book in a series, I'll definitely be reading more from this author! I'll also be recommending The Stars Between Us to anyone who is looking for an exciting and well-written YA fantasy/Sci-Fi.