The Stars Between Us follows Vika Hale, a poor worker who is suddenly elevated to wealthy status when it's revealed she's to marry Leo Chapin, heir to a billion dollar fortune/company. Then Leo dies in a spaceship explosion and all Vika's chances of escaping are crushed. Or so she thinks...
The Gardeners, the new will benefactors, come to meet her and offer to take her in. Vika jumps at the chance, but what she doesn't expect is to meet Sky Foster again, a mysterious young man she met briefly before leaving her home planet. Sky works for her benefactors and the two begin to suspect outside forces are trying to shape who receives the Chapin fortune.

The worldbuilding was interesting. I liked the idea of Vika living on a dystopian planet, that she also lived on back when it was thriving, and I was interested in this idea that Vika was being groomed her whole life. The deep mystery and getting to have peeks into the eyes of the person behind all the treachery, while not finding out his/her identity until the end also keep me intrigued.
Although Vika was a little unlikable the rest of the characters were well developed and I especially liked Ariel. The love aspect was a little 'meh', but the ending was solid and overall this was a fun quick read!

A good light read. Well written so the story keeps moving with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. I won't give any spoilers but there are a couple of good surprises as the story progresses. I have not seen anything by this writer in the past, but this was good enough to keep his name on the look for more list. The ending is as expected, but getting there was fun. I would say this is a good romantic thriller. The setting gives it a sci-fi twist.

Thank you #netgalley #stmartinspress and #wednesdays books for this Advanced Readers Copy of this book in return for an honest review of the book.

This is the ARC I've been waiting for. This Dystopian, Scifi, Romance is fantastic. It compels to turn those pages and burn through those chapters.

It's a murder mystery, Rich planet vs. Poor planet, family dynamics, love vs. financial stability, the dangers of finances, and too much champagne.

Viktoria aka Vika Hale finds out she's engaged when a reclusive billionaire names her the fiance of his son, Leo Chapin, who is then murdered in an explosion on the spaceship taking him home and the inheritance goes to his housekeeper, Mira. Mira brings Vika to live with her and her husband, Hal because they feel badly that Vika was given hope of a new life and then had it ripped away from her. But Vika, who is now going by Viktoria, find a surprise. The young man, Sky Foster, she rented a room to in the housing unit her father manages is now employed by Mira's husband.

Vika and Sky are caught up in a web as the story unfolds. Should Vika marry for money so she can take care of her family or should she follow her heart. And Sky has a secret of his own. But both are trying to find out who is trying to kill the Chapin inheritors.

This author is new to me and I think she is fabulous. I was thrilled to see she part of the writer's group with Beth Revis. I love writers supporting writers.

I highly recommend this book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Wednesday Books.

For me, this book was a slow start but once it got going I was entranced. I'd sell it ass scifi take on Pride and Prejudice.
I absolutely loved being in this world.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday’s Books for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and views in this review are purely my own and not associated with any brand.

I LOVED this book. Cristin Terrill created the most compelling world and societal structure. Sci-if tends to take me a little longe to read for some reason but I flew through this one. The writing was easy to follow and the story was so excellent that II was captured by this book right away. I did figure out most of the twist before the end but I wasn’t bothered by that. I still enjoyed the journey! This book felt like a mix of Pride and Prejudice and The Gilded Age. Only Vika was both proud and prejudice and everyone was the snotty people from the Gilded Age. I loved every minute of this book!! I would definitely recommend to a friend.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday's Books and NetGalley for an Advanced Readers Copy of this novel.

Vika Hale grew up extremely poor on an impoverished world after her dad loses his job. All her life, she has been given a step up by a mysterious benefactor. Little did she know that she had caught the eye of a billionaire who had included her in his will. The only caveat is that he had selected her as a wife for his son, who would only inherit his fortune if they married within two years after the magnate's death.

Swept up in a world of wealth and privilege, Vika is overwhelmed by her new life and gets caught up in the superficial and the rich. She and her guardian's assistant, Sky Foster, discover that someone has been targeting the will's benefactor, and it's a fight to find out who is behind the destruction before she is silenced. She also has to deal with the guilt of leaving her family behind.

I thought this was a fun and well written story. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it and will be checking out Cristin Terrill's other novels.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my review! <3
(My review can also be found via my Goodreads account, link posted with review)

If you have ever thought to yourself,
'What if Pride and Prejudice was set in some futuristic space universe?'
Then this book is for you.

If you have never thought that before and just want to read a super cool space-set drama/romance, then this book is also for you.

From the first page I was captivated by the main heroine, Vika, and her desire to escape from her polluted, impoverished home planet and return to the place she once called home, a flourishing cityscape filled with some of the universe's most wealthy.
However, I must admit, throughout this book there were some times when Vika was definitely not my favorite. Her utter selfish attitude and manipulative tendencies made me want to grab her shoulders and scream,
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

BUT I stuck with it and I am glad I did, because her growth, while coming a tad late down the line, was good. We loved to see it.

Our other main character was Sky, who happened to be introduced a little later in the story, but oh- is he adorable!
We first meet him when he rents a room from Vika to live in the same apartment complex her father manages, but somehow ends up continuously popping up when she least expects him in the best way possible. (I promise not like, in a creepy way)
I love me a quality man with kindness, empathy, mixed with a tad of oh-so-lovable shyness and he hit all the best marks.

Without revealing too much, the two end up thrown together to solve a mystery that keeps getting bigger and boy, does it leave you scratching your head!
I was never bored by this book as right when things started to slow they would pick right up again and then drop twists every few chapters!

Overall I'm giving this book a solid 4.0 and urge other Y.A. sci-fi lovers to hop on it ASAP.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC! giving this 3.7 stars- i enjoyed this a lot more than i thought i was going to, honestly. in ARC fashion, here are my positives and negatives:

(+) accents. i like when the accents are written out, sorry! adds more flavor. if this is a peeve of yours, note that the accents don’t take up a majority of the dialogue. but i liked them, so i’m putting it up as a positive.

(+) vika. she’s a refreshing main character to follow. “i would never (insert super minor spoiler from the beginning), i have morals” okay well vika would! and i respect that! i just love when we go unconventional routes and the mc ends up being a bad person.

but also (-) vika. i can only handle so much snobbish disrespect coming from a single person and still root for them. by the time we hit 50% this revolutionary attitude got old.

(?) planets. not something i liked or disliked, but i just wanted to comment that the movement between planets is less interstellar and more fresh prince of bel-air. vika goes from her broke planet to a super rich one, but you could have just switched the planets’ names out with places in new york and changed nothing else and i would have read this book the exact same. now that i think about it, (-) world building was lacking.

(?) sky. legitimately the most spineless character i’ve ever met. not a spine in sight. at all. i can respect it, but vika needed to be put in her place with her horrible attitude and it never happened. no further comments. i do, however, appreciate that we got his POV.

(-) the insta-love? romance. is it enemies to lovers if one of them has always been in love with the other and the other jumps immediately to love after realizing they no longer dislike the other? is it really?

(-) murder. was lacking.

(+) this is super minor, but: the immediate reveal of the reasoning for the mysterious old man benefactor. honestly, i’m just glad we didn’t hold this information in until the end as a “surprise! here’s why the rich old man put you in his will!” moment. mentioning it at the beginning made the plot a bit more interesting, and i can also just imagine myself rolling my eyes to the ground if this information was held as a plot twist.

-
recommend: mmm, sure. was it predictable? yes. were the space and murder parts underwhelming? yes. but was it easy to read and enjoyable? also yes.



Review published on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4576129350

I was really looking forward to The Stars Between us after having enjoyed Terrill’s other books, but sadly I found that it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. While I found the premise intriguing, I love anything that mixes historical inspiration with futuristic settings, I found the lack of clear world building and overly simplistic characters a bit of a let down. While I fully think many readers, especially the younger demographic, might find the writing style and plot pacing to be very readable and engaging, I found myself getting bored and lacking any true connection to the characters, especially Vika. It could perhaps function best for those who are just starting to explore the sci-fi genre, specially young adult readers.

On a positive note. I love a mystery plot line and the pacing leant itself well to the intrigue and society dynamics in the story. The romance was compelling, though I did find the enemies to lovers trope a little too overwrought for my tastes. I think that’s what my review primarily comes down to— The Stars Between us just wasn’t suited to my particular tastes, but I do really believe it will appeal to a wide readership.

I didn’t have the biggest hopes for this book during the first chapter with the writing until I realized it was the character’s voice. Even more, I wasn’t sure of the plot. But by the third chapter I put the book down to go to sleep and I woke up the next morning wanting to continue reading. And that same longing feeling kept coming back every time I was doing something else.

The Stars Between Us is about a girl named Vika who lives on a planet that is poor while their sister planet thrives. She is given the opportunity to move to the other planet as long as she marries the son of the wealthiest man in the galaxy who just passed away. As she prepares to leave, the son, Leo, is killed in an accident. Vika’s dreams of splendor are crushed until the new benefactors invite her to live with them as an apology for Leo’s death.

What ensues is a story of mystery, mistrust and power struggle as Vika clings onto her new lifestyle while trying to solve the possible murder of Leo Chaplin.

The story was engaging for me. Parts of it were corny but still enjoyable. The only thing keeping me from giving it a 5 star rating was Vika’s power hungry persona. She would flip between that and compassion frequently and it lessened her character with it.

Otherwise, great read and highly recommend! Thanks for the early access net galley & wednesday books !

I love the cover. I love the name.
I love the concept. This book looks amazing. I am so exited to read it!

Unfortunately, this story isn't for me. I had a lot of trouble getting into it and I haven't been able to finish it. I would like to give it another go (hopefully with fresher eyes) later on but for now: 2.5 stars.

Vika and the other characters + the story aren't particularly appealing to me, which made it hard to get invested.

This book is mildly interesting to read about. It had a bit of everything I love, and it has reminded me of many books I read in the past, perfect if one like the vibes of 'The inheritance game.' Over all, it was a fairly easy read for those who like to devour books in one sitting without rereading pages because of complicated plot structure. This book is 100% for you. Christin Terrill did a wonderful job with the characters and very well rounded with each of their personalities mystery, suspense was very well done.

From the first page, the first sentence, I was hooked. The synopsis does not do this beauty justice. It was a whirlwind of lies and secrets, of limits tested again and again. I enjoyed every second of this story. Pure magic.

I was immediately sold on reading this title when I saw it compared to Bridgerton in Space. I blew through this title within 48 hours and loved every second of it! I can’t wait to read more from this author.

10/10 for the cover art. but 3/5 overall for the book. it was predictable, but the writing is fabulous. i liked the mystery, but found myself rooting against vika, she just wasn't very likeable, but maybe that's the point? i was interested in the world thought and all the space politics.

3 Stars

A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

My first time reading a YA Science Fiction book went actually better than I expected. I didn’t hate nor love this, it was an okay in between read for me and it was enjoyable since it actually pulled me out of a reading slump. The plot was really slow after Vika arrived on Ploutos but it picked up after Mira’s name day, which was about 60%. The plot twists were, to be honest, really predictable. That’s all I can say without giving spoilers. I didn’t like the characters except for Sky and Mira. I found Vika really selfish and self-centered so I didn’t like her when I first read about her and my opinion on her still haven’t changed yet. Moving on to the ending, I think it felt really rushed, like the author was running out of paper. It was weird that *SPOILER ALERT* Mira could recgonize who he was based off one word that he said. *SPOILERS OVER* Overall, it was a pretty good read that got me out of my slump so I’m grateful and I would read more from this author!

Vika, who does not get on with her mother and sister, suddenly is told she is an heiress in the will of a billionaire . The story was okay but I did not like Vika. She was so suddenly thrust into high society she became obsessed with money.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars. Very slow start but once the story hit its stride, it really picked up.

Vika has a mysterious, wealthy benefactor who passed away and left her a fortune, however the only caveat is she must marry his surviving son. Vika is thrust into sudden opulence and must figure out how to navigate the social circles of the obscenely wealthy. As she enjoys the ease of life money provides, she also begins to see the traps it sets for those willing to sell their souls.
Thank you NetGalley, for this ARC.

I had my doubts when I first opened this book.

As someone who doesn’t like sci-fi that much (and especially doesn’t like space books), I looked at my review copy for this book and asked myself “why did you request this?”

But y’all. I’m OBSESSED.

I knew very early on that I wouldn’t be able to put this book down. 7% of the way through this book, I turned to my vlogging camera and told it “this is going to be the best book of my entire life.”

We open with our main character, Vika, who finds out that the mysterious man who has been paying for her education and health bills has recently died and left her as part of his will. But in order for her to get his inheritance, she has to marry his son.

And then his son’s spaceship is blown up.

I don’t know how someone could just skip past this book. I told the camera about my obsession. I told my friends. I told MY MOM.

For a book that centers around the mystery of who killed Vika’s fiancé, I felt like this book was a bit obvious at times. There’s a certain twist readers are included in fairly early on that felt really obvious before it was revealed, and the buildup to finding out who has been targeting Vika’s inheritance felt like there was no mystery at all. Still, I could appreciate this book for just being a fun time and letting me read this little journey.

Until I was BAMBOOZLED and reminded that I truly just cannot guess the villain in thrillers. My one failing.

I will say, however, that the ending to this book is quite bittersweet. I understand how it is the perfect ending for these characters and this book, but I want more, damn it! If the author would please grace me with a little snippet of the characters a few months into the future, I would be very appreciative. 🥺

But until then, I’ll just reread this book another hundred times…