I sadly had to DNF this one. The characters and writing were simply too immature for me. It felt more like YA than NA and that the characters were basically just high school tropes set in a sci-fi world (e.g., the hot football player and the cheerleader).

This one did not hit like I wanted it to, I love her other series soo much, but I could not stay engaged or care about these characters or the world that inhabit.

I am a huge fan of Tracy Wolff and Entangled Publishing. So, I was beyond excited when I was invited to read an ARC of Star Bringer by Tracy Wolff and Nina Croft. It is published by Entangled: Red Tower Books. (I am loving this new imprint from Entangled Publishing!) Thank you to all for inviting me along and for the gifted e-arc. I am so glad I chose to come along for this ride. I absolutely loved this book!

Even though I read more of it now than I used to, Sci-Fi is not a genre I gravitate towards. But when one of your favorite authors starts a new series in said genre, you have to give it a go. I am going to love this series.

Princess Kalinda is ordered by her mother, the Empress, to attend an important meeting on the space station Caelestis to find out what the research team has come up with to save them all from the dying sun. Except, while she and representatives from all nine planets are there, the space station starts to explode. The princess finds herself on a broken down spaceship with six others who are just trying to escape certain death.

This story gives me strong Guardians of the Galaxy vibes, and I'm here for it. The banter is comical. Everyone has their own ideas about the best course of action so the fighting is expected. I really enjoy a story written in multiple POV. I'm that person that wants to know what everyone is thinking. We get to see each character's experience in their own words. For me, that makes for a deeper, richer story.

These characters are a bunch of misfits and you will love them. But, if they don't stop fighting and find some common ground, they'll never accomplish their task: staying alive.

There are twists and turns and secrets that will change what they thought they knew. Each character goes on a journey of their own to overcome beliefs they had always held true. This is the part I love about any good story...watching the characters adapt, change, and grow.

The worldbuilding here is non-technical, which is great for me. The technical side of science fiction is usually why I don't normally read this genre. But the descriptions are such that make the whole thing come alive. I felt like I was on that spaceship flying through the stars, running for my life. I can't wait to see where we go next!

I highly recommend Star Bringer to fans of sci-fi, sci-fi fantasy, sci-fi romance, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, found family, and unlikely heroes with Guardians of the Galaxy vibes.

Not for me. It's not a bad book but I couldn't connect and stay connected with the characters which tends to make the book less immersive. I found myself quite frustrated with the characters and not the good oh-the-anticipation- frustration, more like if-you-were-standing-in-front-of-me-I-would-pummel-you-frustration. I do believe in second chance reads so I will give it another try again in a few months. Maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for this particular book. Other than that the writing is good and the storyline is great, which is why I'm so disappointed that I didn't enjoy it as much as I initially thought I would.

I sadly won’t be reading this as my tastes have changed. But reading reviews online, its meant to be amazing and it sounds like it would be incredible.

Wonderful! I was worried with it being a sci fi book because I’m not a sci fi fan. But this sucked me right in!

In Star Bringer by Tracy Wolff and Nina Croft , the sun is dying rapidly and the fate of the Nine Planets depends on a space station and an alien artifact. Unfortunately, the station is destroyed by someone who doesn't want the universe saved, leaving the seven strangers stranded on a broken spaceship. With various factions hunting them down, the group must put aside their differences and work together to save the universe before it's too late.

I really wanted to like this novel. I love the authors and the concept of this book, for Firefly lovers, hello?? But I could not just get into this novel. I tried three separate times to read it and unfortunately had to DNF each time. The story building was confusing to me and I also was getting mixed up by all the different characters and couldn't ever get my head straight about them. I felt more frustrated reading this novel than anything.

I'd still recommending others check this book out and see if it's for you because the concept of this book is really cool! But it's just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this novel. All thoughts and opinions contained within this review are my own.

I sadly dnf this book 20 pages in, I didn’t like the witting style and overall it just fell flat to me.

I am about halfway through the book and had to sit it down for bit because I had other books to read around this one and I have been in a reading rut. I do plan to finish Star Bringer within early months of 2024.

I will say the beginning definitely has a lot of info dumping about the world and the characters. It left me confused, however as you read on you start catching on.

The romance is super good, but I would not call this a sapphic novel since the relationships focused on in this book are with a heterosexual couple and then we do have our sapphic couple.

The banter is the best in this book and definitely has The Breakfast Club vibes just like how it is marketed.

The action and the mystery behind everything are very intriguing as well.

An exciting space adventure with a full crew of diverse background characters that start off as reluctant allies and end up closer to a found family. There are mysteries, secrets, and humorous banter. As a new adult title, there are on-page spice times for both the straight and queer couples featured. I thought it detracted a bit from the urgency of their mission, but I get readers expect spice these days more often than not. Overall, a nice start to this series. Can't wait to see what's next for the crew!

The multiple POVs are so fun! I LOVE the audio since there are many voice actors. I didn't know if I'd enjoy it since it takes place in space, but it definitely was worth every minute! I'm bringing on the 5 stars 😉.

Star Bringer was a good sci-fi book but man was it way way too long! I appreciated the writing and how Tracy wrote it in a way we could understand while still appreciating the sci-fi world. I thought the world building was pretty good but most of this book felt like big dumps of information and then we’d get random intimate scenes then action. The romance was very weird. I see the relationships but they progressed so quickly I got whiplash. It was more lust than romance and of the two couples each had a virgin so it was weird they’d do what they did so quickly. I really appreciated how the author wrote the million main characters. They were all distinct and distinguishable with their own personalities and speeches.

Overall I would read the next book because I’m curious how this is going but it would depend on if this is a long series or a duology. Two books I could handle, more and I’d probably just stop at this one.

Thank you to Red Tower Books, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Listen, sci-fi is not my thing, but I know I love Tracy’s writing and I had heard nothing but good things about Nina’s writing, so of course I had to read it when the opportunity presented itself. At the time of writing this review I have not only read it but also listened to it in audiobook form with my partner AND recommended it to multiple people. Is it a good book? Yes. Am I absolutely infuriated with the cliffhanger? ALSO YES. But I should have expected it, and yet I am still upset. This book has all of the things I enjoy – multiple POV, queer main characters, world building, and MAGIC! It had enough twists and turns to keep things interesting, and it was written in a familiar enough style that even though it is sci-fi I still felt comfortable with reading it. My partner did call some of the twists that I didn’t catch, but I think that is also a cool thing about this book, is that there are multiple types of twists and turns. I am dying for book 2, and I now need to go through Nina’s other books (considering I am almost caught up with Tracy’s books). Red Tower is knocking it out of the park!

4.5⭐️ I loved this book! The star bringer is full found family, space pirates and so much adventure! I found myself presently caught off guard several times during this book. I’ve read several Tracy Wolfe books and have never been disappointed!
I can’t wait till the next one! So many questions!

This book is very much as advertised with its Firefly meets Breakfast Club. It also was similar to Aurora Rising, which made my sci-fi heart happy.

It was a fun-filled and easy read. There isn't a large learning curve to jump into the terminology and world, which makes it a great intro to sci-fi, if you're looking to start into the genre. The plot twists were generally predictable, but fun nonetheless. The nature of the limited POVs made some characters fall a little flat, but I'm hoping that's remedied in the next book.

Overall, if you're looking for a fun and kinda spicy space adventure, this one is for you!

I love the concept of this book. I’m excited to think that more sci-fi romance will start being published. At first I was getting Space Balls vibes mixed with Dune. I really enjoyed the multiple POV.

The length of the book was a bit challenging for me, because to me there wasn’t enough world building to justify the page count. It was definitely more character dynamic than plot. There were a few romance subplots that were fun. And there was another three character subplot that I think needed to be flushed out a bit more.

I got a bit lost after 90% and think that for how long the book was it ended pretty abruptly.

Also. Why did she throw up so much?!?

I was entertained, but due to the length and number of characters I wasn’t as engaged as I usually am with fantasy.

I don't read Sci-fi often but whenever I do, I enjoy it immensely. This book was a tad intimidating with the large page count but the story is fast paced and the pages just flew by. I definitely liked following this band of misfits around as they tried to save their solar system from the dying sun. I also enjoyed the found family and different character dynamics in this one but be warned that the relationships here feel rather instalove. This is definitely a space opera in that the story focuses more on the characters than actual world building and as a result, I expected more character development than we got. The writing also wasn't my favourite - I found some parts drawn out and wordy and that the dialogue was quite YA for a book marketed as adult. Overall, the story was fast paced, enjoyable and with that ending, I will most certainly reading the sequel.

Content warnings: Death, violence (including gun violence), blood, human trafficking.

A huge thanks to Red Tower books and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Star Bringer was one of the few sci-fi romances I've read but I really enjoyed it! If you like action, romance, sci-fi, enemies to lovers, found family and so much more definitely read this book! It does end on a cliffhanger but I can't wait for the next book to come out! This misfit crew had my attention from beginning to end.

Red Tower continue to put actual crack into all of the books they put out. Trust them, and buy yourself a copy of Star Bringer.

I want to preface this review with the small fact of “I do not read sci-fi”.

Like, ever.

Sci-fi as a genre (whether that be in books, films, tv shows, whatever) is for some reason, just so… unappealing… to me. I much prefer fantasy.

So if I’m sitting here at my computer, typing away a positive review for a sci-fi book… please pay attention.

I adored this book. Just like Fourth Wing, it was addictive. I struggled to put this book down, and when I wasn’t reading it, I was for sure thinking about it. It’s very accessible, a load of fun, aaaand spicy. I really don’t know what more you could ask for in one book.

The cast of characters in this book were great. I love them all for different reasons. Kali might be my number one favourite, she had a great character development arc and I just wanted to give her a big hug. Then, if I had to choose my next favourites they’d be Rain (my sunshine baby, she also deserves a big hug), Ian and Beckett. These characters are all so well-developed, and they go through so much together over the course of the book, it’s hard not to fall in love with them. There’s plenty of drama and tension, especially at first when they’re all getting to know each other, but it quickly progresses to a found family dynamic with lots of funny banter.

I felt the romances developed a little quickly for my tastes, but given the overall plot and the pacing, I understand why it was like that and it was something I didn’t care about as much as the book went on. I really enjoyed both ships (Kali and Ian & Rain and Beckett) a lot, and their dynamics were so much fun.

The worldbuilding was very accessible, as a non-sci-fi reader. Though it took me a little bit to get into the swing of things, being able to refer to the handy dandy endpages with the map of the planets certainly helped with keeping track of which planets were what (and where!) 😉

Star Bringer’s plot was fast paced and full of twists. There were reveals about all of the characters that I didn’t see coming, and the ending?! I need the sequel immediately. You cannot just end a book like that!! Cliffhangers are CRUEL.

If you’re like me and have read Fourth Wing (… multiple times) and need something else from Red Tower to tide you over until Iron Flame (or any of their other releases), trust me and pick Star Bringer up!

Regardless of whether or not you’re a sci-fi newbie (like me) or a seasoned reader of the genre, this book was too good and too much fun for me not to recommend it to everyone.

They may only have 2 books out at the moment, but Red Tower are already killing it. I WILL be buying anything and everything they release.

Thank you to Brittany at Entangled Publishing for sending me a free eARC ofStar Bringer! I also purchased the hardcover edition of this book with my own money.

↠ 4.75 stars

3.5

This felt very YA until around the 65ish percent mark. The a couple of spice scenes felt a little out of place. The connection between them was very insta. The books pacing was slower than I hoped.

The ending felt like a ploy to get me to pick up the next book. Though I just am not sure I was invested enough in this story or characters to pick it up. A lot of potential but ultimately was not for me.

Cliffy
Insta lust
More YA vibes than NA
Sci Fi Adventure
Light romance -
M/F
F/F
Forced Prox