STARS TOO FONDLY
GENRE: scifi, romance, lgbt
GUT REACTION: 😑
FINAL RATING: 2.5 rounded up to 3

I wish I had liked this book more -- on paper, it has everything I usually like, but the dialogue took me out of it so frequently that I just wanted to be done with it. This book is marketed as an adult novel, at least on Netgalley, and the characters are all in their late twenties, yet they speak like teenagers so consistently that I kept having to flip back to the (digital) page that stated Cleo's age. There was a point where someone legitimately smacked their forehead in a "eureka" moment when they finally understood something. It just felt very ... hokey? Cartoonish? Which I wasn't expecting going in.

I didn't care for the back-and-forth formatting of the "narration" type paragraphs and the present-day scenes of the book, the development of superpowers felt a bit ... out of place? to me? , and I don't think the side characters really enriched the book at all, but I did like the relationship between Cleo and Bobbie in the ... last quarter of the book. So.

A resounding meh from me this time, lads.

In 2041 a space mission is set to take place. All of earths resources are rapidly depleting, climate change has wreaked havoc everywhere, and the current plan is creating a colony on a distant exoplanet. On launch day for the Providence 1 rocket, just as the engine is set to go off, all 203 passengers on board vanish in a blink of flashing light. In 2061, after the 20th anniversary message goes out, Cleo and her friends decide they need to know what happened to all of them, so they break into the now defunct space center and onto the ship and accidentally jump start the engine and begin hurtling through space. Along the way Cleo has to navigate not only the space time continuum but also her growing feelings for the holographic computer system modeled after the consciousness of the former captain of the ship.


This book is ADORABLE. I read it in one sitting and could not put it down. I feel like we needed to address the issue of *how* the engine turned on a bit more since it wasn’t really explained and the ice powers seemed a bit out of left field imo but I really really enjoyed this. Especially for a debut novel, these characters were extremely well fleshed out and showed a ton of personality and had motives and reasons for the way they were I would have enjoyed an epilogue or even just a closing article interlude thing that sort of sums up everything for the world or breaks the news somehow that the dude was evil or that there’s another dimension power was being siphoned from or how the climate crisis was being addressed, but it’s not strictly necessary. I did also get some strange wall-e and pixel perfect vibes but I think it’s just the fact that it’s a space mission fueled by a climate crisis, and a hologram girlfriend.

This was an ARC I reviewed for honest feedback.

This novel was cute. The characters were all likable, and the plot never seemed stale. If you like inclusive, sci-fi, fantasy, or RomComs, this is an excellent book for you.

By the time I finished this book, I really wanted more. I'd love to know how the lives of all the characters play out after facing the life changing events they encountered. (I can't play, as I don't want to give the story away)

The message was great, too. Earth has only so many resources, and this book did a great job making you care about what we are doing to our planet!

I’m pretty particular about the type of sci-fi novels I read, but when I read the description of this in an email from the publisher…I wanted it on my kindle immediately. I mean, a stolen spaceship? Found family? Science fantasy? A sapphic rom-com? Sign me all the way up.

I was NOT disappointed. I laughed, I swooned, I sobbed. Five stars and beyond! Did I absolutely ache over the future of Hologram Billie and Cleo? Actual tears. The mystery around the Providence crew’s disappearance was intriguing and I couldn’t put this story down. I read this during a very anxious week in my life, and it was exactly the type of book I needed to escape into.

This debut comes out June 11, 2024! Be sure to preorder it or request it from the library because it’s SO good!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5/5 I liked this book aside from 2 things. 1. The chapters were SOOOO long. 2. The dialogue in this felt very juvenile and silly for characters that are adults. I thought they were teenagers at first based on the way that they talk. But good plot and a decent romance!

The Stars Too Fondly is a sweet book about a group of friends who are trying to find reasons for why a spaceship crew disappeared twenty years prior and find themselves taking off into space.

The author includes themes of found family, inclusion and acceptance. Filled with thoughts about capitalism and consideration for others.

I LOVED THE SCIENCE included in this book so much so much. It got me so excited with the 4 friends. I really enjoyed this book. And have already been recommending to friends. It’s so cozy and a hug in a book.

Thank you to NetGalley the author and publisher for this ARC for my honest review

I don’t really read much sci-fi, but this was a pleasant surprise! It’s a gripping & emotional story about a mission to escape a dying Earth to create life on a new planet which goes extremely awry when the entire crew vanishes. Twenty years later, Cleo & friends accidentally get launched into space and find themselves involved in something much bigger than they could have ever imagined.

It did take me a little bit to get into the story and to feel connected to the characters, but after that I was pretty invested. There’s lots of action, banter, strong friendships, and life lessons. I also loved the magical elements and how they were incorporated into solving the mystery. The hologram romance was a little weird but oddly sweet, and the whole story was just really heartfelt and hopeful. Would definitely recommend this to lovers of sci-fi & sapphic romance!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager for suggesting this one. I am so happy to provide my honest feedback.

Emily Hamilton’s “The Stars Too Fondly” is a sapphic science fiction romantic comedy that was a little outside my comfort zone - it was a slow burn for me versus insta-love, but once I adapted to the genre I totally immersed myself in this interstellar experience. I appreciated learning that the author has been working on this piece for nearly a decade spanning her first date to wedding day with her now wife.

I found this novel to lean into the YA/teen category and it was a bit hard to believe that these characters were in their late twenties and early thirties, but the end of the book surprised me with some more adult scenarios. I was able to enjoy this novel for what it was and I found myself invested in solving the Providence I mystery and seeing how Cleo and holographic Billie’s relationship would unfold.

This story is captivating and moves at a fast pace - I will say it was challenging to connect with some of the characters as we don’t get too much history or development, but I enjoyed spending time with this crew and seeing how they adapt to the surprises they are dealt.

I would recommend this cute story to fantasy readers who enjoy Star Trek, Star Wars, Interstellar, or any other space media with romance. At times it’s quite cheesy and sentimental, but I’m a sucker for sappy so I was able to lean into it. I think that young adults/teenagers would relate to these characters, but older readers will definitely enjoy as all as long as you’re not expecting them to act their age. I look forward to reading more of Emily Hamilton’s books in the future.

Emily Hamilton has written a snappy, accidental-heist, found - (diverse)-family, save the-universe, alien contact, love story. Lots of ingredients that are all familiar elements in a cozy sf story and just manage to not be overwhelming in The Stars Too Fondly. While I did speed through the book, I found a number of elements didn’t work for me. The choppy narrative in three different styles was surprisingly effective, though the italicized omniscient segments felt heavy handed and forced. The love story came together too easily, though it is sweet. The aliens seemed quite “Star Trek” and the mysterious menace felt a bit like a pastiche. And, as I said at the start, snappy, so while pacing is pleasant, monumental problems are too easily solved and the resolution felt a bit trite. So, amiable fluff but likable at its core.

The Stars Too Fondly is a fun, quick read that will be good to take pool-side when it is released in June. However, I do think it leans more toward the YA category. I would have tempered my expectations if I had known that going in.

The story starts off following a group of 4 grad students who have been friends forever breaking into an abandoned spaceship launch facility. It is pretty clear that the setting is a near-future Earth where the climate is a problem, but apparently not a desperate enough problem that the failure of a space-faring relocation mission that was supposed to be the hope for humanity changed anyone's behavior. You certainly do not get post-apocalyptic vibes from this story. The friends accidentally trigger the launch of the abandoned space ship and are launched on a (conveniently quick) journey to the nearest star system. Luckily, they have the ship's computer hologram to help them, and she happens to be the captain of the failed mission from 20 years ago. They all have to figure out the mystery of why that mission failed and why the ship launched now and how to get back to earth. Oh, and they all have super powers now too - weird. So they should figure that out as well. Whew - that's a lot going on, but there's still time for a romance to bloom between Cleo - the plucky main character of the friend group - and Billie the holographic captain.

I requested the ARC of this book because the premise sounded fun, the title was beautiful, and it was written by a debut author. I love giving new authors a try - you never know what you're in for and you may just stumble across someone who will become an auto-read author for you in the future. Unfortunately, I felt that this story might be mis-marketed as adult sci-fi. It definitely felt more like a YA novel to me. The age of the characters may put this out of the YA market, but the characters could have just as easily been late teens/early twenties and filled all of the same roles. I've certainly read YA novels where the characters filled the same roles as these characters. And I've also read more romantically spicy YA novels. I just want your expectations to be in-line when picking up this story.

The story moves along at a very fast pace. It is hard to connect with any of the characters because of the break-neck pacing and the number of characters. You get to know all of them on a superficial level. For me, that made all of the characters feel immature and fairly one-dimensional. Each character was there to play a very specific role, and they didn't really deviate from that role. When the emotional or romantic scenes played out, they felt flat because I felt like I was being told about the emotions or romance and not really seeing or experiencing it.

The moments that I enjoyed the most and where I thought this story was really successful were in the logs/journal entries and the back-and-forth communicator messages. These scenes made the story feel like sci-fi and we as readers were presented with a limited view on how a character behaves and feels. It helped flesh out the characters' personalities, but I think there could have been even more of these moments.

The tone of the story overall is optimistic. I liked that it focused on found-family and friendship bonds that bend but never break. If you like sci-fi with happy endings, this will be one to try out. With it being so fast paced and light, this would be great to read pool-side in an afternoon.

Did I feel like I wasted my time reading this book? No. While I didn't really connect with the characters and there were a lot of conveniences to the sake of the plot, this was still an easy, consumable (if not memorable) read. I can see this becoming a Netflix movie, but not a block-buster sci-fi spectacle. In that, I think it lives up to the rom-com description. This reminds me of those teen rom-com movies from the early 2000's that I enjoyed so much back then, but with refreshingly more diversity. If you are looking for a light, fun sci-fi read this summer, then maybe give this one a try to support a debut author.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher Harper Voyager for providing a digital review copy of The Stars Too Fondly in exchange for my honest review.

The Straw Too Fondly is an epic Sapphic Space Opera Romance; complete with other dimensions, other universes, and abilities beyond our comprehension. The Main Characters are well rounded, complex, and easily lovable, and their love story is one of the most beautiful. I thought there was going to be more bittersweet in this story, but was pleasantly surprised. The author covered every eventuality and left us with a beautiful, sweet, action packed story. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Thank you to netgally and HarperCollins publishing for the opportunity to read this great earc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored this book. The characters were so fun and entertaining. I do wish we had gotten a deeper connection with Ros but I do understand they were not the main focus. This was a nice fast paced book, I was interested and never felt bored by the storyline. Also I enjoyed that it wasn't overly predictable, I felt like the crew must be somewhere but the fact that they didn't age and were in a limbo state I didn't see coming. I love being surprised while reading! I never saw Kris being live on Proxima B either, I was actually open mouth surprised by that fact. He made a great villan.

I did have one complaint, the main four characters felt younger. Their emotions and actions felt like late teens, I was constantly irritated at Cleo for her actions. I wish they had acted more their age, for being so smart intellectually they were very dumb socially and emotionally.

Overall though would definitely recommend this book!

I have been wanting some good sci-fi romance, so when this one came across my inbox, I JUMPED at it. The Stars Too Fondly is a sapphic sci-fi romance about a group of friends who accidentally steal a spaceship and travel to another solar system. Oopsie daisie! This wasn't the book I was expecting, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. There were some twists that I didn’t expect, which is always fun. And I'm not going to lie to you and say I understood everything that happened because I definitely didn't (it's an interdimensional dark matter thing, okay?). But I loved the way we got multiple perspectives through the ship's log (among others). And the love story was really unexpected, but also kind of lovely. I went in thinking I knew who was going to get together and I was VERY wrong, but in the best way.

This book was super cute and fun. A bunch of queers in space. What an excellent premise for a book! The sapphic love story was adorable and I loved the diversity and representation among the main characters. It was a very engaging story line and I greatly enjoyed this!

Fun concept, cute characters and relationships, interesting setting. There were a few too many pop culture references for my liking, but I know some people really enjoy that. Overall a solid debut, and I would be interested in seeing what the author puts out in the future.

I can imagine this book quickly being a favourite of those who love a low stakes cozy SFF, but it didn't work for me: I found the tone overall a little too juvenile and overearnestly naive, and felt that if I looked too close at bits of worldbuilding it would fall apart just from that small pressure. Or maybe I am too old to buy things like references to TikTok in what is meant to be 2060-something.

But if you are willing to let all of this slide, it's a pretty warm story about found family and a good group dynamics, linked together by romance, friendship and general care for each other.

I cannot stop raving about this book. I finished it last night and I have been talking everyone’s ear off about this book. What a debut!

I’m calling The Stars too Fondly a solid RoFi title that blends scifi and romance whiling giving the right blend for readers of either genre

✅ found family
✅ diverse array of queer characters, gender identity, ace and aro rep
✅ space travel
✅ lots of pining slow burn
✅ a mystery that stopped humanity in its tracks
✅ humor and heart
✅ oh so many things I can’t say cus spoilers
✅ But also gives of sapphic WandaVision vibes in the best of ways

This is a debut that comes out June 11 but is available on NetGalley now!so put in your requests and pre-orders now!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f cozy scifi
-the near future
-forbidden romance
-we can't touch because I'm an AI
-a ragtag gang get stuck in space

I so enjoyed this book. I have never ready a cozy scifi before, but gosh do I need more in my life. This was saphic, this was full of found family, and just had me going how are these two people going to end up together. I loved how this story was told, with just the right amount of adventure, and sense of wonder. It was unique, the vibes exceptional and gosh I just enjoyed myself. I cannot wait to grab up whatever Emily writes up next.

It appears that I love the very niche sub genre of romance where the main characters cannot touch each other (but man, do they want to) because one of them is not physically living in that moment.

This was such a good time. I haven’t read as much romance so far this year as usual, so it seems fun and fitting that I finished this on Valentine’s Day. There was so much more to this than the romance, but goodness was it cute. I loved seeing the building connection between Cleo and Billie, and was so intrigued to see how things would continue to develop between them.

Here’s the thing with the sci-fi parts of this book - I love books set in space. But do I understand most of the details? Not really. However, do I think it’s necessary to understand most of the details? Not really. I’m not here to fact check. I’m here to watch a fun little group of best friends do things they probably shouldn’t and see where it leads.

The found family aspect of this was perfect, but the actual family elements were lovely too. Some serious topics are talked about, like parental abandonment and grief, and there was so much diversity with the characters. Love seeing all of that.

This was lovely. I’m really happy that I read it, and will absolutely be picking up a physical copy for my shelves when it comes out, but in the meantime I cannot wait to start recommending it to others.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book! I voluntarily read this book, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Stars Too Fondly is a cozy and queer science fiction debut about the price of progress at the expense of the many, and a generation seeking salvation among the stars. Featuring: a diverse cast and fun twisty spacetime adventures –not to mention the accessibility of iced drinks and rom-coms on a spaceship (a priority if you have queers in space). Prepare to fall hopelessly in with Hamilton's crew of loud and loveable characters that feel like their own kind of family and love just as large. Emily Hamilton manages to pack a ton of information into her debut, balancing out the interpersonal conflicts with a compelling discussion of space exploration and scientific hubris. I loved learning more about the lore of the Providence crew and what went wrong in the initial launch, and the reveals with the dark matter and its powers. Altogether just a delightful mashup of romance and science fiction that will appeal to many readers inside and outside both genres.