I really loved "The Stars Too Fondly," a powerful debut by Emily Hamilton that touches on climate change, human greed, a space odyssey, a sapphic romance and romance involving AI. So many issues and Hamilton managed to make this a fun, entertaining and compelling read. Her writing is really imaginative and takes the reader to many places that stretch the bounds of space, time and human relationships. It took me a while to get into the book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. Cleo, her friends and Billie are all loveable characters that really humanize their adventures in space. Recommended. Thanks to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the eARC.

This just ended up not being my cup of tea. I got about 50% of the way in and it was just a tad too sci fi for my tastes, but I can see how this would be a favorite for those who enjoy the genre.

“The Stars Too Fondly” is a blend of comic space adventure mixed with a sapphic love story. With threads of friendship, family, love, loss, mystery, and a surprisingly poignant commentary on scientific progress and just how much one is willing to sacrifice to serve their own ends.

Cleo and her friends grew up on an Earth mired in decline. Their hopes of a better future were pinned on a daring space mission to Proxima Centauri B and a wonder engine field by dark matter. But things don’t turn out as expected (the crew vanishes on launch day), and Cleo, Kaleisha, Abe, and Rod end up “accidentally” hijacking the abandoned spaceship and get wrapped up in the mystery of why they were able to get it to fly, and just where all of the previous crew actually went when they disappeared all those years before. To help them, Cleo and the group turn to Billie, the holographic representation of the AI that the “real” Captain Billie Lucas left behind. The only problem is, Cleo and Billie seem an awful lot like they are falling in love, while the truth behind what happened before and what is happening to the friends now, slowly comes to light.

There was humor here, and deep love threaded in between the science fiction space story of survival. Told in interwoven snippets of ship communication logs, current events, and what appears to be some sort of observer, these overlapping elements keep the pace fresh and moving. Cleo, Ros, Kaleisha, and Abe are all well-drawn characters and even hologram Billie makes a mark very quickly. Billie and Cleo together are a joy to read and also make your heart ache for them and the seemingly insurmountable odds of falling in love with someone who is no longer a tangible person, but certainly feels like one.

Emotions run high as the stakes unfold. What starts as a simple misadventure quickly turns into a philosophical exploration of love, progress, and sacrifice. For not only Cleo and her friends but Billie and the previous crew of the ship. This was at turns fun and heartwarming and tense and managed to weave all of its’ story threads together well through to the end.

There was nothing wrong with this book, but two big dealbreaker aspects of it that were decidedly not-for-me, so your mileage may vary. Dealbreaker one was the particular brand of banter used by the characters — lots of snarky back and forth with one-liners that didn’t seem very realistic to me. Dealbreaker two was that romance fell a bit flat for me. I couldn’t really feel the connection between the leads other than “our consciousnesses are stuck on this ship in space together.” I did like the diversity in the cast of characters and the themes addressed in the book, particularly “you can run away, but your issues will follow.” The story itself was also fun, though a little predictable (which was fine, I like being right).

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC!

Have you ever cried over a hologram? Well now I have.

I'm adding this to the list of books I won't listen to criticism on. Not that there isn't any, but this was absolutely gut-wrenching and gorgeously written. This book sucked me in instantly, has amazing representation, a swoon-worthy (very unexpected) romance, a chilling mystery, and just enough humor to keep it optimistic and cozy. Hamilton crafted complex, flawed characters grappling with the cost of innovation and the question of who pays it.

This is perfect for anyone who steers away from scifi because of its complexity. This was easy to read and understand. Recommending to everyone and anyone!

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

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC version of this!
This was an interesting read and I’m not sure how to feel about it, even after having some time to think about it.
Did I think that Cleo and hologram Billie/real Billie had a super adorable relationship? Oh yes definitely
Unfortunately their relationship couldn’t save the fact that all the characters came off very immature. If you told me that this was written about high schoolers instead of mid to late 20 years olds I’d have no problem believing you. There was also so many characters I never felt like I never got to know them well enough to be super invested in them.
All in all even though I mainly had issues with the characters this was still a fun sci-fi/fantasy read and an amazing start for a debut author!

What a strong debut! The sci-fi was what drew me in, and the sci-fi was what kept me around. I don’t know if it’s all scientifically accurate, but I certainly bought into it. The mystery of what happened to the Providence crew sucked me in so quickly, and it wasn’t long before I needed to know everything.

The central romance felt forced in certain places, but it felt totally authentic in others. It was a little uneven, but that’s my only critique. Otherwise, this book was so awesome, and I can’t wait to see what Hamilton writes next!

4.5/5 stars

I didn’t personally care for the prose, though I applaud the author for their confidence in pushing the boundaries of the norm through POV switches and use of epistolary, playwriting script, etc. I stopped after chapter 1 (7%). I think this will be a lot more niche in terms of target audience, but those who love it will rave. Otherwise, probably a 3 to 4 star range.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book! MAJOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

It may have been the mood in which I was reading this but I found myself feeling at quite a distant. Starting out with the reference to TikTok in.. presumably the 2040s, watched and understood in 2061. After that, I found it difficult to connect to the characters-- of course I could understand the appeal of Billie, what was significant about Cleo seemed to be she simply... existed? As did many of her friends, who talked and spoke like they'd fit more easily into a YA book.

<spoiler> Somehow, Cleo was magnetic enough for the real Billie to fall in love with her in another universe but genuinely, I couldn't see it. The adding of this also made part of this feel incredibly cheap-- it might have worked better as duology, with learning about the real Captain Wilhelmina, instead of being reassured that well. . . since the hologram was a perfect copy and fell in love, the real one would as well. And turns out she fell in love just as hard! </spoiler>

What a surprise.

Every character seemed to exist for the sake of ... adding more, and simply were? <spoiler> They specifically got powers to match the villain and Cleo's power was so very super special enough that she seemingly had two? </spoiler>

The science fiction of of the book also felt. . . cheap. And maybe that's because the last science fiction I read was admittedly, Exordia, but. . .

Science fiction typically gives to me, a feeling of vastness and claustrophobia. Of wonder and horror. Of togetherness and apartness, and I didn't have much from the book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an ARC. All opinions are my own.

I’ll be completely honest, the moment I read that title my mind immediately went to the quote “I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night” and with a pretty cover like that, an instant need to read this story came over me. When I read the synopsis—part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com—and saw that its release date is on my birthday in the middle of pride month, I was sold. And then imagine my glee when I find said quote in the epigraph! I thought things couldn't get better.

So to say that I absolutely did not like this book guts me. I’m so incredibly disappointed to say that there isn’t a single thing I liked about this book. It was such a drag to get through and I always picked it back up with a long face only to fight my way through it, my eyes skimming half the words.

My issues with the book started from the beginning. At only three chapters in, my first irk was solidified. To me, writing is one of the most important things in a book. It can make or break a story. One can have a brilliant story idea but not have the skill to properly articulate it. Sadly I feel like this was the case here. Taking the fact that this is a debut author into account, I do not entirely blame them for the abysmal writing and the many inconsistencies. In this case feel like the editor is partially at fault too. Because I felt like this book was missing some serious rounds of edits. It read like a first draft, its sentences jumping from one thing to another to the point of giving me whiplash.
To take an example sentence out of context to show you what I mean:

<blockquote>He was Chinese American, tall enough to rest his chin on the top of Cleo’s head, and bouncing on the balls of his feet so rapidly that his floppy black hair was getting in his eyes.</blockquote>

This is just all over the place. What does his ethnicity have to do with his height and how does it move on to an off-handed description of how he moves and a description of his physical appearance in the SAME sentence? These phrases have nothing to do with each other and it would have read smoother if they had been in separate sentences. On top of this, the book is written in the third person from Cleo’s perspective. If this man was resting his chin on top of Cleo’s head, there was no way she would be able to see whether his hair was getting into his eyes. Such inconsistencies should be edited out.
There were plenty more sentences like this, with phrases that don’t connect well but are forced together with nothing but a comma separating them. It doesn’t read smoothly and it can really throw the reader off. There were also plenty more of these inconsistencies that are (admittedly) very small details but in the grand scheme of a book matter a whole lot and should have been edited out.
Of course, this can be a personal preference. Other readers might not spend as much time on such details or on the writing style as I do and therefore take no issue with the way this book was written. I just feel like this is something the editor should have taken up with the author to try and elevate the writing of this book.

A second thing I took issue with was the characters and their age. This is an adult sci-fi, the characters are all 27+ or even 30+ years old. I was so excited when I found out. As much as I love reading about teens taking over the galaxy, there is something special about seeing queer adults get their spotlight as well. As a queer 26-year-old myself, this was heartwarming and refreshing to see. Unfortunately, I did not feel like the characters acted their age. It felt more like I was reading about a cast of 14-year-olds. I mean, what adult in their right mind says “LOL” in a normal oral conversation? Not even teens say LOL out loud. I’ve read YA sci-fi books with characters who acted more maturely than the adults depicted in this book. There wasn’t a single character I liked, especially none of the characters in the squad. They constantly threw tantrums, unable to get a grip on their emotions. They had petty fights that were resolved in the next chapter in a “now shake hands” kindergarten kind of way. Only for them to start another fight the chapter after that.

After the initial chapters took off the story and the group of characters found themselves in space, the plot fell flat. What followed was a sequence of boring chapters in which the characters spent their time mostly doing useless things. The reader only reads about Cleo watching rom-coms from the 80’s or reading poetry. She and Billy, the ship’s holo computer program, constantly talked about old movies from the 80’s(?) and Shakespeare and other dead writers. Then JFK was thrown into it and I was left wondering why on earth the author would write a sci-fi set in the future if all they were going to focus on was the past. It’s the future for God’s sake! An exciting blank space of things that have yet to happen. You can fill it with your wildest imagination! Why focus on the past and things you can’t change?
But what bothered me most of all was why the characters were constantly doing these mundane things instead of trying everything in their power to find a solution to their dire situation. If I was stuck in space with the possibility of never making it back to Earth again, I wouldn’t have time to watch romcoms and read poetry. I’d be up at all hours doing research and experimenting to try and fix this mess.
The world building also had some serious issues and its construction overall felt very lazy to me. Things just <i>were</i>. There was no real grounding for any of the science/magic/whatever you want to call it. There’s this “Other Place” around which the plot revolves and it is all constructed in a too-convenient way that doesn’t make sense if you really think it through. To top it off, the ending was very deus ex machina and didn’t require any real effort from anyone’s side. It was underwhelming and did not leave a lasting impression. It’s not something to be blown away by.

And then there was the romance. Ugh, the <i>romance</i>. Cleo falls in love with a hologram. I don’t care how realistic the AI programming is. How much the holo Billy resembled Billy the human. It’s not an actual person. It’s not real. It’s just a computer program with a very complicated algorithm. I couldn’t ship it. I just couldn’t. To me, it wasn’t real. It was like reading about a person falling in love with an innate object. And while I know there’s a Greek myth out there that could pull this kind of plot off, this book couldn’t.

All things considered, I would normally give it a one star because, as mentioned before, there wasn’t a single thing I liked. Nothing stood out to me. This book did not make me Feel the Feels not blow me off my feet. The only reason I’m giving it two stars is because it’s queer. And as a queer person, I always try to support other queers, especially queer literature because I think it is important to broadcast queer media in this day and age. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to compromise my integrity by lying and saying I loved a queer book when I didn't. I hope it finds the audience it is meant for and that there are other readers out there who will love the book and find whatever they need in it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. This book was fantastic. Hands down one of the best of the year. It pulled me in and I couldn't stop. The plot was intriguing and I needed to keep reading to see where it would go and I was slightly concerned that the characters wouldn't get the ending I wanted them to have, but they did and I love tjat.The science wasn't too science-y that I couldn't understand it. I enjoyed the characters and their parts in the story. I loved this book. I will be recommending this to all of my book reading friends. I will be buying this when it officially releases. Bravo and well done to the author.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC
I am not a rom-com girl, but The Stars Too Fondly is a pleasant exception to the rule. The science fiction provided a great backdrop for exploring the relationship between Cleo and Billie. Overall, I don't have much to say on this one other than it's perfect for sapphic nerds who want a little romance.

I enjoyed this one! The Stars Too Fondly features a found family crew who get stuck on an unplanned interstellar journey when they accidentally start up a spaceship, and along the way need to solve the mystery of what happened to the crew that vanished without a trace on launch day. There's also a sweet sapphic romance with a very satisfying ending, Fantastic Four-type superpowers, and alternate dimensions.

I do think this book is a bit mismarketed--I went in expecting a sapphic sci fi rom com, and while there is a strong romance sub plot, I don't think this is well served by being labeled a rom com. It read to me like straight up sci fi that focused on friendships and the central mystery more than the romance, and it wasn't particularly comedic--more angsty than funny, in fact. These aren't criticisms of the book, which I enjoyed a great deal--I'm just not sure why it's being marketed as such.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! Opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for allowing me access to the e-Arc.

4.25 stars

I really enjoyed this! I love all the science, space, mystery and sapphic romance presented in this arc. The plot was very interesting. I think it made it more intriguing that the characters are trying to figure out what happened to the crew that disappeared. I feel like a lot of people who love science fiction with some romance will enjoy this.

I highly recommend it!

Vibes: everyone is queer, pretty much, grumpy x sunshine, grieving and falling in love, BIG MYSTERY--HUGE

Heat Index: 5/10

Cleo is obsessed with space--which is what leads to her friends accidentally launching a ship towards Proxima Centauri (and it will take... seven years there and back for them to return to Earth; if they survive). But in her defense, she was just trying to find out what happened to the crew that disappeared on launch day twenty years ago! And the the dark matter engine kicked off on its own! Fortunately (?) they're quickly joined by a hologram of Billie, the ship's vanished captain. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember exactly what happened. Or what's going to happen now. Also, she seems to really dislike Cleo--or does she?

OH, this was a lot. Both in terms of genres--it's like, sci-fi with some pretty hard science, I think, knowing nothing about science, plus a bit of magic, plus romcom, plus like... a treatise on loss and loving again?--and plot. This is definitely, ultimately, a romance. And it it's really quite beautiful. Yes, there are jokes, yes there's a mystery that actually gave me a bit of the creeps (in a good way), but ultimately this is about one woman who's gone through this massive loss having her heart cracked open by someone who's sort of given up on everything that seems to matter to her and is trying to ignore that by charging into space.

It bit off a lot. Like, this is a big swing of a book, and it's not perfectly perfect. But it is really good.

Quick Takes:

--This is a textbook grumpy/sunshine book. Billie is a take-no-prisoners alpha bitch, and even in hologram form (to be clear: the hologram is fully sentient, the "real" Billie essentially uploaded her consciousness into the ship right before disappearing) she isn't afraid to boss people around. She has a hard shell, and she's not easy to get through to.

Cleo, on the other hand, is bright and curious and perhaps doesn't take life seriously enough (which is definitely in part a coping mechanism for how badly the Earth is doing... which uh, hit pretty close to home!). Billie puts her in order and forces her to face shit head on; Cleo forces Billie to be a kinder, gentler person and breaks through her walls in a way she really needs. Their love story is really touching, and if you're the type of person who loves to see a hardened person get broken down by falling in love (like me) you'll love this.

--There's so much representation in this cast of characters! The "crew" is made up of an Asian man, Abe, whose partner (also in the group) Kaleisha is a Black trans woman. You also have Rose, who's non-binary, Cleo, who's a Black lesbian, and Billie, a bi woman, making up the primary team. It's all woven in very naturally, and you get the sense that everyone cares for each other and has this sense of solidarity. Just little things, like everyone checking to see if the ship has the hormones Kaleisha needs (don't worry, it does).

I also actually really appreciated the way that Billie was implied to be a woman who primarily dated women and then had her sexuality questioned after she got engaged to a man. Her relationship with the fiance she lost, Neil, is a huge part of who she is--and it's not invalidated by her falling in love with Cleo, or vice versa. In fact, so much of Billie's arc is informed by her grief and pain. She literally ran to space to escape her grief, and it's like--you just can't. And you also can't avoid the reality of moving on, and the fear that comes with loving people you may lose. Oof.

--The mystery was so eerie? Like, the idea of an entire crew of astronauts just disappearing right when they were meant to be launched into space... can you imagine the podcasts?

Hamilton wove this in really well--you get news articles, and especially comms between members of the crew, most of them involving Billie. Which is... man. It feels so sinister, and it also feels a bit separate from the Billie you see in the active present, because this is the "disappeared" Billie, not the hologram. It was a little stomach-churning for me, because, though I knew this was a romance and therefore would have an HEA, I still felt so worried for her and worried about what she was withholding.

--My one critique would be that I do feel like the story goes on a bit long, and could have had the ending shortened a bit. You kind of have this big climactic moment, and then we have to pick up the pieces and hurry to tie up loose ends. Which couldn't be entirely avoided, given the plot of the novel, but could have been a bit tidier. Not a huge issue at all, though, and it was nice to sort of bask in Billie and Cleo's relationship at that point.

The Sex:

So like. Billie is a hologram. Therefore, she can't touch or be touched. Which does put a hold on the physical sex in the novel, but doesn't stop it from being sexy and sexual. I mean, in a lot of ways I found the tension between Billie and Cleo hotter than some of the klutzy sex scenes I've read recently--and that's saying something coming from me, Little Miss Write More Sex.

That said, there is one full sex scene in the book, and it is quite hot. Won't tell you how it comes about, but you won't be dissatisfied. Neither were they.

I am not a sci-fi person. I'm not against it, but I often find it difficult to follow and a bit too cerebral for me to get emotionally involved, even when it's a sci-fi romance. This is the kind of sci-fi that works for me. It exists to serve the characters, and while the science is definitely fairly involved, it's not difficult to understand. (At least for me.)

I keep coming back to this, but I just found the emotional themes of the novel really moving in a way I didn't expect. It felt kind of heartbreaking at points. But thanks to the magic of a romance novel, it comes back to this circle of love and warmth (which really does transcend romantic love, too--the platonic bonds in this novel are great). My heart was full.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To be honest, I loved everything about this book! I was rooting for Cleo, Ros, Kal, and Abe the entire time. I loved all the science in the science fiction and delighted in every twist and turn of the book!

This was a fun, interesting space read. I love the cover. I feel like if you're very into YA or sapphic stories, then this one is def for you!

This was a really fun sapphic sci-fi space odyssey.

Really blown away by the excellent story telling. It had all of my favorite elements of a fantastic tale: Found Family, clever dialogue, and a beautiful love story.

Stunning debut! Will definitely read more by this author.

Sapphic rom-com in space?! So up my alley, it's not even funny! This was a fun ride start to finish, and I loved the progression of the relationship a lot! I cannot wait to see more from this author!

I really enjoyed this debut. It is full of heart and has a great cast of characters. We meet our found-family crew just before they are thrown to the metaphorical wolves when they accidently launch themselves into space while trying to investigate a famous, failed space launch 20 years prior in which the entire crew disappeared. As they begin to work out what they are going to do now we learn more about them and also begin to learn about that failed launch and what preceded the disaster. While this is definitely sci-fi it is on the lighter side with the how and why of the science playing a supporting role to the how and why of the people and relationships. I look forward to more from this author.