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.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperVoyager for the ARC!

As a newbie dipping their toes into sci-fi, this was not the best book to start with. I got a little lost and parts were a challenge, but overall it's a great story! If you're a sci-fi fancy you're going to handle it just fine. The sapphic love story about a woman and a hologram was delightful too. Definitely would recommend!

thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for a review!

this gets four stars because i had fun. cleo and billie are the most compelling characters by far, which is good, because the book is about them! i do wish i'd gotten to see more of literally any of the other characters, because ros's arc was genuinely interesting, but cleo and billie are great and i like them a lot.

this read like a ya book i'll be real, even though the characters were supposedly 28 or so. i personally think it's more fun if you just ignore that fact and pretend everybody is like eighteen. there are definitely scenes that are not ya (and reminded me that in fact i was not reading ya!) but the general space-fantasy-wobbly science is especially interesting if you read it like you're reading ya.

the writing style irked me at times and then i came to terms with the fact that it sounded like MY writing style so ignore that complaint completely. i understand why my english teacher wanted me to stop using em dashes because at one point i did count 13 on one page. if you are not a pedant you will probably not notice this! i am simply hyperaware because i have that problem in my own stories.

however, despite any issues i had with this book, i had more fun. if you're looking for an airtight sci-fi thriller, this is not the book for you---if you are looking for a good time with sapphic romance and science fantasy, you will LOVE this book !

This was a lot. If your a seasoned scifi reader it will probably be a lot easier to grasp but for a newbie not so much. This one also blends in fantasy elements into the sicfi story really well. It all starts when these young 20 somethings plan a heist and ends up way off the beaten path. There's a saffic love story between a girl and a hologram basically that develops along with a great mystery of what happened to a crew and their captain. The mystery and mind bending communication are what really set this apart from other space stories. Space itself felt like it's own character at one point and definitely makes you feel claustrophobic at times. Overall cleo and her group are all really relatable and fun to root for on their incredible journey on their stolen ship. Highly recommend for young scifi readers.

This is a fun, quick read. It has just the right balance of science and heart to make this breezy but not too fluffy. I really enjoyed how the story unfolded in parts, with old articles and interviews.

I loved the idea of falling in love with a hologram of a real person and the juicy drama and confusion that would entail, but that wasn’t explored. My main complaint is that the relationships felt a bit too easy, both platonic and romantic. I don’t mind love at first sight, but the characters need to gel. Billie has a history of loving “sunshine” people and Cleo doesn’t fit that description, so their instant attraction didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

But they were sweet, and the characters and the story were sweet too.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperVoyager for the ARC!

Plot summary: a team of four idealistic-yet-somewhat-jaded twentysomethings (Cleo McQueary, MC, computer engineer; Ros Wheeler, red-headed genderqueer doctor; Kaleisha Reid, trans Black botanist; Abe Young, Chinese-American historian and Kaleisha’s bf) break into an old decommissioned spaceship, accidentally end up in outer space, get super powers, and save the galaxy. In short: fun!!

I feel like maybe this should be classified as YA and I like it more when I think about it that way. I think a lot of YA books would work much better with older characters rather than teenagers, like with this book, although there is a tiny bit of spice at the end. It’s very Gen Z (will TikTok still be around in 2061? Honestly I hope not… hopefully we have something much better by then), so there is a feeling that the language and some references will feel dated in a few years, which seems like the opposite of what science fiction should be. But for now, it’s cute and relatable, if a bit more towards the younger side.

Some things that might not work for certain readers: the science and the dialogue. I’m not a huge sci-fi girlie and often only read books in this genre that are gay because I’m just a sad queer myself, so I’m not going to speak to the science parts of the book. I feel like it leaned into science fantasy anyway. It is also very dialogue heavy. I enjoyed the conversations between Cleo and Billie, but the crewmates were sort of interchangeable to me. Cleo and Billie did have distinctive personalities and I actually really liked Billie as the love interest. Full marks for her! Though maybe deducting one point for liking Torres over Seven of Nine. We can’t all have flawless Star Trek taste.

It does have some very important things to say about capitalism and progress in the name of progress, but at its core, The Stars Too Fondly is a light-hearted space adventure where love wins and everybody lives.

<img src=“https://thephasemag.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/lives-alive.gif?w=498”/>

Don’t think too hard. You’ll have more fun that way.

<i>“You love me? So much that I felt it across dimensions?”
“Of course,” Billie said, like it was the simplest thing in the world.</i>

If you're as old as I am, you remember the movie Space Camp, and the premise here has some similarities - a bunch of kids end up being launched into space. In this case, Cleo's dream of being an astronaut has come true, but along with finding what happened to the crew of a former mission twenty years ago, other things start getting weird.

For one, the hologram of the ship's captain, Billie, is not the nicest to Cleo - but aside from the secrets that abound, there are changes on the horizon for Cleo, and not just regarding her dream of being in space.

The Stars Too Fondly is probably at my limit for how science-y it was, but I am glad I got through it because of the rest of the story. Cleo and Billie carry the book and they are a delightful pair of characters.

This book is a really nicely done balance of the space odyssey and the romance aspects of the novel. I really don’t have too much to day about this book other than I really enjoyed it, but one major thing I want to point out is that one of the romantic interests (the older one if you can believe it) is canonically gen alpha, which is absolutely insane to me. I mean I know it’s set a few decades in the future, but still. I also love a good queer found family every once in a while, and this absolutely delivered that.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

2 stars

First, the good things:
The opening line of this book is great. It was memorable, funny and a great way to start.

I thought the world building was interesting. I liked the big mystery of a crew that disappeared.

There were a lot of things I struggled with in this book.
The biggest one was the amount of dialogue in this book. I think at least a third of this book was dialogue. Because there was so little prose, it was often hard to follow what was happening. Also, all the dialogue was the same five people the majority of the book, which made it quite monotonous. Something happens - the group bickers about it. I never felt like there were tonal shifts where there should have been because all the action took place in the dialogue. I wish we were in the characters heads more often.

I also struggled with how science-y the book was trying to be. This could come from me being a science guy, and others wouldn't have this issue, but it always rattled my suspension of disbelief. The author definitely did a little research on dark matter, but it felt out of place and strange. I wish they had just hand waved the science of it. I think if the author's going to talk about WIMPs, they also should have to address general relativity. Also, there was already so much handwaving.

Another problem I had was the pacing of the book, especially at the beginning. The characters go from their mission to in space in a matter of moments, and then past Jupiter 5 hours later. I wish it took more like 2 days to get past Jupiter.

The romance I also struggled with. Because the entire book is dialogue, there is no time that we are in the character's head to understand how she is feeling. Instead, the first we hear of is she's dreaming about the other person, and then they're in love. I also felt like I never got any sense of affection from the other character until quite a ways in. (view spoiler) Also, Billie is so rude and snarky at the start, it put me off her character for a while. She's not fun snarky, she's just unlikable.

Also, the BBEG is referred to as the "rainbow voice" multiple times, just say "the voice," readers will know who you mean.

I'm always looking for sapphic sci-fi so I was excited for this one. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm the audience for this book.

It's about people in their late 20s and early 30s, but is reads distinctly like a YA. None of these people feel like adults. Nearly everything is dialogue-driven which doesn't give you a feel for the internality of these characters. They're surface-deep, you simply know them by their identity-markers.

I enjoyed the "asides." I think they were a smart choice. They were well-executed and brought some much-needed life to the story.

Billie is the highlight of the characters. She's given the space to be messy and interesting.

This was a miss for me at 33, but I'm certain I would have absolutely eaten this up at 17.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Normally I am not a space girl, however, give me some LGBTQIA romance a good plot and I am sold. Cleo was so cute, and I loved the sapphic rom-com twist to the tale.