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Starstruck #1

Starstruck

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The middle of nowhere just got a lot more interesting!

Nerdy astronomy geek Marsha, M to her few friends, has never been anybody special. Orphaned as an infant and reluctantly raised by an overly-strict "aunt," she's not even sure who she is. M's dream of someday escaping tiny Jewel, Indiana and making her mark in the world seems impossibly distant until hot new quarterback Rigel inexplicably befriends her. As Rigel turns his back on fawning cheerleaders to spend time with M, strange things start to happen: her acne clears up, her eyesight improves to the point she can ditch her thick glasses, and when they touch, sparks fly--literally! When M digs for a reason, she discovers deep secrets that will change her formerly mundane life forever... and expose her to perils she never dreamed of.
 
Book 1 of the award-winning Starstruck series, where teen romance blends with science fiction to open a whole new world of action, adventure and discovery.

329 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2013

2019 people are currently reading
6247 people want to read

About the author

Brenda Hiatt

99 books517 followers
Brenda Hiatt is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sparkling romantic adventure. She's written twenty-five novels (so far), including sweet and spicy historical romance, time travel romance, humorous mystery, and her young adult science fiction STARSTRUCK series. Brenda began in traditional publishing with Harlequin, HarperCollins and Avon Books and later made a transition to indie publishing as she began getting rights back to her older books. So far, she hasn't been sorry! She is an active member of Romance Writers of America and Novelists, Inc, where she has served as president. In addition to writing, Brenda is passionate about embracing life to the fullest, to include scuba diving (she has over 60 dives to her credit), Taekwondo (where she is working toward her 4th degree black belt), hiking, traveling…and reading, of course!
Learn more at http://brendahiatt.com

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 583 reviews
Profile Image for Ben Alderson.
Author 33 books14.4k followers
July 29, 2015
well well well.
What a fantastic read. This series is so promising after this first book.
The characters, setting and idea behind this world is fantastic.
I have to admit I LOVE ALIENS.

Really excited for the rest of this series! :D <3
Profile Image for Megan Krogh.
91 reviews38 followers
March 31, 2016
I fucking hated this book. I seriously cannot believe I actually finished it. Although every page I read, I could feel myself losing brain cells. This book was so fucking cliché. The plot was pretty dumb. The vocabulary sucked shit. Marsha was dumb as fuck. Rigel was supposed to be amazing and hot and the perfect dude but seriously was totally fucking cliché and he did not act like a fucking 15 year old. Trisha was cliché too (wow cliché again, I think this is going to be a reoccurring theme here) and girls aren't like that at high school. I didn't connect with the characters at all and truthfully, found them to be very shallow. If someone held me at gunpoint and told me to pick a favorite character, I guess I would have to say it was Allister. Either him or just go ahead and shoot me and end my fucking misery. The ending was disappointing. Thank fucking goodness Shim didn't talk the entire time. Because if he did and that would have been the "fight" then I would have put the book down right there even though I had about 10 pages left. I would rather wash my eyes with fucking bleach before I would ever read the second book. I feel like I should take it upon myself to collect up this series of books from all around the world and fucking burn them. You may think this review was harsh but I could give a fuck less. I don't know how my hours of my life I have wasted and brain cells I have destroyed by reading this fucking shit called a book.
Profile Image for N.N. Heaven.
Author 6 books2,133 followers
September 10, 2018
This is my second reading of Starstruck and I have to say, my opinion on the book has improved quite a bit. Marsha (or M to her friends) is an astronomy fanatic and a very confused teen. She doesn't know who she is or where she fits in. All that changes when she meets hunky Rigel. He befriends her and all these changes start to happen to her. She's not sure what it means but when she discovers a hidden secret, she's Starstruck.

While there is still things I don't like about the book (too much angst and bullying), M's journey is what makes this a great sci fi romance and coming of age book. I related to M quite a bit and Rigel is quite the character.

If you like YA with plenty of angst, you'll love this book!

My Rating: 4 stars

Reviewed by: Mrs. N
Profile Image for Bookish Satty.
954 reviews33 followers
September 17, 2013
I got this book from the author, free of cost, in exchange of an honest review from my side.

Firstly I would love to thank Brenda Hiatt, author of Starstruck, for giving me this wonderful opportunity of reading and reviewing this book and hats off to the great and awesome moderators of Teen Critic group for letting me sign up for this book.

I really loved this story, it's great and really enjoyable. I loved to experience the life of M and liked the fact that she developed through out the book and became strong and confident.

The pure essence of first and true love was really nice to experience and the unique plot did wonders in keeping up my interest levels. The writing style is really awesome and really connected me to the story.

The story is really a page turner and gripped my interest and excitement from the very first and I finished it within one day.
The emotional whirlwind that M faces really made me feel sad for her and I really loved the unexpected twists and turns that bumped me in between the chapters.

The suspense and revelations of many secrets really spiced up the story for me and made the experience even more interesting and intriguing.

A must read for ya all and I would recommend it to all of you out there and hope that you'll love it as much as I did.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
346 reviews34 followers
August 3, 2015
Pros:
Well, the cover is really pretty.

This book made me feel sad. Poor Marsha, she is so beat down, the moment a guy even looks at her, her friends rush to straighten her hair, and it's like her whole life is hinging on a purple eyeliner pencil. Like just maybe, that purple eyeliner is the deciding difference between failure and success.

I wanted this book to be a cautionary tale, about the fact that male attention is not the only thing that matters in the this world! But it's all the seem to matter in her world. Listen to me teenage girls!! Your value of yourself, your opinion of yourself, should not hinge on the opinion of a 15 year old boy. Because unless they are written like mature men (as is Rygel the romantic lead in this story) 15 year old boys are the worst.

Most of the book, she's just obsessed with Rygel, every detailed thought, call, expression, positive affirmation is ridiculously detailed in this book. It was like having a 16 year old friend with a wicked crush, again. No-one likes that friend. That friend is annoying. Therefore, this book sort of annoyed me. I know it's hard not to get obsessed when you have a crush and talk on and on about them, but I always expect more from a book, you know to avoid that sort of repetition.

I know books don't exist to be role models. Their job is to create characters, a world, a plot, a story. And I don't know if in the future, that Marsha becomes a stronger more empowered character. But this character has no self esteem, she can barely speak out loud. And her relationship is the only thing that seems to give her any self purpose. I wanted to be her big sister and just say, ah sweetie, no...no.

Profile Image for Jessica.
235 reviews33 followers
November 24, 2013
I was given a copy in exchange for an honest review.
description
That book was epic! Oh, wait a minute, it's over.
description
Someone told me it's going to be a series though, so
description
Where to start with this book? It was amazing! Yes that sounds good. When I was reading the first page or so, if I'm honest with you I thought this was going to be a boring high school romance or something like that. I wasn't in the mood for all that soppy teenage romance, because let's be honest it get's old, it gets boring.
So as you can imagine I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered it wasn't the plain book I thought it was going to be. The first clue was the 'static electricity', why I do not envy Marsha for that. Imagine not having a phone, a proper computer, or any of the electrical devices we have now, well having them but braking them!
I don't like Bri, that section in the middle of the book so mean towards Marsha, luckily it all gets sorted out so I'm not quite sure what the point of including that in the story was, it seemed so petty compared to all the other drama going on and it was sorted so quickly it was like it didn't actually happen.

There's not much I can say without giving really big spoilers, which I don't want to do. One thing I did find was I predicted a lot of the plot, and by that all the big details, yes I'd already said "That's going to happen." Luckily this book was still good enough for me to overlook how predictable it was.
I thought it was a so-so original story, the plot and everything yes the idea of martians on Earth, not so original.
Overall, this better be a series, I loved the storyline (most) of the characters. I don't believe how fast the pages went by, I just couldn't stop reading it, I made so many excuses to sneak away to read a few pages!
March 16, 2016
You can read this review and more on my blog:
This was a cute little book in the beginning, but it didn't take long for me to become annoyed with it. I don't so much think that the problem lies with the storytelling. I have just read a few books that were similar and I liked them a lot more.

It's never good when both the little and big aspect of a book cause you to cringe and roll your eyes.

First of all I hated the main character's nickname. Her name was Marsha, but thanks to being called Marsha the Martian and being picked on all through middle school, she begged her friends and anyone who would listen to call her M. I know this is a very small thing to care about, but a name can be important when you are reading and when people keep calling your main character by using a letter it can get annoying pretty fast.

 

Besides my strange aversion to her nickname (Which they constantly used even when they didn't need to) I was never really drawn into the alien part of the story either.



 

The romance between Marsha (I refuse to call her "M') and Rigel, her school's hot new quarterback, was kind of cute. This is a paranormal romance so there was insta love. 

Despite my ambivalence towards them as a couple, Rigel and Marsha were decently written characters who were easy to like. I enjoyed the fist part of the book when Marsha was a pimple faced, shy, wallflower and Rigel was the gorgeous new quarterback who kept finding reasons to talk to her. I wish that part of the book had lasted longer.

 

Can't say whether I will continue with this series or not. There is potential here for a decent story, but I don't know if it is worth it. At the time of this review, this book was free on Amazon and will most likely remain that way indefinitely. If you haven't read a lot of books about soul mates who have to be near each other then this is a cute one to start with and you just might like it.

 

This book was clean there were no sexual situations or cursing. I would recommend it for ages 12 and up.


This review was originally posted on Kookie Krysp Reads
Profile Image for Kindra Erickson.
99 reviews3 followers
September 13, 2015
Beautiful cover, cliché book. The main character left all of her friends (two, because she's a "nerd") just so she could hang out more with her popular, hot, perfect boyfriend. Oh, but they loooove each other! Puke. I'm all for a romance book and falling in love, but this was just sickening. In my opinion, it's chicks before dicks, EVEN if you're in-loooove. Not only that, the author wrote down every trick in the "Cliché For Beginners Handbook". She's a nerd, he's popular. She's a lost alien princess so she's not supposed to be with him, he's just a normal alien who had the task of finding her. They have a loooove bond which ultimately means that they're soulmates... But no one can know! She was adopted, but then her adopted parents died, so her adopted dad's sister or brother (I don't know which) took her in *deep breath*. Oh, and her aunt is rude and horrible and resembles the stepmom from Cinderella except that she doesn't make the main character a slave. She also lives in a house in the middle of nowhere with...guess what? Noooo technology! Poor thing, right? Anyway, I don't recommend this book to anyone unless you like the whole cliché-alien-thing.
Profile Image for ☆☆Hannah☆☆.
3,182 reviews46 followers
July 17, 2016
This is more of a 2.5 rating. There were things that I liked but there were things that bugged me too. I understand that you will never find the perfect main character in a book. However, M (yes that's what people called her) at times was too childish and stupid and her friends were no better. Especially her friend Bri who actually stopped talking to her because M had a boyfriend and what was worse that her other friend Deb stopped talking to her because Bri did. I hate people like that. Anyways, back to the plot you have M who finds out that she is different. Rigel comes to town and she begins to understand who she is and where she really came from. I know that's vague but I don;t want to give too much away. Since this was an okay reading I'm not sure I will continue with the series.
Profile Image for Ashley.
156 reviews30 followers
March 10, 2014
Initially, I was going to give Starstruck one star, but there were some good parts to it.

Besides that... words fail me.

The romance was very clichéd and a bit unbelievable. I liked the main character Marsha for the first half of the book, but when she started to ignore and neglect her friends to fawn over her love interest, that was a big no-no, for me anyway. Not to mention when they broke up for a period she became physically sick and depressed *ugh*.

Not to mention the fact she refused to go into hiding as the threat to her life becomes so serious, because she would be away from Rigel.

The plot was 50/50 for me. The Martians emigrating from mars, and the political unrest and issues and that were occurring was interesting, but I got a feeling most of the story was invested in the romantic plot and how Marsha and Rigel could create amazing feats of electricity when they are touching, to get themselves out of danger.

I also felt that Trina, one of the main antagonists, was only there to be a threat to M while they were at school. The book doesn’t really explain why Trina hated Marsha so much before Rigel came onto the scene.

Overall, I did not enjoy this book, and was quite disappointed. I won’t be reading the sequel.
Profile Image for Ari Reavis.
Author 20 books163 followers
July 24, 2016
This was a pleasant surprise. I've had this on my kindle for a while and am wondering why I took so long to get around to reading it. Marsha is the typical sophomore with acne, glasses, and bullies galore. Rigel comes along and 'notices' her in more ways than one. Rigel won and lost me at various points in this book. He was so sweet and protective, but made some pretty dumb decisions that had me scratching my head sometimes. There's a lot of mystery and some action towards the end. Ohh, and of course romance... albeit high school romance... so a lot of smooching. But a love develops that you can see is genuine. Looking forward to the next part.
Profile Image for Tabitha.
193 reviews36 followers
July 27, 2017
This book was brilliant! I haven't read any alien themed books before but wow, I just loved this and I can't wait to read the rest! (I think I may just binge read the rest over the Christmas holidays!) great book - I'll be writing a review on my blog soon xx
Profile Image for Caru.
124 reviews171 followers
May 13, 2014
I recieved a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.Thank you!!


Rating: ★★★★☆




My Opinion Of This Book: I liked it!!!!



______________________________________________


Liked:

-Rigel
-Bri
-Deb
-Marsha
-The Romance
-The Writing
-The Ending
-The Plot/Storyline


Disliked:
-There were some YA clichés



What I Disliked:The YA Clichés



~Well, there was insta-love in this one.


I mean it wasn't really a big deal but I would've liked this better if it didn't have insta-love.



The Characters


Rigel

He laughed out loud, a delicious sound. "Boys like me? You can tell her I don't expect anything at all. Though—" He went suddenly serious— "I may hope, a little."
I discovered I wasn't quite brave enough to ask what he hoped, though the intensity in his eyes gave me a clue. My heart started beating faster.



Oh, how I love Rigel!!!He's like the star football player at Jewel.
He's sweet, adorable, cute, smart, funny,and hottttt!!!AND he likes reading!!!!That's just PERFECT!!!


Marsha or M

Marsha or M, was great!She didn't get on my nerves at all and I really liked that she was stubborn, in a good way.


Bri and Deb

Bri and Deb are Marsha's friends. I liked them most of the time but they did annoy me at times, too.


The Writing and the Plot/Storyline


The writing was perfect!!Really it was descriptive and just great!!!
The plot/storyline was fast-paced, exciting, and fantastic!!!


The Romance


description

The romance was adorable and cute.
Rigel and Marsha are so cute and amazing together!! Like...

description


Overrall

This was a pretty great read!! I can't wait to read the next one!!
And well...
description
Profile Image for Lauren.
495 reviews21 followers
August 10, 2015
Oh my goodness! I really, really, really, really, really like this book! It was exactly what I wanted and it was just so darn fun to read! The characters, plot, and overall tone of the story were so entertaining and fun!
I only had a few issues with this book, but it was still fantastic. My first problem with the book was all of the little cliché parts in the story. I mean, it didn't bother me a whole lot, but little things like the mean girl group, and the whole nerd becoming pretty was cliché, but it was done so in a way that didn't really bother me very much which I was surprised by. YOU GO BRENDA HIATT :) ( If you get that reference you go Glen Coco)
My second issue was Rigel's character. ( sorry if I misspelled his name) While I thought he was sweet and kind, I wanted more depth in his character. I want to know more about and not just think martian, kind, boy MC likes. I want to think more character traits but I still really loved him to death!
I really loved a lot of things about this book, but I personally adored how the bits and pieces of Martian traditions were sprinkled throughout the story. There was no info-dumping which I found so helpful! The way Hiatt handled the Martians was honestly so well done!
I also really liked the addition of the mean girl. I know it is cliché, but I thought Trina was the perfect mean girl! I know a girl at my school who can be very much like a Regina George so I could relate to friends/ me being teased.
I found the romance to be so freaking adorable! M and Rigel go so well together and warm my heart. The romance wasn't to overdone and you honestly didn't mind the insta-love. It was written so well that way! Everything looked sort of realistic about their romance, just a little unrealistic but for the most part I could see them as a couple.
I overall loved this book! ( Brenda Hiatt, if you are reading this I will always review your books in the future! I love YA and Starstruck!)
Profile Image for Ishi Bhanot.
129 reviews95 followers
January 14, 2015
~~I was given a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review~~

Rating: 3.5 stars

It's the first day of the school and our narrator, Marsha, or M as she is called by her friends, is boarding the bus. A sophomore, Marsha isn't exactly at the top of the social hierarchy of high school. The mean girl Trina, her enemy since childhood, is everything Marsha isn't and takes special interest on playing pranks on her. Hoping that this year might be different somehow for geeky, unpopular Marsha, and with the introduction of the mysterious new quarterback of the football team named Rigel, is how the story starts. Will things really change for her? Or will this year also go on like the rest?

Review:
This book was a short and sweet read. The instant chemistry between Rigel and Marsha, even if predictable, was sweet. Even though I knew that the book was shelved as sci-fi, the revelations made in the book were quite unexpected; in a really nice way, and made me more curious as to how the story would proceed. What I didn't like, was that the talk of the politics overshadowed many other aspects of the story.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the story and look forward to reading the second part in the series.
Profile Image for Chez.
83 reviews
June 9, 2018
This was such a cute story! I read it on Wattpad after I saw that my friend had added it.
Starstruck is a really quick read and lighthearted. It wasn't too cliche and the characters were really fun. The only thing that was kind of bothering was that I kept forgetting that they were only 15. It would've been better if they were 17 with some of the jokes or references that were being made. Overall it was a really fun read and I would like to read the next book, as I see no point not to continue this series!
Profile Image for Adi Rocks Socks.
232 reviews57 followers
July 18, 2017
2.5 to 3 stars. Maybe I'd have enjoyed this book more if I were fifteen myself, and a little more naïve about the world. The book had an interesting premise, had impeccable grammar (which is important to me) and was FREE! I'm a sucker for deals and free things, fyi. ;)
Profile Image for Maberan Potato.
233 reviews24 followers
May 27, 2018
ACTUAL RATING: 0.5 STARS

If you know me you know this is bad. I've never rated any book under one star, even the ones literally forgiving RAPE. (See Le Rubis Des Templiers) So what gives? Well, at least these books had the decency to not shoot originality in the head before my innocent eyes.

Unmarked spoilers below but honestly you'll see everything coming anyway this is so unoriginal.

PART 1: THE CLICHÉS

Not even three pages in and this hits it all. You have the eye-impaired brunette of the week without any fashion sense who is also arch-enemy with popular blonde cheerleader who mocks her for the dumbest shit and sends the entire bus into laughter. A phrase later you learn Marsha is also crushing on a boy named Jimmy whom she knows doesn't even know she exists, but only before being informed that Marsha has equally losers friends who tell her what to wear.

Some of you might be thinking that at least the book gets this shit done early so it can get to the interesting bits faster, which is a technique I recommend. But don't get your hopes up my friend, this author isn't quite as smart as a 15-yrs-old girl writing about a lost heir to the throne.

After that we're introduced to Marsha's friends Deb and [INSERT NAME HERE], who immediately start talking about the school's new quarterback, a transfer student from Chicago. This also introduces us the the book's biggest flaw in that you will never find these girls dead talking about something that isn't boy related.

I sometimes forgot they were at school, instead picturing Marsha walking with her head in the clouds, daydreaming 24/7 about shit she knows will never happen rather than taking an active role in her own life.

What follows is probably one the most personally offensive bit of literature I have ever read. Marsha says this in her narration.

[...] neither of us could claim to be pretty [...]


How dare you. How fucking dare you to say that about your friends. You don't know, maybe they're just waiting for puberty to pass to see what genetics have given them. Maybe Deb actually loves herself and is mostly trying to better her social skills than her appearance.

But what I despise most about this sentence is what it represent. My guess is that the author tried to show how low Marsha's self-esteem is and failed miserably. This doesn't sound like someone with low self-esteem. It sounds like an eternal truth of life that Marsha has accepted a long time ago.

What does that say to real eye impaired, frizzy-haired brunette girls? That they can never be pretty and should accept that fact? No, because later down the line Marsha starts taking care of her appearance and suddenly she's being noticed by girls and boys alike, and she never takes back that sentence. So what's left is that the author is incompetent and shallow.

This brings me to my second point, which is also the second thing you notice after your brain has begun registering the bunch of words that call themselves 'Starstruck'

PART 2: THE CHARACTERS

Your idea of Marsha from the bit I've written above is probably more unique than anything this book could strive for. Marsha is, by all means, one of the most obvious and badly written blank slates I've ever read about. She's ugly because glasses, pimples and frizzy hair. So why try, right? It's not like hair straighteners and makeup exist.

Let me get this straight with you guys. If you don't like how you look, and do nothing about it, stop complaining. I'm not telling her to get contacts, but if you don't like your hair, how about you straighten it? Cut it? And do it by yourself, not because your friends decided to?

Because Marsha's friends are here for two things; bring up Rigel in every conversation ever and prep Marsha when she needs to be pretty. Sure, there's some fake drama in the middle but that goes worst than nowhere. That takes the little amount of agency Marsha could've had and turns her into a daydreaming doormat who needs other people to push her towards things she wants.

But what it does do is increase the differences between her and Trina, the blonde cheerleader. Apart from being mean to Marsha for no understandable reason, Trina is basically a more independent and proactive Marsha. Both are shallow, judgmental girls who focus only on physical appearance, as we see when Rigel comes into the room and Marsha immediately forgets her two-years crush for him, a crush that was, since we get no flashback of Jimmy doing something nice for her or something about his personality, entirely based on physical attraction.

But let's get to the meat of this story, shall we? Rigel, the transfer student, who, as much as Marsha stares at him, I can't tell you anything about. I don't even think they told me his hair color. Rigel is nothing. His only personality trait I could tell you is that he's nice and protective of his girlfriend when people try to kill her. Which is... expected of everyone ever, too.

PART 3: THE ROMANCE

So while browsing reviews for kindred souls, I found a comment five years old that pretty much describes everything wrong with the romance.

I appreciate that you took the time to write a review for those who needed to see it. I have read the book, and I see what you said about it being cliche, butttt that's what makes it cute! It is, after all, a YOUNG ADULT book (teenagers). M did not leave her friends purposefully, as you would have seen if you payed attention to the part of the book where she said that. Throughout the book, her friends were jealous of her because she found some one that she loved. Wouldn't you want to spend time with the guy/girl you love? She felt a pull towards Rigel, it's not like she can stop that. Once again, this was made for teens!


Ah, yes. Clichés are for teens, right. That's just a different way of saying "Who cares if it doesn't make sense, it's for kids!" But lets ignore the condescending tone and examine what is being said. 'She felt a pull towards Rigel' which put through my bullshit translator means 'instalove'.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating and also DON'T GO AFTER THIS PERSON THIS COMMENT IS 5 YEARS OLD THANKS. There was an actual pull, aka Marsha's static power reacted to Rigel. But after they talk once about French (and like two phrases too, didn't even get in dept about the similarity of Spanish and French and its impact on English) suddenly they're bf and gf and absolutely in love.

Oh and also Rigel's a Martian.

PART 4: THE PLOT

Yes, you read that right. The mystery boy is a Martian looking for a Martian Princess. Did I mention that Marsha was adopted? And that she lives with her aunt who dislikes her? *coughs*

The only good thing about this is that for once the titles are reversed. But yes, Marsha is an alien with electric powers and they are the silliest thing ever. She and Rigel have to like, hug and do a finger gun and electricity comes out. Another time it was described as 'a blue arc that caught [WANNA-BE RAPIST] in the chest'.

Yeeaaah Marsha almost gets attacked once, IN THE DAMNED SCHOOL, and she also knows Taekwondo but nope needs magical powers to save the day. Those Taekwondo classes only come into play once in the whole book. Useless.

So at the end there's this fight with people who want to kill her cuz she's the princess and RIGEL'S DAD KEEPS THEM FROM TAKING A WEAPON TO PROTECT THEMSELVES??? That was the stupidest shit you deserve to have your kid murdered in front of you if you're that stupid. But Marsha and Rigel blow up the thing and the good guys are going to erase the bad's memory. At least reality ensues and Marsha isn't crowned queen of the prom cuz she's late.

PART 5: CONCLUSION

I don't care that this is free, it costs time. Burn it and go watch One Punch Man instead.
Profile Image for Mo ♡.
604 reviews17 followers
August 14, 2025
I honestly didn't take this tooo seriously. I remember reading this on my kindle when I was like really young, I enjoyed it then. I enjoyed it now. 😭
It's definitely one of those books that are toooo wattpad like. But it was entertaining, felt like I was 13 again. 💀
122 reviews2 followers
February 9, 2018
This was much better than I expected to be! A lot of fun!
Profile Image for Dee/ bookworm.
1,400 reviews4 followers
September 28, 2018
I really liked this book, but I don't think I can read more of the series. I know that they are going to introduce a love triangle and from the description of the next books it sounds like a lot of angst.
Profile Image for Hannah Maclean.
26 reviews2 followers
August 8, 2022
Okay so i picked up this book not knowing a thing about it. and if i said i was surprised by the storyline that would be an understatement. just gotta say love rigel and m they deserve each other. i’m not for big reviews so i’m gonna go read the second book now
Profile Image for Deborah Zaranti.
20 reviews
April 7, 2022
Definitely written for the youngest of YA readers. Very simplistic writing style. Still an engaging story though. Tempted to read the next installment in this saga but decided to read something else instead, May pick this story up again later. Reading this is kind of like watching Nickelodeon. Interesting but juvenile and simplistic. I would have absolutely adored this book when I was 10 or 11!
Profile Image for Nicole M. Hewitt.
Author 1 book354 followers
October 26, 2013
This review and many others can be found on my blog - Feed Your Fiction Addiction

Starstruck is a really sweet YA paranormal novel that fans of the genre will love! With its unique paranormal storyline and characters that teens will relate to, I think that this book is a definite winner.

I can't really summarize the book any better than the synopsis does without giving away spoilers, so I'll just jump directly into my review.

The negatives:

Some clichés.
There were some parts of this book (especially the beginning) that felt a bit too typical YA. The uncool, "nothing special about her" protagonist falls for the mysterious ultra-cool guy. Most of the first half or so of the book was dedicated to the romance blossoming between M and Rigel, so it felt a little cliché. Still, I found myself enjoying the story anyway and, luckily, the second half of the book really improved - once you find out the paranormal secret, the book gets much more unique and interesting!

What I LOVED:

M.
Even though I said that M is a pretty typical YA heroine, I still found myself really liking her. I appreciated that she was intelligent and a bit geeky without being overly self-deprecating or a total loner (I loved her best friends Bri and Deb - I thought that those friendships seemed very realistic both when they were getting along and when they were fighting!). I also liked that when things start to get crazy (in a paranormal sort of way), she doesn't automatically believe everything that she's told - she responds in a very realistic way!

Rigel.
Rigel was a very swoon-worthy love interest. He was also sweet and smart - an all-around good guy - and I was definitely rooting for M and Rigel to be together. I loved that he put M's interests and happiness above his own and he didn't abandon her, even when it seemed that he might have to!!

M's aunt and uncle.
The tension between M and her aunt and uncle (especially her aunt) added a really interesting dynamic to the story and made M a more sympathetic character. I hope that, in future books, we get to see those relationships develop even more and come to understand a little bit more about what makes M's aunt treat M the way she does. We definitely get part of the story in this book, but I would love to see even more!

The unique paranormal story.
I can't say too much about the paranormal aspect of this book without spoiling things, but I was happy that it was very unique and interesting. I loved the literal sparks that flew between M and Rigel and the fact that this book came to a satisfying conclusion, but left us with room for more books in the series because the paranormal storyline is definitely not finished!

I highly recommend Starstruck to fans of YA paranormal romance! I can't wait to see what Hiatt has in store for us in future books! 4/5 stars.

***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***
Profile Image for Siobhan Davis.
Author 112 books9,482 followers
August 27, 2015
Marsha Truitt isn't popular in school, but she's used to it. Constantly taunted by cheerleader Trina, she does her best to ignore her with the support of her two best friends. M's home life isn't much better - her aunt and uncle were forced to take her in when her adopted parents died shortly after adopting her. Her aunt is a total tyrant and her uncle is usually tongue-tied around his domineering wife.

When hot newcomer Rigel starts to take notice of her, M's life changes in ways she could never have imagined or predicted. She discovers her real identity and the path that lies in store for her.

While this was a decent read, I wasn't blown away by it. The writing is very good and it's clear than Brenda Hiatt is an experienced author. So, no issues with the writing style at all. However, I found it quite slow-paced in the first half and I kept waiting for something to happen to inject a much-needed spark. Though, to be fair, the plot more than made up for that in the second part of the book.

In the main, I liked M and we start to see a transformation in her as the story progresses (not just physical). But I was screaming at her to stand up to her aunt at certain junctures and I wish she had more backbone.

Rigel is a great male lead though I was unhappy with him in the latter stages of the book. While he implemented a selfless plan in order to protect M, I didn't like that he had to partner with evil Trina to do it. Surely, he could have chosen a different girl!

The romance was sweet and clean, and there was a nice build up to it.

Overall, I found this to be a lot more juvenile than the YA books I usually read. Most of them are categorized as age15/16+ but this is suitable for younger teens.

I was in two minds as to whether I was going to continue the series, but the hinted-at Irish connection is what swayed my mind. Onto Starcrossed next.

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars
669 reviews1 follower
February 11, 2016
Starstruck should of been titled "guy-struck"

I admit I prefer my female characters to be strong, so I was vastly dissatisfied with the main female Marsha. Yes they have a bond but is that really a good excuse for ditching your friends? Or becoming so Starstruck by him that you forget all logical thought?! Oh and her magically "transforming" all because basically she got the guy was awful. I mean the author was basically telling every woman in the world that in order to be "complete" or "popular" you must have a man. As a female I take offense to that. Yes having a boyfriend is great but if you feel the need to change for him then he's not worth it, better yet your worth more then that. Also her friend's petty little drama was just sad to read about.
Then there was the family drama which none of which was explained except for her (spoiler) not being from planet earth. This book was filled with so many problems that I basically had to force myself to keep reading while hoping it would get better. Which I'm sorry to say it didn't.
All in all this book is filled with horrible stereotypes in fact it even ends with the author trying to add in the whole star-crossed lovers thing. In fact I'm pretty sure that's the name of the next book. It was basically a horribly done Cinderella story.
Profile Image for M.N. Arzu.
Author 7 books250 followers
March 26, 2019
I wish it had more character development

I was looking for a novel with aliens living among us, and this one certainly fullfilled that. Now, if only the character wasn't constantly thinking about this ONE GUY and how amazing he is...

I wanted to like Marsha, I really did, but I have no idea who she is beyond she likes to read and Astronomy. What does she want? What does she like? Besides Rigel, of course.

I get that the main characters are teens and will make bad decisions, but when the adults also begin to make seriously bad decisions then I have a problem. Especially when the reason is "because the plot demands that these two will stay together so we'll ignore everything else!"

I liked the alien origins and the connection between them, but that's just not enough to like this book.
Profile Image for AnnMarie.
1,303 reviews34 followers
January 31, 2014
I am used to reading this author's regency romance, and I didn't know how this different genre would go down with me, but the story sounded good, and I gave it a try. I am glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a unique story, Brenda has such a great imagination. You can't help but appreciate how nice it would be if something like this could be happening around us right now, well the good guys bit that is. You will have to read it to know what I mean. You won't be sorry.
Profile Image for Beatrice Rivers.
161 reviews14 followers
March 2, 2017
Stay safe my Marsha Prentiss...

I could never have guessed the twist at the beginning. I knew at once that Rigel couldn't be a normal human being... But then again, how many stunning, cute and magical young men are there in the world of fiction that aren't supernatural?

My favourite character was, of course, Rigel, although it must be annoying to blow up every electronical objet that you touch...

I Highly Recommended this book.

Stay safe my Marshan Princess.
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