By the Light of the Stars

by Emily Gray

A dutiful princess questions everything she was taught to believe and, with the help of a handsome rogue space pilot, sets out to reclaim her power and save her people in this genre-blending, romantic space opera.

The idyllic lunar colony of Boaterra means everything to its perfect, dutiful Princess Lyrii Thana—and she’s prepared to marry the austere commander of their Sisterworld, Chinov, in order to protect it.

After an assassination attempt goes awry, Lyrii is saved by Kade Maxwell, a mysterious space pilot. He promises to transport her safely to Chinov so her wedding can proceed as planned—for a price. With no other way to travel across the galaxy, Lyrii is forced to trust him in order to fulfill her duty to her home and her throne.

When an emergency landing on a refugee spaceship that shouldn’t exist pushes Lyrii to confront the lies her family’s empire is built on, she finds herself torn between loyalty, fear, and her growing feelings for Kade. As her arranged wedding draws closer, Lyrii must decide whether she’ll bow to the hand of destiny forced upon her, or finally put herself first…even if that means going against the very system she was born to uphold.

Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Adult

Kindle Edition

Expected publication November 17, 2026

About the author

Emily Gray is a writer and middle school English teacher based in a small town in North Carolina, where she lives with her son and too many dogs. When she isn't writing about spaceships or grading papers, she's probably daydreaming about how many varieties of heirloom tomatoes she can fit in her garden this year.

(Source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Kassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group/Ace for the advanced eBook copy in exchange for an honest review.

Lyrii Thana, Princess of Boaterra, is destined to marry the Commander of their sister world, Chinov, to preserve peace between their worlds. After surviving an assassination attempt, she is rescued by Kade, a rogue space pilot who takes her off-world. Away from everything she has ever known, Lyrii begins to uncover long-hidden truths about her family, her world, and the empire they have built. As she and Kade find themselves caught in one dangerous situation after another, Lyrii is forced to confront the lies that have shaped her life.

I was really excited to dive into this sci-fi fantasy romance, but as the story progressed, the romance between Kade and Lyrii didn’t quite work for me. I never felt a strong sense of chemistry or romantic tension developing between them, and their romantic scene seemed to come out of nowhere. Unfortunately, I just didn’t connect with them as a couple.

The story became much more engaging once Lyrii arrived on Chinov. The political intrigue and family drama involving her sisters and her future husband added a level of tension and complexity that I found far more compelling than the romance.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the worldbuilding interesting. While this installment didn’t completely win me over, I’d still be willing to pick up book two to see where the series goes next.

[book.obsessed.jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ⭐️
1.75/5 🌶️

I don’t know why I have not read a space romance sooner cause this was so fun! I really liked both our fmc & mmc, the plot movement was great, and I enjoyed the writing.

When Princess Lyrii Thana escapes an attempted threat on her life right before she is to leave to meet her betrothed, she is rescued by a rogue space pilot. Deep in space, she learns that her sheltered upbringing has been just that - and not everything is as it appears. As her wedding looms, Lyrii starts to question what she believes and who she can trust. 👀

I really liked the plot twists and the weaving of space politics. It kept it interesting for sure and some of it I didn’t see coming. I really would love to learn more about the history so hopefully we’ll get more of that in the next one cause I will for sure read book 2!

Thank you so much to Ace/Berkley and Netgalley for the eARC!

What to Expect:
✨Space Opera
✨Plot Twists
✨Political Intrigue
✨Sci-Fi Romance

[BookishKB]

🌙✨ By the Light of the Stars ✨🌙

📖 Bookish Thoughts

My full review will be shared closer to the publication date.

🚀 What to Expect
• Space Opera Romance
• Princess x Rogue
• Forced Proximity
• Political Intrigue
• Arranged Marriage
• Galactic Adventure
_ _ _ _

📅 Pub Date: November 17, 2026
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, Ace, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

[Annika Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

"By the Light of the Stars" is a space opera/sci-fi romance that follows Lyrii, a princess of the planet Boaterra who is anticipating an unhappily arranged marriage in order to make peace between her planet and their sister world, the distant Chinov. When danger strikes at the heart of the royal family, Lyrii flees with a smuggler, Kade, and heads to safety on Chinov—but the more she learns about the universe beyond her sheltered royal life, the more she doubts her initial goals... and the honesty of the family she left behind.

To start off: I absolutely loved Lyrii and Kade; they're a lovely couple (and, for some, a welcome antidote to a lot of the dark/problematic/shadow daddy-esque romance out there; Kade is a sweet consent king, but he's also a complicated character with a dark backstory!) Political intrigue is always a favorite of mine in sci-fi and this book delivered. At its best, this book reminded me of Disney's Mandalorian series, if the Mandalorian had a romance plot.

I found the worldbuilding fun, though occasionally a tad shallow: I want to know a lot more about these places and their politics than Lyrii's limited POV allows, but hopefully the promised (and cliffhanger'd) sequel will lean more into that. Some of the minor characters are flat, and I wish the book had allowed more insight into their personalities and values. Again, this is likely an issue with Lyrii being so sheltered, and the whole book being filtered through her limited POV.

I will definitely be reading the sequel (be warned that it ends on an unresolved note that sort of demands a sequel!), and I believe strongly that a debut like this promises great things for Gray's future books. Overall recommended for fans of sci-fi romance who like sweet romances, political intrigue, and space princess x cocky smuggler romance!

SPOILERS AHEAD
Trigger warnings include:
Bombings, terrorism, bombing injuries, and trauma/PTSD; manipulative and emotionally abusive family members; death of a parent; main character forced to defend herself and murder an assaulter; threats of physical assault from antagonist, with minor sexual undertones. Consensual sex scenes are not too explicit but are on the page. Death of minor characters. Guns, forced/arranged marriage, speculation about forced marital intercourse but none actually happens. Kidnappings, and allusions to smuggling/human trafficking. Allusions to body dysmorphia from extensive scarring. Claustrophobia/being trapped in an antagonist's palace. Allusions to police brutality, mass surveillance, and incarceration.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book early in exchange for an honest review!

Okay, I honestly loved this astromance (and yes that’s what I’m calling romantic sci-fi). It reads fast and there’s not a lot of description but it felt fun and new and exciting. I know there are other astromances out there, heck it’s not even the first one I’ve reviewed for NetGalley, but I genuinely enjoyed this one and want more.

One aspect I liked were the characters. They felt real enough without going into so much detail that the story felt bogged down. I liked both Lyrii and Kade, and was rooting for their romance from the start.

I also appreciated the political interest here. Sure, it wasn’t Game of Thrones-level intrigue, but it was fascinating and had good twists and turns. It also sets up for a sequel well. The world-building was really interesting and I like the idea of “humanity divided into two parts.” I also love moon worlds, give me more moon worlds!

Maybe I’m biased in that I just needed a good story right now but I really liked this one and will be looking forward to the next book.

[Veronica Deepsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and I'm sobbing inconsolably because it's OVER and now I have to wait for book two and everything happens so MUCH!!;;

if you want something with strong romance and equally strong sci fi world-building focused on the ties people make, ties between characters, family members, politics. if you love space princesses but you're a #NoKings kind of person. If you've ever crushed on Han Solo AND/OR Princess Leia. if you dream of tearing down the whole system. if you need motivation and courage to do it scared. if you loved Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell. this book 🩷🩷🩷 this is the one. She's got the juice 🧃

Shout out to NetGalley where this book is available as Read Now for another 34 days. let's GOO

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable sci-fi romance with action and political intrigue. Lyrii starts off as a young seeming, sheltered and slightly naive princess who is engaged to marry for politics. Lyrii goes through a lot during this book, a lot of it from learning how sheltered she was and not knowing who to trust. I do think she had a lot of growth as her eyes opened to the worlds around her. I liked Kade, the MMC who helps her escape her home. While he also was young seeming and at times impulsive, he was definitely more worldly than Lyrii and we love a consent king. Overall, I enjoyed reading this and I would definitely read more books in this world.

[Charlene Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss+ and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book. And an even bigger thank you to the author for writing it.

If a story has a romance set in space, sign me up. Why does it instantly make it a more compelling love story?

For the actual story itself, I was definitely invested from the jump and thoroughly enjoyed where the story took me. There were twists and turns, political intrigue, compelling side characters, and a fun romance.

Definitely looking forward to another trip into space with this series

[The Conservative Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt less like the space opera adventure that I anticipated and more like a treatise on how society, governments, and their economies should function.

I will delve into that more shortly, but first I wanted to speak about the characters which will blend into that explanation.

Lyrii, our protagonist, is a princess who comes from a moon colony called Boaterra where they function under a monarchy. She is reclusive, timid character and rightly so as she has recently suffered an assassination attempt leaving her reeling mentally and disfigured physically.

Lyrii does develop into a stronger person as the story progresses but even so, she failed to stir up that irresistible magnetism that a main character should exude.

At first, Kade seemed a promising MMC. He’s a pilot so that implies daring and strength. The first scene in which the reader meets him shows Kade to be decisive and quick thinking.

We quickly see, however, that Kade is impulsive and immature. One way this is exemplified is in the slew of haphazard relationships he has drudged up in the past that were indulged upon and quickly relinquished. Not to mention his half baked plan of kidnapping Lyrii so he can cash in on a ransom to her prospective fiancé. Kade would insist he was helping Lyrii but he definitely was looking out for his own skin.

As if that weren’t enough, he becomes very “holier than thou”. Lyrii and Kade arrive on Kade’s spaceship colony where their society functions very differently than Lyrii’s.

In one scene, Lyrii asks innocently enough how a female engineer and her workers are paid since Kade doesn’t foot any sort of bill for said engineer repairing his ship. Kade flies off the handle to Lyrii with a vitriolic lecture about how no one is paid on the ship and everyone “takes care of their own” unlike in Lyrii’s society thus making it seem as though it’s evil to pay someone for doing an honest day’s work. It became clear that this was an insertion of political views about how terrible capitalism is.

Kade and Lyrii’s conversations continued to circle around economic and governmental structures. Kade crows about how his small, isolated colony is not only comparable but superior somehow to the much larger complicated system that is Boaterra which leads the reader to see how naive Kade is. He proudly states that his colony functions without a leader and is an incorruptible socialistic utopian system. Instead of enlightened, he comes across as rather preachy and insufferable.

Boaterra clearly has its flaws in this story but to say that socialism or communism, which Kade’s community seems to have embraced, is perfect or cannot be abused is ignorant on Kade’s part; a look at history demonstrates quite the opposite but I digress.

By the half way point of the book, not much had happened whatsoever except for some work in Lyrii’s internal progression as a main character. The pace fell stagnant.

A mild spoiler as follows but midway through, Lyrii and Kade are already getting physical and I’m left very confused. Where is the tension between these two? Why are they even attracted to each other? I’m not seeing it.

There were a few cute moments. One scene occurred when Kade and Lyrii played a sort of reverse strip poker where Lyrii had to put on layers of clothes every time she lost the game so that she could warm up on the ship. This was Kade’s idea.

Kade also was at least a gentleman towards Lyrii in moments where he could have easily taken advantage of her and he did comfort her at times when she was vulnerable emotionally.

On a different note, there were a lot of LGBTQ characters in this book including Kade’s two mothers, a co pilot character who was gay, while Kade himself is at least bisexual.

For readers that are sensitive, a few curse words cropped up here and there and there were some violent moments as well.

Overall, this book and I were not simpatico and that’s okay.

A special thanks to Berkley for allowing me to read this copy ahead of release in exchange for this very honest review.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romantasy has blown up in popularity, and dystopian romance is back on the rise… it’s time for sci-fi romance to have its due. Give me yearning in space.

By the Light of the Stars is a good entry point for romantasy readers looking to dip their toes into science fiction. The world isn’t overly complex, and there aren’t any aliens (yet?). Instead, you have more of a political uprising plot point, with the haves vs. the have-nots, and two main characters who grew up on completely opposite sides of that spectrum.

Lyrii is the sheltered, scarred FMC suffering from PTSD. Kade is the scoundrel smuggler who helps rescue her from a dangerous situation and shows her a whole new world. It is not a slow-burn romance; expect something closer to instalove as those two fall fast in a short period of time.

The book can feel YA in some ways. The writing style is simple, the spice is glossed over, and the main characters act like those you’d find in YA sci-fi romance. However, what stands out is the violence - it's nice to see the book not shy away from it, and there are some brutal twists.

One thing I enjoyed in particular was the culture and setting of certain planets. Chinov, with its inhabitants embracing shaved heads, shapeless clothing, and lukewarm, bland food in an of act of morality made for an intriguing (scary) world.

I’m curious as to where book 2 goes next.

[Sandrine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very intrigued by this book since I love books in space. Lyrii is to be married to Commander Vega of Chinov to help with the unification of the 2 worlds. Chinov is very different from Lyrii’s Boaterra home world. Just before she left for Chinov, her family and herself are attacked, she is isolated and Kade, a pilot, finds her and « agrees » to take her to Chinov.
During their journey, Lyrii who was previous very sheltered, is confronted with new realities that challenged what she believed. Lyrii as a character is interesting. There’s a lot of character growth. But still, she is pretty naive which could bother some readers. I feel like the romance could’ve been removed or at least it could’ve taken more time. A lot of Lyrii’s actions are because she « loves » Kade. This book is very political, there’s coups, secrets, unexpected betrayals. It was a lot darker than I anticipated. But, I feel like the romance overshadowed some of that because Lyrii’s actions were not because she cared for the people, but more because she loves him and wants to help him, and then it will help others at the same time… anyways, I was pretty shocked with how the book ended, I didn’t expect that. Lyrii’s time on Chinov is very sad… Overall, I think this is a very interesting book, it’s definitely more political than romance and I enjoyed that. I definitely want to read the sequel, even if I have some criticism about some of Lyrii’s decisions, I hope there’s even more growth and I will be there to root for her !

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book, opinions are my own.

[Just Blue Through Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and to ACE/Berkley for the ARC of By the Light of the Stars by Emily Gray.

I saw someone review this who mentioned it reminded them of Jessie Mihalik's Polaris Rising series and so I immediately wanted to read it. Unfortunately, this didn't hit me as the same depth of other authors really excelling in the space opera romance genre -- Jessie Mihalik, Constance Fay, Beth Revis, Jennifer Estep. In comparison to those authors, this one read as more a Young Adult version vs my expectations.

I say Young Adult because the main character, Lyrii, acts like she is 16, not 23. We open with her being very traumatized from an assassination attempt, to, within less than a month, her having an arc that felt Daenarys Targaryan esque without the incest and dragons. That's not to say she's burning the world down at the end, but it felt like she was someone very sheltered and naive who all of a sudden became a very different person without adequate development, especially in terms of her willingness toward violence. I also just didn't understand how she was 23 and a leader of her entire nation but totally unaware of the way the nation or her world or her marriage contract worked. Either she was never trained by any of her royal upbringing to actually represent the royal family well or she was willfully ignorant of everything and neither makes her a very relatable character.

Kade is similarily immature with his "kidnapping" and immediate trust of Lyrii when she poses such a risk to everything he holds dear. He also felt more 16 than 20s. While he had a better understanding of the world, his acknowledgment that he doesn't think through his actions meant all his actions were just sort of random hail marys - it didn't make him feel like a wild card, it just made it feel like his presence was meant to push the plot in variable directions because he is unpredictable.

The overall story and worldbuilding are interesting, but they felt surface level and while there are a lot of political machinations happening, they seemed very black and white without any nuance.

Again, if this were focused toward Young Adults I think it would work much better, but for me, and for the authors I am a huge fan of in this genre, this just didn't work for me, and while it ends on a very large cliffhanger, I don't see myself picking up the next book.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of humans venturing out into space to find a new planet, but this definitely took a bleak view of the attempt. Instead of banding together to survive the elite have claimed the two habitable planets and maintain strict control on government and society. There was a heavy focus on political intrigue and corrupt systems of power.

I think the main character Lyrii had decent character development and she has great potential for the rest of the series. However, I found the romance to be severely lacking in tension and development. I was often wondering why they even had feelings for each other, let alone "love." The intimate scenes also felt bland and unnecessary.

The last half of the book had the best sci-fi elements mixed with high stakes action. I think if the author can continue with that momentum it could be a really exciting series.

[Emily Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such an interesting book. I loved the outer space colonies and it was very a very unique spin on the end of the Earth-world and what would come next.

I loved how much Lyrii changed from the beginning to the end. I felt like she went through so much inner turmoil and near-death experiences that she could have just ended up being scared and fearful. Instead she turned out to be pretty badass.

This book was a lot of political intrigue and world-building with a side of romance. It was really great to read and I’ll be excited to read another book about what comes next.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing Group for this electronic ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This will be released November 17, 2026!

[Angie Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much @berkleypub for this eArc! I love love love a good SciFi romance 💕✨
Edit, review:

This was a story about star crossed crew mates.

I loved this! It was a fun breathe of fresh air after several heavy reads- it struck a good balance between compelling and enjoyable scifi, with enough action/adventure to move the plot along quickly. The romance is enjoyable but not too heavy, and I'm eargerly awaiting book 2!

[Rea ♡ㅤ✧ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Ace, and Emily Gray for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! 🪐🌟

The Thana sisters take over rulership of the lunar colony of Boaterra after the death of their mother, the Empress. To keep the peace between Boaterra and their Sisterworld, Chinov, Princess Lyrii Thana, our main character, is promised to marry their commander. Lyrii has managed to survive an assassination attempt and is saved from a second one by space pilot, Kade. Lyrii has never been off her home planet until Kade's rescue. As Kade works to deliver her to Chinov, Lyrii is finding things she was told were true, things she was sheltered from as a princess, are not all they seem to be. Lies, coups, and mysteries unfold in this romantic space opera.

For a romantasy, this book was great! You jump into the action right from the get-go, and the romance follows not long after. The pacing of the story was great. Equal parts romance AND action. I wished for more detail throughout the book. More background story, details about space flight, fueling, oxygen on the spacecrafts. I was looking for more history of the SisterWorlds and hierarchy systems. As long as you keep in mind this book isn't JUST sci-fi, I think you'll enjoy it!

Lyrii has a lot of character growth by the end of the book, which I find a lot of books to be lacking these days. She herself changes and grows stronger as she becomes accustomed to the world she never knew was out there.

This book reminded me a lot of Cress by Marissa Meyers, in the best way possible! Especially the beginning, with just Lyrii and Kade on the spaceship, seeing the things she's never gotten to see before. The plot twists were good, too! This book is a part of a series, and I'll be excited to see how things keep playing out in the next one. Hopefully the second book delves into more details of the world!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and Ace/ Berkley for the eARC!

I love a good sci-fi romance, so when I heard about By the Light of the Stars, I was intrigued. I did read this one fairly quickly and had fun doing so. There was plenty to like in this book: romance, adventure, political intrigue and a heroine coming into her own.

Lyrii is an incredibly sheltered princess who is forced to escape with Kade, a pilot/smuggler, when she is almost killed. She’s wary of him and his motives. But he offers to take her to her betrothed as long as she pays. She agrees and off they go on some adventures while learning more about each other. Also, she starts to realize that what she has always been told might not be the full truth of her world.

I really liked Lyrii and I was rooting for her to grow as a character. I think, given her circumstances, she made smarter choices than a lot of heroines in these types of books. Another thing that really stood out to me was the world-building. It never felt too info-dumpy to me which was nice. I also liked the politics and the way Lyrii had to navigate them even when she wasn’t exactly sure how to do so.

The only part that fell a little flat for me was the romance. They were super into each other pretty early on and there was very little tension or conflict in their romance. I didn’t hate it or anything. I just wasn’t super invested in their whole thing. I prefer a slower burn.

Overall, I liked the story enough to read it in a day and I’m looking forward to the sequel. So, I’d give this a 3.5 out of 5 (rounded up to a 4).

[Alex Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those craving Leia & Han Solo vibes romance and wish that sci-fi romance expanded from dystopian or alien kidnapping genre. It was entertaining enough to read about sheltered princess trying to avoid assassinations and navigating politics while a dashing rogue captain shows her a life totally different from what she knew. It's slightly plagued with the typical "new adult" issue where the characters are a bit too clueless and still getting away a bit too easily with everything, but it was a fun ride to go along with. The romance developed a bit too fast, too smoothly. The worldbuilding reads sometimes a tad bit too simplistic, i.e. the evil monarchy vs the good rule of the people. All that is par for the course for the genre though, so if you seek a read where worldbuilding and plot is mostly there not to get in the way of the romance, you'll likely enjoy this book. It reads like romantasy in space, which serves as an interesting setting that isn't yet overdone. Reminds me in tone of the Winter's Orbit (except that it's MF).

[Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

THANK YOU NETGALLEY! It’s not often I have an arc I am this stoked about. I really hope to see this one around because the art would be so cool.
I did not know I needed **a space princess** in my life. It didn’t really dawn on me until the end that this is a series, but luckily I was not left on a desperate cliffhanger.
One part at the end was a little clunky but I’m messaging the publisher what was confusing to me as a reader (:
I really loved the FMCs character and her acts of microfeminism (aka standard self respect). This book made me laugh out loud too. It’s one of those books that has you thinking wow this author is someone I’d love to get dinner with. I’ll write a more polished review at some point but these are my most immediate feelings. I had a great time in space with Lyrii Thanas 🤍🤍🤍

[Laura Harness · Rating 5 out of 5]

A smuggler and a prince? YES PLEASE! In space? EVEN BETTER! This book was so wonderfully written and had me glued to the pages from start to finish. With a little slow burn romance, political drama, and spaceships, this was everything I could want in a sci-fi fantasy romance. World building is often times difficult to achieve in short books but Emily did such a phenomenal job giving the reader everything they needed to know.If you’re a fan of Star Wars, sci-fi adventures, and high stakes, you’ll love this book. 5⭐️ from me!

The world-building was phenomenal, filled with political intrigue and unique planets with their own cultures and atmospheres. The characters were all incredibly likable and had so much depth and emotion. I enjoyed every moment of this story and can’t wait to read more from this author!

[Megs: Glitter in the Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the customs and way of life between the sisterworlds and other planets to be very interesting. The contrast between Boaterra and Chinov were fascinating. I was glad were able to spend some time on each of those planets and how different they are from each other.

My heart hurt for Lyrii and everything that she had gone through in her life. Loved seeing her standing to stand up for herself and start to question everything around her.

Kade was so patient with Lyrii and made me swoon over him. I hope we get some of his POV in the next book.

Fun, space opera.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci fi romance with a side of adventure sounded intriguing so I picked this book up despite the fact that I’m not a huge sci fi reader (though I am trying to read more).

The action sequences were where this book really shone in my opinion. The book started with a bang and I was pulled into the story, and there were quite a few fight scenes. All of them were very exciting and well written.

However, the book had some pacing issues. After an exciting start, the middle section seemed to drag. It got a little preachy too which did not help the pacing either. I wanted more action! I also didn’t really care for the romance at all and their connection seemed to come out of nowhere. Lyrii was quite naive at the start and certain aspects of the plot were somewhat predictable because of how naive she was. Kade started off as an interesting character but wound up pretty flat, and his friends seemed to only exist to move the plot forward.

Once the man that Lyrii is supposed to be marrying was introduced to the story, it became much more interesting. I liked seeing her stand up for herself and become more confident. I liked some of the side characters and getting to know more about Lyrii’s sisters. I also liked seeing how different life was on the other planet and how people from that world acted compared to Lyrii’s home-world.

2.5 stars, rounded up



Thank you Berkley Publishing/Ace for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

[Victoria Gavin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read with a really cool atmospheric worldbuilding. The mix of sci-fi, political intrigue, and romance gave the story a cinematic feel BUT... the pacing dragged a bit in the middle, and I really wanted some deeper emotional development from main/side characters. The romance was cute but didn't really do it for me, it just felt a little shallow? But overall fun and I loved the environment!

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I happen to love Space Opera romance. The writing in this wasn't bad, and the space colony ship was a cool idea, the writing style was easy to read and the plot easy to follow. But in the end I just found this book uninteresting, though I can't put my finger on just why or what would have made it better.
I could definitely relate to some of the main characters anxieties when she would suddenly find herself alone in very unfamiliar territory.
The last 30% or so of the book did pick up and get better.