Star Crossed

Fly Me to the Moon

by Emma Barry

Houston, Texas, 1964

Geraldine Brixton is ready to make history as the first female American astronaut. After a childhood traveling the air show circuit, she works as a pilot, so she’s more than prepared for the flying. But space demands more than operating equipment and the last obstacle in her way is also the most serious: math.

Beverly Fox has made a career crunching the numbers that launch men into space. Numbers aren’t her problem: limits are. From the narrow expectations of her parents to discrimination at work, Bev’s life has been cut down over and over. Only in her hidden activities after dark does she feel whole.

Wanting to do her part to get a woman into space, Bev offers to help Geri conquer math. But neither anticipates her intense attraction—or that it might be shared. Together, they could soar to everything they’ve ever wanted, but will their secrets bring them crashing back to Earth?

Genres: Adult, Romance

253 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2017

About the author

Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write.

Reviews

[sraxe]

I've been sitting on this review for a bit now, at first wondering how I should review it, then later wondering whether I should post it. In the end, I decided on posting it, but I wanted to preface my review with the reason behind this. The authors, Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner, have decided to pull the book, so you won't be able to find it for purchase. They also posted an apology for the unrealistic portrayal of Beverly, who's black. I felt that the apology was genuine, and liked the fact that they immediately pulled the book, not making excuses for why it was okay or whatever else, which is why I've decided to not rate this book. (But keep in mind that, as I'm not black, it's not an apology for me to accept or reject, so please don't take my comment/word on it as gospel.) The reason I wanted to post this review was, one, for myself, so I can see how the possible revised version compares, and two, because I also wanted to still point out some of the issues I had with it. Hopefully anyone who sees it might be able to do better with their own work.

Without mincing words, this book is white feminism to its core. The book deals with an interracial lesbian couple, so there's one black woman and one white one. While the book mentions all the sexist issues that they're faced with, it glosses over the racist issues that Bev would've had to face. Now keep in mind that Beverly is a black woman living in Texas in the '60s.

I've previously made comments about how sometimes you don't want a book that's all about the character's race, which I still stand by, but in this case, I thought it was rather unrealistic. It's not that I wanted racism thrown at Bev every two seconds, but barely-there references to segregation or how Bev's family is into activism is not good enough. If you're going to make your book about social and political issues, which was sexism for the most part in this case, you can't just gloss over racism and call it a day.

And when I say white feminism, I mean it. Later in the book, after Geri and the Virgo Three's astronaut training program is cancelled, Charlie informs Bev that the women are being replaced by an all-male group. And one of the men in this all-male group is a black man. And Charlie's comment when saying this?

Charlie flipped the folder open and stabbed the page. “Ken Holley is black.”

“What?” So much for sounding calm.

“Jensen’s embraced that as the model for astronaut diversity. And I’m glad, I am. We should have black astronauts. But I wanted one of the women to fly too. I want all kinds of astronauts.”

“There’s no hope of that now?” Bev was grabbing at the barest of straws now, but that was all that was left to grasp for.

Pretty much saying that it's great that the black person is going, but what about the white women??? is like white feminism in a nutshell.

And never mind the fact that Beverly, the black woman, has absolutely no reaction to a black person finally being selected as part of the astronaut program because she's more worried over a white woman not getting the opportunity now. Also, I'd like to note for the record here that a white American woman got to go into space before a black man did. Guy Bluford didn't get to go up until 1983, which was months after Sally Ride did. And by making mention of a black man being given the opportunity just as the white woman is losing it, it makes it seem like he is more privileged simply for being a man first. The history of this country and many others would prove this narrative false since white women, thanks to their white privilege, have always had the upper hand in comparison to POC, regardless of their gender.

I'd also like to point you over to this review, which summarizes the issues with this book quite well.

Honestly, though, why did this even have to be framed as Geri getting an opportunity snatched from her? As if she's wanted to be an astronaut all her life or dreamed of space or whatever? Not once in this book did I feel that Geri really wanted to be an astronaut. She mentions over and over again that she wants to fly, and she's perfectly happy in the end to fly as part of a super secret mission after her program is cancelled. She just mentions over and over again that she wants to fly--that's it. Funny thing is, she criticizes Jean, another female trainee, of only wanting to be an astronaut for "adulation," but that's what Geri wanted, too. She may not have wanted the fame, but she mentions over and over again that she wants to be the first woman. Just because you want to be the first, that doesn't mean that it's a thing you really wanted. That just means you want the recognition of being the first. How's that any different from Jean and how she wanted "adulation"? It's not.

Aside from that, their relationship was a little odd to me. This is a definite slow-burn, with the two characters having feelings and getting hot and bothered, but nothing sexual/physical happening until around the half-way point. And with the slow way things started, the pacing felt off to me with how they suddenly were together and then fighting and breaking up and then moving and then reuniting. They took half the book to even kiss, then all that other stuff happens in the second half.

The biggest reason these two break-up is because they have trust issues. Geri can't tell her about this new top-secret program she's been recruited into, because it's super confidential, but they decide to make a go of it anyway. But then that made me wonder, when has Geri ever been honest with Bev, though? Even when concerning her coming out to Bev, she didn't actually do that. Bev caught on and hinted that she knew and was similar to her. They kind of just get together here without Geri having to come out. When Geri's space program is cancelled and she's offered another job, I can understand her not being able to tell her about the top-secret job, but why not let Bev in on the fact that her program was cancelled? Bev later heard about it from Charlie and was panicked over it for Geri's sake, but Geri had already heard about it. There's also a part where Geri spies Carruthers making out with another astronaut's sister-in-law, which she decides to keep a secret. During the epilogue, Bev jokes with Geri about how Carruthers is always finding some excuse to call her (as they'd formed a bond during the book), probably not realizing she swings for the other team. And then it made me pause and wonder why Geri doesn't just tell her that Carruthers is seeing someone else? If your partner thinks someone is making a play for you, wouldn't you tell them about how they're shagging someone else? Why keep this a secret? Not a big deal on its own, sure, but it stuck out to me because this was just another secret that Geri was keeping from Bev.

So, again, when has Geri been honest with Bev? And I mean honest on her own, not because she was forced to (as was the case with coming out and the program cancellation).

Anyway, I hope the issues on Bev's unrealistic portrayal are fixed. And if not, and they decide not to re-release it, I'm still glad that they decided to pull it immediately rather than making excuses or ignoring critique.

ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Mardia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Update 4/5/2017: I'm very pleased and encouraged that the writers of this book have listened to the concerns of readers/reviewers (myself included) and have decided to pull the book. With issues like this, it's important to listen, and I'm glad that they did.

I wanted to like this book. Oh boy, how I wanted to like this book. But alarm bells started ringing from nearly the first chapter, and by the time I finished the story, I was practically seething, because this book is breathtakingly blind when it comes to the matter of race.

These books are set in an alternate version of the American space race, and apparently also in an alternate version of the US where sexism is an ingrained, systemic issue, but white supremacy is hardly something to be blinked at. For all of the "research" the authors have proclaimed they've done, there's hardly any texture or context to Beverley's life as a black woman living in Texas during the 1960s. There's no consideration of what it would be like for her to deal with segregation on a regular basis, to deal with having all white coworkers, to the possibility of uprooting her life to move from the South to California. Except for a few oblique mentions, race isn't a factor at all in this story. I could understand wanting to do a lighter, less heavy take on American history, but to have this story so grounded in the sexism that the first female astronauts would face, to see the Virgo Three program eventually shut down because of that ingrained sexism, tells me that the authors are far more comfortable viewing and writing this story from the lens of the white female characters. I mean, for crying out loud, Beverly hardly has any kind of emotional reaction at all to discovering that the space program plans to send a black male astronaut up into space. Also, the fact that supposedly sending a black man into space would be viewed as less controversial in 1963 is just--what alternate version of American history is this supposed to be, exactly? One where white women had it harder than black people did?

Like I said, I wanted to like this book. The romance is cute, the sex scenes are hot. But in the end, Beverley feels washed out and taken for granted by the authors, to a degree that feels insulting to me as a reader (and as a black woman living in the US). If the writers were honestly inspired by the book and movie Hidden Figures, this was not the way to show it. I won't be picking up any other books by these authors in the future.

[Karen]

The authors have removed this book from publication for the following reasons:

https://authoremmabarry.com/2017/04/0...

Therefore, I'm also removing my rating and review of this version

[Frida]

This was only out for 24h or so before it was removed from all vendors and the authors issued this statement about it: https://authoremmabarry.com/2017/04/0...

I did finish the book though because I couldn't just stop reading (story of my life). I won't rate or review until I've read the revised version.

(5-9.4.2017)

[Cathy Geha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Crossed by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner
Fly Me To The Moon #5

In 1964 some little girls dreamed of flying and others dreamed of being an astronaut – those girls idolized Geraldine Brixton – a pilot in training to be an astronaut.

In a time when conforming was important it was not easy to be a woman out of step with what society expected. Being smarter and more capable often meant hiding much from the men women worked with. Men feared smart women and felt they were better off at home cooking, cleaning and having babies.

Neither Geraldine nor Beverly Fox fit into society’s mold and had quite a bit to overcome in their search for a future that would be fulfilling both professionally and personally.

This is a wonderful historical romance that brought back memories of my childhood when a trip to the moon was all the talk, astronauts were heroes, skirts were longer, women more often stayed at home than worked, family values were held in high regard, races were kept apart and much was kept in the closet. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the series.

Thank you to the authors for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars

[Kelly]

Got about halfway through the book, but I'm going to wait until the edited re-release is out.

[Kini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was about 50% through when the authors opted to delist the book. I was pretty invested so I kept reading. I was good, not great.

[Jess]

4/8/2017: I am going to put reading this on hold in accordance with the wishes of the authors.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this. The ending felt the the tiniest bit rushed, but Geri and Bev are both so lovely, and a historical lesbian romance is such a rare and beautiful unicorn to find.