Novel Review: Starfall (Starflight, #2) by Melissa Landers

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA Sci-fi Romance

Publisher: Hyperion

Release Date: 2017

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Starflight 1.

Goodreads Synopsis:

When Princess Cassia Rose fled her home world of Eturia to escape an arranged marriage, she had no idea her sudden departure would spark a war. Now after two years hiding as a ship hand, she is finally returning to her beloved home, but not in the way she imagined. Shackled by bounty hunters, she is violently dragged back to account for her crimes. Her only solace is that the Banshee crew managed to evade capture, including Kane Arric, her best friend...with occasional benefits.

Meanwhile, Kane and the rest of the crew of the Banshee plan a desperate rescue mission. But when they arrive on Eturia, Cassia isn't exactly in need of heroics—she's claimed her birthright as Eturia's queen, but has inherited a war-torn planet simmering with rebellion. Cassia must make alliances, and Kane, the bastard son of a merchant, isn't a choice that will earn her any friends. Kane knows he will never find someone to replace Cassia—and is certain she returns his feelings—but how can he throw away his own promising future waiting on a queen?

When the outer realm is threatened by the dangerous Zhang mafia, Cassia, Kane and the rest of the Banshee crew uncover a horrifying conspiracy that endangers the entire universe. In the face of unspeakable evil, Cassia must confront her own family's complicated legacy on Eturia and decide once and for all who her real family is.

The Cover:

I really like these covers. They're pretty, and I love the colors and shiny parts. I appreciate this one shows Cassia going back to her planet, too, since now they're not running away from anything. Since the story doesn't focus overly on the romance, I like that the covers don't, either.

Review:

This book takes place quickly after the first one, only now we're following Cassia and Kane. I was intrigued by their relationship in the first book, and I'm always a sucker for childhood friend/friends to lovers stories. They're a favorite of mine, so I was actually looking forward to this one more than the first.

Similar to the first book, the romance takes a backseat compared to the action and main plot lines. For this book, it's that Cassia's home planet is looking for her. Only for her to find out that some big things have changed, and she actually needs to go back to try and settle things.

I really liked the idea behind Cassie being a runaway princess and going back to her kingdom to take her place back and make things right again. Some of it just didn't play out as well.

I think Cassia played it well, for the most part. She played it smart and did what she needed to in the moment, trusted who she thought she could and fought when needed. Cassie and Kane were actually separated for most of the book, and then there were clear conflicts, since Cassie and Kane grew up on very different sides of the kingdom. She was a princess, and he was a merchants son.

The way it played out wasn't terribly surprising—who was behind what, who was secretly and openly against her. And it was a fun story, for the most part. But certain parts went in odd directions, and some story lines got dragged out or seemed unnecessary. But I think part of that might be that this reads almost more like an adventure novel, more than a sci-fi or romance story.

All this to say, it was all right. I didn't mind it, but it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. The romance was rather subtle and not very intense, like I hoped it would be. I'll probably try another of Landers' novels at some point, but I'll have different expectations, I think.

Novel Review: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Dial (Penguin)

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue -- the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word -- at least not in a language Josie understands.

The Cover:

I think this cover is very cute. The font and lettering is fun, and I think it represents the book pretty well. It's very much easy to carry around, too, and doesn't focus too much on the romance, but Kate's curiosity instead.

Review:

This book has one of the most accurate titles I've seen in a while. Josie is extremely smart for her age, is already in college, but she doesn't know what love is. One day, she decides that she needs to understand it. Her sister is engaged to a guy she absolutely refuses to accept, and she can't comprehend why her sister thinks she loves him. So starts her quest to understand love.

Josie goes through a bit of a journey in this book. She starts a relationship with a previous school-dance date, whom likes her a lot, and whom she tries to love back. Then there's her young college professor, who she's convinced she feels love at first sight with. And during all of this, she's fighting with her sister, and her best friend Stu is always there.

I really enjoyed Josie's voice. She's odd, possibly a little autistic, but generally on a different level than everyone else. She can only take so much socialization, she likes things a certain way, and she looks at every interaction with people in a different way. I feel like the real romance took a long time to actually show up, as Josie was so distracted for so long and Stu was just letting her do her thing until she was ready. I also found that really sweet, though, and thought that the ending was really good. The way things wrap up with not only Stu, but also with her sister and her sisters fiance, was really nice. And I really liked her family; they're all very close, and they're always around and doing things together. It was really sweet, but also a lot of fun. The banter was great.

This book was a little slow in its pace, but Josie needed to contemplate and process everything, and she needed to take her time getting to the end. I really enjoyed the characters, though, and it was a lot of fun to read.