The Stars Too Fondly: A Novel

💫 Bookish Thoughts 5 stars! I knew I was going to love this, but it still managed to exceed every one of my expectations. Billie and Cleo? Black cat & golden retriever perfection. I was obsessed. 😍 The beginning was a bit slow and slightly confusing, but once it found its rhythm, I was hooked. The sci-fi and romance were beautifully balanced, and the ending? A little cheesy, but I adored it! Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook! I will note that the characters are supposed to be in their mid to late 20s, but they definitely read much younger. It didn’t take away from the story, but it stood out. 🪐 What You Can Expect • Sunshine x grump • Queer cozy sci-fi • Forced proximity • Sapphic romance • Found family • Healing arc ✨ Favorite Quote “You’ll find her, Cleo. And she’ll love you, because she’s me, and there’s no version of the universe where any version of me doesn’t love you.”

THE STARS TOO FONDLY is a charming sci-fi adventure with a touch of romance. Cleo and her friends grew up hearing about the Providence - it was going to save the world. Using a spaceship with a dark matter engine that allowed it to travel near light speed, it was going to travel to Proxima Centauri, a planet with habitable enough conditions. If it worked, the rest of humanity could travel there in the future. However, it not only didn't work, it failed spectacularly with everyone on the crew disappearing entirely. The mystery remained unsolved. Seeking answers, 20 years after the disappearance, Cleo and her friends decide to break into the Providence and investigate themselves. When Cleo touches the engine, it starts up and begins to bring them to Proxima Centauri. While they are stuck on their course, they luckily are able to communicate with the ship through a holographic interface of the original crew's captain, Billie. As they spend time on the ship, they will learn more about the disappearance, the dark matter engine, and humanity. This was a fascinating sci-fi read, and I appreciated the way that the mystery unfolded. Things slowly revealed themselves to the crew and the readers with potential plotholes well filled in. Aside from the main mystery of the Providence, the story also contains strong themes of friendship and love. Cleo and her friends will need to rely on each other more than ever, stuck aboard this ship. And as Cleo gets to know Billie, she finds herself…

I wanted to say that the story here is quite fun. The world building is interesting and I enjoyed learning about each of the characters. The format makes it more immersive as you move from recordings and current events. The multiple perspectives keep you guessing while building onto the mystery. The jargon around the dark matter engine and the conterminous dimension makes it feel like everything is fleshed out and I came to care for Cleo and Billie as they navigated their precarious situations. The revelation of powers from the dark matter exposure was a fun twist and the ending, though pretty predictable, felt well-paced. I was quite happy with the ending. I wouldn’t change a thing.

𝓘 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓮𝓷𝓳𝓸𝔂𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓬𝓲-𝓯𝓲 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵 𝓼𝓮𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓹𝓪𝓬𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓪 𝓰𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓼 𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓵 𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮. 𝓑𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓲𝓶 𝓰𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓬𝓵𝓮𝓸 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓻 20'𝓼 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓾𝓽𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓬𝓾𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝔀𝓮 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓮 𝓲𝓼𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓹𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓵𝓮𝓸 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓲𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓽𝔂. 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓪 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴, 𝓲𝓽 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓼𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓵. 𝓕𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓰𝓾𝔂𝓼!! 🤯🤯🤯😍😍😍😉😉😉

3.5/5 stars The Stars Too Fondly is a sci-fi odyssey with a diverse (and very queer) group of college students who accidentally launch themselves into space. While they figure out how to get home, Cleo, the main character, falls in love with Billie, the ship’s hologram captain. I wanted so badly to like this book. Unapologetically queer sci-fi with an ensemble cast, a little epistolary-style writing, and space shenanigans? I was so ready to have a new favorite book… and unfortunately, it wasn’t. Personally, I found the first 25% to be the best part of the story. I was so invested in the characters and the mystery of the space magic (yes, there’s space magic — you should at least read it for the space magic). However, once I got past the initial excitement of the beginning, I found the story to be boring. There were times throughout the book where it would get exciting, but as soon as I got invested, it would switch to something else. It felt like it was trying to cover too many genres in one book, and I didn’t feel a strong connection to any particular element. I also found that the characters read as very average YA, despite being college-age geniuses. Now, I definitely recommend this book at least for the diversity. The main cast is 100% queer, at least 50% POC, and 200% badass😎 Definitely pick it up if queer sci-fi books are your jam. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC! CW - isolation; death; kidnapping; panic attacks; medical content; sexual…