These Broken Stars Review

This time I am reviewing These Broken Stars by: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner.

Lilac LaRoux is accustomed to living a life of wealth. Her father owns the largest company in the galaxy and she hides deep pain behind the mask of an heiress. Major Tarver Merendsen finds himself on the Icarus’ maiden voyage after his heroic actions lurch him into the spotlight. Tarver and Lilac couldn’t be more different and they’re thrown together as the Icarus plummets from the sky, leaving them as the sole survivors of the crash. As much as the two can’t get along, they have to figure out a way to work together to survive on this strange planet.

I have been wanting to read this book for quite awhile. The cover is stunning and I will guiltily admit that it first drew me to want this book. Then, I read the synopsis and it sounded like just my kind of book. I will admit, it was way less space opera than it was made to sound, but I didn’t mind. The romance is really the focus of this book, but I did expect as much from the synopsis.

Something I really loved about this book is learning the main characters’ back stories. The authors did an amazing job of slowly revealing bits and pieces of Lilac and Tarver that I felt intrigued the whole time. There is so much pain and uniqueness to both these characters that they became so much more real.

Lilac is tough, but not in the way so many female leads are these days. She has so much inner strength. She’s smart, which she hides well, and determined. At the same time, she grew up in the upper crust of society, so she struggles when she’s deserted with Tarver on an unknown planet. She falls apart and puts herself back together so many times throughout this book. She may not be the strongest physically, but she has so many qualities I admire. It’s refreshing to read a strong female lead that isn’t the typical amazing-at-everything girl.

Tarver is also a great character to read. I was so fascinated by his story, especially his mom and his poetry. He wasn’t just the heroic soldier, but he also had a soft side. I really wish the authors would’ve included more of his poetry into this book. At times it was so easy to forget he wrote because we never got to see any of it.

I also really enjoys all the snippets between the chapters. It was so fun to guess what was going one throughout them and I loved seeing them build into something great. They flowed so nicely with each chapter and it was great that they eventually connected closely with the story.

I really loved this book until about 75% percent through it. I won’t spoil it, but some things happen that really upset me. At that point until the end, it just felt like a big scramble and it didn’t feel natural to me. I kept expecting the twist to turn into another twist, but that never came and I was pretty disappointed.

The ending to this book was great, even with the stuff happening that bothered me. Each novel in this series focuses on a different cast, so each book has a pretty clear ending with no cliff hangers. Once I read this book, I just wanted more and I immediately pick up the next book.

I just finished the whole series in just few days and I definitely think each book is better than the one before it.