Lauren James

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

Scarly

There’s an ache, a throbbing in my skull, telling me that I’m cursed: by my mother, by the dead astronauts, by the UPR, by this ancient, failing ship.

However much I’ve tried to keep him with me—not disturbing his bunk, his notebooks, his toothbrush and razor—every trace of him will disappear in the end, like he was never here at all.

When she saw us sitting there, she just turned and walked away. Dad stopped talking midsentence. I touched his arm, but he looked at me like he’d forgotten what we were doing there too. That memory hurts. We’d already lost her, and I didn’t even know it.

I’m sure I can hear someone coming. The low grinding sound has shifted into the echo of footsteps, progressing down the corridor in a steady, unhurried march. An army of astronauts, coming for me.

The dark, blunted shadows hold me under the duvet where the childlike safe place in my brain says they can’t find me. The shadows dart and swell across the room and all I can do is watch them creep closer.

I can feel their fingers touching my face tangling in my hair their soft fingernails skin pulling away from their bones catching on my clothes the embryos are falling apart around me silently reaching for their mother wanting me and I’m alone in the dark forever

The things I tell J are bigger than I ever intend them to be. My words betray me. With every email I’m making myself vulnerable, showing him how much he means to me.

Audrey Lord

Finished in a few hours...that should be a good indication for how amazing this book was

Kirsten Simkiss

I tried reading this and honestly didn't care for it that much. I stopped about 50 pages in because the characters were just a little thin for me. If this had been more journal styled, I feel like I might have liked it more but even so, I just wasn't thrilled with the main character - who was way more sane than she had any right to be for being functionally cut off from humanity for more than five years. I skipped around after that, but the plot was weirdly pieced in and I felt like, at 15% of the way through the book, that I had no real understanding of where this book was going. I don't like having to hunt for the plot. It's not awful, but it's not my cup of tea.

Elisa Bieg

Hmmm.

I just finished this, and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it. 
I have already decided that I’m going to swap this, so that part is clear: I didn’t care for it enough to want to keep it around.

It didn’t live up to expectations, which is good and bad (I won’t lie, mostly bad).
I will say this: this book surprised me. There is an atmosphere of suspense and dark things that comes up at one point, just as I was about to roll my eyes at Romy again.

But... it just failed to deliver. None of what is hinted at is taken quite to its zenith, to where it should go. So much buildup, and then it’s like all the air is let out of the tires. Meh.

Unfortunately it is almost inevitable to draw a few parallels with Illuminae, because of several details: YA sci-fi where a teen ends up in charge of a mission and her own life on a large vessel, and some twists turn it into an even more horrifying experience... with a touch of romance. 

The comparison is hugely unfair, no doubt; but Illuminae is so memorable and still vivid in most readers’ minds I think, that it is almost inevitable.
This book comes out lacking, unsurprisingly; but the truth is that it doesn’t exactly shine on its own, either. 
It takes a lot to span several genres successfully, and this book definitely falls short, trying to do and be too many things and not quite achieving most of them.

Not horrible though, and a quick read.
2 1/2 STARS.

Kira Del Caro

This book was a rollercoaster from beginning to end and the twists and turns just left me wanting more. The major twist of the book I never saw coming and I just couldn't stop reading from then to the end of the book.

Nicole Dykeman

Not quite 4, but 3.75? Romy is a fascinating narrator, and it was refreshing to see a normal girl as a leading lady in a sci-fi novel. She struggles with anxiety, loneliness, and PTSD. She has a therapist. She’s obsessed with a tv show and writes fanfiction. But she’s all alone in the middle of space. She never puts on a hard badass front or pretends to be anything other than who she truly is. 

Basically this was a quick and enjoyable read that packs an unexpected punch, but it ultimately falls victim to some annoying YA thriller tropes.

Amanda

A surprising and gripping sci-fi thriller with a killer twist The daughter of two astronauts, Romy Silvers is no stranger to life in space. But she never knew how isolating the universe could be until her parents’ tragic deaths left her alone on the Infinity, a spaceship speeding away from Earth. Romy tries to make the best of her lonely situation, but with only brief messages from her therapist on Earth to keep her company, she can’t help but feel like something is missing. It seems like a dream come true when NASA alerts her that another ship, the Eternity, will be joining the Infinity. Romy begins exchanging messages with J, the captain of the Eternity, and their friendship breathes new life into her world. But as the Eternity gets closer, Romy learns there’s more to J’s mission than she could have imagined. And suddenly, there are worse things than being alone….

Savannah Winchell

The Lonliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
3⭐️
- such a cool premise 
- strong beginning
- got me out of a slump
- conclusion was hella rushed
- motives were fucking dumb
- ending was so convenient
- how is NASA that incompetent???
- tbh I hate fanfic in books

Sophie

2/5 stars

To put it simply, it was boring. two-thirds of this book is literally Romy fixing something on the ship, emailing J, or complaining. Okay, that's not true at all. But it took me like one week to get to page 60, and I forced myself to finish the rest of it because I just wanted to know what the twist was. The twist was like 5/10 for surprise, because I think it's clear who's involved in the twist. But 10/10 for suspense. The buildup was good, just a little quick. I generally expected more. Like something scarier, more surprising, eviler. But again, it's YA. Speaking of, Romy's POV was kinda childish. I kept thinking that Romy was like 15 or 16, but I'm pretty sure she's like 19? I don't know.

Zara Doulton

I was hoping for a better ending, but it was well written

Mijs Franssen

Well okay,

I am writing this review very fresh after finishing this book.
I have decided to not tell much about the story, because that would screw up the entire book. I will only tell as much as the synopsis on the back;
This book follows Romy, a girl who was born on a spaceship that is set to arrive at a new planet. She is the only survivor and therefore very lonely. When she gets the news from Earth that a second spaceship with a boy called J on board is coming, who communicate via email (which takes months to transmit because of light distance) she finds herself falling for him. But was does she really know about him? And what is up with the strange messages from Earth? 

Wow. That’s all I can say after ending it. I can’t say too much, but it is a good book. I don’t know if I had picked it if I knew more about the book than I did now, because some aspects of it weren’t what I like to read normally. Hence the 4 stars. It is however written very well, and the story is very unique. I wanted to branch out in genres and by reading this I defenitly did :)

I do reccomend it but with some warnings;
It does contain pretty gory scenes.
The story is pretty heavy, and can sometimes be hard to understand if you are not really into space or sience fiction.

It is a very good work, and I do recommend :)

Eliza Gonzalez

Characters: 3/5

Plot Concept: 4/5

Plot Execution: 4/5

Pacing: 4/5

Writing: 4/5

Romance: n/a

Overall Enjoyability: 3.5/5

Alice

This book is so full of twists and turns, i couldn’t put it down.

Logan Dittbrenner

I thought I was going to love this book but it was a letdown. The beginning was a page turner but once I made predictions on how things were going to go it was just okay. I really liked the main character. She is strong and has been through a lot of things by herself. I really felt for her character and the loneliness that she felt. I did not like one of the plot twists with J’s character. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it.

Asrin Juinio

Sarah (she/her)

While I wouldn’t say this book turned out precisely as I expected, I was entertained the entire time. It was unique in a way that so few books feel to me nowadays. I finished it within a day (very quick read) and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick paced read with a quirky, sci-fi plot. Try not to go into it with too many expectations.

Adrianne

I have to admit this was a very positive surprise. From the blurb I expected a love story with sci-fi setting, but this was so much more than that. A solo journey of a brave girl, thrown into isolation by violent and terrifying circumstances. Any YA sci-fi enthusiast is going to love this book.

petit-chocobo

DNF at 40%. 
Probably the most annoying teen's pov i've read in my life.
this belongs to wattpad and all the fanfic ref made it even worse. i can't believe how overhyped this book is 🙄 
it's a cringe fest 😬

Whitney Leno

It was fine. I liked the slow build to the twist and I feel like the author did a great job creating tension with a limited character cast and space. I didn't expect the twist but it felt very rushed at the end. a quick and easy read.

This was downright SCARY at times and I was not expecting it.

Olivera Mitić

1.5/5
I am never trusting booktubers again. Ever. I get burned every time with something they make look interestig and good.

The motif behind the big thing was awful and nothing I could ever believe. Romy was annoying and trying to be Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl in space - which was UNBEARABLE. At this point in time I feel like mental health rep is just thrown in everywhere so that the SJWs won't complain about it. And with all due respect, you can fight me, but I'm pretty sure there's better things to do on a spaceship than writing fanfiction. Even if there isn't, it's not something that should have been such a big part of the book.

Don't tell me it is a plausible story and that it couldn't have been done better, because it could. It's called The Martian. Look it up.

Ruth Parker 

I was not expecting to love this book so much. What an awesome surprise. 
Romy is alone on a spaceship heading out to colonise a new planet. But NASA sends a new spaceship to her, a new friend, finally a real person she can interact with.
I can’t say anymore working spoiling it, other than this is absolutely all you need to now going in. 
The author Lauren James is an advocate for STEM education for girls and it is so clear through this story. I’m going to pick up every book by her now. I truly loved this with all my heart.

Nathalie Matsuda

well, that went in a direction I wasn't expecting and Idk if I liked it. Still an overall interesting read!

Emily

If a life of fear isn’t worth living, then why should I carry on?

I'll admit it. I was very wrong about my predictions of the plot twists... So kudos to Lauren James for managing to fool me, and kudos to myself for coming up with a better one lol (specifics about my theory come later in this review).

I absolutely loved the way Romy's character was portrayed in this novel, especially her battles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. While it is never explicitly stated that she deals with this specific mental illnesses, it is evident through her thoughts and actions whenever anything goes wrong on the ship.

I also really appreciated the author's ability to capture feelings and write them into words. It was extraordinarily easy for me to connect with Romy as she felt isolated and frustrated with herself when she thought she was losing her academic identity. So much of her character mirrored my own, and I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. 

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the true ending to this book, but I was so sure that my version of the ending was going to be what happened, and when it wasn't I was just a tiny bit disappointed. (view spoiler)[I was 100% positive that J would end up being a girl. There was no reason that Romy ever knew he was a boy. All we knew about him was the first letter of his name (that could have stood for anything- even a girl's name), and the stuff he told Romy about himself, which could have easily been made up (of course we do learn that it was, but not in the way I was imagining). I was expecting this story to focus on Romy's expectations vs. her disappointment. I thought we would see what she had built up in her head of Jayden crumble as she realized she had fallen in love with a girl. I was very excited for that plotline... This experience taught me a lesson to not get too attached to my own theories 😂.  (hide spoiler)]

Overall, this book was super short, fast-paced, and definitely packed its own unique punch. I don't like to use comparisons too much in my reviews because I feel like they can sometimes generate false expectations, but this book truly reminded me of a mix of Turtles All the Way Down and Illuminae. Maybe just because it dealt with anxiety in space... 

P.S. the audiobook was really good! The narrator did an excellent job, and really went above and beyond. 10/10 would recommend giving it a listen. :)

P.P.S. fair warning for anyone who is considering reading this: this book gets quite literally...terrifying at some points and I really was not expecting it to. brace yourself- it's almost as terrifying and caused me to sweat almost as much as I did reading Gemina

The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

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