Name: Starflight
ISBN: 9781484723241

Melissa Landers

Solara Brooks needs a fresh start, someplace where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. The outer realm may be lawless, butit's not like the law has ever been on her side. Still, off-world travel doesn't come cheap; Solara is left with no choice but to indenture herself in exchange for passage to the outer realm. She just wishes it could have been to anyone besides Doran Spaulding, the rich, pretty-boy quarterback who made her life miserable in school. The tables suddenly turn when Doran is framed for conspiracy on Earth, and Solara cons him into playing the role of her servant on board the Banshee, a ship manned by an eccentric crew with their own secrets. Given the price on both Doran and Solara's heads, it may just be the safest place in the universe. It's been a long time since Solara has believed in anyone, and Doran is the last person she expected to trust. But when the Banshee's dangerous enemies catch up with them, Solara and Doran must come together to protect the ship that has become their home-and the eccentric crew that feels like family.

Starflight

very cute story! I’m not invested enough to read the sequel, and the story feels finished on its own

Danny Werhane

3.75/5 ⭐️
Overall, this was a fun book. It was very fast paced and the action started about 4 chapters in. It was very addictive and I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen next. The story took place of on spaceships, which I always enjoy. It was also hilarious at some points, I was literally laughing out loud. Also there is a pet sugar glider! I think his name was ‘Egg-corn’ and it was just so adorable. A+ for all pets 
I also really liked the world building. The ideas of the different ‘rings’ of planets was great! Each planet seemed to have a different class of people, and everything depend on how much money you have. That’s how the real world works. 
The main problems that I had where with the characters. They just sometimes didn’t seem realistic and where clique. Solara is supposed to be a criminal who is running from the law. But she was described with things like ‘she had beautiful, soft hair’ it would be more realistic if she had more physical flaws besides the fact that she has tattoos. Even though they where tattoos for breaking law, they seems like they where her only flaw. Doran was a little too much for me too. He is SO MEAN to Solara for the majority of the book. I thought his backstory was decent, but was just kinda gave an excuse for his behavior. 
Overall I had a very fun time reading this book. I won’t be reading the sequel, the ending was really nice, and I honestly have other stuff to read. 😅I look forward to reading her other series though! I would recommend this to someone who want to fast paced sci-fi or just a quick read. I did remind me of Defy The Stars a little bit, so if you like that book you would like this one!

Beatrix Haase

Rachel Metzger

4 out of 5 stars 

The thing about this book is it was good. It wasn't great. There wasn't anything crazy new or different about the story. It was your pretty normal ya scifi book. But it delivered. And it was fun to read. 

The humor was good. I really liked Solara. She wasn't a new character. A girl marked by loneliness trying to make a new life and won't let anyone stand in her way. But I liked her. The only complaint I have is I felt one of the characters didn't really have an arc, more like I'm one way and now all of a sudden I'm another. It wasn't horrible but it just didn't feel natural. But I really liked the crew. The author made me see how much these people cared for each other, and showed how Solara and Doran grew to love them as well. 

I liked the love story. It felt good and progressed pretty naturally. There were some overly cheesy parts, but it worked. 

I pretty much knew most of the things that were coming, nothing too shocking but I didn't care. This book doesn't stand out as being different, but in a sea of love triangles, boring characters, terrible writing, and instalove, this book does stand out for being actually being written well without too many of the normal ya gimmicks.

jess

So, um, I like the romance. I know right?! But it was sweet, I'm sooooo a fan of enemies to friends, and it wasn't overbearing. Plus, space. I do wish that the book was a bit clearer on the whole map of the universe and the science of it, but it was fun. The characters were well-rounded. I liked this a lot.

Lila Harrison

Toni Turner

This book was just so great. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I love that it was told in third person. I loved the characters and all of their intertwining relationships. The tropes that were used were tropes that I love and rarely read about. The character development made the growing relationship believable. Landers even went over all the doubt I had about how the characters where feeling. We saw enough background from each of the characters that I was satisfied and all my questions were answered. Also the ending made me very happy. I loved it. It’s a quirky (sometimes cringey) loveable story about building relationships with people as well as family that you aren’t genetically related to and how they can be just as or more important in life.

ghost girl in satin

C'était drôle, plein d'action, et j'ai adoré l'équipage de The Banshee et les relations amicales qui se nouent entre les différents personnages ! La romance était sympathique également, et l'univers original et attrayant. J'ai passé un bon moment de lecture même si les dernières pages m'ont semblé un peu longues.

Jessica Williamson

4 Stars

What worked - the fast paced, action packed ride I just finished was amazing. I love the characters, all of the crap that just kept happening to them it was so much fun to read. It felt like every time you thought the worst was over or that Landers wouldn't be able to think up another situation to throw them in, here would come something else even more over the top than the obstacle before.

The characters were well written and believable. I love these "found family" type stories so this was definitely up my alley.

What didn't work - this feels like it's supposed to read like a futuristic sci-fi novel but there are just a couple of things that make that more difficult to believe. Clothing has not progressed. With the exception of some holographic fabrics, clothing is pretty much exactly the same as it is today. Think about the difference in what women wear today from what we wore 500 years ago! There would be some change.

The other big thing for me was food. There are quite a few times during this book where someone was either cooking or eating and the food was exactly like what you would find now. It just put me completely out of the story and it felt a little sloppy. 

Overall, I'm excited for book two. I want to see how the relationships (romantic and otherwise) play out and if our favorite criminals are able to find their happy endings.

laura

got this as an arc last year at comic con*
but boy i am upset it took me so long to read it. i LOVED IT. It was such a easy book about space travel. The world did not overwhelm me and i adored the characters so much. I loved all the twists and turns that i could never predict. I can't wait for the second book in this series!

Elisabeth 

Actual rating: 3.5

A lil cringe and cheesy at times but still not that bad, at least I wasn’t bored the whole time while reading it. That’s all I have to say.

Jeni Enjaian

There's almost nothing worse than a book that grabs you from the beginning but ends with a slow decline into predictable, boring end. I imagine that descending trio of notes proving impossible at the moment to put into words. 
Several times in the first half of the book, I read longer than I planned, hooked by the narrative and the characters. As I rushed to finish, I noticed waning interest sparked by predictable events in the narrative and changes of the characters. The romance in this book? I knew from the initial "meet/cute" and still find it something that stretches the suspension of disbelief based on the initial characterization.
This book in no way induces me to read any others in the series or by the author.

Rebeca 

4.5 stars!! 

This book was SO GOOD and so much fun to read. Such a fun book packed with loads of adventure.

MJ Laird

So, I wanted to read this one for quite a while and was really glad to finally get around to it! I think the main appeal to me was honestly the cover and I know I shouldn't judge books by covers but c'mon! It's gorgeous! A good cover totally draws me in! I actually don't like the sequel's cover but I'm going to read it because I want more of the characters. I think if I'd seen that cover first I probably wouldn't have been as interested, to be honest.

The other thing that really drew me in was the comparison to Firefly. After reading that and seeing that great cover I was pretty much on board with this book.

So, I finally read it and I am happy to say that I don't find that comparison misplaced at all. I think it's really accurate. I actually found myself wondering where some of my favorite Firefly characters were at a couple points, which sounds dumb. But I really enjoyed it and it totally made me think of that show and was just a really fun read.

Plot: I really enjoyed it, actually. I tend to get a little irritated with romance but this, for the most part, didn't actually bug me much at all. I get really sick of the whole "I hate you but now I'm in love with you" thing. Really sick of it. But I have a whole lot more patience for it when the characters have a past and reasons not to like each other instead of the ones where they just happen to have a really bad first meeting or are rivals for a job or something and just... magically fall in love.

But, y'know, I had a lot more patience for this love story. They were together for months and even though we don't get to witness all of that time spent together I felt like the progression of their relationship made sense. And I really appreciated that it's even mentioned and suggested that they're not really in love and it only happened by default. I think the one thing I really, really didn't like about it was the sexual side of it. Now, it wasn't explicit so I'll give it that. But it did make me a little uncomfortable while reading it. Just a little warning there. And I felt like once the characters kind of acknowledged and accepted their feelings for each other it was just... I was never sure if they were just going to have a meaningful conversation or start a steamy make-out session. And I don't like that.

But there was a lot more to the plot than that, really. There were a couple things that totally surprised me, which I won't go into because I don't want to spoil it. But I was pleased with some of the plot-twist moments. I was never quite sure what was going to happen, really.

I think the only thing in terms of plot that I can think of that I didn't like was the ending. I didn't feel like it tied up enough and I didn't totally know what was going to happen with a few things. We'll see if the sequel helps but it's my understanding that they're both meant to be able to stand alone so I don't think it'll really answer my questions. It wasn't that it was a cliffhanger ending... I just wasn't satisfied. 

Setting: I thought the setting of the book was great. Since it takes place on a spaceship for the most part it almost seems like you get away with not doing too much world building. But I actually thought she did a great job with not only the places they stopped and really giving a clear picture and showing differences in culture and other things but also with what we don't ever see. We still know a decent amount and are able to picture what everyday life is like for these difference characters, you know? So I was very pleased with that. It felt very immersive to me.

Characters: For the most part, I liked them. I have to say, I felt like the character I knew the least and cared about the least was the one who died... so I really didn't care much at all when it happened. The only time I really felt even a little emotional about it was when the other characters were sharing memories of said character. So, that one... I wasn't super fond of.

One thing that was really nice was the lack of random alien species. For some reason, I rarely mind that on screen but it books... I hate it the majority of the time. I think because it's really hard to describe the way they all look and give them languages and stuff. You just end up with a bad mental picture and a bunch of words you don't want to bother trying to say so you just kinda...

So, yeah, I didn't miss that. There were, of course, the Daeva, which if you're going with the Firefly comparison would be this story's version of Reavers. You only hear about them for the majority of the book but you kinda know you'll meet them sooner or later. Chekov's Gun, you know. But then... I don't know, I was a little let down. The scene could've been longer, in my opinion. It was like, just as I was really getting into that scene and starting to feel a little anxious... it was over. Hopefully, there will be more of them in the next book and I think there will.

I actually quite liked the characters of Doran and Solara. Just like with the romance, I felt like their individual character development was pretty decently paced. Both of them had a pretty solid idea of what they were going to do or where they were going in life and by the end those ideas had changed as they managed to... kind of fine themselves, I guess. But it didn't feel stupid and sappy to me. It felt a lot more real than that.

I really didn't have much of an opinion about Kane and Cassia... they were just kind of there. But I'm looking forward to getting to know more of their backstory in the next book.

Now, I really loved Renny. He was great and we needed more of him. What an adorable character. he showed up and basically the first thing you find out about him is that he's a lovable clepto. I was sold. I just read that introduction of his character and was like,

I really just want more of him, to be honest.

Writing: Honestly, the writing doesn't stick out to me and I can't decide if that's bad or good... I'm gonna go with good. I always wanted to keep reading and the only reason I didn't finish it in a day was that I simply didn't have time. It was certainly a page-turner. Sometimes I'll be reading a book and the writing just bugs me for whatever reason. This wasn't like that. Sometimes I read a book and am just in awe of how amazing the writing is. This wasn't like that either. But I wanted to keep reading so I certainly cannot say that it was entirely badly written... So, yeah, I think I'll just g with that it was a definite page-turner for me.

All Together: I give this book 3 1/2 stars. I pretty much only knocked it down some because of two things. 1, the parts that made me uncomfortable. 2, I really liked it but just wouldn't call it a favorite. But, I think at the end of the day this book was what I expected and hoped it would be and I'm glad to have read it. I was a little worried that it wouldn't be what I was wanting it to be but it really was.

Samantha Seney

I honestly didn't read any synopsis for this book. I just picked it up from my shelf this morning. When I picked it up, I picked it up and never put it down (at least not until pg. 330). This book was fun, and EPIC. For some reason this book reminded me of the video game ratchet and clank....

I've read this authors other series and absolutely loved them. I knew, even without reading the description for Starflight, that I would love it. 

And I was right!

From the very beginning, it caught my attention. First the beautiful cover, then the description, and finally cracking it open and reading that first paragraph. It just drew me in. I love the characters. Dorian is adorable, even when he's annoying in the beginning (good annoying, not bad!). And Salora is amazing! Strong, full of wit and banter. She's just so cool, and as the two main characters started to fall in love, I became overwhelmed with happiness! 

The secondary characters are just as great. I really can't wait for book 2! No spoilers, but I just know it's gonna be good!

I'd recommend this book and all the others written by Melissa Landers.

Carla Aquino

Uppercase February book!

I really wish we could do half stars. Anyway, 3.5 stars. This was no match for the Atlantis Grail series...as far as intergalactic awesomeness goes. However, this was cute and I will probably read the next installment when it comes out. The interstellar happenings kept my interest and there were times when I didn't want to put the book down. I definitely laughed out loud a few times, teared up a few times, and felt a sense of warmth a few times throughout the book. I really loved the characters...especially Doran! He definitely turned out to be an upstanding character not the douche bag that was portrayed in the first half of the book. I would like to know more about the other characters stories too...so hopefully we get more on them in the future!

Heather Killeen

This was a very entertaining read. Not the most original writing, there were quite a few cringe worthy cliches in there, but I really enjoyed the ever twisting plot, even if it sometimes twisted in predictable ways. The characters were all different and interesting and I liked how we slowly discover the backstories of Banshee crew as they stumble and fight their way through their misadventures together. I kept finding myself comparing the characters and adventures to the Firefly series, and there are many similarities. Since I love this series, it wasn't necessary a bad comparison, but a little predictable. Overall, it's a fun read with many fun crew banter moments that had me laughing out loud.

Kate

With conspiracy, mutiny, space pirates, a fast placed plot, enjoyable characters, a hate to love romance and a sugar glider called Acorn, Starflight was an incredibly fun, action packed sci-fi and I enjoyed each and every moment. (I mean, who wouldn’t when a sugar glider is involved?!)

Laney Riggs 

Solara Brooks needs a fresh start, someplace where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. The outer realm may be lawless, but it's not like the law has ever been on her side. Still, off-world travel doesn't come cheap; Solara is left with no choice but to indenture herself in exchange for passage to the outer realm. She just wishes it could have been to anyone besides Doran Spaulding, the rich, pretty-boy quarterback who made her life miserable in school. The tables suddenly turn when Doran is framed for conspiracy on Earth, and Solara cons him into playing the role of her servant on board the Banshee, a ship manned by an eccentric crew with their own secrets. Given the price on both Doran and Solara's heads, it may just be the safest place in the universe. It's been a long time since Solara has believed in anyone, and Doran is the last person she expected to trust. But when the Banshee's dangerous enemies catch up with them, Solara and Doran must come together to protect the ship that has become their home???and the eccentric crew that feels like family.