Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing this book as a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.
One-Sentence Summary:
After becoming engaged right before her new fiancé’s death, Vika grapples with her newfound wealth and other parties who might want it.
My Review:
This book looked like Where Dreams Descend, what was I supposed to do? NOT request?
Hello and welcome to The Stars Between Us, a book about Vika, a girl who gets engaged to a very rich man somewhat unwillingly and then he dies and she’s just rich. A true girlboss. Vika could be annoying at times, but she was honestly a fun character. You can tell this author thought about what the actual response to newfound wealth like that would be, which is reflected in Vika completely forgetting about her family and acting like her sister is horrible for disapproving of Vika leaving them behind to cope without her new fortune or old salary. I actually did start that sentence thinking I’d compliment Vika, but I stand by it nonetheless. ANYWAYS, I did really like the other characters. Sky was very earnest in an endearing way (towards the middle and end, at the beginning he was straight up creepy and it was weird), but I thought his attachment to Vika was strange given the side of her he was shown and his own actions toward her. My favorite character was Mira because I think she was the only one that wasn’t horrible at one point. I’m being really negative to these characters, but seriously, I didn’t hate them.
In terms of relationships, some made so much sense and some made very little. To begin with the most prevalent, I went back and forth on Sky and Vika. In the beginning, maybe Vika was judgemental, but Sky was genuinely being so creepy in the way he was watching over her. I was not a fan! By the end, though, I genuinely thought they worked really well. I think one of the most interesting relationships to watch, though, was Hal and Mira. One changed so much while the other largely stayed the same while receiving what she’d dreamed of, and it was interesting to see how they evolved, both together and individually.
Plot was definitely my least favorite part of this book. Don’t get me wrong, the plot wasn’t bad at all; it progressed exactly as it should’ve, but that’s the issue with it. It was SO predictable, almost every single element. SPOILERS IN THIS SENTENCE: Of course Leo’s alive, of course Hal wasn’t in the will, of course Archer is a villain! It’s so obvious and that definitely bothered me. Again, it wasn’t BAD, it just could’ve had a lot more that was a lot less predictable. I still enjoyed the book, though.
Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend this book, but if you’re already planning on reading it, I’d just advise you that it’s super predictable and a little annoying to read about in terms of Sky and Vika’s actions towards the beginning. I still liked it, though.
⭐⭐⭐/5
The Fiction Feature 