Review: The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton

Posted September 25, 2024 by Lola in Review, Romance, Sci-Fi / 2 Comments

The Stars Too Fondly
by Emily Hamilton

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: f/f

Blurb:
Part space odyssey, part Sapphic romcom and all spaceship-stealing fun, Emily Hamilton’s breathtaking debut is a wild tale of galaxy-spanning friendship, improbable love, and wonder as vast as the universe itself.

So, here’s the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn’t mean to steal this spaceship.

They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship’s missing captain, Billie.

Cleo has dreamt of being an astronaut all her life, and Earth is kind of a lost cause at this point, so this should be one of those blessings in disguise people talk about. But as the ship gets deeper into space, the laws of physics start twisting, old mysteries start crawling back to life, and Cleo’s initially combative relationship with Billie turns into something deeper and more desperate than either woman is prepared for.

Lying somewhere in the subspace between science fantasy and sapphic rom-com, The Stars Too Fondly is a soaring near-future adventure about dark matter and alternate dimensions, leaving home and finding family, and the galaxy-saving power of letting yourself love and be loved.

My Review

I received a copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

This book sounded so good, so I was really excited when I got the review request for this one and hopped over to Netgalley to claim my copy. It took me a while to get to it, but when I was in the mood for a science fiction book I knew it was time to pick this one up. This story grabbed me from the first chapter and kept my attention throughout. The pacing is really well done and there’s always something happening. I also loved the found family theme. And the ending just ends everything on such a high note.

Cleo and her friends accidentally steal a spaceship. Twenty years after the failed launch of said spaceship and the disappearance of the whole crew, they sneak into the compound where the ship is. And while they’re aboard the ship, the engine fires up and off they go on a years long journey the ship was supposed to take all those years ago. The set up gripped my attention and I wanted to know about the ship, the missing crew as well as Cleo and her friends and how they would ever get home again. It kept my attention throughout as the plot progressed and I enjoyed seeing it all play out.

The plot was so good and well written. I am not always a fan of the main story being interjected with bits of info and other perspectives, but it worked so well here and I felt the other parts really added to the story. There is Cleo’s point of view and then these often shorter bits from an almost omniscient sounding point of view in italics and then messages and transcripts from either twenty years ago or now in bold. These different pieces of perspective together advance the plot and the mystery slowly plays out about what’s going on, what happened twenty years ago and more. It was so engaging and I wanted to keep reading and find out more.

There’s also a romance going on that I liked between Cleo and hologram Billie, who is basically a copy of the captain who was supposed to lead the ship. It was awesome to see them grow closer and spend time together and fall in love. There is an interesting twist at the end and while one the one hand it made sense, another part of me still struggled a bit with it. I can’t really go into the why as that’s too deep into spoiler territory. They made for a great couple and I liked their romance.

I really liked the found family theme of the story with Cleo and her three friends who spend so much time stuck together on this spaceship and trying to figure things out. I liked seeing them interact and how they are there for each other. There are some things that don’t go smoothly or some things that need to get resolved, but even throughout the rough patches it was clear how much they all cared for each other. It was awesome to see and slowly Billie becomes part of that found family bond as well.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this book. The plot was so engaging and gripped me from the first chapter and kept my attention throughout. The main part of the book is from Cleo’s point of view, with another point of view in italics and messages and such in bold. Together they progress the story and more of the mystery gets revealed. The found family theme was awesome and I liked how much these 4 character cared for each other and then slowly for Billie as well. The romance was well done and I liked Billie and Cleo together. There is a twist toward the end that partly feels a bit off to me in a way that didn’t get addressed, but I really liked these two together. The ending is awesome and hits the right emotional tones which left me feeling happy and satisfied about how it all got resolved.