Welcome to this Xmas week edition of Mark This Book Monday! For starters I'm sharing the review of what can be the most awaited book of the year for me and thankfully one that didn't disappoint at all!
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If I had to pick my most awaited book of 2013, These Broken Stars would be it. Since I discovered it early in the year I fell in love with its cover, a clear case of lust at first sight but I was wary cause I had been deceived before by pretty covers. Then I read the blurb and I knew I could really like this book, so I tried my best to get my hands on an ARC of this book without any luck. I preordered my copy from The Book Depository and it arrived a week after release day so I was about to blow a fuse I was so impatient to read it after all the 5 star reviews it had been getting from bloggers I follow & trust.
It arrived on a day off and that was just perfect, I spent my whole evening reading it. I devoured the book in one sitting, though I kept on closing the book now and then to savour the amazing writing (and gaze at the stunning cover, getting a harcover of this one was a brilliant idea, so worth it!).
The book starts with something that makes you think "Titanic in space" with the super luxury hyperspace starship Icarus, the jewel of the LaRoux corporation and the privileged girl meeting the low class boy. You can draw some parallels but it also start getting very different very soon.
Tarver is a condecorated war hero of 18 that is doing a publicity trip on board the Icarus and has to endure the vapidness and shallowness of it all. Lilac is the only daughter of the all powerful LaRoux magnate and she's an expert at wading the waters of society and she has her own baggage of secrets. Their first meeting has some sparks of attraction flying but it all goes crashing down on their second meeting, where Tarver learns who the girl he liked really is, and Lilac acts like she's supposed to and treats Tarver like he's below her.
Then all Hell breaks loose when the Icarus is wrenched out of hyperspace and a wild panic of people trying to get to scape pods throw (quite literally) Tarver & Lilac together much to their dismay. But right from the start we see that there's more to Lilac than the vapid socialite that she projects. They crash land on a planet that is a mystery and they start a journey together to try and reach the crash lading of the Icarus in the hopes to get rescued.
Both Lilac and Tarver aren't happy to be thrown together into the unknown like this and both are resentful about the treatment of each other and at first relay on their dislike of each other to deal with the unknown of the planet and situation. Lilac keeps getting frustrated about having to depend on Tarver and feeling useless, and Tarver keeps shifting between being irritated about having to haul a socialite across an unknown planet and being worried about how she's going to deal with the trek.
This book is one that relays heavily on character development, gorgeous evocative writing and a creepy mystery to keep you completely glued to the page. You can't wait to see how their relationship keeps on progressing from dislike to friendship and learning to work together to a romantic tension that makes you want to scream at the characters "kiss already, will you!?! You both are crazy about each other and make a great team!!".
There's so much progression on their relationship and so much character growth! I am in love with them both and their relationship, even though at times I wanted to smack Tarver for making it hard for Lilac with his forced pragmatism and I wanted to shake Lilac out of her "I hate feeling useless so I'm gonna throw a tantrum" moments.
The mystery that starts shortly after they start their trek through the planet has a bit of a paranormal streak but it ties very well with the science fiction background of the book too, and it's done in a way that is so creepy and disquieting! Nothing like thinking that you're going mad to scare the bejeesus out of me!
One big warning about this book, once you feel safe and think things are looking up and you are so happy for these two and are feeling all the feels and shipping them to confines of the Verse... BAM! This completely unexpected twist comes and totally leaves you a wreck of denial and tears. And then another twist comes and you just don't know what to think anymore!
Once I was done with the book I was so glad I was reading a physical copy cause hugging a book is much more satisfactory than hugging your eReader... and this book was one that deserved being hugged afterwards! I foresee a re-read not too far in the future. Very well deserved 5 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
These Broken Stars by Amie KaufmanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If I had to pick my most awaited book of 2013, These Broken Stars would be it. Since I discovered it early in the year I fell in love with its cover, a clear case of lust at first sight but I was wary cause I had been deceived before by pretty covers. Then I read the blurb and I knew I could really like this book, so I tried my best to get my hands on an ARC of this book without any luck. I preordered my copy from The Book Depository and it arrived a week after release day so I was about to blow a fuse I was so impatient to read it after all the 5 star reviews it had been getting from bloggers I follow & trust.
It arrived on a day off and that was just perfect, I spent my whole evening reading it. I devoured the book in one sitting, though I kept on closing the book now and then to savour the amazing writing (and gaze at the stunning cover, getting a harcover of this one was a brilliant idea, so worth it!).
The book starts with something that makes you think "Titanic in space" with the super luxury hyperspace starship Icarus, the jewel of the LaRoux corporation and the privileged girl meeting the low class boy. You can draw some parallels but it also start getting very different very soon.
Tarver is a condecorated war hero of 18 that is doing a publicity trip on board the Icarus and has to endure the vapidness and shallowness of it all. Lilac is the only daughter of the all powerful LaRoux magnate and she's an expert at wading the waters of society and she has her own baggage of secrets. Their first meeting has some sparks of attraction flying but it all goes crashing down on their second meeting, where Tarver learns who the girl he liked really is, and Lilac acts like she's supposed to and treats Tarver like he's below her.
Then all Hell breaks loose when the Icarus is wrenched out of hyperspace and a wild panic of people trying to get to scape pods throw (quite literally) Tarver & Lilac together much to their dismay. But right from the start we see that there's more to Lilac than the vapid socialite that she projects. They crash land on a planet that is a mystery and they start a journey together to try and reach the crash lading of the Icarus in the hopes to get rescued.
Both Lilac and Tarver aren't happy to be thrown together into the unknown like this and both are resentful about the treatment of each other and at first relay on their dislike of each other to deal with the unknown of the planet and situation. Lilac keeps getting frustrated about having to depend on Tarver and feeling useless, and Tarver keeps shifting between being irritated about having to haul a socialite across an unknown planet and being worried about how she's going to deal with the trek.
This book is one that relays heavily on character development, gorgeous evocative writing and a creepy mystery to keep you completely glued to the page. You can't wait to see how their relationship keeps on progressing from dislike to friendship and learning to work together to a romantic tension that makes you want to scream at the characters "kiss already, will you!?! You both are crazy about each other and make a great team!!".
There's so much progression on their relationship and so much character growth! I am in love with them both and their relationship, even though at times I wanted to smack Tarver for making it hard for Lilac with his forced pragmatism and I wanted to shake Lilac out of her "I hate feeling useless so I'm gonna throw a tantrum" moments.
The mystery that starts shortly after they start their trek through the planet has a bit of a paranormal streak but it ties very well with the science fiction background of the book too, and it's done in a way that is so creepy and disquieting! Nothing like thinking that you're going mad to scare the bejeesus out of me!
One big warning about this book, once you feel safe and think things are looking up and you are so happy for these two and are feeling all the feels and shipping them to confines of the Verse... BAM! This completely unexpected twist comes and totally leaves you a wreck of denial and tears. And then another twist comes and you just don't know what to think anymore!
Once I was done with the book I was so glad I was reading a physical copy cause hugging a book is much more satisfactory than hugging your eReader... and this book was one that deserved being hugged afterwards! I foresee a re-read not too far in the future. Very well deserved 5 stars for this one!
View all my reviews
Aw, I'm glad you loved this book :D I had some issues with it, but I did mostly enjoy it ;p Thank you for sharing your awesome review. <3
ReplyDeleteAww, I'm sorry you had issues with the book, but glad that you still managed to enjoy it! Thank you, Carina!
DeleteI'm so happy this one didn't let you down because I know you were wanting to read it for so long. I loved it too and can't wait to buy the HC. I can't wait to read the upcoming companion book. I know it'll be just as good.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristen!
DeleteAnd yeah, it's great that the series will be made up of companion novels instead of series, cause I'd love to see a peek at how Tarver and Lilac will be doing!
Pili! Your review just makes me want to go an re-read this awesome and amazing book! <3
ReplyDeleteI'm SOOOO happy that you loved it! THAT TWIST was awful and brilliant at the same time. It just added something more to the story, didn't it?
I'm super excited for the next one and I'm really looking forward to discovering the next characters.
Fantastic review, Pili! :D
YES!! Oh yess!! I know I feel like re-reading the book again! I was so damned shocked twice!
DeleteI'm super excited about the companion book too! Even if I loved the book so much I was super glad to have their story told in one book and have the series be different that way! And we'll get a small peek at them also, so it's all good! =D
Thank you Samantha and Happy Holidays!!