I have to be in the right mood for science fiction these days, but when I finally was, this was definitely a good one!
I have enjoyed Pintip Dunn's works in the past, so I was not surprised that it was well written and filled with incredible world building. I look forward to reading more.

I received a complementary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of the sci-fi genre but do not read much of it sadly. When I came across Star-Crossed I jumped at the opportunity to review it. This is also my first book by Pintip Dunn (shocking, I know) and it was a great introduction.

I really liked the world and plot, they were both original and intriguing. We have the citizens of this world divided into Eaters and Non-Eaters. To put it simply, Eaters get the real food while Non-Eaters get these capsules that contains nutrients. Then we have the Fittest Challenge where young men and women compete against one another (every 5 years) to be the one who will die so that their organs can be transferred to the king. Yeah, I was honestly thinking “Just let the old man die.” Too harsh?? Oh well, I still feel that way about it. I mean besides being king I didn’t see what made him so special.

Now Vela, potential successor to the king, must save her love-interest from said challenge. There is so much more I could discuss about this story and go deeper into but that would lead to spoilers. I feel the ending was bittersweet, but I was satisfied with it and greatly enjoyed my time reading this story. I look for to getting better acquainted with more of the author’s works in the future.

An intense young adult dystopian romance filled with impossible choices, longing, loyalty, and above all, love. When seventeen year old Princess Vela is caught sneaking food to her best friend, her entire future is jeopardized. But the leadership sees something in her and offers her an opportunity to prove herself worthy of taking over her father’s position of Ruler when he passes. Vela and her sister, Blanca, are each challenged to show they have what it takes to lead their people, despite their weaknesses. Vela is compassionate to a fault and Blanca is logical and analytical at the expense of compassion. Each princess is forced into a situation that tests their limits in ways neither is prepared for.

Plot
The plot is intricately woven with subplotting that made this a “can’t put down” book for me. While I found some of it predictable, the author’s writing and the characters she created made me need to know what happened next. Dunn drew me into her world, which is richly built, and made me care about fictional people in a way I haven’t in a long time. I wanted a different ending, but the one I got was both gut-wrenching and satisfying.

The Characters
Well-developed and incredibly real, Carr, Vela, and the rest of the cast were real to me, and I loved them wholly, never wanting to the story to end. Carr is what every book boyfriend should be with a deep sense of family loyalty and strength, with a poetic side that made me swoon. Vela was everything I want in a young adult heroine. Her compassion for others and sense of doing the right thing at any cost made her one of my favorite young adult protagonists of all time.

Top Five Things I Loved About STAR-CROSSED
1. Vela. She was by far my favorite character of 2018 and in my top five young adult protagonists of all time. She’s warm, loyal, loving, and compassionate with a strong sense of doing the right thing. Her love for her family, her best friend, and Carr made her utterly relatable.

2. Carr. Ahh, what can I say about the dreamy boy who would give his life to save his sister? There is so much to him, but the way he cares not only about his sister but Vela, too, makes him worthy of Vela’s love.

3. Impossible choices. Vela is put in charge of choosing the boy who will die to save her father’s life, but when the only boy she’s ever loved, Carr, puts himself in the running, she finds herself in a situation with no good outcomes. This is the type of situation that makes for page-turning conflict.

4. Dystopian worlds. My favorite genre because anything can happen and nothing is ever as it seems.

5. The ending. Oh my God that ending. It gutted me but it made me FEEL.

Bottom Line
An outstanding young adult dystopian tale that will reside among my favorites for years to come.

Disclaimer
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

”Our ancestors on Earth thought that by hurtling hundreds of light-years from the original planet, we’d somehow get closer to heaven. But they were wrong. Heaven is in the same place it always was. Infinitely far.”

Star-Crossed is set in a world where there’s limited food. And in order for everyone to keep on surviving, certain people can become an Aegis, and have a genetic modification in order to eat food to then have it turned into pills so that more people can gain nutrition. In order to survive, once the king starts getting too weak, The Fittest Trials are hosted to find someone who can be an organ donor and die so that the king may live.

What’s scary about Star-Crossed is how realistic it is. It’s a very futuristic take on a potential food shortage crisis, but not entirely impossible. In this first book, we aren’t given a whole lot of backstory on the food shortage, or really what the vegetation of the planet looks like. But this is mostly because the main character, Vela is a princess and Aegis and spends most of her time in the castle.

I really enjoyed this story, however I hated Vela’s and Astana’s friendship. And I really disliked how Astana’s treatment of Vela was made out to be normal or okay. She blames Vela several times for killing her brother, ignores her, and at one point attacks her just because Vela is doing her job.

Other than that, the story was interesting, the world was unique, the ending was startling yet satisfying, the romance was cute, and Vela’s relationship with her father was a breath of fresh air especially in YA fiction.

I think fans of The Belles would enjoy this especially.

Prinzessin Velas Volk ist nach ihrer Weltraumreise vor vielen Jahrzehnten auf dem Planeten Dion gelandet. Das vorher angestoßene Terraforming ist gescheitert und nur ein Teil der Menschen kann versorgt werden. In dieser Not wurde eine genetische Manipulation erfunden, die es den veränderten Aegis ermöglicht sehr viel zu essen, was dann mit einer Prozedur in hochenergetische Ernährungspillen für die restliche Bevölkerung umgewandelt werden kann. Dafür bleibt ihnen nur ein Drittel der üblichen Lebenserwartung. Die restlichen Kolonisten dürfen aus Gründen der Effizienz außer den Pillen kein echtes Essen erhalten. Trotz drohender Strafe versucht Vela für ihre kranke Freundin Astana, die Probleme mit der reinen Ernährung mit den Pillen Probleme hat, Speisen zu schmuggeln.

Ihre Schwester Blanca und sie konkurrieren aber auch um die Nachfolge ihres Vaters dem König. Das Council wird noch dieses Jahr entscheiden, welche der beiden Schwestern Königin wird. Vela ist 17 und ein Jahr jünger als ihre logische, analytische und etwas herzlose Schwester. Der junge Carr ist Astanas Bruder, sie kennen sich seit Kindertagen. Er arbeitet tagtäglich in den Gewächshäusern und Fischteichen, muss alles sehen und riechen, darf aber nichts davon kosten. Der König selbst hat seine Lebensspanne längst verwirkt und erhält daher alle fünf Jahre die kompletten Organe eines jungen Mannes, der in einem Wettbewerb ausgewählt wird und sein Leben dafür opfert. Dafür erhält seine Familie zum Dank von da an echte Nahrung. Aber jetzt will der König sein Leben nur noch einmal verlängern lassen, dann soll eine seiner vorbereiteten Töchter die Herrschaft übernehmen. Um ihre Eignung zu beweisenj bekommt jede der Schwestern eine andere schwierige Aufgabe...

Die Idee mit den irdischen Siedlern ist nicht neu, aber die Autorin hat eine interessante eigene Welt entworfen, mir besonderen Regeln und spannenden Hintergründen, in die man sich gut einfinden kann.
Vela und Carr sind sehr sympathische und überzeugende Protagonisten. Astana und die anderen Erkrankten wachsen einem ans Herz. Carrs Mitbewerber sind interessante Nebenfiguren.

Man kann sich nicht vorstellen, wie die Geschichte gut ausgehen soll und fiebert bei jeder Entwicklung und Wendung mit. Es entwickelt sich eine Spannung durch die verschiedenen Wettbewerbe und die schrecklichen Attentate und die Suche nach dem Übeltäter. Bis zum Ende rätselt man mit. Neben der Liebesgeschichte werden ernste Themen wie Vertrauen, Ehrlichkeit, Pflichterfüllung und Verantwortung gelungen eingebunden.

Normalerweise ist YA nicht unbedingt mein Genre, aber dieses Buch konnte mich überzeugen.

4,5 von 5 Sternen

Star-Crossed was a unique work that explored a bleak future for humanity with limited resources where humans are reliant on consuming a pill as a food substitute. The author, Pintip Dunn, diverged into the time old story of a young woman striving to step into her father's footsteps and assume her role as a leader for her people. Dunn's details and intricate plot transported readers into the threshold of science-fiction and wove a story that expanded on Darwinian themes where only the fittest and the elite class have access to the best means. The story was well executed and blended young adult fiction, romance, and sci-fi elements to comprise an altogether unique story.

Star-Crossed tells the story of a young girl, Princess Vela who lives on a distant planet. There is not enough food to go around and feed everyone so they set up a system many, many years ago with a way to support the people. With this new system only the chosen ones get to eat in order to be able to eat they have to give up a part of their life span and become an Aegis. Aegis gets to eat while others do not. An Aegis eats the food and then the nutrients are drawn from their bodies and made into pills to give to the rest of the colonist.

Vela’s father is the king and has lived many, many years. It is now time for someone else to take over leadership. Vela and her sister are the only two people that are in the running so they have to complete tasks that are given to them by the council. The task that they have to complete may end in someone losing their life. The council needs to know who can make the right decisions for the whole of the colony without being selfless. Who is the best person to be Queen? Will it be Vela or Blanca? Vela has to make some tough and difficult choices while doing the task set before her.

The guy that Vela has liked for a long time steps up to the plate when her father becomes ill to give is life for her fathers. Vela doesn’t want to lose the guy she has been in love with nor does she want to lose her father. How can she save both of them? Can she save either one? Is it in her hands to save them?

After Vela starts the task given to her by the council she soon learns that the colony and its people are all in danger and lives are being sacrificed. Vela has to race against the clock to find the culprit before time runs out.

I really enjoyed Star-Crossed way more than I ever thought I would. Once I picked it up I was racing to the end to find out how it was all going to turn out. I never saw that ending coming. When an author can keep you in the dark for that long then you know you have a winner.

Star-Crossed is unlike anything I have read before. You know the saying go where no one has gone before? Well let me tell you Star-Crossed does just that takes you where no one has gone before with so many twist and turns that keeps you floating all the way to the end.

Oh and I think Star-Crossed needs to have a warning put on it something like “warning, warning while reading this book a box tissue is needed. Star-Crossed will pull at the heartstrings over and over until the tears are streaming. The world building is astronomical.

Star-Crossed is one of those books that I would highly recommend to all readers.

A fresh new concept of a story about love and sacrifice in a unique world. Two people bent on saving a loved one come face to face with reality of true sacrifice. An enjoyable read

I think this is one of the best books I've ever read for 2018. Hand to god, this was amazing. The concept was incredibly interesting and creative. The MC, Vela, was charming. The love story was swoon-worthy. Everything about this book was perfection and I never wanted it to end.

Let's chat about the concept first. The fact that people can get nutrition from pills and the pills come from people that are allowed to eat was totally wild and something I have yet to read about. It was just beyond crazy to know that some of the colonists had never tasted real food. I like food and can't imagine not being able to eat it.

Vela was awesome. She is of Thai descent and her talking about all the delicious Thai food made me hungry. I loved how charming and down to earth Vela was. She was a princess but she tried to be more than that. She reminded me of Princess Diana as the People's Princess. Vela tried to make sure she knew everybody and what grievances they had. I appreciated her immensely.

The love story between Carr and Vela was adorable. They had known each other all their lives. I love stories like that, where they have known each other all their lives and love each other for their faults and all. They complemented each other in the best way possible. They have gained in a spot in my top 10 favorite couples!

Overall, this was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I seriously cannot recommend this book and the author enough. Pintip is incredibly talented and I can't wait to see what else she does.

I have loved everything that I have read by Pintip Dunn. This book was great. I think it was one of my favorite ones of hers that I have read.

Ever since I discover books written by Pintip Dunn, I have always looked forward to reading her new latest book and in 2018, she releases new YA, Sci-Fi, Romance book which I am definitely excited to read it.

It sets in the planet of Dion where food is very limited although, with all technological advancement, they are still in short supply of food. The community in Dion is been divided into two; one, the aegis (they been assigned a quota set amount of food they need to consume and transfer it into pills; in other words, they will eat solid food) and Colonists, people who received nutrients from pills. Princess Vela, the daughter of the king also an Aegis, her father wants to step down from the throne, thus, Princess Vela and her older sister, Princess Blanca will be tested by the Council to know who will be the suitable one for the throne. Each of them has different tasks they need to accomplish.

"LAYER UPON LAYER OF SACRIFICE. IT IS NOT ONLY THE HONORABLE THING TO DO. IT IS NORMAL AND EXPECTED. THIS COLONY WOULDN'T EXIST IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE SACRIFICES OF OUR ORIGINAL COLONISTS. THAT IS WHY WE ARE CALLED THE AEGIS. THE PROTECTORS."

Star-Crossed is an amazing story that put me on the edge of my sits, a page-turner that I could not stop my reading not even for a minute because the story makes me curious to know what's going to happen next and the romance in this book is at the great amount. I have been hooked by the story right from the beginning which I instantly know, Star-Crossed will be my favorite Sci-Fi, Dystopian book in 2018. There are so many things happened in this book between Princess Vela and her best friend also with her sisters and the guy she has been in love since forever and not to forget, the tasks she needs to accomplish is definitely the hardest with all the decisions she needs to make.

I can't get enough of Star-Crossed - the story, characters, world-building are very impressive also there are teeny tiny bits in my heart that I hope there is a sequel to it. Overall, I really enjoy my reading with all the characters right from the beginning of this book and Pintip Dunn's writing is incredible. I hope you will enjoy it too.

This is my first Pintip Dunn book, and I can understand why I've heard such great things! Star-Crossed has all the expected parts of a YA science fiction story, with a very unique and surprising ending. I was very intrigued by the story from the very beginning. We got a pretty clear run-down of what had happened to the people on this spaceship when they landed earlier than planned, and had no way to make all the food to feed all the people they had brought with them. However it wasn't bogged down as much as some science fiction can be. The author gave just enough background info to make it clear why things had to be the way they were, in order to get the story going. More details were distilled as the story went on.

As I began reading, I immediately thought the pills everyone had to take sounded pretty yucky, I guess partly from how they were made! The story soon morphed into a bit of a competition, with our main character, Princess Vela, being expected to make the final call on who would be the person giving up their life to save the King. By doing this, she would be showing the Council if she was the right person to take over the throne when her father died, or if her sister, who had always been a part of the running of the colony, should step up.

Making the decision itself wasn't the only obstacle for Vela though. There was her best friend's ever-growing sickness. There was the fact that her best friend's brother, Carr, a boy she'd always looked at as if he was someone special, possibly being the best choice to sacrifice his life so her father could live. But could she choose him as the Fittest, with her feelings, and either way, could she allow the competition to be run fairly?

Competing with her sister, who had been given another task to complete to prove that she was the better successor to their father, opened up a story-line of possible sabotage. So the competition was not just about which boy would have to sacrifice their lives, but if her sister would do something to make Vela's choice harder, or look as if she wasn't fit based on how she handled it. And there was someone else it seemed messing with all the competitions. But why were they doing the things they did, and who was it?

I kind of guessed who it could be, once I realized that it might not be her sister. But the way things took a turn at the very end, putting Carr's life on the line earlier than normal, along with the death of another major character, I didn't see the way the twist would go at the end. And I really liked it! I feel like the story showed all the ways to be a great leader, and brought up so many moral dilemmas that would be hard to keep straight and still think of your own friends and family.

A great science-fiction read, with some really unique ideas and a plot to keep you on your toes until the very end!

My Rating: 3.5
Plot. I loved the plot and premise of this book. I thought it was a unique sci-fi adventure where the colony was stuck/ lost on a planet in the middle of space, hoping earth would rescue them or they could rescue themselves. They came up with a pill that gives nutrients to people. The catch is that they cannot eat and the nutrients come from “nobility” that eat 6 meals a day and then they get sucked dry of all of the nutrients. It’s an interesting conundrum. On one hand, you can taste and eat all the food you want, but on the other, you don’t get to keep any of it.

Characters. I really enjoyed Vela. She thought like a princess who wanted to sacrifice herself for her people. She has misconceptions on how things should be run, but soon finds her place among her people. Her heart is big and that something I can completely relate too. I also liked the side characters. The King made some bad decisions, but he did them with his heart in the right place. Carr, the love interest, was also self sacrificing. A lot of sacrificing people, I tell ya.

World. I think the book could have gone into more detail about the world they lived on. I think it could have been way more interesting to learn and build upon that. There really wasn’t much said about it.

Final Thoughts. This was a cute, sweet book. I enjoyed my time reading it. I felt as though the ending was left open ended enough to have more. I didn’t really feel as though a lot had changed, just that they took a step in the right direction. If you need a dessert type read after a heavy one, I highly suggest this!

Also reviewed on Amazon, Instagram, Goodreads, my blog, and a blurb on Twitter!

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I truly enjoyed this book. The entire premise of the story felt completely original and that is so hard to find these days. Vela's people came from Earth to an alien planet, but on the way something went wrong and the alien planet is not actually capable of supporting colonists, so they genetically modify a few to be able to provide sustenance for all. Vela is faced with the task of proving she is fit to rule after her father passes. There were so many twists and turns, but in a good way, the book kept you guessing and I couldn't wait to find out how it ended. Vela was a very well developed character and she felt so real in her thoughts, actions, and reactions to everything in the story. This was so well written and once I started reading, I couldn't put it down!

Dion a distant planet where people went to find a new world for food. On Dion there are two classes of people those who eat food and those that don’t. The people that eat the food are used to harvest the nutrients from the food that they have eaten in order to make pills to give to the rest of the people to survive. However there is one downfall, those that eat lose precious time off of their own lives.

I found Dion’s history to be interesting. This planet was different. People that were overweight were beautiful. They were glamorized. So very different then what we are used to or taught.

The King of Dion has two daughters that are competing to be their father’s successor. He needs a transplant. His daughters were trained to be eaters or Aegis. Vela has a kind heart and soul. As a young girl she would sneak food to a friend…Astana. Whose brother, by the way, is Carr of which Vela had a crush on.

In this out of this world story, which seemed a little surreal at times, proved to be very entertaining. A story with a new concept caught my attention. Ms. Dunn provided not only a polished story but characters that at first I thought I wouldn’t have anything I might like. But, after getting to know them a bit more I found them to be very likable and more like us than I originally thought. I also find out that those that are the Aegis or eaters become dependent on food and feel as if they can’t give up the food for pills. Much like many of us who become addicted to food and realize pills won’t or can’t help. It is easier to just eat real food then to take a pill.

New author to me, I just may have to read more of Ms. Dunn’s books. This may not be my normal genre to read, but she writes interesting new worlds and characters that are likable and entertaining. Ms. Dunn gave me something creative…Give her a read, you just might find a new author.

This was such a unique story!

This society sees heavier people as luxurious due to the society struggling with not having enough food supply to feed them all. But not only that. Add on the concept that only a select few people actually get to eat the real food while the others gain their nutrients from pills only! The sacrifice of those who are able to eat allow whole communities to thrive while taking away a huge chunk of their years away.

I can say that I’ve never read a story quite like this one.

There are so many fun, creative twists to this story that I couldn’t help but read until the very end! I read this book in one day, and that ending really hit me.

There is romance in this story which was beautifully written and left me wanting more! And don’t worry, this one isn’t insta-lovey. The fantasy aspect of the story with the King ready to choose his Successor and the sisters’ competition to win the spot, you can’t help but watch as it unfolds.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. This was a super quick read, and I highly enjoyed every page of it.

Star-Crossed is much more than a YA romance sci-fi novel than what the cover and the title want to illustrate. It is a story of bond between a father and a daughter, rivalry between sisters, and the process of making unimaginable decisions and sacrifices in order to become fit to rule their people.

It is set in a futuristic dystopian/utopian world outside the Earth and has a rather odd and interesting plot. I was actually very surprised at how much I liked Star-Crossed contrary to what I have expected. This standalone novel is definitely something that will keep your eyes on every page until the very end.

The last chapter and the acknowledgements had me really emotional. It wasvq really bad idea to read this while on an extremely messy hormonal state.

*In-love-with-my-best-friend's-sibling-trope.* RAISE YOUR HAND!

This book has such a unique concept. In a futuristic sci-fi world where food is scarce, scientists have come up with an interesting solution: a genetic modification that will allow a person to process food more efficiently, and then the nutrients that the person extracts can be used to create a nutrition pill that will feed the masses.

My favorite aspect about this book is the moral quandaries that are created by the scarcity of food. Everyone in this society has to make sacrifices: Some people sacrifice years of their life, others must give up the pleasures of eating real food, and a few give up life while still in their prime in order to sustain the life of the king. The people and the government have to make tough choices—in some ways it reminded me of (a slightly less brutal) The 100 in that way. There are no easy answers, and that’s what makes it interesting.

I did see most of the twists coming (but I find that’s often the case). Still, that didn’t stop me from enjoying the journey to see if my hunches were right and to find out exactly how those twists were going to come about. I was able to zip through this book because I was so engaged with the story. And the ending was just as satisfying as I was hoping it would be.

This sci-fi dystopian explores the lengths humanity might go to in order to survive and the complicated lives of the people in power who have to make the difficult decisions.

***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley and YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***

Although Star-Crossed is reminiscent of The Hunger Games with its trials, Ms. Dunn has added a dollop of freshness with the concept of people being divided into Eaters and Non-Eaters. Woe to the Non-Eater who loses a trial because the consequences are dire but the truth is no one has a comfortable position in this world that’s focused on fighting off starvation. One facet of the society’s attention to food made me think of how certain “improvements” in our own food supply has led to our acceptance of a loss of taste in some instances. For example, the food gods apparently decided that watermelons need to be seedless but have you really compared the taste of seedless (which is not truly seedless) to seeded, the kind with those big black seeds that are great for spitting? I have to say I have very little interest in the seedless variety because they just don’t have any flavor, a perfect example of improvement gone awry.

At any rate, Vela and the rest of her people are colonists on a distant planet and their original supplies were destroyed, making food the most critical need. In an odd scientific endeavor, they developed a genetic change that enabled some people to consume copious quantities of food and process it to share with others in the form of pills. Now, a new problem has arisen in that the king, Vela’s father, may die and the succession is in question. Vela has to find a way to save the boy she cares for from the ultimate sacrifice while at the same time securing her place and future and her compassionate nature makes her choices even more difficult.

The real question is, when is sacrifice taken too far with the cost being so high that the intended benefit is no longer enough? The young princess is faced with dilemmas that are nearly impossible to resolve without possibly losing a piece of her soul and I empathized with her completely. I simply can’t imagine having to pit the survival of my father against that of the boy I loved but becoming a true queen worthy of the title does require a surrender of personal wants and needs.

I’ve enjoyed Ms. Dunn’s work before and this is no exception; as a standalone, there won’t be any sequel but I’ll eagerly await her next book, whatever it may be.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, October 2018.

Star-Crossed is a story about friendship, family, and love. The world building in Star-Crossed is rich and the details of the food made my own mouth water. But what I loved about Star-Crossed was the main character of Vela. She’s kind hearted and empathetic, and struggling. Vela struggles with knowing what is right and what is wrong, not in principle, but in what she should sacrifice. She has to make hard choices that effect people she loves.

I enjoyed seeing Vela’s decision making and evolution of a character. She has to consistently make difficult ethical decisions and figure out the costs of sacrifice. If I were like a character in Star-Crossed I think I would be a lot like Vela. I’m not sure if I would have it in me to make these hard decisions, but that’s part of what being a leader is

Vela has to realize that becoming a leader is no easy task. And if she wants the responsibility, she has to accept the costs.