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4 stars! & This review will contain no spoilers!
Summary:
Starstruck by Brenda Hiatt is self-published and book one in the Starstruck sci-fi series. How is it sci-fi? Well, there are Martians in this story. Marsha, M as her friends call her, is the main character in this book and she lives in a town called Jewel in the middle of Indiana. She has few friends and basically no social life, but her life gets turned all kinds of ways when a boy named Rigel transfers to her school in the beginning of her sophomore year of high school. Might I mention said boy is super hot and the new quarterback! There’s a “spark” (inside joke you’ll understand once you’ve read the book haha) between M and Rigel and events, romance, action, and awesomeness take off from there!
There is ROMANCE, the kind that makes you go “Oooh” and “Awwe!" There is politics! There are Martians! Yes, they have interesting gadgets and powers! I really flew through this book. Starstruck was the first eBook I’ve ever really finished because I usually pick one up and end up forgetting about it, but this one… I could not get this book out of my head. This story is very fast paced and straight forward, which I could really appreciate as a break from other books that have almost too many twists. I pretty much read the whole last two-thirds of this book in one sitting.
It’s free to download on iBooks and other e-Readers and I actually chose to pick up this book because of @BenjaminofTomes. I’m so happy I did and I have a new love for Martians now, well, the extremely hot one in this book.
"The middle of nowhere just got a lot more interesting"
Plot:
What. A. Page-turner! From the first chapter you’re already hit with the classic high school hierarchy and of course, M is at the bottom. Boy comes along and shows interest in her for more than just her personality or looks. He changes her world and yeah, this story already seems pretty predictable, BUT once you get passed that, it’s actually rather enjoyable. I especially liked how the way Brenda Hiatt went with the Martiansm how she described them and how their civilization and existence came to be.
There were some good female friendships in this book though they do get tested in the middle. There are the populars/bullies that everyone has seen in movies or read in other books, but Trina (the head cheerleader) is especially nasty. I definitely enjoyed the romance in this book a lot. Rigel and M literally, and I do mean literally, make each other better people! Also, their romance is drawn out all the way till the end of the book, there wasn’t insta-love and it wasn't just straight forward. Their love is genuine! There were some bumps in the road making the ending all the more satisfying. It is a high school romance, so nothing dirty happens which I’m fine with of course.
Family relationship was another aspect of this book that was flushed out. M is actually adopted and is being raised by her aunt and uncle and you find out how she ended up in that situation as you read. You get to know M’s guardians, but you also get to know Rigel’s parents pretty well too.
I could also describe this book as mysterious and action-y, too. All the details and clues come together in the end and make a full picture in a creative way because you don’t even notice sometimes when you’re tossed a clue here and there. The action scenes weren’t my favorite because I think they could have been written a little better with the weapons and the fights, but the suspense was there.
Characters:
I honestly had a hard time remembering that these characters were just 15 going on 16 with how they were written. Rigel just kept popping up in my head as a buff, sexy senior quarterback, but nope. He’s a sophomore. M is a sophomore, too and fit the profile of one more than Rigel, but still seemed older. Trina was more like a senior to me too being a head cheerleader and all. I don’t know, the ages were just off compared to their personalities.
Other than that, I like the personalities that Brenda created with each character. Rigel is protective and sweet. M is innocent, smart, and very relatable. She goes through a wonderful character development partially because of certain discoveries and partially because she finally finds herself and who she is.
Trina is straight up nasty. Like I have never read a more rude, outright vicious bully ever in a high school setting. I was actually surprised though her pranks were kind of lame.
Overall:
I liked this book even though when I read the first couple of pages I thought I was going to hate it. If you get past the cliches and the predictability of certain points in the plot, it’s a good read. Honestly, everything happens so fast when you’re reading that you won’t even realized what hit you when you finish. That’s exactly how I felt at the end and I would’ve started book two right away on my iBooks if it was free too!
Thank you for reading! :)