Happy Friday, friends! I’m really happy today to mention a book that deserves a LOT more hype than it’s currently getting in the bookish community…
The book
Lauren James, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, Published by Walker Books, September 7th, 2017.
Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?
Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.
Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.
But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?
Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .
I ENJOYED…
?
- The Loneliest Girl is a super quick and super addictive kind of read. It’s short – less than 300 pages and everything happening just makes you want to know what will happen next. Really, it is thrilling.
- I loved the originality of the story, both in the synopsis and in the way the story was told. Through narration, as we follow Romy’s POV, but also through emails and bits of the fanfiction she writes.
- Our main character, Romy, was really sweet and easy to root for. To be honest, well, she is alone stranded in space so I felt like I wanted to hug her already… but it’s not only that. She is determined, smart, complex and overall great. Also, she has anxiety and I could relate.
- I said it before, I was hooked, but I also did not see anything coming AT ALL. Do yourself a favor and get into this blind, because if you’re anything like me, you should be surprised and you should love it.
“I stare out of the helm window, straining my eyes against the infinite blackness, pressing my fingernails into my palms so hard they sting. I can’t see anything except the silver pinprick stars.”
I HAD A HARD TIME WITH…
?
- To be honest, sometimes I just wish the pacing had been a little more… equal?! I don’t know, but the first 50 pages were a bit slow to kick-start, but once everything did, it was a thrilling ride and I just had to read everything in one go.
OVERALL
I honestly don’t know why this book hasn’t been hyped a bit more in the bookish community, because it should be. It was unexpectedly brilliant. I appreciated the writing, the originality of the story set in space and the main character was really cool. I have read Lauren James’ books before, but I think that one’s my favorite. If you’re ever looking for a quick and unexpected book, pick up this one for sure.
“I’ve got the half-real fear that creeps up on you in the middle of the night, making you think that there is a monster in your room.”
Final rating: 4 drops!
Trigger warnings: panic attacks, violence, death.
Did you read The Loneliest Girl in the universe? Do you want to read it?
Do you like books to take you by surprise? What was the last book that made you go like “what the f***?!” ? Let me know in comments!
Ooh! Now you’ve made me very curious about it, I had never even heard of it before today but now I just want to read it. Let’s hope I can get a second hand copy somewhere! (Can’t afford a new one right now. 🙁 ) *fingers crossed*
Ohh I really hope you’ll be able to get your hands on this lovely book, it was brilliant 😀
Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂
This sounds really nice! I like books where you can’t guess every twist and turn. Sometimes I crave familiarity in plot but other times I just want things to happen and me not to predict a single thing hahaha
Great review, Marie! <3
Yeeees I agree – I feel like it’s getting harder and harder to find books we can’t predict, at all. I’m glad this one ended up surprising me so much! I hope you’ll read it sometime 🙂 Thank you so much <3 <3
Oooh I hadn’t heard of this one. That cover alone would convince me to pick it up. So pretty!
I am so in love with that cover ahah, it’s soooo pretty. I hope you’ll pick it up sometime 🙂 Thank you so much! 🙂 <3
I completely agree! I took a while to get to reading it but after I finished, I was wondering why it isn’t more spoken about as well. Great review!
OH I’m so glad you feel the same way! I guess it’s up to us to make as many people as we can aware of this beautiful book, so they can join our club 😀
Thank you!! 🙂 x
Owkaaaay, I didné pay this book any attention till now but it definitely sounds like an intriguing read. I hope to pick this up before 2018 ends! Loved your review.
Oh thank you so much, Poulami, this makes me so happy! I hope you’ll read and love this one 🙂 x
I have never heard of this one before! It does sound like a fantastic book that should be noticed. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on it. I will have to check it out myself. 🙂
Oh you’re so welcome, thank YOU so much for your sweet comment! I really hope you’ll get the chance to read that one 🙂 x
Great review for this book Marie, and oh I’m so glad you enjoyed this one too. I was the same as you in that I went into this book blind and pretty much did not see anything coming. I thought it was going to be a typical contemporary just set in space but it was so much more than that and I loved it.
Romy was definitely an easy character to relate to, and I loved how Lauren James developed her character as well because she wasn’t perfect, she was flawed and it just made her feel so real because after being alone in space for god knows how many years she’s not going to be perfect.
Again great review. 🙂 <3
Oh thank you so much, Beth! I am so happy you read this as well – I remember you reading The Next Together series, I think? But couldn’t remember if you’d read that one as well.
I have to agree with you here, everything that happened was quite unexpected, I thought it would be romance and everything and I just kept being surprised at every turn. Lauren James definitely is an author I am loving more and more 😀
Thank you so much, Beth! 🙂 x
Yeah I picked a copy of this one up at YALC, given I enjoyed Lauren James’s last book I had to read this one as well. 🙂
Same here, her books are never quite what I expect but I always enjoy them.
That’s all right. 🙂 <3
Oh I get it, that’s great 😀 I can’t wait to read more of her books either 🙂 x
This book has been on my TBR for so long, I can’t believe you’ve read it and reviewed it now when I almost forgot about it. That’s why I love you so much!!! <3
This review made me even more interested in the book because I love original books where they combine writing styles and POVs, these books are my soft spots.
I'll have to read this soon, thank you for reminding me, Marie!
Awwww I am so, so happy if I could remind you of it – this book really is a beautiful one, unexpected for sure. I can’t wait for you to read it, you’ll have to let me know what you think of it 😀 x
Hi Marie I’m so happy that you are featuring books you think need more love. I have some on my list and I always try to give the author a hand 😉 Happy Friday!
Aw thank you! I hope you’ll want to read that one someday, Sophie 🙂 x
Great review, Marie! I’m glad you enjoyed this book! I have it on my TBR but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I really need to bump it up in my TBR pile.
Ohh I’m glad it’s already on your TBR – I hope you will be able to read it soon. It was such a great read 🙂
Thank you so much, Raven! 🙂 x
great review! Haven’t heard of this book but it looks interesting (plus pretty cover!!)
I know, right, that cover is absolutely STUNNING. I hope you’ll read and love this book, Jamie 😀 Thank you so much for your sweet comment!
Lovely review, Marie! I really like the way you do your bullet point reviews, it’s concise and gives the perfect amount of information on the book. 🙂
I’m definitely adding this to my TBR right now! I love thrilling books that you read all in one sitting, and this one looks super interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!❤️
Oh thank you so much, Olivia, this makes me so happy to hear <3
I can't WAIT for you to read this book – it is the kind of book you just want to read in one sitting and… it's worth it 🙂 Thank you! <3
if you recommend it, I’ll add it to my amazon to-buy list! Sounds interesting though and I do like shorter books too because if you don’t looooove the story, you’ll end quickly anyways! ?? thanks, Mari! x
Aww you’re so welcome, thank YOU for your sweet comment, this makes me so happy. I hope you’ll read and love it 😀 x
It’s been a while since a book made me go WTF, so I’ve already forgotten, but I’m definitely putting this on my TBR shelf!
YAY, this makes me so happy. It was such a brilliant book, I hope you will enjoy it 🙂
Thank you so much for your comment! 😀
You’re welcome Marie 😀
Your review is legit my exact feels about the book! Went into it totally blind but ended up loving it. It was so good that I was scared to go to sleep after reading it ? I definitely agree with you on the pacing though, it was really slow to begin with but I just had so much respect for Romy. To survive on her own for that long (even though she did have shows to watch) is tough!
Oh yes definitely agree with you here – no idea how she did this… I have so much respect for her as well and she is such a strong character.
It waaaas a bit creepy at times to be honest and it made me feel SO stressed out haha, but I absolutely loved how it kept on surprising me 😀
Thank you so much for your sweet comment, Prima, I am so happy you also loved this book 😀
Great review. I remember all the space related hype when the book came out. So glad that it lives up to the name. If you don’t see the climax coming, that is generally a good thing
Oh thank you so much! Yes, definitely, it’s always SO good when we can be surprised by a story, it’s harder and harder to be, haha 🙂
This seems like such a fun read!! I’m surprised it didn’t receive that much hype, too, because I’ve never heard of it until now :0 I love unpredictable, fast-paced books with lots of twists and turns so I know this will be perfect for me:))
Oh I am SO happy I could put this book on your radar – I feel like it’s not well-known, but it deserves to be, it’s such a great and unpredictable book. I hope you will love it, and thank you so much! 😀 <3
The thing I look for the most in books is an element of surprise. I want those chills when everything you thought about the story changes in a sentence!
YES YES YES, exactly, I love when that happens 😀
I loved this book! It’s just done so well! I like to be surprised by books, but I think the best thing is when the author tells you that something is gonna happen and then you’re still surprised by *how* it happens?
YAY I’m so glad you loved that one as well – I picked it up remembering your recommendation so THANK YOU!! <3
I didn't expect anything to happen in this book the way it did and I just love being surprised this way, too 🙂
Sounds like a good book even though I’m not into books about spaceships. Right now I’ve been journeying through the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I’ve been surprised by them so far.
Oh I hope they are surprising you in a good way! 🙂 thank you so much for your comment! 🙂
Oh thank you so much for sharing Marie! I think I’ve seen the cover around before, but I haven’t actually heard anything about this? Which is a shame because it sounds really good!
I think maybe it’s because it’s only set to release in the US later this year – and have already been released in the UK a little while ago… that’s strange haha but, I recently discovered that and I think maybe that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t hear much of it. It was such a great book though, I hope you’ll want to read it 😀
Thank you so much! 😀
Oh yeah that might be! I’m so used to books coming out in the US first haha
Same, it’s so confusing when it’s the other way around haha
I haven’t seen this around a lot either – but I do have it on my tbr! I’m glad to see that you enjoyed it 🙂
Oh so glad to hear it! I hope you’ll be able to read it soon and that you will love it 🙂 x
I haven’t read this book but have heard quite a lot about it. It was in hype last year I guess? I have never read a book with spaceships and all but this book is on my TBR for so long 😀 Hoping to read it soon.
Lovely review 🙂
Ohh I hope you’ll get to read it soon – it was such a lovely book 😀
Glad this was super quick and addictive. I do like how original it sounds. Really curious about this one now. Great review!
Oh yay this makes me so happy! I really hope you’ll pick up this one, it was brilliant 🙂
Thank you!! x
Great review! Your thought on this book are just the same as mine, haha the plot twist is definitely good not to see it coming and IT’S SO SO STRESSFUL! But good and addictive and terrifying 🙂
I know, it was SO STRESSFUL?! I couldn’t stop reading, I HAD to know what would happen next. Such a crazy ride, but I loved it 😀 <3
Thank you!!
I hadn’t heard of this book before at all so thanks for introducing it to me! It actually sounds pretty epic. I love when there are books which take me by surprise. I like the unexpected element to reading and not knowing what is coming.
Oh you’re so welcome, this makes me so happy! It’s best if you go blind into this kind of book, the surprise is even bigger and better! I hope you will love it 🙂 <3
Thank you so much!