Starflight Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway

STARFLIGHT
Starflight #1
Melissa Landers
Young Adult/Sci-Fi
358 pages
Disney-Hyperion
Available Now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

MY THOUGHTS

Starflight gives us an exciting start to this new sci-fi series as we hit the ground running with Solara, pausing only occasionally to catch our breath before we're once again outrunning alien bounty hunters, dodging space pirates with wounded egos, and swooning over a slow burn romance.

Solara earns our sympathy and our unwavering solidarity from page one as she's passed over again and again for off-planet work, and that sympathy only increases when the only person willing to take her on is a spoiled heir to a fuel empire who takes pleasure in putting her in her place. Solara keeps her head high in the face of his cruel words and taunts though, never letting him see how much they hurt and clinging tight to her dignity and pride. Once both their lives turn upside down and they find themselves partners in crime with a ragtag crew of wanted men and women, Solara proves herself to be the stronger of the two again and again. Easily able to adapt to their new circumstances and gifted with anything mechanical, she makes herself a welcome asset to the crew of the Banshee.

Doran is someone who makes us genuinely question whether or not Ms. Landers will be able to redeem him over the course of the book, his entitled attitude and utter contempt for Solara in the opening chapters enough to have us wishing violence on sensitive parts of his male anatomy. Slowly but surely however, Ms. Landers proves herself to be more than up to the task of changing our low opinion of him, and the relationship that unfolds between Doran and Solara is nothing short of delightfully captivating. It takes a good long time before the antagonism between them even remotely starts to shift into something resembling friendship, and we have to wait a good long time after that before that friendship turns romantic, but the wait is more than worth it for a romance like theirs.

We're left in a good place in this first installment, the crew of the Banshee together and ready to face what comes next as we delve deeper into the mysteries of Doran's family and Spaulding Fuel.

Rating: 4/5

Find Starflight:

Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository

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MELISSA LANDERS

Melissa Landers writes romantic sci-fi for teens and the young at heart. ALIENATED and INVADED are now available from Disney Hyperion, and UNITED, the third book in the trilogy, will release in August, 2016. The first novel in her new series, STARFLIGHT, launches February 2, 2016.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

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GIVEAWAY

Three lucky winners will each receive a finished copy of Starflight! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only. 
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
WEEK ONE
2/1: Fiction Fare - Review

2/2: Rebelle Reads - Galaxy Inspired Nail Colors

2/3: Polished Page Turner - Review

2/4: Paperback Princess - Starflight & Firefly

2/5: Supernatural Snark - Review

WEEK TWO

2/8: Red House Books - Galaxy Nail Art

2/9: Two Chicks on Books - Review

2/10: What Sarah Read - Top 10 Spacecrafts In SciFi

2/11: Ex Libris - Review

2/12: Novel Heartbeat - Review

Waiting on Wednesday: Starflight

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

STARFLIGHT

Melissa Landers

Young Adult/Sci-Fi Romance

Available February 2nd, 2016 from Disney-Hyperion

From Goodreads:

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world--and each other--the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

Hello there, gorgeous. In true girly fashion, the shininess of this cover immediately called to me, begging me to click on it and take a closer look. When I did, it became apparent that I needed this book in my life immediately. I think you guys know by now that antagonistic romantic relationships are my very favorite kind, so the fact that Solara and Doran have baggage of the life-made-miserable variety makes me absurdly happy. I'm not sure what that says about me really, but I can't wait to see how things play out between these two.

Plus, that cover. It's so shiny and pretty. *pets it*

WHY MUST YOU BE SO FAR AWAY FEBRUARY?!

Goodreads • Amazon

The Big Love Letter Event: Melissa Landers

Welcome to week four of The Big Love Letter Event! For those of you who missed the introductory post several weeks ago, this event will run every Friday through March 13th and will consist of love letters written by some truly amazing authors. Danny from Bewitched Bookworms and I will each be hosting different letters every week (hop over there today for a little something special from Paula Stokes!), so be sure and check out both blogs for a bigger and better celebration of all things swoon-worthy. We'll also be hosting a fantastic giveaway, so don't forget to check the bottom of the post for all the details, as well as links to all the previous love letters in case you didn't get to them!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Melissa Landers back to the blog to share with us a letter from Aelyx (he's a love letter first-timer!) to Cara, the–quite literally–starcrossed couple from her Alienated series. I have a bit of an Ohio theme going on with the event this year, with Kristen, Mindee, Melissa, Emery, and Sara all either currently living in or from Ohio, so I've been lucky enough to fangirl at all of them in person. Melissa was forced to endure my gushing during an interview last year, and thankfully I didn't scare her enough to make her want to run and hide when I approached her about participating. *pats self on back* If you haven't had the chance to read Alienated or Invaded yet, I hope you add them to your lists after reading Aelyx's letter!

Dearest Elire,

You might not believe this—or maybe you will—but I’ve never written a love letter before. Until now, there was no reason to. My heart has only ever belonged to you, and we both know that a pen and paper can’t compete with Silent Speech. But as much as I’d like to look into your eyes and show you how I feel, I can’t do that with multiple galaxies stretched between us. So for now, I suppose a note will have to do.

Gods alive, Cara, I miss you.

I miss the freckles on your cheeks, and the ones sprinkled across the bridge of your nose. I miss the way your eyes crinkle at the edges when you smile at me. I miss the scent of citrus in your hair and the sound of my name on your lips. I swear your presence is like a second sun, and without you, the air actually feels colder. (And trust me—winter in Manhattan is already miserable.) So wherever you are on L’eihr, please know that you are cherished.

I promise to mend this alliance as quickly as I can, and soon we’ll stand together on the shores of our colony and watch the stars, just like we did on board the transport. Our time apart is only a hiccup—you told me that once. I hope you still feel that way, and that you think of me every time you gaze at the night sky. You can’t see me, but I’m here. And I’m yours.

Much love,
Aelyx

These letters are brutal! *pounces on Aelyx and gives him a hug* Hopefully he and Cara find their way back to one another soon before I develop an ulcer from the stress of their separation ;-)

 • • • • • • • • • • • • •

ALIENATED
Alienated #1

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

Amazon • Goodreads • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

INVADED
Alienated #2

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

Amazon • Goodreads • B&N

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MELISSA LANDERS

Susan A. Abt Photography

Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn’t afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public—just ask her husband and three kids. She lives just outside Cincinnati and writes adult contemporary romance as Macy Beckett.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

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GIVEAWAY

Danny and I have (what we think) is a pretty fabulous giveaway that will run for the entirety of this event with 5 winners in total when all is said and done:

• Winners 1-4: Each will get a book of your choice from one of the participating authors. (Open internationally as long as Book Depository ships to you! )
• Winner 5  : Hardcover copy of LAILAH by Nikki Kelley plus some awesomely cute swag (international ). Prize is provided by author - thank you so much!
  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don't forget to check back both here and at Bewitched Bookworms every Friday in February for more letters and a whole lot more love from these fantastic authors:

• Kristen Simmons (The Glass Arrow)
• Mindee Arnett (Polaris, The Nightmare Dilemma)
• Melissa Landers (Invaded)
• Sara Raasch (Snow Like Ashes)
• Emery Lord (The Start of Me and You)
• Liza Palmer (Girl Before a Mirror)
• Anna Banks (Joyride)
• Heather Demetrios (I'll Meet You There)
• Nikki Kelly (The Styclar Saga)
• Paula Stokes (Liars, Inc.)
• & More!

The Big Love Letter Event 2015

Last year the wonderful Danny from Bewitched Bookworms and I hosted an event that ran the month of February wherein we celebrated our obsession with all things romance, and I'm beyond excited to announce that we're once again hosting the event this year! I think I summed the event up pretty well in last year's introductory post, so instead of reinventing the wheel, I'm just going paste that intro below. Laziness, thy name is Jenny.

In celebration of Valentine's Day (but really, more in celebration of how much Danny and I love to swoon over sexy bad boys and adorable good guys), we've asked some of our very favorite authors to write love letters that will appear on our blogs every Friday during the month of February. We proposed letters written from one character to another, from author to character, character to readers, or anything else the authors might be inspired to write that would help us honor our love of love, and the result is something truly fantastic.

Be sure and check both here and Bewitched Bookworms every Friday as we'll be featuring letters from different authors on each blog, and throughout the event we'll also be hosting a fabulous giveaway, so I hope you guys are as excited about this as we are!

The response we received last year was so enthusiastic that we decided to extend the event from 4 weeks to 6, so every Friday from February 6th to March 13th both Danny and I will be posting various types of love letters on our blogs. We have a truly outstanding lineup this year, so we can't wait to kick things off in a couple weeks! You can expect to see letters from the following:

• Kristen Simmons (The Glass Arrow)
• Mindee Arnett (Polaris, The Nightmare Dilemma)
• Melissa Landers (Invaded)
• Sara Raasch (Snow Like Ashes)
• Emery Lord (The Start of Me and You)
• Liza Palmer (Girl Before a Mirror)
• Laura Lee Guhrke (Catch a Falling Heiress)
• Anna Banks (Joyride)
• Heather Demetrios (I'll Meet You There)
• Nikki Kelly (The Styclar Saga)
• & More!

Kristen Simmons will get things rolling here at Supernatural Snark on the 6th, so I hope you'll all stop by to see what she has in store! You don't want to miss it:)

Alienated Event: Interview with Melissa Landers

There are certain moments when I'm convinced the decision to start this blog was the greatest decision I've ever made, and meeting an author is always among those moments. I was supposed to attend the release day event and signing for Melissa Landers back on February 4th in Cincinnati, however snowmageddon hit Ohio that day and prevented me from traveling. Fail.

Luckily for me however, Melissa was nice enough to invite me to a different signing in Cincy the following Saturday, and Mother Nature actually deigned to let me make the drive from Columbus snow-free. I had the amazing opportunity to sit down with her before the signing and ask her a few questions about Alienated, and I'm super excited to share her answers with all of you today. Melissa was absolutely adorable (as you can see in the picture of her below) and really easygoing, and I'm just so thankful to her for taking the time to chat with me!

This signing was a little different from most of the signings I've been to where the author talks a bit about their book and answers questions, it was much more informal and strictly a meet and greet signing with no official program or Q+A session, which is why you'll find no recap or photos besides the one I quickly snapped of Melissa being the cutest thing ever with her book.

When reading Melissa's answers below, please note that I deliberately asked questions that would only require brief answers from her because it's hard for me to keep up with lengthy answers when writing by hand, she wasn't being intentionally short or terse with me:)

Q+A WITH MELISSA LANDERS

If you were traveling with Aelyx to his planet, what’s one thing you would bring with you to make yourself feel at home?

A digital photo album (or iPad/iPhone, anything that could have family photos on it).

What intergalactic or alien world from any other piece of fiction (or TV show/movie) would you most like to live in? Least like to live in?

Most: Battlestar Galactica!

Least: Any alien horror movie (Aliens, Predator).

If you were to attend a high school on Aelyx’s home planet, what subject do you think you would most excel in?

Either history or humanities.

You’ve just found indisputable proof of alien life here on Earth. What’s the first thing you do?

Ask to be taken to their leader.

*snort* I, on the other hand, would run away like a little girl. We joked that Melissa would definitely have been one of the crazies on the top of the building in Independence Day, begging the spaceship to take her before being tragically blown up ;-)

If Cara was in my position and asking you questions, what’s one question you might be afraid she’d ask?

What's the last book you didn't enjoy?

What movie or TV show has your very favorite depiction of aliens?

*I guessed the answer to this based on the earlier question, but had to ask anyway!

Battlestar Galactica!

You have $50 and fifteen minutes in a bookstore. What are the genres of the first three books you pick up to buy?

Young Adult, Romance, and then more Young Adult and more Romance.

WORD ASSOCIATION

*This was a highly amusing game to play with Melissa. She kept second guessing the first word that popped into her head because she said her first thoughts were "lame":)

Cara: Firecracker

High school: Hell

Space: Infinite

Book series: Trilogy

Secret: Key

Young love: Sweet

Humanity: Intricate

Mystery: Sherlock

Book cover: Pretty

Science fiction: Fun

Princess Leia: Hot

Sequel: Empire Strikes Back

Imagination: Movers
*Imagination Movers is a TV show Melissa watches with her kids ;-)

Writing: Work

Beginning: Ending

Find Melissa:

Website • Facebook • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • • •

ALIENATED

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

Amazon • B&N • Goodreads • Book Depository

INVADED

(releases 2015 from Disney Hyperion)

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

Goodreads