Title: Starstruck
Author: S.E. Anderson
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Sci-Fi
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Source: publisher

After an incident with a hot-air balloon causes college-dropout Sally Webber to lose her job, she sets off to find direction in her life. Crashing into a teleporting alien, however, is not on her to-do list. 
Now she’s on the run from TV-drama-loving aliens, and things are just getting started. Zander won’t stop reeling her into life-or-death situations to save her planet, as he waits for his laser-wielding sister to search the universe for him. Though Sally isn’t quite sure if he wants to save Earth from annihilation, or just quell his curiosity of all things human.
On top of this, she’s got to find lost alien emissaries, as well as a job, and stop the planet from getting incinerated in the process. But with Zander as her roommate, what could possibly go wrong?

I am just getting back into scifi, and this was such a fun one to help get me back into the genre. It was a pretty short and fast read, one that I truly enjoyed.

Life is not going well for Sally. She's aimless, just trying to figure out where to go in life. Then, she loses her job. And meets aliens. All in the same day. I loved Sally. Partly because I could really see myself in her, but also because I think she's easy to relate to. She's straightforward, no-nonsense, but she also doesn't accept all this alien stuff blindly. She was a great character to read from the perspective of.

This plot isn't super intense, in the way that some scifi can be over-the-top. It was still interesting, as they do go on a few adventures to save the planet, but overall it was just a fun story. Nothing too serious, nothing too crazy. The story was also diverse in cast, but it didn't feel forced. It was just a great story. There were a few plot holes (like the balloon that started the whole mess?) but they leave the story open enough for a sequel, which I much prefer over a gaping cliffhanger (which there wasn't, so barring the few unexplained plot things, this could stand alone).

Something that had previously turned me off of scifi is how intense and extensively detailed they are. Like you have to have a background in science just to understand what they are talking about. This was not like that at all. If you aren't a usual scifi reader, or just wading into the genre, I think this one would be great. It almost reads like a contemporary, just with aliens. Again, just an all-around super fun story and I can't wait for the next installment.

S.E. Anderson

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