Review: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe (when a book ends up not being what expected… at all)

The Loneliest Girl in the UniverseThe Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
Published by: Walker Childrens on September 7, 2017
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 290
Source: Purchased
Book Details
Rating: ★★★★

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 . . .

Well this book was completely unexpected…

I read the whole thing in one sitting – it’s a SUPER fast read. Plus I absolutely adored the first 2/3rds or 3/4ths of the story, so that was awesome. But then it completely twisted in a new, totally unexpected direction. It wasn’t necessarily bad, it just wasn’t what I expected. I went into this book because I was in the mood for Genre A, then it just totally changed into Genre B. It wasn’t what I was hoping for when I picked up the book (though maybe I would have still read it, just under different circumstances).

Click the following spoiler if you want to know what genre the book ends up being. I don’t spoil the actual twist, I just reveal what genre you’re probably expecting, and what genre it ends up being. View Spoiler »

Other stuff I didn’t love:

I thought the reason for that genre change was a little weak. View Spoiler » I also didn’t think the ending was very satisfying. View Spoiler »

But…

Given my complaints, maybe four stars seems generous, but I’m still rating the book high because I loved it for so long and I was pretty hooked. I feel like I need to give it credit for that. I’m just a bit bummed at how it turned out in the end. But Romy was an excellent character and even though she was alone most of the book, I was totally hooked into her backstory (there’s a mystery with her parents) and her life on the space ship.

In short: it’s a cool story, just try to manage your genre expectations. 😉

Photo of Ashley
I'm a 30-something California girl living in England (I fell in love with a Brit!). My three great passions are: books, coding, and fitness. more »

Don't miss my next post!

Sign up to get my blog posts sent directly to your inbox (plus exclusive store discounts!).

You might like these

4 comments

  1. I feel different about this book. I liked the first part of the story, but not that much. Until the story took a twist. I loved the ending!

Recent Posts

    Random Posts