Our March romance selection for LaLa Life Book Club is The Astronaut and The Star by Jen Comfort. I finished this one earlier this week and wanted to share my thoughts here with y’all.
In case you forgot, here’s what the book is about:
Astronaut Regina “Reggie” Hayes wants to be the first woman on the moon—it’s all she’s ever dreamed of. But after a PR disaster, Reggie is off the list for a lunar mission. To rehabilitate her reputation with NASA, she agrees to a different kind of assignment: astronaut “training” with a Hollywood action hero.
Jon Leo is a charmer. With credits that include an underperforming sitcom and a campy action flick called Space Dude, his upcoming role in a prestigious movie could prove he’s a star. But Jon isn’t just big muscles and an otherworldly smile—he’s also a total space nerd. He’s pumped about his own personal space camp…until he meets ice-cold Reggie.
Although Reggie and Jon are polar opposites, their mutual attraction is undeniable, and it only takes a few weeks in close quarters for them to give in to its magnetic force. Jon is set on convincing Reggie this is a match made in the heavens, but her future is in space, and his is among stars of the Hollywood kind. The odds of successfully launching a real relationship outside the confines of the training base are anything but optimal.
Reggie, content with keeping things casual, is forced by a sudden turn of events to confront the possibility of losing Jon forever. Now, she’ll do whatever it takes to win both the man and the moon.
You can add it to your Goodreads here.
My review
Rating: 3 stars
What I liked: I loved the idea of this story. I’m a sucker for a good Hollywood star meets “normal” person and falls in love storyline. I also loved that this book had the forced proximity trope. The recipe was there for me. It just didn’t quite come together like I would have loved.
What I Didn’t Like: I never really bought the connection between the two main characters. It felt like they met and instantly thought the other was attractive, but I didn’t feel like they really liked each other. There were times were I thought maybe I could get on board with the relationship, but it never happened for me. I also didn’t connect with each character individually. And this may not have bothered anyone else, but I thought there was wayyyy too much science talk/facts included. There were paragraphs that contained info about space and aero travel that were just irrelevant to the love story and at times it was distracting. Don’t get me wrong, I know romance books can have other storylines and bits of info in them, but this was just too much for me.
It’s not one to skip because I think a lot of people will enjoy this one. I just wanted to love it more than I did. I hope you loved it though!
If you read The Astronaut and the Star this month, I’d love to hear what you thought about it!
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