Review: These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Grade: B-
This ARC was provided by ARCycling in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. 

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help. 

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: This book...I'm not even sure what to say.  I had some expectations going into it, and I sort of knew what would happen, but I did not predict that ending, particularly something that happened about 74% of the way through.  Everything with that plot twist was a bit weird for me.  Overall, I'm not a fan of paranormal stuff, and ghosts, and the like, and a big part of the plot reminded me too much of that.  Overall, though, I adored Lilac and Tarver.  They were great characters.  I did want more world-building about why all these people were in space and why they were living on different planets (and had been for seemingly quite some time).  The world-building of the planet they landed on was good, though.  I was kept guessing almost the whole way through.
Language was mild, and romance was pretty clean.

The Verdict: This was definitely an interesting read, much better than several space tales I've read.  It's definitely worth a try.  If you've already read These Broken Stars (and you probably have since I was late to the game), try Across a Star-Swept Sea, Salvage, or The Winner's Curse.