Title: Starflight (Starflight #1)
Author: Melissa Landers
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: February 2, 2016
Acquired Via: Around the World ARC Tours
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 Review
You won't often hear me say this, but I really hope that the Powers That Be at Disney Hyperion make the decision to turn Melissa Lander's Starflight into a series. It is a book that has two very likable main characters, the setting is awesome, and there are plenty of secondary characters who could have spin-off books about them!
Solara is a rough-around-the-edges young girl who has had to work hard for everything she has and is more than willing to help colonize a new planet in the outer realm, since her past mistakes are tattooed across her hands and interfering with potential jobs. She also doesn't take bullshit off of anyone - Doran included. Doran is a pampered little rich boy who has more money and looks than good sense. Of course they have some personality conflicts, which leads to a slow-burning romance of which Melissa Landers is the YA master. (If you don't believe me, go read Alienated - so good!)