The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

SYNOPSIS

The daughter of two astronauts, Romy Silvers is no stranger to life in space. But she never knew how isolating the universe could be until her parents’ tragic deaths left her alone on the Infinity, a spaceship speeding away from Earth.
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Romy tries to make the best of her lonely situation, but with only brief messages from her therapist on Earth to keep her company, she can’t help but feel like something is missing. It seems like a dream come true when NASA alerts her that another ship, the Eternity, will be joining the Infinity.

Romy begins exchanging messages with J, the captain of the Eternity, and their friendship breathes new life into her world. But as the Eternity gets closer, Romy learns there’s more to J’s mission than she could have imagined. And suddenly, there are worse things than being alone….

Synopsis from Amazon

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PERSONAL REVIEW

I’m not a big fan of thrillers, but the Loneliest Girl in the Universe synopsis really grabbed my attention and I decided to go for it! The characters and the setting sounded cool and I really wanted to find out who was on the other ship; this was out of my normal reading comfort zone, and I’m glad I read it.

Romy is Pretty Awesome
I don’t know about you, but I was crazy impressed with Romy and everything she does in this book. Not only does she learn to pilot and run the ship by herself, but she saves herself time and time again AND performs dental surgery on herself (that chapter scarred me). Her naive outlook on romance made me sympathize with her and worry about her, while her intelligence and determination made me admire her. I don’t think the other characters in this novel were as well developed, but James did a great job wii Romy.

It’s Set in Space!
Space has always captured my attention because it’s literally a universe of possibility, but I haven’t read many novels that use it as a setting without going completely sci-fi with other life forms, etc. (I do believe in extraterrestrials, but you get what I mean). I really liked that this book was essentially playing on the concept that Earth had simply developed more technology that would allow further exploration of space. It’s so cool to think that in the near future, there could be space crafts sent lightyears away to explore other planets! Whether or not it’s true, I thought James did a great job making the ship as realistic as possible (to someone to knows nothing about spaceships. Maybe she’s factually incorrect, but I honestly couldn’t tell).

Terrifying Last Few Chapters
I don’t read thrillers that often (I don’t enjoy being scared) let alone YA thrillers, so I really didn’t know what to expect. And I was honestly terrified throughout the last third of the book. I don’t know if it’s because I could so clearly see this as a thriller film, but James’ writing was so spot on that I could feel and see Romy’s terror as if I was right there. Even knowing what was going to happen (the synopsis gives it away that the ship coming to meet hers might not be as legit as we hope), I was still captivated as we wait to find out why J is doing what he’s doing.

So while I’m still not a fan of thriller novels, I’m really happy I read this book. I thought it was sweet, creative, and pretty scary at the end! If you’re interested in trying out something from the thriller genre, I’d suggest this book as a nice entry point. I won’t be going any further down this rabbit hole, but let me know if you read this book or any other books you’d recommend!

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FINAL RATING: 3.5/5