Falling Like Stars by Eve Kasey

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The first theme for the Smart Women Read Romance exclusive patreon review was whatever you wanted to recommend. Since I always feel nervous recommending a book or author I love, I wanted to find something new. Since I didn't really have a direction, I decided to go through my goodreads tbr and organize via ratings. I started at the highest and went through until I found something that sounded good at the time and that I saw Juliette and Jessen hadn't marked as read. I came across Falling Like Stars by Eve Kasey. This is the first book in her All In series and I added it to my tbr when I saw Shelby post about it on her instagram. This ended up being tied with another book and Jessen said she did a coin flip to decide. I was happy to see that the book I recommended won! I was also able to use this for the Winter's Kiss prompt published in 2021 and for the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace prompt Scientists in 2022.

Chen is an aerospace engineer (a.k.a. Astronaut) and is looking for a new job after being dismissed from the Chinese military's service after his last mission. When he's approached to be the pilot for Orbit All, a company set to provide commercial space flights, he jumps at the opportunity. Elle is an experiential planner and also gets poached to help plan and set up the entire experience for Orbit All patrons. Chen and Elle are from two different worlds but find themselves drawn together not only because they're neighbors, but Chen's input is integral in Elle planning the best space travel experience. Chen struggles with the expectations expected of him from both his family and culture back in China, on top of worrying about his disable sister.

Oh my gosh. I absolutely adored this book and there were so many great things. First off I loved the STEM representation and how there was a lot of the science of going to space, but it wasn't so overdone that those that don't know much about it couldn't catch on. There was a lot of great representation here, but what made it better was that it seemed so naturalized. Chen's younger sister had a heart defect and ended up dying for a small chunk of time. When she was resurrected she suffered from brain damage and hasn't the mind of a child. I loved how it was handled here and just a fact of his life. It didn't feel overdone or like it was pandering to there being disability representation. Like I said, it just felt so normal and how it would be in real life. There were a lot of instances like that throughout the book that just made it overall seem so real. Another representation here is that Chen is Chinese and Elle is Caucasian. Not only do we get an interracial relationship, but Elle's father and step-mother are in an interracial marriage as well. I love seeing mixed race couples represented more. I also felt like the way that Chen was portrayed was so well done. I had similar conversations with friends when I studied abroad (mostly from the female perspective) that really hit home for me. I did see in the author's note that she thanked her husband, so I think that her husband must be Asian or even Chinese.

I also loved how they weren't quite enemies, but more like Chen instantly started teasing Elle and she was annoyed and super attracted to him. I loved their banter and they way that their relationship progressed. I just can't say enough good things about this book and I will be picking up the rest of the series for sure. I also am intrigued by her Her Hands series as well. I am so happy to find another new contemporary author. I had a lot of fun gushing about this book with everyone during the live show and can't wait to see what we read next!

Have you read Falling Like Stars?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Falling Like Stars, Eve Kasey, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 264 pages, published in 2021, indie published