Lately I've been in the mood for some soft & hard sci-fi space opera and since I absolutely loved Amie Kaufman's (& Jay Kristoff) Illuminae, I knew I had to read Kaufman's (& Megan Spooner) Starbound Trilogy too. These Broken Stars is the first book in the trilogy and although it was immensely enjoyable, so far Illuminae still holds the number one spot for me. 

The story starts out on board the Icarus, a luxury spaceliner built by LaRoux Industries. When it starts hurtling out of hyperspace, Lilac LaRoux, the rich and spoiled daughter of the LaRoux founder is thrown together with Major Tarver Merendsen, a decorated war hero from the wrong side of the universe. They are forced to survive together on a terraformed but deserted and strange planet that has something in store for them around every corner.

At the beginning Lilac is snobby and very irritating but as the story progressed she really developed some character and started growing on me. I enjoyed their harrowing trek across the planet as much as I did their time on the Icarus. I thought the love story was done well too. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I thought the whole thing with the whispers and the rift and Lilac's return went too far off the rails for my tastes.