Reviews

Stars and Smoke is a young adult spy thriller with a hint of romance. The author, Marie Lu, has written numerous books before this one, including the Legend series (which I have not read). The book follows a young superstar and pop sensation, Winter Young, who gets approached by a mysterious organization. They want to recruit him as a spy and pair him up with ambitious but troubled Sydney Cossette. The pair initially dislike each other, but soon, they realise they can’t trust anyone but each other.

I thought this would be enemies to lovers, but it was more of a sunshine and grump-trope, although not fitting that one either. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed Winter’s character much more than Sydney’s, even though I warmed towards her in the end. They both have their issues, but especially Winter’s character was somehow compelling. They’re not perfect and needed some spicing up, but there’s something there. I didn’t quite feel the chemistry between them, though.

The writing was easy to read, even though I spotted a few small things that could have done with a bit more editing. It was a fun and easy read, relying a lot more on plot and action than romance. In fact, I was surprised at how much of a thriller this book was compared to my expectations! This book has very little spice because this is YA, after all.

All in all, quite entertaining. It didn’t blow my socks off, but I had a good time.

Content Warnings

_nyhomie's review against another edition

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Yes, it took me two months to finish this book. No, I don’t want to talk about it.

I have never tried so hard to like a book.

kaleighreadsbooks's review against another edition

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5.0

Safety info:
- no virgins, both are really experienced
- in book 2 they both have ex’s that are in the book but no kissing their ex’s
- not clear if they were celibate during separation or not
- one of the MMC’s ex flings is his best friend
- bi MMC
- my mind has gone blank on anything else oops

mostlykenny's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

trislynn25's review

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3.0

When starting the story, it gives the sense that this is going to be an enemies to lovers type of story. It sort of is, maybe more a grump x sunshine but focuses more on the mystery/spy part of the story. I’ve been on a romance kick so maybe I was hoping for more of that? I think Marie Lu did a good job of tuning the details. Whenever I thought, “why wasn’t this explained?” It would get explained shortly after. I guessed pretty early on what was actually going to happen but still enjoyed the book enough to finish. The story ended the way it needed to. It doesn’t always have to be perfectly happy (even if it is more so in the epilogue). Winter didn’t fully fix his relationship with his mom. Sydney realizes certain things are more important to her at this point in time. I almost would’ve liked it if it ended that way, but I also liked how she set it up for the second book.

cwkhalil's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This might’ve been a little too YA for me (I recognise I’m not the right age group for this, probably late middle school/early high school?) - but fast paced, easy to read. Aimed for emotional/character depth, but didn’t really make it there.

victoriamv's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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