The Loneliest Girl In The Universe

The Loneliest

Girl In The Universe

by Lauren James

Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?

Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.

Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?

Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .

When I bought this book on Kindle, I am not sure what I was expecting? The synopsis read something like a cute love story in space but boy, oh boy was I wrong in assuming that.

I picked up the book because I read the review of the book or maybe it was just one of those anticipation/ want those books sort of post. I really don’t remember right now. I was given a warning about the book, that it is not completely a fluffy romance but I still thought that the fluffy romance happened. Whatever else that happened might happen in the background.

To a point, I was right, there was ‘fluffy romance’ but there was so much more and in unexpected ways. I hadn’t looked at the tags or genre at the time, merely satisfied with the fact that it was based in space. I am so glad I didn’t know more. This is one of those books that you should definitely go into without knowing too much about the plot or the characters. I am serious about that.

The main character, Romy, made such an impression on me, with her loneliness and with her tenaciousness. Her growth was absolutely wonderful to see. Being alone in a spaceship, literally nowhere near humans might sound attractive sometimes but living the reality would be quite different and the author showed it in spades.

The way the silence can create its own brand of fear, the way loneliness can make people think about things. Sometimes, I was just so sad for Romy but there were far more times where I was scared for her. Years of living on her own in a spaceship had its effects on her, there was anxiety and there were nightmares about her parents. There was no tangible connection with other people on Earth, any news that reached her would be a thing of past and that sometimes made me really sad.

Of course, living on her own also brought out the resourcefulness in her, the brain worked accordingly. She is smart and she used her brains when it was really needed. Her correspondence with J, her need to know more about Earth and its people. Her wanting more episodes from her favourite show, it was all done so well.

The uneasiness of the doubt about J, the unsettling feeling she has about certain things on the ship itself, every twist made this a very enjoyable read. If you start this book, trust me, you would not want to stretch the reading time. You would not be able to put it down. However, there are certain things I did find problems with. One of the being the length, I would have appreciated more in this book, more information, more Romy, just more, ok?

Overall, this book bamboozled me by its synopsis and I am glad it did. I was ready to read some unrealistic but cute romance instead I was on the edge of seat, wanting to know more as the time passed. So, I would definitely recommend it to people who love science fiction, young adult books with twists.