I don't like romance, well, maybe the occasional You Got Mail or Nottinghill, but mostly I find them boring. I DO love me some space, dystopia, futuristic sci-fi. This book has all four elements. Within the science fiction setting there just happens to be a love story. It was fun!

Spoilers are threatening to spill out of me as I write this and seem to be overwhelming my brain. I seem not to be able to give more of my opinion without them and I refuse to put them here.

I might like to read this again. I can think, if the author would like the suggestion, of a way to make a book two, or at least an alternative ending. As it is I think she did put in two different endings.

If any of my friends read this, and I hope they do, I hope we can have a bit of a discussion about the endings.

This story will stay with me for a while. Think of Gravity the movie mixed with a strange dystopic earth threatened by meteors. SO GOOD!

Hold Back the Stars has a simple premise. Moreover, upon first glance the story seems superficial. The language is undemanding, and the amount of world-building and character development appears to be minimal. In reality though, it is a nuanced and layered piece of fiction that explores the idea of choices and the consequences of them with in-depth characters and a compelling futuristic world.

The fact that the story is so deep comes as a welcome surprise. After all, Ms. Khan's syntax is straightforward, and the first third of the novel is linear and uncomplicated. The funny thing about basic writing though is how effective it is at painting a picture and developing characters. Ultimately, Ms. Khan has to create a love story between two characters, generate enough sympathy for readers to care about their plight, explain how the two end up stranded in space fighting for their lives, and build a futuristic utopian society that is a natural progression of today's global environment. She does this because of her basic syntax and uncomplicated storytelling. She succeeds in everything she sets out to create without being obvious about any of it, and the story is richer as a result because it allows Ms. Khan to focus on the layers that make this story so interesting.

Hold Back the Stars is another novel in which it is best not to know much about the story before starting it. Only when the novel is a complete surprise can readers appreciate what Ms. Khan does with the narrative and her reasons for doing so. Knowing what happens in advance ruins the surprise and lessens the impact of her message. In addition, any advance knowledge trivializes the story. What should be a layered story about choice becomes an overly simplistic story about doomed lovers. I know which type of story I prefer to read.

10 stars!!!

I think I just went through a dozen different emotional storms, th eone stronger than the other, and lived to tell about it.

Hold Back The Stars is a love story that similar you can’t find anywhere. From the start ’till the end, I was mesmerized from the evolution of this cosmic couple whose love wouldn’t know any limits; especially those of the Planet Earth and then of the Galaxy.

I love stories that tell of revisiting the past. This one is so well done where others are often clunky. It holds you from beginning to end.

If you’re looking for that just-right book for a rainy day, then pick up Katie Khan’s debut novel Hold Back the Stars. It blends a love story with sci-fi to create a book that you won’t want to put down.

Carys and Max are trapped in space with only 90 minutes of oxygen. The narrative shifts between the countdown of those minutes and the characters’ attempt to save themselves, and the backstory of how the two fell in love and wound up floating above Earth in a race against time. The story is divided into three parts, the third part taking the reader down an unexpected path that leads to the well-crafted ending.

Fans of serious sci-fi may wish for more focus on that aspect of the novel, but the relationship between Carys and Max is really the showcase here. All the same, I was engaged by the world in which these characters lived and the politics behind it caused me to stop and reflect on our own world from time to time as I read. With the clock ticking down the remaining minutes of air, I was propelled through the story.

I gave this book five stars because it really was perfect for what I wanted to read on a dreary day.

As a couple of little asides, I want to note that, as a Shakespeare fan, the references to Hamlet added to my enjoyment of the story and I found the final image both beautiful and haunting.

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan is a romance in a science fiction setting. I accepted a review copy based on the description, but I was bitterly disappointed. This is, above all else, a romance, not science fiction. The universe is unrealistic and the sci-fi elements are laughable. I powered through to the end hoping it would get better, but my opinion of the book just kept plummeting with every chapter. This reads like a YA novel.

The description: "Trapped in the vast void of space, Carys and Max have only ninety minutes of oxygen left to live. None of this was supposed to happen. After a freak accident, Carys and Max are left adrift in space with nothing to hold onto but each other. As they fall, they can’t help but look back at the world they left behind. A world whose rules they couldn’t submit to, a place where they never really belonged; a home they’re determined to get back to because they’ve come too far to lose each other now. While their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation - but who will take it?"

Carys and Max are both annoying characters that I could neither relate to nor muster any sympathy for them. Perhaps if the world building was better I could have overlooked my annoyance, but the world building was worse than the actual "star-crossed lovers." For future reference, please, if you are going to write science fiction... if you are going to set your novel in space... if you are going to have an asteroid field circling the Earth, (if... I could go on) please do research. And don't even get me started on the societal rules that are not logically explained. The poor world-building was not just found in the science fiction bits in space.

Now, if you enjoy romance novels, something I avoid, perhaps this novel will be just fine for you because you can ignore all the parts that I intensely disliked.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery Books.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/05/hold-back-stars.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2010520762

In the not-too-distant future, the U.S. and Middle East have been destroyed by nuclear weapons and the survivors are the beneficiaries of humanitarian aid from the people of Europe, which is now the main power of the world. After a couple of generations of striving and planning, Europe’s nations have been turned into “Voivodes,” numbered sections of one utopian entity that prizes individuality above all else. Individuals start rotations of three years at a time early on in their lives, getting the opportunity to live in different Voivodes, meet different people and learn new languages and some history of past cultures.

Carys grew up somewhat outside the system, not moving into rotation until adulthood, and Max is the child and grandchild of founders of Europia. They meet in their version of “online” when she looks for help with cooking. They are attracted to each other, which is fine, but would like to have a relationship, which is not. Settling down and thinking about having children is essentially against the rules until they’re at least mid-30s.

A few years after they meet, they are in space together, quite literally. They’ve been on a spaceship and, at the very beginning of the book, have gotten separated from their ship and are falling toward the asteroid field that surrounds the earth. Their situation is dire, and they only have 90 minutes of oxygen. As they struggle to come up with fixes for the various issues they face, they reflect on their lives on Earth and their relationship. Much of their discussion, and the regular “flashbacks” to their relationship, as it was, on Earth pertain to their regrets.

Readers get a broadening sense of the way of life and rules of the utopia that they live in, its benefits, aims — and downsides. Europia’s residents are encouraged to work for themselves, and self-sacrifice is frowned upon. But now that they are in space, Max and Carys have a clearer view of what’s important and what they would do for each other.

I enjoyed this story well enough but it didn’t leave a huge impression on me. The way the end (or rather, endings) came together seemed to me to not quite fit with the rest of the book; the style of the book itself was pretty realistic, and then the end was just a bit fantastical, and it didn’t work for me, at least on initial reading.

Rated: High, for a good 20 or more uses of strong language and more mild and moderate language. Sexual content: one scene of sex with a couple of paragraphs of some detail; references that most citizens of Europia are having lots of casual sex.

Unique, complex, bittersweet and hauntingly beautiful. There is so much more going on in the book than it lets on at first, wonderfully unexpected. Managed to bring tears to my eyes several times, heartbroken time and time again, yet the ending left me with a satisfying sense of closure that this was their "happy" ending.

This is an interesting thought experiment into the future of the conflict between the United States and the Middle East, and what role the European Union might play in the de-escalation of ultra nationalism. I enjoyed the glimpse into the relationship between Max and his family, who were instrumental in founding the Voivodeship [there's a character in my work in progress with a similar background]. And the word Voivode is Old Slavic for warlord, so that's a curious touch!

How about that cover? I was immediately drawn to it as well as the title and then when I read the blurb and saw it's being compared to One Day, one of my very favorite reads, I knew I'd have to hit the request button. I thought this would be a good "out of my comfort zone pick," and in some ways it was.

The beginning of the story pulled me in right away when we are thrust into space with Carys and Max after they've gotten separated from their ship and soon discover they only have 90 min of oxygen left. What a perfect way to start this story because I was glued to the pages, fascinated by the details of space as well as their attempts to find a way back to the ship.

The novel is structured in such a way that we are then taken back in time, via Carys and Max's flashbacks, to the beginning of their relationship in futuristic Europia which is a utopian society that exists after the destruction of the United States and the Middle East following a nuclear war. I was definitely intrigued by the world building in this society where couples had to follow the Couples Rule meaning they were forbidden to have long term relationships or marry until the age of 35. This was reinforced by people living on Rotation in which every 3 years everyone would move or rotate their locations to a brand new district. Of course, when Carys and Max meet and fall in love, the rules and Rotation prove to be a huge struggle for them, especially since Max has a completely different set of beliefs than Carys. Along with the utopian world building, I also really enjoyed the technology and setting details of this futuristic world.

With alternating timeframes , however, what inevitably seems to happen for me is I'm more invested in either the past or the present and that's exactly what happened in this case. I was much more interested in the space chapters and the intensity that came as their oxygen levels were decreasing and they continued to try to make it back to the ship. Plus, we get to know and hear from each of them NOW and this just made for better reading for me, rather than breaking to go back into the past. In addition, the further I got in the book, the more I found myself skimming the past chapters in order to get back to the action in space. While this was my favorite part of the story, there were still questions that nagged me....why were they both on the mission together when only Carys was actually an astronaut? Why did they seem woefully underprepared for such a large venture into space? Even suspending disbelief, I scratched my head over these.

Of course, I'm not giving spoilers away regarding the ending but what I will say is... it was very surprising and not what I expected, yet getting there was somewhat confusing. Sorry to be vague but if you read this I'd really love to chat about your thoughts regarding the ending! I think if you're looking for an entertaining, quick read to enjoy while at the pool or the beach you should definitely give this a try. If you're looking for an epic love story like One Day you might be disappointed. I didn't find this to be similar to that book at all, unfortunately.

This is a book about a romance, that I didn't find at all romantic. Carys and Max didn't even seem to like each other. At one point they are referred to as "the young, beautiful couple" and for me that was all they ever were. A couple that looked good but really didn't belong together. Frankly I found their relationship boring, rather than life affirming. Then comes Part 3 and the book took off. I won't give spoilers but all of a sudden I was riveted. Unfortunately then there is a reset and a different ending. And then another. As if the author really couldn't be bothered to actually chose a path for the book to follow. I didn't believe in this couple and I don't think the author did either.

Sometimes, you need a book that is different from your usual genre. A book outside your comfort zone. And that is what Hold Back The Stars was for me. I've stated multiple times that I watch plenty of sci-fi films and I love them. However, when it comes to reading, sci-fi it's not a genre that I find particularly appealing, maybe because I prefer to watch the story take place on a screen.

Still, every now and then, there are some titles that catch my attention and Hold Back The Stars was one of them. It came highly recommended, part Gravity, part One Day, two stories that I quite enjoyed back in the day. And this book ended up being quite a unique read for me.

This is a love story, plain and simple. It's basically like the Gravity film, but with romance and a lot of flashbacks. I know it will sound weird because I usually love flashbacks, but in Hold Back The Stars, their present scenes were my favorite part. There were tension and great dialogue, and I couldn't wait to know what happened next.

At times, I wish I could have read two different books, one focused on Carys and Max in space and another one dedicated to exploring Europia's world. I find utopian/dystopian realities fascinating and the universe created by Katie Khan was incredibly attractive, but I felt like we were never given enough of it.

I enjoyed both Carys and Max's perspectives, as they were really likable characters and I wished the best for them. So yes, of course I wanted them to be together, but I didn't fall in love with them or their relationship.

The ending is probably what made the whole story more meaningful for me. I had no idea of what was going on and I was confused but fascinated at the same time. I know some of you disagree because it's a risky technique and it won't be for everyone, but I love to be surprised and Hold Back The Stars managed just that.

Two people are abandoned outside a spacecraft with 90 minutes of oxygen and they spend it reminiscing about their relationship. Huh. I got halfway through this novel and then decided I didn't need to finish. The worldbuilding (future, USA ruined by nuclear war, Europa and individualism reign) would have been more effective if the characters felt like they were also in the future or were any different than us, but the dialogue and actions feel very YA (but they are in their 20s.) Is this new adult? Perhaps this is the first encounter I've had with that elusive new genre. I don't care much for it, or at least, I do not think this book is very successful in what it is trying to do, in a way that goes beyond it simply not being my thing.

Ninety minutes. Carys and Max have ninety minutes to live. They're careening through space, tethered to one another with a dwindling air supply with only 90 minutes to go before they save themselves or suffocate. Make that eighty nine minutes. The clock is ticking.

Hold Back the Stars takes those ninety minutes standing between Carys and Max and their mutual demise to tell us their story. It's a story set some time in the future where the United States and the Middle East have destroyed one another while Europe and Asia have formed a Utopian society with strict guidelines about how its citizens should live. The Citizens of Europia live individual lifestyles, moving to different locations every few years to avoid making deep connections, waiting to marry until their mid-thirties, and putting themselves above all others. It is in this society that Carys and Max met and fell in love despite all of the odds being against them. And we only have ninety minutes to hear their story.

Hold Back the Stars, what have you done to me? Max and Carys' story sucked me into its vortex and still hasn't let me out. Theirs isn't a story you'll want to miss.

With a mix of romance and science-fiction, Hold Back The Stars had all the potential to be an unforgettable story. An original plot, a clock ticking and two characters on the verge of the end of their lives: tension, chemistry and lots of feelings were promised by this book's synopsis. Unfortunately, if it was an interesting story, it lacked this little something more to be the hit I expected it to be.

Carys and Max are stranded in space and their oxygen supply promises them only 90 minutes of air left before the end. Secluded, surrounded by stars and each other, all they can do is reminisce on the beginning of their relationship, what brought them here and how to get out of this crazy situation. Told between flashbacks and the present, we follow their story and see their relationship change, evolve in a world that's not supposed to have them fall in love in the first place.
Hold Back The Stars starts off, just like its synopsis, on a very promising note: we get to discover Max and Carys, two twenty-years-old something living in a dystopian world where the United States and the Middle East have been destroyed in a nuclear war, and Europe has become this utopia where people living in peace, following the rules they are given, moving every few year to another country, speaking a dozen languages and everything. In appearance what seems to be a perfect world, clearly isn't, because no one settles in love until they are ready to have a family and everything that goes with it, around their 30's. That's Max and Carys' problem: they met when they were twenty years-old, and they can't be together because of this couple's rule.
That's, in a short note, what the world is shaped like in Hold Back The Stars. If that idea of a perfect world, in appearance, is very interesting, I found that it lacked a bit of something to make me really engrossed into it. I followed the characters, their journey and their story into this new world, getting into the new ways of transportation, communication and everything else with no questions asked ; yet I think that everything maybe felt a little bit too simplistic. I wanted to ask questions, I wanted to know why they communicated that way, I wanted to know a bit more about the hierarchy of this world and how everything worked: on that side, if everything was so very interesting and well thought of, I felt like I needed more to satisfy my hunger here.

The way the story was told, however, kept me guessing and turning the pages as quickly as I could. The flashbacks, allowing us to get into the roots of the characters' relationships and feelings, struggles and lives before they got into this place, stranded in space, were very interesting to follow and allowed a good insight into the characters we deal with here. If I got a good sight of what Carys and Max were both like, I had a little bit of a hard time actually connecting to the characters – if I cared for them a great deal and obviously wanted them to both be okay, I actually wanted to feel the emotions so much that I would have cried – I know, I might be crazy?! -, yet I did not feel as much. I felt a pang of sadness, I fell things while I read, but I did not really get invested in the characters, their relationship and their destiny as much as I wished I could have.

If there's something that made this book interesting and kind of stand out, it's the endings. With an S. Since I'm always trying to write spoiler free reviews, I'm not going to say anything about it – Hold Back The Stars keeps you guessing until the very end, which was a very strong suit in the story. It messed with my mind and made me frown multiple times, questioned what was really happening until the very last page. If you're looking for something suspenseful, then this is definitely it.

In a nutshell, Hold Back The Stars is a promising mix between romance and sci-fi, that unfortunately for me failed at convincing me completely in both departments. That being said, it still was an entertaining read and one that kept me guessing until the very end. If you're intrigued by this premise, I would recommend this book for sure – who knows, you might fall in love with it.

Loved it! A very unique story with a new twist on the typical present/past storytelling. The multiple and alternate endings were bittersweet and defininitely unexpected. Katie Khan did a fantastic job in the creation of the alternate future.

What starts off as a story about two astronauts stranded in space and reminiscing, ends up being an emotional, surprising, and incredibly deep book on individualism, love, and free will.

Khan has a fabulous writing sense fluctuating between Max’s humor, Carys’ past, and even Liu’s antics. The characters all serve a purpose, but evolve beyond that, becoming loveable and more than their prescribed role. Max and Carys themselves are so different, yet the dynamic between them is both believable, and heart breaking. Their plight and feelings are universal, which only makes the entire book more emotional. Whether it be our need for company, our inability to break free of our past, or our fears that hold us back, these moments as they stare death in the face, are achingly familiar.

From the very beginning, the suspense about their fate is clear, however, Khan takes our assumptions and throws them soundly out the window. The ending will leave you reeling, careening through the air, but it is so worth it. We are challenged to see more than just two lovers in space, or two people confronted with their possible death. We are shown a complicated world, two lives full of memories and strong opinions, and their history which unravels the mystery of how they even got into space. Additionally, Khan expertly exposes us to little mysteries, the mystery of how they keep crossing paths, or how Max got his job, all to illustrate the nature of fate: how we influence it and how it influences us.

I could go on and on about this book, about how it shows us our ‘true colors’ at the end, or about how it puts into perspective our fears and regrets. Ultimately, the dynamic between Max and Carys, as well as their story, makes this book even more enjoyable, but also fulfilling (especially at the end). While you may think this book is all about death, or the potential of death, what ends up occurring is a celebration, a reminiscing, on life. However, it’s even more than that, it’s about who we are in those final moments when we think it’s the end. Who are we behind our family, behind our beliefs, behind our fear, and behind our love?

Woww this book was something! This is really a very good attempt at Utopian science fiction. And to think this is Katie Khan's debut novel... !!

Max and Carys are floating in space with only ninety minutes of oxygen left in their tanks and with nothing around except for an asteroid belt that hit their spaceship leaving nothing useful behind. The chapters are alternatively told with how much time that is left with that of their past. The past was just a bit boring, cheesy romance of how they met and how they ended up in the spaceship with no other cosmonauts.

The story setting is based on fictional Utopian world that is formed after the destruction of the United States and the Middle East and the form of living the post-war world adapts to - The Rotation. For every three years, people who belong to the Europia and are in Rotation, will be moved to different regions of the world. There can be no relationships that are permanent until you are 35. Everyone is answerable to no one except their own and they take responsibility for their selves in this new world. No religion, race, ethnicity, caste etc.

Max is from the founding families of the Rotation and he lives by it. While Carys, is enrolled in it only after 18, has enough roots and commitments prior to Rotation so she hates the system. What happens when they meet is what follows and yes, eventually ending up in a spaceship.

Sci-fi wise the book was great and wonderful creative writing. Romance-wise it was nothing different.

"Science both advances and undermines itself over time. If we live long enough, most theories we currently accept as fact will be proved false. There is always better, more advanced science out there -we just have to advance our own knowledge first. "
As the minutes are ticking and there's no miracle happening, i was intrigued and definitely wanting to finish the book to know its end. And boy was i surprised. I don't want to give spoilers but those last few chapters were amazing!

My rating 4/5 :)

An original, well written tale of love set in a new world with new rules. The scenario the world finds itself in could very well happen, so could this be the solution to helping people embrace diversity and move on peacefully? I particularly loved the multiple ending, kept me reading long after time for bed!

Every so often the description of a book fails to make clear what audience the book is aimed at. Hold Back the Stars is one of those books. This derivative, New Adult, book is reasonably entertaining for the first 2 parts. Part 3, is a mess consisting of 3 sub parts indicting what happens if one lead character is saved over the other, then swapping roles with the other lead being saved, then deciding that none of that happened and giving the real ending. The cliched plot line about the "one true love" for characters who are still in their early twenties and are unable to move on if their "soul mate" is removed from the picture is trite in this case. The fact that the book is a derivative work of the movie "Gravity" makes it even less interesting than that visually stunning, questionable plot movie.