It has been literal years since I have read a Cat Sebastian romance novel, and that’s a damn shame for me, because I love her writing. I’ve had books of hers out from the library, but the timing just hasn’t been right, I suppose. But her debut into contemporary romance, Star Shipped, (you, like me, will be forgiven if the cover art made you think this was mid 20th century like the Cabots series) was available as an ARC and an Aardvark book and I scooped it up as fast as possible – and then read it two months later. Such is life and my brain.
Star Shipped is the story of Simon and Charlie, co-stars on a long-running sci-fi show who rather notoriously have a rough relationship. Charlie entered their first season fresh out of reality television and engaged in some stereotypically terrible on-set behavior before getting his act together, but Simon’s baggage from previous abusive sets means that he mentally hasn’t let Charlie off the hook, even with demonstrably different behavior. So, they find themselves 6 years later tenuously civil while bickering constantly and engaging in muffin-based subterfuge.
Simon is ready to put the show behind him though and get back to “serious” acting. His contract is at an end, and he has booked a play in New York. He hasn’t disclosed yet that he isn’t returning, but he is making all the preparations to go. But there are a series of events and it suddenly becomes quite important that Simon and Charlie not be seen as difficult to work with – and their tension to *not* be the reason Simon is departing – so they hatch a scheme to capture their friendship on social media for the handful of weeks before Simon leaves for New York.
Sebastian has built a set up for potential enemies-to-lovers forced proximity romance and layers that with richly detailed character backgrounds and motivations that expand this story beyond the trope basics. Because as much as Simon is interpreting his relationship with Charlie as antagonistic in a negative way, Charlie has a different view of it, embracing Simon’s pricklier nature. These two characters have vastly different backgrounds and have developed coping mechanisms to match, and it’s here that Sebastian takes time to create decisions and circumstances that all ring true to the characters as written. One of the negatives I’ve seen written about this book is that the road trip set up is forced, and while I can understand that reading of the text for me it is much more about Simon’s desperation to make things work that leads to this set of choices, and Charlie’s desire to spend the time with Simon regardless of what it might cost him sets up his acceptance of this option as plausible.
There are also important things to say about mental health representation, and how wealth and family history affect how a person experiences the world around them. Sebastian is very intentional about how she writes identity, and this book shines when the various intersectionalities of Simon and Charlie’s identities are brought to the forefront, usually to Simon’s dismay. As usual, Sebastian takes on the different elements of privilege that are tied up together and starts pulling them apart.
This is a single point of view story, and while those don’t always work for me, I felt this one earned staying with Simon and experiencing Charlie through his eyes primarily. Because Simon has to choose, and has to keep choosing, to let himself believe what he is feeling, believe what Charlie is feeling, and trust that the effort will be worth it. He is also choosing again and again how to build his own little found family (partly by recognizing the parts that already exist) and letting himself accept that his disabilities do deserve to be accommodated, and that’s a thing that Charlie will help him with if he allows.
This book also gets bonus points for Cat Sebastian nailing releasing the third act tension without a break-up. Huzzah!
A very happy 4.5 rounded up.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher, it has not affected the contents of the review.
Bingo Space: Or. So much of what falls under the Or description applies here – Simon feels like an unreliable narrator in his own life; several characters change their plans; and at its core this is a story about choice and choosing.
