Reviewed by Mal
TITLE: Starshipped
AUTHOR: Cat Sebastian
PUBLISHER: Avon
LENGTH: 3.9 MB
RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2026
BLURB:
Cat Sebastian’s long-awaited foray into contemporary romance! A witty, emotional, and deliciously slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance between two costars on a popular sci-fi television series.
Simon and Charlie, actors on a long-running sci-fi show, can’t stand one another. Charlie is impetuous, outgoing, and basically feral, and Simon thinks he should have stayed in reality television where he belongs. They’ve spent the better part of a decade quarreling over the spotlight and pretty much everything else, and everybody in the industry knows it. Now that Simon’s contract is finally done, he can move to New York, start fresh with work he actually likes, and get away from Charlie.
Simon’s only problem is that people might assume he’s been pushed off the show due to being impossible to work with. And he is kind of difficult to work with. He doesn’t get along with people—unlike Charlie, who somehow tricked everyone on the show into adoring him despite some outrageously bad on-set behavior during the show’s first season. Simon would rather never have to see Charlie again, but reluctantly agrees to stage a very public friendship during the short time before he moves. When Charlie has to leave town to deal with a family emergency, this means Simon comes along. Their road trip brings Simon to places he would never have willingly chosen to visit—and he finds he’s actually not having a terrible time.
The more he gets to know Charlie, the more Simon suspects he’s underestimated his former coworker. Simon also realizes that after seven years, Charlie might know him better than anyone ever has. Even stranger, Charlie seems to be starting to actually like him, despite knowing him so well. Still, Simon is about to move three thousand miles away, so whatever’s starting between him and Charlie can’t really amount to anything… right?
Tropes:
Enemies to Lovers
Opposites Attract
Forced Proximity
Slow Burn
REVIEW:
This is one of those books… the ones you wish you could read forever… maybe a bit everyday to check in on Charlie and Simon, so you don’t have to let them go. It’s inadequate to say this book is beautiful. Yet say it I will because it is. I have loved every Cat Sebastian book and this one was no different. Is there a machine that can allow me to inhabit all those worlds simultaneously for all of time? Asking for a friend.
My favourite part of Sebastian’s writing is always the nuance that adds these complex layers – to the characters, to the plot. Enriching them, making me go ah I did not see that, so that’s what it means, that’s why he’s doing that, that’s why it’s ok that happened- if only I had a key to life like that oh how powerful I would be . The other thing I always love about her writing is the characters- this is separate from the first point – and fine maybe connected – but I love them and their foibles and quirks and their very very real challenges. Their layers are not just laid out for us to read… no no no, we discover them, analyse them, see them change accept adapt thrive, it’s the best feeling.
Charlie and Simon are not… simpatico! While they work well together there is a lot of friction and yet there is more, we see that from the beginning- they are intrinsically connected – exchanging a whole host of subtext and there is a parallel relationship running there. Neither have it easy, the trauma and healing the mental health rep the disability rep is stellar in this story because it’s very human, very real the resistance almost to it is very real.
As the walls start falling between the two it’s like a beautiful sunrise, flooding everything with with warm healing glow letting them embrace their shadows. They don’t loose the friction but let it shape ther connection into something more than just swoony love which it is but more.
I love the found family and sense of belonging the author exposes which moves along Simon’s arc once he opens himself to seeing it. I loved Jaime- I hope we get his story. I loved Lian and Alex and Roshini.. maybe even Dave because Sebastian doesn’t write unidimensional characters.
Highly recommend reading this book, it’s a favourite of this year for sure.
RATING: 
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