When Diana woke up on her 23rd birthday she thought it was going to be a normal day. She thought of donuts, coffee, and laughter. She did not think she was going to become the center in a galactic race to win her heart. None too pleased with the prospect of alien races descending on Earth to try and woo her, Diana does the only reasonable thing she can; she runs. Now she has to try and find a way to get rid of the blasted bracelet that is the cause of all the recent craziness in her life. The problem is this isn't an ordinary bracelet; it contains the Heart of the Cosmos. Furthermore the Cosmos chose her for a reason and it isn't keen on letting her go until she finishes what it started over ten years ago. Something tried to destroy it and now Diana isn't just worried about her heart, she is worried about her life.
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Characters
Diana is the main character and the only point of view throughout the story. There are also a few friends of hers, a few family members and a whole lot of aliens, many of whom are not very different from people. Diana was quite a sympathetic character. I can't say that I connected with her, but I was interested enough. I could understand her motivations and wished her well. The rest of the characters were not particularly fleshed out.
World-building
The world-building is minimal. Even though Diana visits various planets and meets lots of creatures, there is only enough information to understand what's going on.
Plot
The plot is straightforward, simple and easy to follow. The main story deals with Diana's adventures in space, but there is also an alien romance sub-plot.
Impressions
It was an easy, short, lighthearted and quite fun read with some humor. This isn't serious sci-fi where you'll get to know alien worlds and cultures, explore interplanetary political relationships or learn something about science. If that's what you are looking for, this book is definitely not for you. It has a clear YA feel, it's written in a simple language and there are no real-world issues. It's fast-paced and has lots of adventures. However, Diana always got from each seemingly tough situation easily thanks to the bracelet, that's why most of the action scenes lacked emotional tension for me. Only closer to the end of the book the stakes got higher when it was revealed that Diana and the people she loved could actually get hurt. To me personally, the book would be more appealing if that was the case all along.
I also got a bit confused about all the secondary characters. Many of them were only introduced briefly and reappeared later, and I couldn't remember who was who. It was often hard to understand their motivations when they suddenly changed their minds and decided to help Diana even though they'd just been trying to hurt her. In the end, Diana solved a certain mystery after a dream that she had, but I saw no connection between what happened in the dream and the conclusions that she made. Might be just me though.
All in all, it's a very light, kind and fun book. It explores the importance of friendship and helping each other out. I think it's more suitable for teenagers and young adults. It can be called sci-fi because of all the aliens and space travel, but you can also view it as fantasy because there is no real science involved.
You might enjoy this book if you are into light, fast-paced YA space adventures and alien romances and aren't looking for serious adult sci-fi.
You can get the book at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple.
The author
K.T. Munson is an independent author. First published at 5 years old in the young writers conference, she has pursued writing ever since. She maintains a blog that is about writing and her novels. She was born and raised in the last frontier, the great state of Alaska.
Check out her website, Twitter and Goodreads page.