Star Shipped

A Novel

By: Cat Sebastian

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

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. Read by award winning audiobook narrator, Joel Leslie.

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

Out There🪐❤️🌌

I want to start by saying I love Cat Sebastian—easily one of my favorite authors. I was really excited to read her first contemporary romance, and with the Star Trek–behind-the-scenes vibes? I was all in.
I’d also just finished Dooryard Books before starting this, so the bar was set pretty high.
That said… this book was almost great. So close. I really enjoyed the fan Discord and the cast’s found family dynamic, but the romance felt a bit forced for me personally.
Joel Leslie was exceptional, as always.
Still worth the credit if you’re a Cat Sebastian fan :)

Another Cat Sebastian winner!

Relatable, authentic, well-developed characters and witty dialogue. A love letter to queer fandoms. Chef’s kiss!

Lack of pauses

Some transitions between scenes do not have a pauses so flow is off otherwise great book.

great characters, thoroughly enjoyed

I had mixed feelings in the first chapter. I’m not crazy about stories featuring film/TV stars, and I found the narrator’s speech to be oddly (and overly) affected. I was considering switching to the ebook version.

But the characters quickly sucked me in, and within a couple more chapters I had become accustomed to the narration. Everyone had their quirks. The leads had very different personalities, but were both covering up inner insecurity and old wounds.

Quite a few secondary characters were well fleshed out, and I could see several becoming the leads in subsequent books if Sebastian decides to make this a series.

I was sorry when it ended!

so good

I love everything Cat writes and this was no different. Her stories are so lonely and her characters are so interesting. I spend the enite weekend listening to the story and it did not disappoint!