Starkissed Lizzy Ford

Starkissed by Lizzy Ford - 3 STARS

Synopsis- 
When Mandy loses her job, she thinks she’s hit rock bottom – until her plane is swallowed by a strange storm that sends her and everyone else on board 10,000 years into the future. At first, she thinks the scary world is nothing more than a bad dream. The war-torn Earth is unrecognizable. Black fog blocks the sun, and the oceans are dry. Even worse: the planet is inhabited by half-human, half-alien creatures dying from a mysterious disease. Horrified at the thought of spending her life here, she clings to the knowledge that there’s one man who can open the star gate to send her home. 
As the Naki prince who controls the star gate, Akkadi gets first choice of any human female that makes her way through the star gate. Only by breeding with purebred humans from the past can his race hope to remain immune to the disease and hopefully, develop an eventual cure. With shrinking resources and a raging battle for the human planet, dutiful, commanding Akkadi is less than thrilled at the idea of trying to figure out Mandy, a woman he views as wild with neither discipline nor respect for someone in his position. He’s ready to write her off, when she offers him something too tempting to resist: her body for the chance to convince him by any means possible to send her home. Neither intends for the arrangement to be permanent or to fall for the other. Only when Mandy learns Akkadi’s secret and walks away does he realize he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her – even if it means losing his war.


Overall- Im not sure where to begin with this one.  I REALLY liked this book overall. In fact, I read it in one day. I was drawn into the book by mere intrigue. The plot is so very different from anything Ive ever read. It had dystopian elements, lots of love, lots of angst, lots of sci-fi, and some action and adventure. A lot of great elements right?! And frankly I dont think the author did anything "wrong" it ended perfectly, there was enough of every aspect for me. What I didnt like was that I felt very confused about the world that the characters lived in throughout the book. By the end, I got it, and I was there. But it took me a while before I figured out the world building. This book in general though was extremely interesting with lots of twists. When I finished, I was very satisfied, the ending was perfect. I admit, I was not expecting certain aspects of this book. For one, there are sex scenes and sexual content through out. And there is also discussion regarding to race. (I put this in because I think readers should be aware of what they're getting into, while I do not see this book as a racial book in any way, one should be aware that the book may make references to a race being the best, but I do not in any way thing this was intentional or its purpose, this book reminds me more of the movie Avatar.)

Cover- pretty
Rating: R
Overall: An interesting angsty sci-fi SA read!
Characters:  Mandy, Akkadi
Page Turner: Yes
Series Cont.? No
Book Boyfriend: None?
Genre: New Adult Science Fiction 
Sex Scenes: Yes
Setting- Outer Space 

Plot-This book threw me for a loop. I was not expecting any of this! It was quite the pleasant surprise. Confusing at times, but overall pretty good! I think what needed more work was the world building, I was not quite sold on the where. The planet and space ship settings were confusing, and I couldn't tell sometimes where the characters were. At times I also felt confused as to who was who when I probably shouldn't have been confused. There were a lot of things I liked. I liked that the author made it easy to follow along with the plot (which seems counter to what I say above, however I disagree, the plot/story line differ from the setting, I found the setting confusing not the plot). The pacing and style was really great, never a dull moment. I also really liked the dual point of view, and I think that Akkadi's perspective was dead on for a guy. His thought process and word choice even felt more male like. I liked that I was able to see the different characters develop and grow throughout the novel. 

Characters-
Mandy--Poor Mandy. When the book first starts I saw her as weak, annoying, and naive, somewhat princess like (in that she always gets what she wants when she whines kind of way, and used to having things handed to her). And she was. And in a weird way, I liked that she was getting what she deserved. Okay maybe not that far. But still. I was intrigued. Through the course of the book though I found myself really liking her. She stood up for what she believed and wanted, no matter the consequences. She was passionate and loving. She didn't allow fear to get in the way of her strength. I found her to be quite the character and I was most definitely rooting for her by the end of the book! 

Akkadi--In the beginning I wasn't sure what to think about him. I was in his head but didn't really understand his ways or his reasons. Which was kind of the point. And it worked. And I liked it. He was so interesting! I loved reading his POV because I always got answers! He was so shielded that the only way to understand was to be in his head, and once I was I felt as though I could really understand his ways and his reasons. I like that at first he is level headed with a one track mind, ruling his "kingdom" and that over the course of the book he learns to open his eyes and his heart. He goes from a man people feared to a man people look up to, and I like that characterization much better! Watching his development though was really fun and interesting.