The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

The book i needed to get me out of my book slump. I really loved this book, for some context i found it by googling “books about people with anxiety” and chose this one. I loved feeling so familiar with the struggles she goes through, even though she's like a space baby, lone survivor, and only hope of a new world. I'm not those things lol but anxiety sure does the same things to me and her. Amazing.

This is not a story about learning to survive on your own. Is this called character development? Hell no!!! Ugggghhhhhh...what was this? The only good part was the last chapter which served as a prologue, I guess. Expand on that, please.Goodreads page for this book has stunning reviews so I picked it up. No, I didn't pick it up thinking it was gonna be space romance. I though it'd be more futuristic and more fun to read than Romy running away from her problems in a circular ship! And don't even get me started on the messed up Computer Science in this. This book was doing fine tillSpoiler Romy boarded the Eternity and the computer just goes “Four letter authorization code required.” Who the fuck wrote this stupid-ass program!!!!!!! It's a violation of all security protocols, when your damn PC asks you to enter your 8-digit password!! God in heaven! Then to make matters worse, Romy changes the system admin to herself and goes to sleep! GIRL! Change the damn passcode!!! What are you doinggggg?! I wanna fire the stupid programmer that wrote this damn program. Did you not go through 4 years of rigorous training? Did you not read the social engineering handbook and how your information can be stolen?! Like, the computer asks her if she wants to become the new admin, it could also have asked her if she wanted to CHANGE THE DAMN CODE!They taught you astrophysics but didn't teach you enough Computer Science? First law of social/security engineering, keep a stronger password than ‘Lucy'. Also, why in the world did she only know a little programming as she mentions it? You're in space, where everything is run by a computers. You should know how to fix it. I also can't believe she installed a whole new OS while IN SPACE! HECK! :( I'm so mad at this thing.Let's also discuss how she cold-bloodedly killed J and then instead of dealing with the trauma and seeing through it, the story abruptly ends. And while J is dying, she says to her mom: “I took care of him. He's...dying.” What? My epic fantasy protagonists feel more remorse and pain when they kill their arch-nemesis than you do, girl. This part was not at all well-written.There is also zero chance that NASA sent the kid of the astronauts who died in space, to the same ship they died on, no matter what. I'm certain that violates like a hundred protocols. Did the entire human population die that they could only find this kid? Huuuh? We deviated a bit too much from the rules of our reality. Has common sense left all humans in this story?/EndRantI'm done. This just agitated me. I'm gonna go back to reading [b:The Hidden Oracle 26252859 The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1) Rick Riordan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449765273s/26252859.jpg 46249638] now :

Well wow, ow, that was so much. I got frustrated about halfway through trying to figure out what the hell had happened in the past that kept being alluded to. It makes sense that she was avoiding thinking about it for so long, but as a reader, I wanted to know what was going on. Learning who J is was a great moment, though. That reveal was done BRILLIANTLY.

I did not expect to love this book as much as I did. Based on what it says on the back I thought it was going to a book about a space romance featuring loss. But this book went in all different directions, I even thought it was scary at some points. The plot twists were amazing and I did not see most of them coming. The ending was everything I wanted. I was afraid that the book would end up a different way for a bit but thankfully it ended the way it did. I am now scarred for life, I will never go to space.

Did not expect to finish this today but I'm super happy to finish the year out with Romy and to finally have the whole story resolved:) I enjoyed following her story even if I didn't stay on schedule for the majority of it. I've never read anything like this before,  and I think maybe I'll have to try to read it again sometime. 

🎇 Happy New Years!🎆

Recensie van audioboek (via Storytel)
Alle punten voor intrige, atmosfeer en het meest griezelige idee ooit:
Moederziel alleen in een ruimteschip, tientallen jaren verwijderd van gelijk welke bestemming en jaren vertraging in communicaties naar aarde. Een lichtpuntje blijkt wanneer onze tiener-ruimtevaarder bericht krijgt dat een schip succesvol werd gelanceerd met als doel haar in te halen en vergezellen. De twee kapiteins kunnen elkaar berichten en er blijkt een instant connectie tussen de twee. Wat begint als een lief en hoopvol nieuw begint, escaleert in duisternis om uit te monden in een plottwist die zo overdreven belachelijk en ongeloofwaardig is, dat het alle wind uit de zeilen neemt.

Vlot boek met een sterke start, waarin zoet en lief leuk afgewisseld wordt met angst en dreiging. Helaas van de over-the-top plottwist die het voor mij een beetje verbrodde.

Romy Silvers was born in space. Her parents were part of a long voyage to a new planet that is suspected to be habitable by humans. On this voyage, they had Romy. After an unfortunate turn of events, Romy ends up alone as captain of the ship at age 11. She has been alone ever since. When she learns of a ship on it's way to join her that she is able to communicate with, she becomes ecstatic. She finally won't be alone. But with a war on Earth affecting how she runs her ship, Romy isn't sure what the future holds.

This book is INCREDIBLE. It starts off kind of slow, but James leaves enough unknown that you have to keep reading. The pacing was incredible. The slow start really added to how we ramped up the pace until the end, where my heart was pounding. I felt like Romy was a very believable character. You could tell she had spent a lot of her life alone. She starts off the book full of naivete. The plot twists in this book were NOT expected AT ALL. I had no idea this book was going in the direction it did. It quickly got very dark and very suspenseful. I technically finished this 3 days ago, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. It is such an incredible story of hope, loss, love, and survival. Everyone should read it.

TW: alcohol, anxiety, anxiety attack, attempted murder, blood, bones, death, emotional abuse, manipulation, gore, hallucinations, murder, needles, gaslighting, violence

To my surprise, I ended up really enjoying this. It started off slow and a bit boring at first, but as it reaches the middle half of the novel, it starts to introduce some interesting elements that shakes up the tone of the story. It's no masterpiece by any means, and I wouldn't be quick to recommend it, but I think this wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. The first few chapters mostly just came off as a bland introduction to a seemingly fascinating concept. However, after they slowly begin to reveal more details and introduce new characters and lore, it starts to all come together into something around the decent and good area.