Starr Fall (Starr Fall #1) by Kim Briggs

Summary: On the run from the Organization, Starr never planned on falling in love. 

Starr Bishop’s the complete package. A perfect smile, brains to match, and a winning attitude. Boys want to date her and girls want to be her. She’s the type of girl you want to hate, if only she wasn’t so damn likable. But don’t worry, she’s not interested in your boyfriend. Boys are one complication she can live without. 

When the Organization decides she’s not only the model student but the ideal assassin, Starr’ll need a lot more than high test scores and extracurricular involvement to get herself out of that commitment. 

Dark, moody, and dead sexy Christian Evergood is the last person she’d expect—or even want— to come to her rescue. From opposite ends of Webster High’s social hierarchy, their lives collide in one electrifying moment. Christian isn’t the Goth loner he pretends to be, he’s a part Cherokee, All-American boy who wants to be a hero, Starr’s hero. Christian makes Starr forget that the Organization is after her, but nothing will stop the Organization from collecting their top recruit. 

By the way, the spot for junior class president just became available. (Via Goodreads.com)

Release Date: November 4th, 2016

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Review:
 

I was fortunate enough to receive a free digital copy of Starr Fall from the author, Kim Briggs, in exchange for an honest review. I will be interviewing Kim soon and once I have posted the interview, I will link it here. My excitement to start the novel increased after I saw that its Goodreads rating was a solid five stars. At the time, Starr Fall only had five reviews/ratings since it had not been released yet. Nonetheless, I was extremely hopeful because of its rave reviews. Unfortunately, I did not love Starr Fall as much as those individuals did.

I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters. While I had that exact problem while reading the first two novels of the Throne of Glass series, which is one of my all-time favorite series, the characters of Starr Fall simply irritated me. I cannot deny that my personality mirrors Starr's, but she is too immature. I cannot say that, at the age of 16, I have discovered everything there is to know about life, but as a 16 year I am about the same age as Starr. I understood some of her thought processes as she was chased by the Organization, but she got off-track too many times. The entire point of the novel was to discover information regarding the Organization in order to seek revenge for her friends, but half the time she was lost in Christian's eyes.

Her inability to focus on the task at hand also led me to dislike her relationship with Christian. I understood that the most important thing for them to do was to seek shelter, not hunt for the Organization; however, once they reached the cabin they should have started searching possible leads, not frolicking through a meadow. Before Christian arrived, Starr went to the library to search for anything associated with the Organization, but after that point she was too distracted to focus her energy on searching for them. When she reached the cabin with Christian she kept telling herself to focus on the mission, not on Christian and whatever they were doing, but she never did. That drove me absolutely insane. I understand that she needed to clear her head to focus, but her head was never on the task at hand, it was always on Christian. I began wondering if she actually cared about seeking revenge for her friends. I must admit that Christian was the most likable character in the novel. Many of the characters seemed too one-dimensional or cliche. While he was especially the latter, he did bring some much needed humor. 



Starr Fall lacked action. While there were moments of the story that got my heart pounding, they ended quickly. I never truly felt like any of the characters were threatened aside from the initial run-in with the Organization. The beginning drew me in; however, after she escaped the Organization, nothing really happened. She did have a run-in with some unexpected individuals; however, she put herself into that situation by making the wrong choice.

A positive of Starr Fall was its diversity. Christian is part Cherokee and towards the end of the novel the characters end up on one of the Cherokee reservations. I do not believe I have read any Young Adult novels that take place or travel to an Indian reservation. It was a great touch that allowed Starr Fall to stand out from countless other Young Adult novels I have read.

The cover of Starr Fall is also gorgeous. Although I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped, I would love to hang a poster with that cover on my wall. It reminds me of the Mara Dyer covers, which is one of my favorite trilogies and some of my favorite covers. While the cover does not exactly correlate with the story, it does relate to Starr's love of swimming and her escape from the Organization. 

While Starr Fall was not my cup of tea, I recommend that you try it, especially if you are new to YA. I believe I might have disliked it more than normal due to the reading slump I was teetering on. My lack of ambition to read and my annoyance towards Starr caused me to dislike the book more than I would have under normal circumstances.

If I had read Starr Fall when I initially got into reading YA, I would have absolutely loved it. While it lacks fallen angels, Star Fall reminds me of the Fallen series and the Hush, Hush saga, which were two of my favorite series when I began reading YA. Having read Young Adult novels for the last seven years, my reading habits have changed dramatically. While Starr Fall might please someone who has read Young Adult as long as I have, I think it would be better suited for new Young Adult readers. Throughout the last seven years, I have read countless tropes and "hot" genres of Young Adult fiction. In my opinion, Starr Fall contains a couple common tropes that I once loved when I began my journey in YA. Starr Fall contains a mix of romance, action, and suspense that appeals to a variety of readers.