I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.

Two people, ninety minutes to live, and no hope of rescue.

Max and Carys are adrift in space with only ninety minutes of oxygen. With only a tether holding back the crushing silence and loneliness, they struggle to come to terms with their situation, support each other, and maybe – just maybe – get out alive. As their story unfolds, we slowly learn about their pasts and what brought them to drift in the infinite reaches of space.

Oh my god. I don’t really know what I was expecting when I picked up Hold Back the Stars, but it wasn’t this. It’s just an absolutely stunning read and I don’t really know where to start. There’s a lot that makes this book unique; it’s not just your run-of-the-mill romance or science fiction novel. The romance in the book isn't what makes it amazing. Max and Carys aren't characters we haven't seen before and surely we've all read books featuring forbidden romances. What makes them unique and interesting as characters is their actions. Max and Carys are ordinary people who do ordinary things -- this is what made the whole story so heartbreaking. I've seen people go through some of the things they go through, deal with the issues they deal with, and drift apart in the same way they do. Max and Carys could be anyone -- they could be you or me or your best friends.

At the same time, this book isn't just about a romance. It's about sacrifice, struggling to conform to society's rules and regulations, and how one small interaction can change lives. The world-building is incredible; Khan creates a version of Earth that we could actually see in the not-so-distant future, for better or worse. What I found really fascinating is that this book is not a dystopian novel -- they're not fighting against one of the evil, tyrannical governments that have been so popular in fiction the past few years. They live in a Utopia filled with happy citizens and a global government. There's a lot of grey area here, making the book all the more captivating.

The storytelling lends itself beautifully to the full discovery of the plot. I'm not usually a fan of a dual narrative -- there's always one plot line that's far more interesting than the other -- but Hold Back the Stars doesn't suffer from this. Their current situation is just as compelling as their pasts. I won't spoil it, but Khan manages the twists and turns of the plot so incredibly beautifully and you just don't know what to expect. I kept second guessing myself and going back to reread bits until the very end.

There's so much that I want to say but cannot and will not -- you should go into this book blind if possible in order to get the most out of it. This is an incredibly unique read that manages to be both utterly heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. I highly recommend it, particularly for someone new to science fiction and just stepping out of their comfort zone. Don't forget to bring some tissues.

Rating: 4/5

I really enjoyed this book, right up until the last part...it's difficult to discuss since I don't want to spoil it for anyone yet to read. Basically, the ending felt like a cop out to me, since it is a version of multiple endings. I can see why, but I didn't like it, and I would have preferred less of an exploration of all eventualities and just a solid decision. That was a real shame, for me, as the rest of the book was excellent and a really enjoyable read.

I am not going to write a full review of this book. Not even going to put it up on my blog. Simply putting that out there. I can’t write a full review since I haven’t even read the full book. I skimmed most of it. There I said it.

Hold Back The Stars has an interesting enough premise and a beautiful cover which, in my opinion, is plenty of reason to want to read a book. (Let’s not pretend a cover doesn’t sway your choices even a little bit. In some cases, a lot.) I love space. I love romance. I love angst. I love when it’s all three combined. But this book just didn’t blend them well. I found the flashbacks sequences dull and after a while I started skipping them. I’ve skimmed through 300 pages, pretty much. I couldn’t relate to the characters, I couldn’t bring myself to care about their struggles. I found the world confusing and, coming from a Slavic country, the use of “voivode” a bit too? Misplaced? The author might’ve explained why she chose that word, but I must’ve skipped it. Hopefully it’s not there because it simply looked fancy. Hopefully research has been done.

Anyways, this book was not for me. Maybe it will suit your fancy better. I hope it does.

Dystopia is my favourite literary genre. So when I read the blurb for Hold Back the Stars, I knew that I definitely needed to read it.

This novel starts with Carys and Max floating in outer space. They have had to flee their ship after an explosion, but didn't have time to pick up emergency provisions. That means they only have 90 minutes of air left, and there's no immediate chance of rescue. Through a series of flashbacks, we discover how they arrived in such a precarious situation, as the minutes tick down towards zero.

I was intrigued to find out how Katie Khan would develop Hold Back the Stars from this initial premise. The book's plot alternates between the outer space setting and earth-bound scenes from the point of view of Max and Carys. Through these flashbacks, the reader sees the dystopian future in which Carys and Max are living. In an attempt to prevent conflict between countries, people are prevented from staying in any single country for more than a couple of years. Children are also separated from their families before they reach adulthood. The theory is that with friends and family spread around the globe, people are less likely to agree to war with other countries.

From the very first panic-filled words, Hold Back the Stars grabbed a tight hold of my attention. Katie Khan has constructed a dystopia that feels all too believable, and that's always the scariest kind. I loved her characters, especially Carys, who is so strong and feisty but very emotional too. Her relationship with Max is frowned upon, because people are not permitted to form romantic attachments before their thirties. Max and Carys have to decide between what society says they should do, and what their feelings tell them.

This book kept me hooked right until the ending, which is also very cleverly written. There's an unexpected twist towards the end of the book, which I'm not going to spoil here. And the very final pages are so beautiful that I had to go back and re-read them straight away. I'm not ashamed to tell you that I had tears in my eyes as I did so.

For fans of dystopian fiction, Hold Back the Stars is definitely one to add to your TBR list. It's an impressive debut novel, which I am very sure I will be reading again.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Like some of the other reviewers here, I'm not usually a big sci-fi or romance fan, but Hold Back The Stars has changed that. Not only is it beautifully written, but it's clearly very well-researched and thought out. The universe that Katie Khan has created feels incredibly real and very possible (particularly given the current state of politics), which makes it all the more engrossing.

I suspect this book is going to be a smashing success, and I'm already casting for the film in my head (Ben Whishaw as Osric, anyone?). My advice for reading it? It's an emotional rollercoaster, so have a box of tissues and a bottle of water handy - you will cry and you will need hydrating

I loved the premise, and I tried very hard to put aside my mild irritation at the slightly cloying repetition littered throughout any descriptive passages, but I'm afraid I neither enjoyed, nor understood this book. I felt that the flitting from past to present worked until about 60% of the way through and then I felt that it completely lost it's way.

I think it would sit better, in terms of tone, as a YA rather than an adult space romance which was what I felt it was striving for.

Not for me I'm afraid but if you're a fan of escapism rom-com lit with an edgy setting then it would probably work for you.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. I found myself skipping past a lot of the romance part because, if I'm being honest, it just didn't capture my attention at all. The ending was superbly written which is why I upped my rating to three stars as opposed to lower, but it still wasn't enough to endear the story to me more I'm afraid.

Please remember this is my opinion and others will not agree with me on reading this story. A copy was received via NetGalley.

First of all, I know that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover but just look at how beautiful it is! Sparkly gold with a spot UV; so, so pretty! Unfortunately I read this on Kindle (the one downside of eBooks is that they don't satisfy my love for beautiful book covers) but I'm going to buy an actual physical copy as i'm not sure I can resist it and really want it on my bookshelf.

Carys and Max are stranded in space with only 90 minutes of air left, we don't know how they came to find themselves in space or how they became stranded but via flashbacks the story is slowly revealed. Hold Back The Stars is a Science Fiction/Romance novel mash up of sorts. Set in a future where the USA and Middle East have annihilated each other in a Nuclear War (I know, very prescient), Europe has formed a Utopia named Europia (see what she did there?) a democracy where people spend around 3 years in one place and are then rotated elsewhere to work for the greater good. Romantic relationships are not allowed until after the age of 35 by which time the theory is that you would've contributed enough to society to be able to marry and procreate. Carys and Max are both happy with this rule until they meet and fall in love and they begin to doubt their world.

Their story and the trials and tribulations they face, even though the book is set in a fictional world, are realistic. The tale of two people who shouldn't be together falling in love isn't a new one, but Katie Khan makes it interesting and new. I really liked the way the book jumped between their current predicament of tumbling through space floating further and further away from their space ship and their history and how they came to be stranded. Lots of the technology used in the book wasn't too dissimilar to our current technology just slightly more advanced; MindShare for instance was a glorious troll free, less sweary version of Twitter.

This book really packs a punch; weirdly the bits where they are floating in space watching their Oxygen run out aren't the most difficult or upsetting to read. Those sections come from nowhere when we discover that even in a perfect world traumatic, heartbreaking events can occur. Carys and Max's bickering even when facing imminent death was true to life (this would totally be me and my husband) and their love and resilience was heart warming.

The themes of this novel; politics, war, democracy, the power of people, socio and economic equality are so very current (I finished this book as Trump was being sworn in) that it really felt like I was reading our near future. Also, I don't think I've read a book with an ending like this before, I won't spoil it, obviously, but it did make me think and I've been mulling it over for the past few days as it was so beautifully done.

As someone who never reads romance and only very rarely reads sci-fi, I wasn't expecting great things from this book. As it turned out, I was absolutely blown away. "Hold Back the Stars" is a sweet, inventive and truly unique novel so captivating that I read it all in one sitting. Genuine, heartfelt and spectacularly well done.

As you might be able to tell from the cover, the tagline and the blurb, Hold Back the Stars is really a romance with a scifi setting (set in the future) rather than a scifi focused novel. That's probably the first thing you need to know if you're thinking about reading this novel. There is not much of a sci-fi flavour to it at all (apart from the "present" time being in the vacuum of space). I did half expect that it would be that way, and was slightly disappointed when it turned out that I was right.

Not sure if it was just the formatting of the electronic ARC that I was reading, but the way the novel was set out, it was actually very difficult to keep track of the timelines. It was quite obvious as to whether it was set in the past vs the present, but it was hard to know exactly how far back we were going, and the transitions weren't quite as smooth as I would've liked.

I can't put much faith at all in the 'science' of the novel. There were the sort of explanations where you kind of have to just accept them without thinking about it for fear of discovering a large number of holes and breaking your suspension of disbelief.

The romance side of things was okay, but it just wasn't engaging enough to carry the entire story and flow of the novel despite it technically being the main focus. The jumpy timeline and somewhat awkward prose didn't help with my immersion in the novel. The writing wasn't quite to my taste, with a lot of examples of odd word choices making the tone too formal.

So unfortunately, I wasn't the biggest fan of this novel. I'm not sure that I would recommend it; it would depend on whether you're okay with character and romance focused scifi novels.

Ratings
Overall: 4/10
Plot: 2.5/5
Romance: 3/5
Writing: 2/5
World Building: 2/5
Characters: 2.5/5
Cover: 2/5

Bittersweet and beautiful. An intricate and heartbreaking vision of the future.

The premise is simple. In one possible future lovers Carys and Max are floating in space with only 90 minutes of air left and little chance of rescue. And as they fall into the void they look back at their lives together and the decisions and quirks of fate that have brought them here.

The execution of the story is pretty damned near perfect. Katie Khan has created a world that considers itself utopian. The mantra is everything is done in your own name only. And yet law dictates everything from where you live to when you'll marry. She gradually reveals the history and story of both our protagonists and this brave new world. It's artful and implicit, at no point are we subjected to long histories of wars etc etc. Instead there are little clues here and there revealed by the characters.

Carys and Max are flawed but easy to root for. The ending is exquisite and will leave anyone with a heart needing tissues are the ready.

Thank you Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What the heck did I just read?!!! This story is so complex and strange and just plays tricks on my mind. And what's up with the ending, or should I say endings? I'm just so confused right now. This is definitely a read that will mess you up and make you wonder about your own life and the concept of love and sacrifice. The plot is so unique. It all takes place in space but the main characters skip back and forth between their real situation and memory line. This is such a heart breaking story and at times it's almost a tragedy. We get to see in their memories how they met and how their relationship evolved. They had so much pain but also such strong love for each other and in their strange world that's really something to be treasured. At the beginning of he story I found it hard to imagine the world they live in and what caused the earth to become so divided. It reminded me a bit of Divergent and how that world looks like. In the end I'm still not sure how to feel about this book. At times I loved it but there were also times where I just didn't know what to feel. I think the worst was the time where they broke up and what happened after that. Just so sad.

All in all, I think you should give this story a chance. It's an unusual one and it might surprise you.

Carys and Max are on an Asteroid belt and there is no way back to their ship and they both have only 90 minutes of air left.

Then the story goes from past to present about their forbidden relationship in an Utopian world and how they ended up in space.

I was really looking forward to reading this from the tag line. The idea of this story was good, well written and original but, I thought the ending was a bit flat. I was expecting more of a punch, but it didn't deliver.

What a fantastic debut novel This is such a gorgeous story and beautifully written. While it follows a lot of the tropes of a traditional love story (the 'meet cute', the breaking up and getting back together, the various difficulties that all couples can relate to), there's an innovativeness to the setting that I really haven't experienced in any other book. The 'utopia' that Katie Khan creates is written with a richness and vitality - a lot of thought and research has obviously been done, but not to the point where you feel bamboozled by science. And while many people will say this, the ending twists and turns before making you burst onto tears on public transport. This deserves all the accolades which will inevitably be written about it.

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan

Carys and Max are adrift in space, tethered to one another, and with only ninety minutes of air left. In the short time left to them they try their best to return to their spaceship but ultimately the two of them are all that is left and in these minutes they turn to each other and remember their past and how they dared to do that one thing they shouldn’t – they fell in love.

Living in the near future, Carys and Max are citizens of Europia, a European Utopia bound by rules to further the freedom of the individual. People move every three years to a different region in which they build new friendships, contribute to society in different ways and experience new places and cultures. They are the lucky ones. America and the Middle East have been destroyed by nuclear war and the entire planet is now enclosed within an asteroid belt that has put the stars out of reach. But all is not perfect in Utopia. Marriage is forbidden to the young. It belongs instead to those in their thirties who have matured enough to understand their responsibilities to society and know their place within it. But Carys and Max, both in their twenties, cannot live apart.

Hold Back the Stars is a beautifully elegant yet unsentimental novel about illicit love in a society that in so many ways has so much going for it. In a way, this is a novel about perspective. People are so busy living life they miss the bigger picture. Max and Carys can see it all when they drift through space, the planet far below them, its boundaries lost. But theirs is no rose-petalled romance. And Katie Khan does a wonderful job of making it real, flaws and all, all set within this brilliantly realised future world.

I’m not a reader of romance but I am a huge fan of science fiction and I loved the premise of Hold Back the Stars. It is the story of a love affair but this is much more a novel about two individuals than about a couple. And it is such a fascinating one. Scattered throughout are the moments adrift in space, the minutes of air counting down, and the beautiful horror of their situation stretching out around them into the blackness. It is the definition of compelling. And the story doesn’t quite go where you might expect.

Hold Back the Stars would definitely appeal to teenage readers but it didn’t feel to me like a Young Adult novel especially. Max and Carys are in their twenties. It is society that demands them to act as if they are younger. I really enjoyed the mix of freedom and control, utopia and dystopia, peace and war. But most of all, I loved Carys and Max – and Osric.

This is a book full of surprises, with far more to it than you might think at first when you read the premise. I wasn’t expecting the type of story it became but I loved the direction it took. It’s not a long novel and it’s a fast read, very difficult to put down and utterly bewitching. Hold Back the Stars is Katie Khan’s debut novel but I would never have guessed. I love the way it combined worlds and confounded my expectations while giving me such glorious characters to enjoy. Whatever will be next?!