Author: X. Culletto
Narrator: Lori Prince
Length: 5 hours 45 minutes
Publisher: Xela Culletto⎮2017
Genre: Science Fiction
Alexandra Blackwood is minding her own troubled life when she unknowingly gets caught up in an extraterrestrial conflict. Ronan, a human with his own alien-entangled past, has been keeping an eye on her and sets out to help her escape looming abduction, and maybe win her heart.
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Xela is a working mother of three, living in the Utah. She teaches secondary English and after talking to students for years about following their dreams and doing whatever it takes to achieve them, she decided to take her own advice and complete her lifelong goal of writing a novel. The idea of life on other planets has always fascinated her, and she wondered what they would think of humanity, which is what spawned the idea for the plot of “Understanding the Stars”. When she’s not playing with her kids, or sorting through the endless laundry, you’ll find her watching The Walking Dead, horseback riding, or working on her next book.
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Lori Prince is a classically trained actor with a BFA from Syracuse University. She has performed Off-Broadway as well as at top regional theaters including; The Denver Center, Alliance Theater Company and PlayMakers Repertory Company among others. She has also appeared on Television in Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Are We There Yet?. Her voice work includes various characters in the feature film Epic, as well as additional dialogue recorded for over 50 feature films and TV shows.
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I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Xela Culletto. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Understanding the Stars is a sci-fi YA adventure, where our main character is literally on the run from aliens. Due to circumstances beyond her control and because an alien species selected her as one of their test subjects, another alien species wants to snatch her and cut some tech out of her head. Fun times. Not.
Alex is a spunky teen who’s about to graduate high school when her life gets super scary super fast. Her life isn’t all happy sunshine and rainbows with a father dying of the big C and her in danger of having her head cut open. But she doesn’t hide from her troubles and looks danger right in the face (er, tentacles?) and stands up for herself and others around her. That’s what makes Alex a character you can really get behind and root for.
The plot is fast-paced and there is even a bit of a romance, though not super developed in light of all the running from aliens. I kind of liked our male character, but the focus was definitely on Alex so I can’t say I got to know Ronan that well.
The audio narration was excellent. I really appreciated all the creepy sounding voices for the aliens, which really upped their scary and grossness factor. I liked the intonations and how Alex really did sound like a teenage girl with the sentences that sound like a question and abrupt replies. This really helped the story be more believable and the character easier to connect with while the crazy plot was happening to her.
Overall a good read for alien abduction and sci-fi fans.
Understanding the Stars Giveaway
May 28: Up ‘Til Dawn
The Literary Apothecary
May 29: Read Day and Night
May 30: Ronelle Antoinette
May 31: Chapter Break
Jun. 1: The Missionary Book
The Desert Bibliophile
Jun. 2: Reading for the Stars and Moon
Jun. 3: Lilly’s Book World
Love Great Reads
Jun. 4: Dab of Darkness
The Literary Apothecary
Jun. 5: Lomeraniel
Jun. 6: The Bookworm Lodge
Jun. 7: Audio Shelf
Jorie Loves A Story
Jun. 8: SMADA’s Book Smack
Jun. 9: The Book Addict’s Reviews
Jun. 10: Jorie Loves A Story
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