The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
Thanks to Bloomsbury YA & NetGalley for the e-ARC!
Cal has a thriving social media presence. His thousands of followers on FlashFame can count on him for updates about all things New York City and what's what each week. But when his dad is chosen as the final astronaut taking part in NASA's Orpheus mission, he's on his way to Houston and his journalism career feels like it's slipping through his fingers. In Clear Lake, Cal will learn about space, love, and that it's okay to not be okay.
Space + m/m relationship + social media, in a nutshell.
I was so excited to get an eARC of this story and overall it was truly delightful. It was very charming and left me with some warm-fuzzy feels. However, it's not a perfect book and I did have a feel qualms. Let's start with some of the "mehs" and work our way up from there, yeah?
First, there's a TV production company in this world called StarWatch and one of their favorite subjects is Clear Lake, TX--where all the astronauts and families live. They've created a reality TV show called Shooting Stars that essentially documents the goings on and drama in the community. A lot of the plot surrounding StarWatch and Shooting Stars felt a bit unbelievable to me. That being said, I've never been on a reality show so maybe it's a completely accurate representation! It just felt like StarWatch only existed to be the "villain", but there was a lot of convenience when it came to getting out of sticky situations.* (I explain more at the end, but beware of a minor spoiler.)
Related to StarWatch, there were intermittent chapters that were supposed to be transcripts of interviews from the show. Maybe it was just my eARC, but they were all...missing chunks of sentences? It was very choppy and made it difficult to garner what the point was. Perhaps it was intentional and supposed to be sort of garbled or botched transcriptions, but if so, that was never communicated and just left me confused. I do plan to check out the physical copy to see if that's different, because if so it would have definitely made a difference in my reading experience!
Cal was also...just a little annoying. He's a teenager, sure, but he is wildly self-obsessed and woefully unaware of what's going on with those around him. He's not a particularly good friend and he can be a bit judgey. I think he matures a bit in the end, but he definitely wasn't my favorite character.
But let's talk about the GOOD. Speaking of favorite characters, I really loved the love interest, Leon, and wish we had gotten more of him. This is definitely insta-love (which I typically am pretty neutral about), and we didn't get to spend a lot of time getting to know him. Regardless, I still loved him and would read a whole book about him and his sister, Kat. (OMG prequel perhaps?? Phil plz)
I thought the social media aspect was super interesting. It was a different representation of social media/social media fame than I had ever read about. I really liked that it was something that was really important to Cal and that he wasn't ashamed of it--so often I feel like social media is treated as just a ~millennial~ thing and isn't taken seriously. I found Phil Stamper handled it very well.
Finally, I loved that it was about space in some ways, but it wasn't the sole focus. Disclaimer: I am absolutely terrified of space. (Why, Emily, would you read a book that specifically includes NASA/space missions/rockets/etc? Idk it had a pretty cover lay off me.) The mission is a big focus, of course--I mean, they're going to MARS for crying out loud--but it really is about the relationships and the community. If you are also terrified of space: the epilogue gave me major anxiety lol read at your own risk.
Overall, I definitely want to read more from Phil Stamper and think this was an utter delight!
**SPOILER**
I feel this particularly about the fact that, at the beginning of the novel, StarWatch is supposedly going to ban Cal from any social media use. Cal ignores this, and really there aren't any consequences. I definitely didn't think that felt realistic. Even if you do have NASA on your side, you're still under a legally binding contract and I'm willing to bet TV production companies have those locked up TIGHT.
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