Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian 

Book Review by The Millennial Menace

Book Rating: 10/10 Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart Vibes: Legendary. Pure joy. A love letter to the 'overthinkers,' and ‘grumpy-sunshine’ simps, this is a threat level midnight, a holy cannoli, a new set of unrealistically high standards for healthy communication. If you are a professionally-unimpressed millennial with an abundance of repressed snarky opinions and occasional migraines (and perhaps a passion for high-fashion labels,) you might find Simon so relatable it’s actually a little scary.

Synopsis

Star Shipped drops us onto the set of Out There, a popular science fiction show starring long-time co-stars Simon Devereaux and Charlie Blake. Simon is leaving the show next season and he’s keeping it on the DL. In order to keep up the appearance of two people who don’t want to actively kill each other (or make out against a wall in a dark corner - who’s to say?) they set out on a shared path to cultivate a positive, professional image that supports the future of their acting careers. Between arguments and eye-rolls, they slowly peel back each other’s hot, emotionally repressed facades and inconveniently start to like what’s underneath.

TLDR: Prolonged exposure leads to accidental vulnerability and ✨feelings✨

#ShipHappens

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

[Galley Edition, Uncopyedited Bound Manuscript]

As with literally anything else, this book will resonate most with certain people. Why in particular? Plot-wise, not much actually happens. There is a lot of internal monologue-ing. Has anyone seen that one Amazon review circulating on #BookTok of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice that's like “eh, one star because this book is just a bunch of people visiting each other’s houses”?

[Amazon Review by @ EJBrand - Emily Brand]

There is indeed a lot of house-visiting in this book. (To be fair there is also a road trip.) The conflict unfolds largely in conversations and between Simon & Simon's actual worst enemy: his own brain.

Simon

I love Simon Devereaux. He is deeply relatable.

…No? Just me? 

Guys, listen- he’s just like us, except he manages to fail at conversations with slightly more style. What an icon. 

Overthinking is Simon’s whole thing. He is battling anxiety and chronic migraines. A lot of this book is Simon thinking and then overthinking about overthinking. My dude has a singular best friend and he loves his dog more than people. Does this sound like you? You're about to love this book and Simon is about to become your 2026 Spirit Animal.

Simon’s got the opposite of FOMO. He’s got FOBI ('Fear of Being Involved.’) As if that's not the hottest take of all time. He is a snarky diva. His banter is positively delicious. Speaking of, the banter between Simon and Charlie was adorable zesty from the get-go. I had the good fortune to read a galley edition, so I have informally promised not to provide concrete quoted examples, but honestly there are too many zingers to pick one quote. If you like witty repartee and grossly relatable internal monologues, y’all best know Cat Sebastian will deliver. 

Charlie

Charlie is more than the golden retriever persona he presents to the world. Charlie’s slowly unraveling background and hesitancy to ask for (or expect) help are relevant to the plot, so I dare not word vomit so you all get to appreciate his vulnerable moments in real time. It’s endearing to see someone who’s all charm and confidence become completely awkward when it comes to one particular person, although watching him navigate life while pretending everything’s totes okay is equal parts sweet and semi-heartbreaking. 

Trope Scope:

https://www.harpercollins.com/ was so kind as to present tropes for me to overanalyze. I have some tropes I’d like to add, but they could be considered spoilers, so we’re going to keep it casual (because I totally, fer sure, give off professional, casual vibes. Right!?)

Opposites Attract: Otherwise known as The 'Grumpy & Sunshine' trope. It is so obvious to me, (as a dedicated fellow member of the ‘Torture the People I Love Club,’) that Simon finds fighting with people to be fun. A love language, if you will. Luckily for him, Charlie definitely has a kink for emotionally-constipated hot bitchy people. Don’t we all, Charlie? In case you haven’t deduced, Charlie is the ‘Sunshine Boi’ in this trope. His beefy, hot self is physically affectionate and nice to everyone, minus Simon (at least according to Simon.) Trope Scope: 10/10.

Enemies to Lovers: From the first page, they do be snarking. This opinion will come as a shock to you after the contents of the previous paragraph, but snarkin’ is sexy. It’s flirting to the utmost tastiest degree. Thus, this relationship isn’t truly ‘Enemies to Lovers’ for me. If the biggest crime committed is emptying a bakery of their stock of blueberry muffins, this is more Enemies-to-Lovers flavored if anything. I’m not going to explain - go read about the muffin lore. Trope Scope: 6/10

Forced Proximity: “There’s only one bed!!!” lol no there isn’t. Sorry 💀 This isn’t a spicy fae-dominated Romantasy in a dark, mysterious tavern, people! Contemporary books contain modern hotels which offer two beds! (Stupid modern hospitality.) Anyway, what we have here is a ‘fake friendship’ for positive press and ‘damage control’ reasons, which has ‘fake dating’ written all over it. This is more an emotional Forced-Proximity than a physical Forced-Proximity. And no, I don’t fully know what I mean by that. Trope Scope: 7/10

Warning for Slight Spoiler [skip this paragraph to avoid]

Slow Burn: Like I said, people who snark together stay together, so I’m skeptical of the enemy claims. However, physical intimacy does not happen within the first hundred pages, which is a good indicator of Slow Burn in my book. Although I personally could have waited longer - I like angst and suffering and tension build (I’m okay, I promise.) Trope Scope: 7/10

The All-Too-Believable Fan Discord 

Thank you to Cat Sebastion for the well-timed and hilarious insertions of the fictional Out There Fan Discord. What better way to learn about characters than from the rabid sci-fi fanatic perspective (there was definitely some kind of deranged inception happening in my brain where the Discord felt too real - are we sure Out There isn’t a real show with dedicated fans lurking on Discord somewhere?) This was such a clever way to teach us about Simon and Charlie.

I don't know if this page will correlate to the final print format, but if it does, a special shout-out to page 331, for all fan fiction readers and writers. It is so heartwarming when authors and creators acknowledge the genuine love readers develop for their characters by engaging with fan fiction. It kind of feels like there is no better compliment than when someone loved your story and characters so much they never wanted it to end and they create alternate universes, endings, fantastical plot lines, (and occasionally some deranged shit. We've all seen that ao3 tag lol.) It felt like a microscopic love letter to the fan fiction community and I hope I speak for us all when I say we love you, Cat Sebastian.

💗 & May we all manifest a best friend as dedicated as Jamie 💗

You can have your healthy communication standards set to unrealistic levels on the following date (translation - you can get your copy of Star Shipped on:)

March 3, 2026.

384 Pages, Published by Avon Books, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

Thank you to HarperCollins for the Galley Edition and the opportunity to provide an honest review of Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

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[Personal Disclaimer: I am not sponsored, endorsed, or in any way affiliated with any of the snack brands mentioned above. All opinions, praise, and excessive enthusiasm for the relevance of amazing snacks, beverages, and/or other treats in reference to the quality of any referenced books are 100% my own. This also goes for books: all recommendations, praise, and unsolicited literary wisdom are 100% my own.]