The premise of this YA novel is that Winter Young, a global superstar is being recruited into the Pancea Agency, an elite undercover ops group, with Sydney Cossette to be his bodyguard. And overall, this book does a good job of keeping the story simple and fast, but the characters feel remarkably underdeveloped and the romance didn't feel worth cheering for because it happened so quickly.
Most of this book felt too short; for example, Winter's hallucination of Artie is never followed up on or even brought up again, despite the plot hole it brings up of him faking his death (a cliche, but this is the type of novel where it makes sense). And the open ending, with Sydney and Winter parting but then the epilogue, where they meet again is so infuriating to me because it makes logical sense, but to create this cause for tension and simply not write any scenes about it feels like a waste, just like most of the other unexplored plotlines in this story. The paperback version includes a deleted scene and an excerpt from the sequel, Icon and Inferno, which I haven't read yet but doesn't have the same ring as Stars and Smoke.
Anyways, this novel is good, but it would be so much better if it were just a bit longer and the characters and their motivations a bit more explored.
Most of this book felt too short; for example, Winter's hallucination of Artie is never followed up on or even brought up again, despite the plot hole it brings up of him faking his death (a cliche, but this is the type of novel where it makes sense). And the open ending, with Sydney and Winter parting but then the epilogue, where they meet again is so infuriating to me because it makes logical sense, but to create this cause for tension and simply not write any scenes about it feels like a waste, just like most of the other unexplored plotlines in this story. The paperback version includes a deleted scene and an excerpt from the sequel, Icon and Inferno, which I haven't read yet but doesn't have the same ring as Stars and Smoke.
Anyways, this novel is good, but it would be so much better if it were just a bit longer and the characters and their motivations a bit more explored.