I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. It was difficult to get into it in the beginning, but a little less than halfway through I found myself enjoying it.
The beginning is mainly Tarver and Lilac traveling on the planet that they crashed on. I rarely read survival books, mostly because they can be extremely boring. It also didn't help that I had no sympathy for the characters at this point, so Lilac and Tarver's attitudes towards each other and in general were less than appealing to me. Lilac is the spoiled daughter of the most powerful man in the galaxy, while Tarver is a war hero. They were raised in completely different worlds and obviously Tarver is more prepared for surviving on an unknown planet than Lilac, but that doesn't stop her from being horrible to him.
Even though I wasn't particularly enjoying the story at this point, I kept reading anyway and my persistence was rewarded when the characters started to change and develop. Lilac seems to grasp the situation better after a near death experience and she starts to change from the rich girl that just wants to wait around for rescue to someone that is capable of saving herself. Tarver also starts to be more sympathetic towards Lilac and realizes that she's not as useless as he thought she was. Eventually they come to respect and trust each other, which was huge development for both of the characters since they basically started out hating each other. The best part was that none of their development seemed forced or rushed, it felt natural. Obviously, Tarver and Lilac fall in love. I actually liked their relationship because it made sense. They had to trust each other in order to survive on the planet, so of course they're going to form a strong relationship.
There was also a sort of paranormal aspect to the book that seemed a little weird and out of place, but by the end it starts to make a little more sense. It's easy to see why there is such a wide range of ratings for the book because while it does have some flaws, it also has so really great aspects as well. It mostly comes down to how much a person enjoys survival and romance stories.
5
