Book Title: BOUND BY STARS
Character Names: Weslie Fleet and Jupiter Dalloway
Interviewer: Let’s jump right in, shall we? What brought you aboard the maiden voyage of the Boundless?
Jupiter: I’m on my way home from my Earth Experience Mission with my parents.
Weslie: Won a ticket.
Interviewer: Speaking of parents, how would you describe your families?
Weslie: Pass.
Jupiter: Come on, Wes.
Weslie: Fine. Small.
Interviewer: And yours, Jupiter?
Jupiter: My sister was the best person in the universe. My dad is cool. Mom is…complicated.
Interviewer: What do you consider to be your greatest talent?
Jupiter: Weslie’s an incredible robotics engineer.
Weslie: Jupiter’s good with people. Obviously. And an incredible artist.
Interviewer: Do either of you have a significant other?
Weslie: That’s a weird way to ask a 17-year-old if they’re dating anyone.
Jupiter: (glances toward Weslie)
Interviewer: Okay, next question. Where do you live?
Jupiter: Elysium. The capital habitat city on Mars.
Weslie: Earth.
Interviewer: Do you have any enemies?
Weslie: How much time do you have?
Jupiter: I don’t think so. My cousin and I butt heads, but I wouldn’t call us enemies.
Interviewer: Greatest disappointments?
Jupiter: Recently. Leaving Earth.
Weslie: Humanity.
Interviewer: Greatest achievements?
Weslie: My bot, ILSA. No contest. She’s damn near perfect and won me the ticket on the Boundless.
Interviewer: She’s very impressive. How long have you been tinkering with robotics, Weslie?
Weslie: As long as I can remember. Both of my parents are engineers. Most kids grew up playing with toys and reading fairy tales. I played with tools, built things, and learned code.
Interviewer: Jupiter? Your greatest achievement?
Jupiter: I’m not sure I’ve achieved anything great yet.
Weslie: He’s too modest. He’s poured hours into that sketchbook. That’s why he’s such an amazing artist.
Interviewer: What does perfect happiness look like to each of you?
Jupiter: Getting to go where I want and do what I want without consulting my mother and the board of our family corporation. Specifically, I’d go back to Earth. I want to travel all over the planet with my sketch book and-- (glances at Weslie again) --Well, there’s a lot I like about Earth.
Interviewer: Weslie?
Weslie: Getting an internship on Mars and bringing my mom over so she doesn't have to work in a factory anymore. (glances at Jupiter)
Interviewer: What’s your greatest fear?
Jupiter: Never being allowed to make a choice about my own life again.
Interviewer: Weslie?
Weslie: Failure.
Interviewer: How about a fun one: when did you have your first kiss and who was it with?
Jupiter: I think it was Meridian. Someone dared her to kiss me when we were like twelve.
Weslie: Really? Meridian? Of all people?
Jupiter: I was twelve!
Interviewer: I’m sensing it’s possible Meridian is on that enemy list, Weslie?
Weslie: Very possible.
Interviewer: How about your first kiss?
Weslie: That’s pretty intrusive.
Jupiter: (laughs): Was it Reve?
Interviewer: Who’s Reve?
Weslie: My best friend from Earth who was definitely not my first kiss.
Interviewer: Have either of you ever been in love?
Jupiter: Maybe.
Weslie: This feels like the perfect time to go find a snack. (exits)

A Love That Defies Gravity…and Fate
She never belonged in his world. He never thought he’d leave it.
When Weslie Fleet wins a golden ticket aboard the Boundless, humanity’s most opulent starliner, it’s a dream—and a danger. Raised in the dust-ridden ruins of Earth, she is thrust into the gleaming luxury of Mars’s elite, where every whispered word carries weight and every glance is a silent judgment. And none watch her closer than Jupiter, the golden boy of Mars’s high society, bound by duty, legacy, and a future he never chose.
Their reluctant partnership was supposed to be a one-off assignment. Instead, it becomes a battle of wills, a spark that ignites, and a love neither of them anticipated. But fate is as cruel as it is unpredictable, and when the Boundless veers off course, love won’t be enough to save them.
The ship is failing. The odds are impossible. And in the darkness of space, survival is the only thing that matters.
But some loves are worth defying the stars for.
Science Fiction | Fiction Adventure | Action [Entangled Publishing, On Sale: July 1, 2025, Paperback / e-Book , ISBN: 9781649378408 / eISBN: 9781649378217]
Emily “E.L.” Starling grew up in the center of California, midway between all the cities anyone has ever heard of. Today she lives in Portland, Oregon with her high school sweetheart and a needy orange cat named Pigeon. She spends her days papercutting, screen-printing, running slowly, and hiking just as slowly. In her pre-dawn hours, she can be found writing YA speculative fiction novels full of longing and twisty secrets with a cup of coffee at the ready and the ever-present hope of pastries.
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