Izzy and Jules were childhood friends, climbing the spires of Batuu, inventing silly games, and dreaming of adventures they would share one day. Then, Izzy’s family left abruptly, without even a chance to say goodbye. Izzy’s life became one of constant motion, traveling from one world to the next, until her parents were killed and she became a low-level smuggler to make ends meet. Jules remained on Batuu, eventually becoming a farmer like his father, but always yearning for something more.

Now, thirteen years after she left, Izzy is returning to Batuu. She’s been hired to deliver a mysterious parcel, and she just wants to finish the job and get gone. But upon arrival at Black Spire Outpost she runs smack into the one person who still means something to her after all this time: Jules.

The attraction between them is immediate, yet despite Jules seeming to be everything she’s ever needed, Izzy hesitates. How can she drag this good-hearted man into the perilous life she’s chosen?

Jules has been trying to figure out his future, but now all he knows for certain is that he wants to be with Izzy. How can he convince her to take a chance on someone who’s never left the safety of his homeworld?

When Izzy’s job goes wrong, the two childhood friends find themselves on the run. And all their secrets will be revealed as they fight to stay alive?

A couple weeks back, I wrote a pretty glowing review for Black Spire, Delilah S. Dawson’s latest Star Wars novel. It was written to tie into Galaxy’s Edge, the new Star Wars theme parks at Disneyland and Disney World. I thought it was just an absolute blast, and I found all the mentions of the places, food, and drinks at Galaxy’s Edge to be awesome nerdy little breadcrumbs.

A Crash of Fate by Zoraida Córdova (who also contributed a great short story to the brilliant Star Wars collection, From a Certain Point of View) was released right around the same time as Black Spire, and it’s another book set on Batuu, the planet the Galaxy’s Edge parks are set on. This is a young adult novel, with a romantic adventure vibe, and honestly, this book completely charmed me.

This is the story of Izzy & Jules. They were best friends when they were little kids on Batuu. Totally inseparable.

Until…they were separated. Izzy’s mother was a smuggler, and one night, for reasons that were never explained to Izzy, the family had to pack everything into their ship & leave the planet. With no goodbyes said.

Thirteen years pass. Izzy is orphaned & she’s working as a smuggler. Back on Batuu, Jules has spent a lot of time dreaming of adventures & ways to get off-planet, but nothing ever quite works out that way. He loves Batuu, but he’s a little stuck. Over the thirteen years that passed, they both thought of each other, a lot. And also sort’ve convinced themselves the other would have forgotten all about them & their bond.

As luck (or fate…or maybe the Force) would have it, Izzy gets hired for a job that brings her back to Batuu…where she immediately bumps into Jules.

So this “simple” job of hers is about to get a lost more complicated. And not just because of Jules & the incredibly intense feelings she has for him. But because Batuu has its fair share of scum & villainy, as Izzy soon finds out.

A Crash of Fate is unabashedly a romance novel. I’ve read all the new Star Wars YA novels, and they all seem to have a bit of romance in them, to varying degrees. Up until now, I would have said that this worked best in Claudia Gray’s brilliant Lost Stars. But oof…there was just something about Izzy & Jules that really worked for me. Maybe because it’s a little bit…lighter thematically than Lost Stars overall? I don’t know. But I do know that I loved A Crash of Fate, start to finish.

Cordóva gives you two protagonists that are instantly likable and easy to root for. Jules is just this fundamentally good, pure-hearted kid. Izzy is ostensibly the “rogue” of the pair, living the dangerous life of a smuggler. But you get the sense early on that she’s been running so long, she doesn’t know what she’s running from anymore. And it might just be herself. There’s plenty of angsty “will they, won’t they”, “should we, should we not” moments in the book, but the chemistry between Izzy & Jules felt very real to me.

This book is 100% its own thing, but it was really cool seeing some familiar faces from Black Spire, and getting to “tour” a little bit more of Batuu. There are just…some really special moments in this book that tie into certain locations on Batuu (and of course in Galaxy’s Edge as well), and I think these are seamlessly blended into the story, while making my desire to get to Galaxy’s Edge that much stronger!

A Crash of Fate is a great example of the right book at the right time for me. I’m always so goddamn excited to start a new Star Wars novel…I don’t think that thrill could ever go away for me. And even the ones I don’t fully love…at least it’s still Star Wars. But A Crash of Fate hit me in the feels, time & time again. This book is a lot of fun, incredibly sweet, and fits perfectly into that galaxy far, far away.

May the Force be with you!