Book Review | Leeta Simtar: A Life on Two Planets (ARC)

Leeta Simtar: A Life On Two Planets (ARC Read)

By Annie Fox

Electric Eggplant |  2025  |  349 pages

Releasing: Tuesday 11 March 2025

THIS REVIEW WAS RECEIVED AS AN ARC READ. AS AN ARC READER FOR THIS BOOK, AN HONEST REVIEW WAS REQUESTED.

Leeta Simtar isn’t the only interspecies hybrid on the planet Fure, though she is, without a doubt, noticeably different from all the others. Not only is she impossibly tall and wildly unpredictable, she leads with her feelings, in contrast to everyone else’s steady calm and logical demeanor. When Leeta’s offended, she rages and attacks. When something touches her deeply, she gushes and weeps. No wonder she has always believed something’s wrong with her, because clearly, she doesn’t belong on Fure.

When Leeta suddenly finds out that what she’s believed about herself is a lie, she is more than ready to discover the truth. Since no one on Fure is talking, her only hope is to go rogue and find her own answers. She travels forty light years in search of others like herself—assuming there are others.

With just eight days to unearth her origin story, Leeta follows clues that lead her across time and space hoping to find where she truly belongs. Readers of young adult science fiction, speculative/what-if fiction, and coming-of-age stories will connect to Leeta’s intergalactic adventure. They’ll be rooting for her to get what she needs, whether that means returning to Fure armed with the truth, staying in a far away place with her new found family, or finding home within her own heart.

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Before I go in depth into my review of this book, I wanted to take a minute to thank Annie Fox for allowing me to be an ARC reader for this novel of hers. I have never been an ARC reader before so I submitted my interest with an unfamiliar excitement. 

I was grateful to be accepted as an ARC reader and I really appreciate the opportunity to read your lovely book before release. 

I really liked this book as it is a very lighthearted book, despite dealing with familial bonds and discoveries that would be seen as heavy. The theme of emotions and being different is consistent throughout the entire novel. There are also traces of found family tropes with certain characters that Leeta shares friendships with. It is sweet and you can tell the friends are ride or die by the end of the book. 

However, this book felt very… cliche and unrealistic in parts, I will say. But, I do have to keep reminding myself that this book is listed as being YA or for younger readers than myself. I am an adult and so I will view things with an older mindset than I would have as a teenager. But what I mean specifically is that I found some reactions and responses were a little difficult for me to envision. When Leeta is being quite honest about things with a specific character, he is immediately on board and invested and I just… find that quite hard to believe would happen.

Some of the pace felt a bit too quick and a bit rushed. Not always but a fair few times, I felt like it needed more filler between parts to pace it better but again, I try to remind myself that it would be a book for YA and most books aren’t massive like you find with adult fantasy. 

There is a recurring theme of the story being Leeta’s coming of age story. She has never been away from Fure and when she does, she flourishes and I feel that it is a great concept for readers to digest as stepping out of your shell and exploring what interests you. Leeta goes with her gut a lot in deciding to go to Earth and it builds Leeta up as a character, in my opinion. Her confidence is something you can see growing as you continue through the chapters. 

I very much enjoyed the subtle hints of young love between two of the main characters. It was sweet and innocent feeling, as opposed to some older books. And, whilst I love an adult romance… it is really nice to just read something that is not about that. This felt like a little love built on friendship and trust and it was just really refreshing to see that.

The characters were a very diverse and loveable bunch. I am biased and I favoured Leeta over anyone else in the book as she just seems so gentle and caring. She has her moments of being loud and explosive in terms of emotion but her heart always feels like it is in the right place. 

Her loyalties are consistently proven and she tends to lean towards characters with pure and good intentions, rather than those around her who are more towards the morally grey side, if anything.

I did not care much for two characters who ended up being very important. I just felt they cast Leeta aside for each other. I can’t go into too much detail as I don’t want to give anything away. But, those two, I felt after all the effort Leeta went to for them, they just… didn’t care for her. It was great that she found her own family who cared for her in every sense. 

Oh! Special shout out to AYA. I loved AYA so much as I felt her personality and attitude were so sassy but so hilarious. Every time she piped up to give Leeta a helping hand, she had something witty to say and it made me smirk constantly throughout the story. 

Whilst I enjoy Science Fiction and Fantasy as genres, I am not someone who is the biggest fan of alien stories, I will say. I was surprised at myself as I read this story as I really did like it, the more it went on. I did watch Star Trek a lot with my dad when I was growing up and to be honest, I could definitely picture Fure as one of the planets that would appear on the show. 

I wasn’t a massive fan of the present tense, to be completely honest. It unsettled me and I found myself being pulled from the narrative on a couple occasions as my brain couldn’t help but query the wording due to the tense it was written in. It was an unusual thing to find as most books I’ve read are in past tense and from either first or third person POV. It was a small thing but it’s worth noting so you know going into it as it threw me. It might not bother other people but for me, it was an odd one. 

This story had such a lighthearted feel despite carrying undercurrents of heavier topic such as finding your place in the world and gaining a sense of belonging. It really was a joy to read and although it wouldn’t really be aimed at an adult audience, it was a fun one to read and one that I could see teenagers wanting to read. As someone who works in a library, I can tell you it is definitely a book I could envision some of my younger customers coming in to read.

Thank you again to Annie Fox for allowing me to be a part of her ARC team for this story. It was my first experience in an ARC read and it was very enjoyable. 

Keep an eye out for Leeta Simtar: A Life on Two Planets, releasing Tuesday 11 March 2025!