Starr Valentine

Starr Valentine, the most popular cheerleader at Middleton High, has led a charmed life. But the day she is chosen as the youngest member ever of homecoming court, is also the day her parents reveal a secret more than a decade old: They are monarchs in exile from a mysterious planet called Vega, and it's time for all of them to return home.

While she likes the idea of being a princess, Starr realizes something is terribly wrong when they arrive on their new world. She's always been the best-looking girl in the room, but everyone is ignoring her and fawning over her frumpy older sister, Astra, and it doesn't make sense. Although Astra is the sweetest person around, she's never even had a date. So why is she now getting all the attention?

Starr soon figures out the awful truth. The standard of beauty on Vega is different, and Starr isn't pretty anymore. To make matters worse, everybody treats her like she's annoying and shallow, including an irritatingly handsome young duke named Julian. Can Starr find a way to get noticed again, or is this once beautiful swan doomed to remain an ugly duckling forever?

Cygnus Award for Science Fiction Finalist