Book Review

I have been off my YA game for a while and I’m trying to remedy that. “See All the Stars” is a brilliant start!

I read loads of Dystopian YA but it’s been a long time since I’ve read a good contemporary book. I got lucky right out of the gate because this was a 5 star read!

*Thanks to Netgalley, Kit Frick and Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing for my e-ARC of See All the Stars

See All the Stars (Release Date: August 2018)

It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you tell yourself.

THEN They were four—Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. (Venus. Earth. Moon. Sun.) Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system.

NOW Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever.

THEN Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the beginning of a spectacular, bright love.

NOW Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away—no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere.

The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies—the lies Ellory has been telling herself.

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My Thoughts…

It’s not until adulthood that we can finally look back and fully understand the complexities of the core relationships from our youth. And they were complex. At the time we told each other we would be best friends FOREVER and meant it. Our first loves felt like the center of our universes, and they were. Everything was life or death at the time and we couldn’t possibly see that this period of our lives was nothing more than a stepping stone to something bigger, something real.

This wonderfully written book perfectly depicts this period in all our lives, but then adds a profound layer of deception, betrayal, and tragedy. Things that could easily have happened to us all. After all, the ingredients were there. Heightened feelings, hormones, sex, drugs and alcohol… It just depends on how they were mixed.

I really enjoyed this book, The writing was excellent, the characters are flawed and deeply layered, and it felt very real. For me, this story brought my high school experience rushing back and I could easily empathise with a lot of what “Ellory” was going through. Actually, I could empathise with many of the main characters, including “Ret”.

Then there was the twist!

The ending of the story was completely unexpected! It tied everything together beautifully and it was done so well, it made me elevate my 4 star rating to 5 stars!

It’s hard to believe this is a debut novel. Kudos to the author for masterfully writing a truly evocative and realistic story. This is a MUST read!

Rating… A+

About the Author

Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All the Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up in the Lungs (New American Press, 2018). Her fiction is represented by Erin Harris at Folio Literary Management / Folio Jr.

Kit Frick