Name: Lost Stars
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9781471406195

Lisa Selin Davis

Monique Meledje

A heartbreaking, wrly funny story of love, longing, music and one very special comet.

Lost Stars

Eleanor & Park meets Perks of Being a Wallflower in this bittersweet 1980’s story about love, loss, and a comet that only comes around every ninety-seven years. When Carrie looks through her telescope, the world makes sense. It’s life here on Earth that’s hard to decipher. Since her older sister, Ginny, died, Carrie has been floating in the orbit of Ginny’s friends, the cool kids, who are far more interested in bands and partying than science. Carrie’s reckless behavior crosses a line, and her father enrolls her in a summer work camp at a local state park. There, Carrie pulls weeds and endures pep talks about the power of hard work. Despite her best efforts to hate the job, Carrie actually feels happy out in nature. And when she meets Dean—warm, thoughtful, and perceptive—she starts to discover that her life can be like her beloved night sky, with black holes of grief for Ginny and dazzling meteors of joy from first love.

Jolie

Words can’t even begin to express what I feel about this book. I have so many feeling about it, good and bad, that I don’t know where to begin. I was in tears for about 75% of this book. The depth of pain and guilt that Carrie has for her sister’s death just comes off the page. And she deals with it the only way she knows how…..by drinking, doing drugs and doing risky things sexually (but never having sex). Dealing with death at any age is awful but coupled with a parent just checking out of your life, well that is devastating.

I am glad that the author decided to make Carrie as unlikable as possible. It only underlined how she grew as a person over the course of the book and I really enjoyed that. She went from being a girl with unresolved grief and anger issues to a girl who rediscovered herself and was becoming happy with her life again. Made for a very good and interesting read.

Carrie’s romance with Dean was a slow burn. To be honest, it was so slow that I honestly felt that it wasn’t going to happen. And Dean was without his issues and it made him perfect for her. There are hints dropped when Dean arrived on scene but those hints don’t even begin to hint at what he went through.

The part of the book where Carrie went and worked for the rec department was great and I think that is what started her healing process. She was separated from her sister’s friends (who were including her in getting drunk and high), surrounded by people who didn’t take her crap (and I did feel bad for Lynn….the poor guy) and she reconnected with an old friend. Plus she did manual labor.

I will say that the end of the book was pretty cathartic to me and to Carrie. I was just a tiny bit confused as to where her and Dean’s relationship was going but in the grand scheme of the book, it really wasn’t important. I felt fulfilled, as weird as it sounds, after finishing reading.

Oh and I will say that the music (think soundtrack to 1987) took me back to my own childhood. I think I need to go make a playlist now….lol.

How many stars will I give Lost Stars? 3.5/4

Why? A wonderfully written book about healing and forgiving yourself. Like I said above, I was in tears reading it. I wouldn’t read without a tissue in hand.

Will I reread? Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends? Yes

Age Range: Teen

Why? Drug use, underage drinking and some mild (very mild) sexual scenes.

**I received Lost Stars from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group as an ARC.**

Lost Stars

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