I loved Wong’s flowery prose, and I was invested in the characters almost immediately. The drawn out back and forth was a bit daunting, and I had to power through a few of the seasons in the book, but I liked the overall, finished product. Even though there are a couple of parts I don’t quite believe, I still liked them. I was disappointed in a few of the things that happened to these characters, but hey, that’s life. I’m kind of disappointed in many things that happen in my own life, so there we go.

I will say I tore through this one in less than 12 hours. Hooray for the occasional slow Friday at work. Most of the story moves pretty quickly and Wong is good at building tension. She’s great at descriptions, and I recommend this book if you are into period romances. Personally, I am.

DNF - 60%

It begins solid
Author Danielle Wong begins by setting up a wonderful story in the 1920s of a young woman attending university. Now at this time in history women could attend university but not receive actual degrees or formally recognized education. An awkward time for women. Made more awkward for our lead lady as she discovers she's a lesbian and falls in love.
This is a dangerous time for gays and only gets more dangerous as WWII approaches and Hitler's persecution of anyone not like him is brewing.
Wong takes us through the 20s, and the 30s with our leading lady in a way that shows these challenges for lesbians of the time.

And then it goes all wrong
But then, suddenly, at about 55% of the way through the book, we go from 1939 to 1955 (in America). And the only comment made back to the war is that our lead gal worked as a nurse after work for a few years, and her male childhood friend enlisted and was injured (but survived) battle. At first all I could think was WHAT?!?! Then as I read on I realized that was really all that was going to be said about the war.

What could have been
Now if I was going to write a book about lesbians trying to emerge into a world where they are not accepted; and started this story in the roaring 20s, I would be sure to have written about the most significant event of the 1900s and used it to delve deeper into the psyche of the lady's POV. But instead Wong made a unforgivable mistake. And one that had me putting the book down in disgust. She skipped over a section of history because it's a messy, difficult and all around nasty time period.

This is a showing of a weak story teller. While Wong's prose is acceptable for publication and her characters well formed; the inability to even give us one or two chapters set in the 40s tells me that she assumes her readers will go along with it. As though we all don't know what happened.

Cheap tactics
It's an unforgivable error, in my mind, to back your way out of a messy situation. Not unlike authors who create time warps, miracle healing or other cheap ways to avoid something they aren't sure how to handle (but still need to have happened). It's even worse in historical fiction as it's not like the basis of the story doesn't exist. You don't even have to creative enough to think up an awful war and dictator invading countries. Because it ACTUALLY happened.

What could have been
There are so many places this could have gone to involve our gal in the war from her standpoint on American soil. I can imagine her thoughts on prejudice as it pertained to what was happening around her. Maybe some fear from her that someone would find out she was a lesbian during that time and how that would have been more awful than during the 20s. We have Hitler sending (at the very least) any gay man to concentration camps alongside the Jews, armbands to mark their sexual orientation publicly and more. Our leading gal, hearing this unfold (even from a far) must have had thoughts, fears and emotions right?
There are just so many things that could have been written into this story to at least pay some sort of nod to WWII and its influence on the world as a whole. Hitler's reign influenced future discrimination and thoughts profoundly and possibly shaped the course of some of the acceptance in the world that came after.

Final thoughts
I read a lot of historical fiction, and truth in the main events is very important to me (altered small details are fine). So skipping an entire decade or more would be nearly inexcusable to start with. Never mind skipping the imperative, relevant and world changing decade that was the 40s.
So I am giving up on reading this. Nothing, no matter how good the end is, will convince me it's okay to skip WWII in a historical story. Our history happened whether we like it or not and ignoring it or brushing it off is an insult to those who lived (and died) during that time period.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

This was quite different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be similar to the historical fiction of Sarah Waters or Emma Donoghue, but this focused more on the romance than the history.

The story had good moments and was fun in a melodramatic way, but it was way too rushed. Whenever I was about to connect with what the characters were going through, all of a sudden we'd jump years ahead in time. I think I get what the author was going for, but it just didn't quite work. The narrator's thoughts didn't seem to change much even though we went through several decades, and I didn't get the feeling that she had aged or matured at all over the years. That lack of growth just made the jumps in time even more surreal and artificial.

All in all it was a little frustrating - it felt like there was a really good story in there somewhere, but the execution just let it down. I might give the author's books a go again some time in the future if they write more LGBTQ+ historical fiction because it's possible that this book was more of a practice run.

(Can you tell that I really wanted to like it? I just got really excited over 1920s lesbians and wanted the story to live up to its potential, dammit.)

Swearing Off Stars
A Novel

by Danielle Wong
She Writes Press
Historical Fiction , LGBTQIA
Pub Date 03 Oct 2017

This story is beautifully and eloquently written and the characters are well portrayed. It would have been great to have a bit more of a historical background and historical elements in the book. I enjoyed the message of love can overcome everything and the feminist message in it is good. It plays in 1920 to 1950 so the role of women and what they could do and homosexuality as a general we’re very different and it was written out well.

Amelia Cole, Lia for short, is an American attending Oxford University for a semester in 1919. On her first day she meets Scarlett Daniels, a beautiful women's rights activist and aspiring actress, who pulls Lia into the movement. The two slowly fall in love, but have to overcome decades of obstacles to be together.

I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed - and very much in a phase of reading where I had very little patience for weaknesses in books. And this book was just... weak.

I wanted more from the characterisation and plot. In the first ten pages, Lia has a cancelled class on her first day, her braid comes undone and her book bag falls off her shoulder, and this overwhelms her to the point of immediately breaking down crying on the ground, convinced she isn't good enough for Oxford. The scene ends with Lia noticing, after being helped by her love interest, that all the other students are standing around and pointing at her. Already I just sighed and went ah, these characters won't be acting like humans, then. Sure, Lia could have an anxiety disorder, but this is never mentioned as an in-text justification.

Odd things happen with these characters with very little explanation. A short time into their acquaintance, Lia and Scarlett undergo a little incident that causes Scarlett to break down and admit to Lia she once had a female lover. To me, this was baffling - it was too soon into their relationship, especially in that time, to be admitting such a secret so easily - and to top it all off, Lia hardly reacted at all. Which is disappointing, considering she started the story a little confused about her sexuality, especially regarding Scarlett. So, really, I never got a solid grip on either of their personalities, nor their growth.

The plot, as it unfolds, isn't particularly compelling. The main selling point is that it's a lesbian romance set in the early 20th century - sad to say, that isn't particularly novel for me, considering how much historical LGBT romance I read. For others, this might be absolutely compelling so go at it. But there was very little nuance, and she didn't do anything particularly new or interesting with it.

The years at university are the most rich, but the depiction of the following decades of story is brief, mostly summary, which really hinders any potential elevation of the characters. And, truthfully, I was disappointed by the way the plot turned out. Of course, life was harder for LGBT individuals in the past, but this story seemed so... relentlessly cruel to Lia and Scarlett, and so removed from the history of the community. And their problems with their homosexuality wasn't fleshed out, and led to frustration at their continued behaviour that prevented them from being together. Again, I just felt baffled at the lack of justification at the characters, and since this was a character-driven novel, it let the plot down as well. And the ending... it didn't seem deserved, within the plot. But that might have been the mood I was in while reading.

Also, I ended up questioning the plot and premise a lot. Iwanted to know immediately how an American girl in the 1940s who wants to go traveling ends up studying at Oxford, on exchange, in her first year - does that work? How does it? How does someone whose parents are only restaurant owners in America send their child to Oxford? It's never explained. Her father is a German migrant, but her surname is Cole - he could have anglicised Kohl, but never is this mentioned. There's just so many of these questions in the first twenty pages.

The writing was a major weakness, and led to a poor execution of the plot and characters. It's a pretty short story, about 280 pages, that covers three decades worth of story - already, it's going to fall under my too-often expressed complaint of there wasn't enough to make it good. But, whereas this usually leaves me with a likable enough book that just needed more time to be good, this just. Wasn't very good to begin with.

Within about ten pages, I immediately got a grasp for the author's abilities and knew what kind of story would unfold. The first-person perspective isn't used to its strengths at all - Lia's voice is bland, much like Scarlett's, and you'd hope coming from such different cultures as America and Britain would easily give an author something to distinguish character voices, but they sounded identical. And none of the characters' voices ever evolved over the years, Lia sounding the same as a middle-aged woman as she did as a ~naive eighteen year old, and Scarlett, who becomes a famous actress, still sounding the same as her.

The majority of the story was telling instead of showing, and the writing for the majority of the time struck me as dull and flat, without nuance or detail. And, since it tried to handle issues of gender equality and domestic abuse as well as the love story between Lia and Scarlett, these more serious scenes came off as heavy-handed and clumsy in execution. I was baffled again by Lia being surprised at the dismissive attitude towards her at Oxford, and her realisation that it was because she was a woman. How is this an absolute shock to someone in the 1910s? Isn't this the culture she's grown up with?

You can also tell this is an American's idea of Oxford, and one who hasn't done an awful lot of research either. Again, within the first twenty pages, I spotted some inaccuracies - a British character calls Lia a freshie and asks what Lia's studying at Oxford. I'm not even British but I know that nobody uses 'freshmen', let alone freshie, and you say read instead of study. This majorly took me out of the story.

To be honest, I never felt much in the story in the first place. It's historical fiction, spanning from 1919 to 1930 to 1953. I forgot it was 1919, had too much Outlander on the brain, I don't know, but I read the first 50 pages thinking it was 1949 and wondering why marticulation was still a thing at Oxford. I mean, there's a lot of difference in culture and society in the world in that 30-year gap. Skilled historical fiction truly transports you to this utterly foreign time - competent historical fiction should be at least able to express this. So, this ended up being neither. This could have been set in 2017 and I would have bought it, honestly.

But, I do have good things to say about some of the writing. Descriptions of the sex scenes, and some of the setting and character description, were lovely - the dialogue between Lia and Scarlett could come up with some beautiful prose, very romantic turns of phrase, used to good effect. I'm just sad it couldn't elevate the rest of the novel for me.

Also, my ARC was really badly formatted. Missing punctuation all over the place, which makes for a much more difficult read.

Lia and Scarlett meet in 1919 in Oxford where they bond over their fight for women to be allowed to graduate from Oxford, same as the men. Their friendship blossoms into love, which is scary as it is wonderful. Scary wins out and Lia runs back to New York where she finishes college and works her way up the ladder to manage a mid-range newspaper. Scarlett on the other hand becomes a well known actress. But true love will always find a way, and over many years and across many oceans, two people destined to be with each other will fight against society and expectations to find each other once more.

This book was really disappointing for me. I feel that with historical fiction there is a delicate balance an author has to find between too many details that bogs down the reader and not enough detail. Unfortunately, I felt like this book fell too much towards the not enough detail. Without the author telling me that it was 1919 or 1930 or 1949, there was very little detail showing me the time period we were supposed to be in. This lack of details, unrealistic situations, along with the way a lot of the characters spoke and acted, the story could have been set in 2017 and I wouldn't have batted an eye. Additionally, aside from the author telling me that time was passing by providing the date, all the character's voices sounded the same whether they were 19 or 50 or 66. In 1949, Lia tells us that she's older in 1949, but the author doesn't show any signs in her voice or that she's any different from 19. Her voice, her internal duologue, is always simple and juvenile.

I didn't have any problem with the ending like other's did. I love angst! I loved a lot of the description. Some of the passages were breathtakingly beautiful, especially the love scenes, they were just incredible. The story was really sweet and had a lot of aw-worth moments in it. I loved all the places they travelled. I had a lot of frustrations about the book but I still raced to the end to find out what would happen. I was rooting for Lia and Scarlett. Their story is a love story for the ages. I did like how the author wrote and I would definitely be willing to give this author's next book a chance.

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Swearing Off Stars by Danielle Wong is a journey through the beginning of a relationship and tracking it’s progress decades down the line. The way Wong wrote but Amelia and Scarlett made me want more. It was beautifully written. I felt for all the characters from the ‘20s to the '50s.

It’s be a while since I’ve read something that’s made me hurt as the character was hurting but Lia’s innocent, unsure and the heartbreak she experiences, it was like a knife to the heart in some parts. There were times I was so angry with Scarlett, with Beck and I just wanted happiness for Lia but it was truly something that could have happened during that time period.

Wong left me wishing for more, and there were a few areas I wished she would have explored and that’s the only reason I’m giving this a 4/5 star review, otherwise it would have been 5/5.

Would I recommend this to others? Oh yes, I definitely would. Will I be looking for more of Wong’s work? Count me in.

*SPOILER AHEAD*

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review!

Swearing Off Stars was the love story of two girls, Amelia and Scarlett.

The novel made me laugh, cry, grin like a fool and fall in love. In short, it did everything an awesome novel is supposed to do.

I loved that Amelia was so insistent about making it work out and hated that Scarlett didn't even have the guts to try!

The author's writing style and descriptions were just beautiful. I had a lot of fun reading this book!

The only negative thing about this book was it's ending. I'm not the kind of reader who always wants a happy ending, but I feel that Lia and Scarlett DESERVED a happy ending. They'd gone through so much and finally united and then bam! Everything's just gone! :(

I wish the ending had been different, but other than that, I absolutely loved Swearing Off Stars!

Swearing Off Stars is about a young American named Amelia, called Lia, in England to attend a semester of university in the 1920s. There she meets Scarlet, a beautiful aspiring actress and activist, who is part of a group pushing to allow women to actually matriculate and earn degrees. Lia joins the group, finding purpose in the gender equality group and finding love with Scarlet. However, Scarlet lives in fear of their homophobic society and of their relationship being discovered. Their relationship falters and Lia moves back to America, attempting to move on from Scarlet until she finds a letter in her father's study many years later that inspires her to seek Scarlet out and perhaps rekindle their love affair.

I wish there was more to the plot, but unfortunately that's pretty much it. Probably my biggest criticism is that Swearing Off Stars is too short. Far too short. I wanted to invest in these characters and once I realized that the book spanned decades I wanted to know far more than the story offered. Thirty years passes between the beginning of the story and the end, yet the characters seem to grow more flat and dull as the story progresses rather than richer and more vibrant. We learn the most about Scarlet and Lia as college students, but the years between their meetings are summed up in a few quick paragraphs. That was intensely frustrating for me as Danielle Wong is clearly not without talent but there just wasn't enough of the story to elevate it.

There's not much differentiating the narration of Scarlett and Lia, despite Lia being an American and Scarlett being British; both their internal and external voices sound alike. As the years wore on, I wanted their voices to become more distinct. Scarlet lived the life of a movie star and Lia was a journalist and, during WWII, a military medic. Their adult voices should have felt very distinct and distant from when they were naive university students. Scarlet's surprisingly short perspective chapters almost seem as if they're there to remind you that the their love is mutual. I'm not sure whether that works entirely.

One thing I liked quite a bit, but like everything else suffered from lack of development, was Lia's relationship with her boyfriend-turned-best-friend. He goes from being in love with her to a lifelong best friend that deeply cares for her and their relationship is sweet and steady.

As it is now, homophobia was a spectre hanging over the lives of the queer characters in the story. However, I found the characters' conitnued behaviour frustrating. Queer people have always existed and found ways to exist, yet Scarlet was unable to even attempt it. Back in New York, Lia maintains a long term relationship with another woman, even living with her. Scarlet's reticence felt less related to the sword of homophobic Damocles than to her own issues, but this was not fleshed out at all. It stood out for me because Lia and Scarlet seemed to live lives completely separate from any sort of queer community or connection as well as being met with acceptance from almost all who find out about their lesbianism.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Swearing Off Stars as queer historical novels aren't nearly as popular as contemporary ones and because Danielle Wong clearly has talent, but it was just too short, lacking the depth of character that I need to get really connected to a story.

I loved this story. Very evocative of the time period and beautifully done.

It was fine. It was more romance than historical fiction. I should have read further in the description to have realized from the offset that it was LBTQIA but that was pretty apparent from the first chapter. Solid writing but would have like more meat.

Right off the bat, I have to say that Danielle M. Wong’s Swearing Off Stars is a hugely frustrating book. It tells the story of Lia Cole and Scarlett Daniels as they struggle to have a romantic relationship in a world that emphatically does not approve of homosexuality. We follow them from the day they meet in 1919 to 1949 as they meet and part and chase each other between England, the United States, and Hong Kong. Though they love each other, Scarlett just can’t believe that they be together.

Swearing Off Stars focuses mostly on Lia Cole. Lia and Scarlett meet when Lia begins her first semester at Oxford. Lia is a shy American who has a hard time coping with the hostility of Oxford’s male students and the unpleasant family she’s staying with. Scarlett comes to Lia’s rescue that first morning and they are instantly intrigued by each other. We see them slowly fall in love, only to run headlong into the wall of Scarlett’s fear of being in an open lesbian relationship in 1919.

I can understand Scarlett’s fear—at least at the beginning of the novel. After Scarlett ends their relationship the first time, a heartbroken Lia returns to New York. The years start to race by in the novel as Lia finishes her degree, build a career, and find a measure of happiness with another woman. She and Scarlett meet once before World War II, but Lia and I ran into that wall again. It’s only after the war that they get a real chance at being together—only to run into an even bigger problem.

When I finished Swearing Off Stars, I was tempted to throw the book across the room. (I refrained because I was reading it on my iPad.) I was so angry at the way the book ended. I’m not sure who I would recommend it to, other than to readers who like miserable love stories. This was very much not a book for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review consideration. It will be released 3 October 2017.

This is a love story between Lia and Scarlett that begin in the 1920's. They met at Oxford University and fell in love, even though it was strictly forbidden at the time. I gave it a four because the ending left me a little empty. After so much work to get together, I'm not sure if that was the best way to end it. Other then that I enjoyed it. I could feel the deep love Lia and Scarlett felt for each other and it was heartbreaking that they could not be together.