Was unable to open file! I hope netgalley can fix this issue.

"See All the Stars" is a beautifully written YA novel which kept me interested until the end. I liked the parallel story-telling of Ellory's junior and senior year and how the narration managed to give nothing away about the final twist.

Ellory was a great protagonist to follow around, naive and trusting in junior year, jaded and broken in senior year. The author did a great job showing how Ellory learns to deal with the events of junior year and how to move on and I really like how it is contrasted to her more naive persona from junior year.

The only thing I didn't like about the novel was the epilogue because the I felt that the final chapter from senior year was the perfect ending for this novel.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel for its beautiful writing alone.

"We Were Liars meets 13 Reasons Why in this thrilling debut novel that sweeps readers away as they try to solve the mystery of what happened then to make Ellory so broken now."

You guys. This book consumed me. I read it in two days and can't stop thinking about it. From the first page I could tell it was masterfully written. Halfway through I wanted to tell teachers how great it would be for students to read. And once it was over I wanted to see it replace all those ancient tired books like A Separate Peace that we already hated back in the 90s.

Reading this book is like watching a terrible impact, a ship inevitably hitting an iceberg, and the girls' collision contains all the iciness and destruction of such an event. You want to scream at the characters, each fully realized, to avoid the mistakes they are heading towards, and then you just have to watch, have to turn another page to see it all play out.

It's a powerful book, but it's not all bleak. The puzzle of how Ellory puts her life back together is just as compelling as how these four girls went from a tight orbit to scattered apart. And Kit Frick deserves a standing ovation for pulling it all off.

Taking this book on was an adventure for me. The last book I read that was founded on suspense and intrigue, I kind of hated, so I was leery going in. But due to my excitement for receiving it, and because I would like to be granted access to ARCs in the future, I was determined to dive in and give it an honest shot and review. That ended up being a great decision.

In See All the Stars, Kit Frick creates a cast of characters that is supremely real and too big for the world they are inhabiting. Ellory, Ret, Bex, Jenni, Matthias, Dave, and Abigail, all carry a piece of the complex and manipulative puzzle. As the story unfolds, so do the motives and history of each character, and how they each play a vital part in the undoing - and remaking - of a girl whose past torments her but will ultimately set her free.

Starting this book, let’s say the first 50 pages or so, I had three initial impressions: this author is trying too hard, instalove is gross, and Ret is a terrible human being. After forcing myself to step back for a couple days and readjust my attitude, I was able to view it with fresh eyes. The (albeit still extraneous) pop culture references slowed down in both frequency and force, I remembered that these people are in high school and falling head over heels too quickly is pretty much par for the course, and there were other characters who deserved my ire as much or more than Ret did.

Speaking of characters, it’s rare that a book leaves me feeling something for every single main character. Although Ellory was the sole narrator, and the reader is therefore forced to see everyone else through Ellory’s often unforgiving eyes, Frick still managed to paint a complete picture of most them. Whether it was a concerned parent, an uninterested boyfriend, or a petty best friend caught up in her own issues, Frick wrote in such a way that I was able to both experience how Ellory was feeling and be aware enough of the big picture that those other characters - at their very best and very worst - were still so beautifully whole.

Now, for the big, bad event. I was surprised. I did not figure out who it was about until it was happening, and I was pleased by that. I watch crime TV shows and keep track of how often I figure out the perpetrator before the law enforcement officials do. (I’m winning, in case anyone’s wondering.) The catalyst for the big, bad Event was not as much of a surprise, because those who were involved started out as cagey and manipulative and only became more so as the story progressed.

As I mentioned before, See All the Stars is written entirely from Ellory’s perspective. There are two timelines - then and now - which begin nine months before the big, bad event and four months afterwards, respectively. As the two different Ellory’s approach the event and the resolution, the reader is taken on a journey through each layer of her heartbreak, love story, anger, friendships, elation, and acceptance. Frick handles the journey near perfectly. It’s honest, not too much is revealed at once, and though it’s an incredible thing that happens, the outcome ends up being even greater. In my humble opinion, that’s one of the greatest victory’s an author or a story can have.

When this book hits shelves in August, I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my personal collection. I’m so excited for you all to get a chance to read it.

I, like others an unable to read this because of the format. It's a shame it's not available in Mobi format. I guess I'll have to check it out at a later time.

I'd love to read this book but unfortunately it is locked by a password when I try to open the file.

In the beginning, there were four: Bex, Jenni, Ellory and Ret. "Ret Johnson was the sun. Hot, bright, at the center of our universe. That we revolved around her was simply a fact." Then came Matthias. Now there's just Ellory. The before. And the after. Secrets and lies have torn apart the once inseparable foursome. Senior year is about to start, Ellory is back at school, and she isn't sure if she can handle her new normal.

I was fortunate enough to receive an early copy of SEE ALL THE STARS via NetGalley, and I absolutely loved it. I love the language, the description, the story, the back and forth time jumps. We start with the foursome, with Ret at the center. To be quite honest, Ret is a manipulative little biatch who seems to have everyone wrapped around her little finger and fighting each other for her attention and affection. Ellory can barely stand to be around Jenni and isn't close with Bex at all, but Ret is the glue that binds them all together. Except Ellory meets someone. A boy. Matthias. And Ret is no longer the only sun that she revolves around. Unfortunately, Ret doesn't like that. The chapters alternate between past and present. We know that SOMETHING happened, but we don't know what. What caused Ellory to leave town? What was big enough to come between these friends? As you get closer and closer to the end, the pieces start to come together faster and faster until you find out what "the fall" really entailed.

Adopting the Then and Now narrative style which I'm a fan of, See all the stars slowly unravels the events of Ellory's Junior year and the effects it's had on her senior year.
As far as the pacing of this novel goes, I thought it was pretty good. Nothing was revealed too soon and it didn't feel like it was dragging on, which can so easily happen when you're switching from past and present narratives.
The characters all felt honest, well fleshed out and interesting.
The book has just the right amount of mystery.
I found myself getting some Pretty Little Liars vibes when I was reading this. Which isn't a bad thing.
One thing I liked a lot, was that it wasn't completely predictable, which kept me interested.
Overall, I found this book a really good read, one which I'd definitely recommend.

Unfortunately I am unable to open the downloaded PDF file, even in Adobe (which says the file is broken). The blurb for this book sounds very interesting and I will look out for it elsewhere upon publication.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately I’m unable to download the content as it’s not in Kindle format.

This unexpectedly ended up being my “read in a day” book for my 2018 challenge. It’s not long, but not short. It took a bit to get into this one. The characters you’ve seen before the click and inside jokes, the competition among females and for males. But it distinguishes itself as it goes on. Flipping between “then” and “now” you slowly get a picture of the story. This is well done.
The ending was somewhat predictable. That’s the only reason for 4 stars. Otherwise this is quite good. Characters I was interested in, a story line I wanted to see a resolution to and good writing style did have me finished in a day. Similar to quite a few other books out there lately, but still stands on its own.
I was unable to download this to overdrive so did need to read on my physical computer which was not so convenient.

"I think you know what it's like to be the star of a story that you didn't write."

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first ARC that I ever received, and I was so excited to read it! Thank you so much Netgalley for this opportunity.

This book has been described as a mix between We Were Liars and 13 Reasons Why. Unfortunately, I haven't read either one of those books, so I can't really compare them, but I can say that I can see a Pretty Little Liars vibe in here. That comes from one of the main characters at play, a girl that goes by the name of "Ret". See, from the vibe that I've gotten from her, she is very manipulative with the group of girls that she hangs out with. She is the one that brings them all together, and she is the one that broke them all apart. Think of her as the Alison DiLaurentis of the group, exactly why I can see a PLL vibe. It gets to the point where the main protagonist, a girl named Ellory (I'm actually really digging her name, by the way) even feels like she "needs" to have Ret in her life at some point, and that she "belongs" to Ret. She even has some sort of jealousy custody battle thing with one of the other girls named Jenni, because according to Jenni, she's known Ret longer. It's like they are in competition for Ret's affection, and that's honestly no way to have a good "girl friend" kind of relationship. Not at all.

The more that the book progresses, the more you can see just how abusive Ret really is to her friends. You see it because Ellory is able to finally see it, even if she hasn't done anything to stand up for herself or the other girls yet. There will be moments where it seems like Ret is being genuinely nice, but we have Ellory telling us that it's an ulterior motive, and then we can see it. Everything that Ret says and does to her friends is to make them under the impression that without Ret, they have nothing. They almost are nothing, and Ret knows that. If they don't tell her something immediately, Ret punishes them by not telling them something. If Ret wants to find out information, she pulls the "don't you trust me?" trump card that makes the other girls feel guilty. It's a psychological battle that Ret knows she's doing, and it seems like maybe Ellory is noticing it too.

I also really liked the way that this book would switch between the past and the present. It reminded me of The Roanoke Girls, and for me, it seems like the story flows better that way. One on hand, you can see how Ellory's friendship with Ret, Jenni, and Bex was good, and then you can see just how alone she really is in the present. What happened that made this sudden change? The story doesn't really tell you exactly what happens until you get towards the end (as a good book usually does), but the suspense was killing me! I just wanted to know what the heck happened that was so bad! It had to have been bad if she was out of school on a suspension for two months. Should she have even gone back to that school? Was it worth it to be back in the same situation and these people that caused her so much pain?

Was she also to blame for her pain?

In the past, Ellory even had herself a boyfriend, the elusive and beautiful Matthias Cole. But in the present, she didn't even have him. Throughout the book, the more that Ellory shared her past, you could see that Matthias was drifting. Was he out of love with her, or was something else going on? He was keeping secrets, and Ellory didn't understand why he felt the need to keep secrets from her. She had never judged him before, was always supportive of his love for music, and yet something was changing between them. Could it have been blamed on the fleeting sensation of high school romance, or was it something else entirely?

This may not be my regular genre (the contemporary part, not the YA part), but I did enjoy this book. I thought it was well written, and the characters left me feeling something. I don't know if I'm completely happy with everyone, but I could tell that things were real for them, like I could have gone through something similar, even if not the same thing. I hurt for Ellory, I hurt for them all, and yet I didn't feel sorry for them. I just could understand them.

I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
3.25/5 stars

To start off, I need to acknowledge that contemporary YA fiction is not my favourite genre. I'm more of a fantasy/paranormal reader, but the synopsis and cover of See All The Stars had me intrigued. The book is very well written, but the structure of the time jumps and the withholding of the reason for the break down of the friendships and relationships until the very end kept me at a distance as a reader. I enjoyed the beginning, but as the story progressed I realized the only reason I was continuing the story was to find out what the fallout between the friends had been over. I struggled to find a likeable character in the whole book, which added to my disconnect. The author is a very a competent writer, and I can see the appeal if this style of book is your thing, but it's just not for me. Definitely give it a try though if you enjoy contemporary high drama, time jumping examinations of the pieces of a friend circle fallout.

Lies and secrets can tear people apart and that's exactly what they did to Ellory and her group of friends. Follow her as she tries to live in the now and let go of her past. Being a teen is hard and it's the people that you surround yourself with that make it easier. This book really made me appreciate the friendships I have had, while also making me sad that some people really get their lives destroyed by someone who (however misguided) thought they were doing the right thing.

Hi, thank you for the opportunity to read and review the novel. I've received it in my shelf today, but unfortunately, there was no indication that it offered only PDF format. The problem is that I read books only on a e-reader, thus, apologies, but I'm not going to be able to read and review it as I don't have the time to read on a PC. Thanks again! Best wishes!


#########

Wow, I finished this book in one sitting, one sitting that had me on the edge of my seat. This book completely tore me apart. It starts out in this amazing world of love, light and friendship, and slowly as the novel progresses, it all begins to fade away into horrific, heart breaking agony.
This is the second book I have read this year and it will be tough to beat, definitely going to be my favourite for 2018.
I love Frick's writing style, the way she engages the reader with her characters, but I think, the thing I love the most is that she has created characters that are real. That don't have a constant progression, they regress and take backward steps that are logical and make sense. This book is fantastic. I'll be recommending it all year!

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of SEE ALL THE STARS by Kit Frick in exchange for my honest review***

Holy unputdownable, Batman.

GRADE: A++++
5+ STARS

SEE ALL THE STARS is one of those books that gave me a tingle in my stomach, an excitement that only book lovers can understand. Even in the first chapter, I knew I was reading something special. Kit Frick’s gorgeous words danced off the page into my mind. And heart. I wanted to read quickly to see the source of Ellory‘s pain, but slowly to savor the story. I knew I’d reread immediately after finished.

Although I have an ARC, I pre ordered SEE ALL THE STARS for my Kindle. That’s how much I fell in love with Ellory and her story. She narrates the story from then, beginning the summer before junior year, to now, the start of senior year in alternating chapters. Something happened to shatter Ellory’s life and her friendships. What, we do not know. She’s no longer friends with her inner circle, including the troubled, yet alluring Ret. Matthias is no longer Ellory’s boyfriend. Her classmates alternate from ignoring her to bullying. When former friends try to reach out, Ellory pushes them away.

Frick’s compelling writing made me ache for Ellory, even when I didn’t know why. When looking for her other works, I wasn’t surprised to see she’s also a poet.

Readers, don’t read too many reviews before beginning SEE ALL THE STARS. You don’t want any hints to spoil the beauty arc of the storyline. You may guess the source of Ellory’s pain before the story unfolds, but that won’t diminish your enjoyment if you allow your revelations to happen organically.

I have several favorite books which I reread at least once a year, sometimes more frequently when I need to rely on an old familiar book friend. SEE ALL THE STARS has made that list and I think Kit Frick for writing such a special novel.