I received a netgalley for an honest review.

The fact that I managed to read and finish this book in just over a day is a testament to how much I enjoyed this book. I loved the quirky lines from Sam’s POV mixed with some of the gut wrenchingly bleak thoughts that Zoe had. The contrast between the characters was really well done.

I loved that throughout the book, you can see the growth in the way the POVs were written. It really helped show how far each character had come thanks to their friendship and Starworld.

This book had my laughing, crying, and feeling all the feels. I highly recommend it to fellow contemporary lovers!

I received a copy of from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity.

4 Stars and here’s why:

Starworld is one of these YA Contemporary books that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. I work with teens and I felt that the story was authentic and tackled a lot of issues that kids encounter in today’s unpredictable environment thanks to rapidly changing social media. The authors wrote an engaging story with sensitivity and heart that captivated my interest. The fledging friendship between two girls who are battling so much between a parent with mental illness and a sibling with a severe disability was raw and honest and written so well.

Highly recommend. I think it should be required reading in school. It’s that good.

“I can’t say I understand life’s random twists and turns, or what meaning to ascribe to them, if any, but I will always be thankful for the detour that brought you to me. You will always have a place in my heart.”
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Sam and Zoe live in opposite social circles at school. Until one day Zoe needs Sam’s artwork for the school play. From there we learn about Sam’s difficult life at home and Zoe’s life with a sick mom and disabled brother. Then we learn how much Zoe and Sam need each other.
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I really, truly did not know what to expect when I started Starworld. My mind is completely blown. Every single aspect of this story is relatable. Feeling unsure of yourself, feeling unloved/unwanted, dealing with sick family, dealing with things no one else could possibly understand... it was incredible. Sam’s mom stuck out most to me. When you have a parent with a situation like hers, life is extremely rough. Since my father is similar to Sam’s mom (less intense but same issues), it was like reading a book about myself, well, that part specifically. I can only hope to have a friendship as great as theirs, to have my own Starworld... I’m still processing the book and my emotions but this is quite possibly my favorite YA book yet. I hope you pick it up when it’s available!

This review is on Instagram and Goodreads.

Starworld démarre par la naissance d’une complicité. Toutes deux ont des amis mais c’est l’amitié qu’elles partagent qui les font grandir et réfléchir à ce qu’elles voudraient pour elles-mêmes. Elles se poussent mutuellement à vouloir le meilleur pour elles-mêmes, quitte à admettre des vérités qu’elles essayent d’ignorer en temps normal.

Devant leurs échanges de textos, on sourit et on se prend à craquer pour Humphrey, le charmant animal qui veille sur leurs aventures. On visualise avec elles le monde qu’elles s’inventent. On est très rapidement happé par les pages car c’est plein de naïveté, de rêves, d’espoirs et on veut toujours découvrir encore plus jusqu’où ils vont mener.

Puis, la grande question qu’on finit inévitablement par se poser alors que Sam tombe amoureuse de Zoe, c’est de savoir si c’est réciproque.

A partir de là, l’histoire prend un tour inattendu. On voit réellement les héroïnes grandir et agir pour elles-mêmes. Elles assument complètement ce qu’elles veulent. Elles se prennent enfin en mains et on est de tout coeur avec elles à ces moments-là.

La fin du récit nous laisse avec un sourire attendri. C’est triste mais plein d’espoir en même temps. Une porte ouverte sur l’âge adulte et sur une suite qu’on peut imaginer avec plaisir.

Starworld a donc été une lecture captivante et que j’ai beaucoup aimé lire. J’ai adoré suivre les échanges entre les filles et les voir s’ouvrir l’une à l’autre. C’était une belle tranche de vie.

The Quick Cut: Two girls on opposite sides of the social spectrum find themselves surprising friends after a chance encounter.

A Real Review:
Thank you to Candlewick Press for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

People are a mystery that can't always be understood from the outside. In that same way, not all friendships make logical sense from a typical perspective. With this story about Sam and Zoe, we see two girls who never would've struck a friendship otherwise grow close.

Sam is a loner who tries to make it through school and has a significant struggle dealing with her OCD mother. Everything has to be done in numerals of four and on her terms, otherwise there could be potential issues with fallout afterwards. Zoe, meanwhile, lives a double life where she is popular & people pleasing on the one side and on the other struggles with the fact she is adopted, that her adopted mom has cancer, and that her disabled brother is being sent away.

These two live under intensely stressful situations that are hard to share about with others when a chance encounter causes them to interact and create a bond. However, when Sam starts to develop stronger feelings - what will happen and can they last?

This is a highly quirky novel and for me, it was a bit too much. I don't think I was the right audience considering it pulled me out of the story often, but it certainly made for a unique story. The relationship between Sam and Zoe in the beginning is so pure in how they share with one another and learn how to depend on each other. It is so rare to find somebody else who understands what you're going through when you have family in a debilitating condition and that type of connection bonds people. That's seen here with these two.

I was impressed with the way Sam's mother's OCD was presented. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can present in different ways with different people and with her, it was counting. The authors did a fantastic job at sticking with that presentation and exhibiting the signs that way in a natural way, as they really would for a patient with OCD.

Although the quirky story can be tough to read, this story about two girls will speak to your heart.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

Review copy courtesy of NetGalley.

I couldn’t connect with this particular young adult contemporary.

In general, this was an entertaining read, but definitely geared toward a younger audience. One thing that I couldn't get into was the fact that there was an excessive amount of swearing. I taught high school, middle school etc and I have never had a student swear so much. With that being said, I enjoyed the storyline of this book. I believe that young adults can identify with the characters in this book. One part I particularly enjoyed was the diversity in this novel and how it brought up authentic issues that a young adult could experience.

When Zoe approaches Sam to get her to help the school play, they have no idea of what's to come.



Sam's best friend Will is also shocked as he used to fancy Zoe and she never noticed them before now.



Zoe however has a lot to deal with, her mum has breast cancer and has to contend with the realities of that.



Yet both girls have a lot to learn about friendship and love as well as their family dynamics being solved at last if they can.



A pain filled emotional novel as well as being very touching and good for showing how sexuality can be a guessing game when you're young trying to find where exactly you got and what exactly your feelings are.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

DNF at 23%. I just couldn't get into this book at all. I think it will have a very specific audience that will love it, but I am not that audience. I found it kind of depressing and quirky and other than the very pretty cover, I don't really have anything positive to say about it and I really couldn't make myself read anymore. I found Sam incredibly off-putting. I found the writing in her chapters especially were just not my style.

This book was written for a younger audience than I was expecting. and because of that I did not enjoy it at all. I didnt like the "starworld" aspect at all and the end just disappointed me!

Disclaimer: I received an eARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sam Jones hopes that college can be a fresh start for her. But right now, she’s still stuck in high school–the awkward girl who doesn’t quite fit in, even among her friend Will’s group of gamers.

Zoe Miller meanwhile fits in just fine, but her friends have no idea what her home life is like.

When Zoe visits the art room to find a piece for a student led production, she meets Sam. Sam doesn’t want the attention, but she eventually says yes to letting the painting be used.

What neither expected was a friendship to form.

This was such a fantastic book, and it was way heavier than I initially expected it to be. The two create their own world through text messages which they call “Starworld.” It is a way for them to escape the difficulties of their every day lives. For Sam, her mom has OCD, and her mom’s rituals have been escalating for a while. For Zoe, she has a severely disabled brother and a mom in partial remission from cancer. Both keep these parts of their lives hidden because of fear of what others may think and shame over feeling shame.

This is an honest look at intense friendships forged in fire and carried out significantly through text messages (although it’s not done by the characters, this is true for other forms of social media messaging as well). The misunderstandings, the difficulties, the greatness–it’s all there and all so realistic.

The depiction of living with a parent with mental illness was also done so well. This is something that can be so hard to get right for the reader while also allowing for the protagonist to falter along the way. This was written with such grace and sensitivity. The same was done for living with a sibling with severe disabilities. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that quite done before, but this was also handled well.

This was just such a good read, and I definitely recommend it.

Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst and Paula Garner releases April 16.

This was just not for me. One big thing that completely turns me off from characters and their books is when they use foul language frequently. That turned me off right away. I think the book dealt with some issues that aren’t common in YA, like a brother with a pretty severe disability, and a parent with OCD. Zoe’s love for her brother was beautiful, we got to see so much kindness. Not all stories have “happy” endings, and that’s ok, I just can’t say that overall I liked this one very,UCD.

*ADvanced reader copy provided by Netgalley

First, let me just say that these two women make an INCREDIBLE team! I really hope to see many more novels by them, together.
The novel is written in two voices. Each voice is unique and powerful on it's own, and honestly - either one of the voices could have told the entire story - but the combination of both characters POV adds a depth and richness to the story that kept me turning page after page.
Many times, Dual POVs causes fatigue for me, ESPECIALLY when it is written by two different authors. Many times, the voices conflict with each other -yes, I'm looking at your Zenith- and even more often the story seems to drag, reliving the same moments from a different view. This is not the case for this novel. The two voices blend seamlessly together, immersing you into a world that you could easily escape into with them.
Zoe and Sam are both strong characters. They have real human flaws that are handled tactfully and accurately.
There are so many every day issues tackled in this story that at times, it did give me whiplash. It jumps from one issue to the next with neck breaking speed.
While typically this would totally turn me off, it only added more to reality of the novel. Life does not give you breaks, it throws everything at you during the worse possible times, and all at once.
The book centers around *Starworld*, the world the two girls create to escape everything else around them. This brought back nostalgic memories of my best friend and I passing our notebook filled with drawings, notes, stories and everything else you could imagine jammed inside. Each adventure they took made me laugh, cry and fall in love with them as it resurfaced emotions I'd long since forgotten.
And of course, like every teen angst novel - there is a love interest. This made my heart soar and then tore it apart into a million pieces. I cannot tell you how many times I sobbed while reading this book. That's not to say I didn't laugh - the laughing was equal with the crying, I'd guess - but this story will hit you in the gut. My favorite books are always the books that make you feel the love that the characters have for each other. They allow you experience that, not just yearn for it - but experience it fully through complete immersion. Starworld does that and then some.

Whether you are straight, LGBT, old, young, boy or girl this novel has something for you. The writing, characters, real world situations and heart felt narrative that the reader is something special - one of those stories you only get once in a blue moon, and a story that anyone struggling to be accepted should read.

Very good read about two lonely teens finding each other and themselves while battling some major life issues. Well written from a psychological perspective. I would call this a gentle love story, with much broader implications.

This book was just so amazing I don't even have the words to describe how good it was. The writing was amazing and the characters, I just fell in love with them. I felt my heart skip a beat and break at the same time when reading it. I just loved it so much and would highly recommend.

This was good - I think if I was in the target demographic it might’ve been a 5, but the “Starworld” aspects, while very real to my high school awkward chatting online phase, wasn’t fun for me to read. The rest of the story, though, was compelling and the girls’ varying difficult family lives kept me reading to see how they’d deal. My heart was broken in parts, because I get what it is to be awkward on top of teen angst on top of hard family life.

This book was received as an ARC from Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book reminded me a lot of the Ridley Pearson Kingdom Keepers series without Disney. It is always an addiction of mine when I read about kids discovering that they have uncovered superpowers and the mischief and chaos that comes with it. From beginning to end this book grabs your attention and it feels like you are being transported into their world following along in the adventure which makes the story even more engaging and enjoyable. This book will definitely connect to the young audience because they can totally relate to Sam and Zoe and their need to escape reality.

We will consider adding this book to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get into the story. I appreciate the writing and know it will do well for you. Therefore, I will not be posting my opinion on Goodreads, in order not to skew it's rating.

I LOVED this book! It really made me wish I had someone to *star talk* with. The writing was very well done and I enjoyed the switching viewpoints between Sam and Zoe.

SPOILER:

The only ~complaint~ I would have is that it seemed like Zoe was on an arc to come out as bi, and then... she didn't. Maybe that's just me though.

Overall a very good book! Thank you for the opportunity to read it! I will be posting a full review on http://kaitgoodwin.com/books within 2 weeks of Starworld's publication date.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have so many feeling after finishing this book.
But first of all I have to say I absolutely loved it this book!

It centres around Sam and Zoe who are two teenagers from two different social groups who form an unlikely friendship.
Zoe is the popular girl who’s mom has cancer and brother is severly disabled.
Sam is the quiet artist who’s mom struggles with severe OCD.
I haven’t laughed and cried so much reading a book in a long time.
This is truly a tale of friendship, family and finding yourself.

I really identified with sams character personally she reminded me a lot of myself at that age when I was struggling with my own sexuality.
This book perfectly reflects what it’s like to struggle with all of these different issues and it really opened my eyes.

Overall this book was amazing.
I wish I had read this book when I was a teenager struggling to find out who I was. These characters feel like my friends now so I give this book a fully deserved 5 stars.