I will not be giving feedback on this book as I couldn’t really get into it but I think others may enjoy it.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Quercus Books and the author, Stephen Cox, for the opportunity to read a digital copy of Our Child of the Stars in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thought this book provides a good read. A lovely story.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I struggled a little with this book, despite really wanting to like it. I found it reminiscent of Robert McCammon's A Boy's Life and also the work of Stephen King.

The book is imbued with the feel of 1950's America and also the wonder of childhood. These were both, for me, a very good thing as this type of books is definitely my thing.

First, a couple more positives. I enjoyed how the book explored a parent's unconditional love for a child but I thought its main strength lay in the adult relationship between Molly and Gene. It was messy, as adult relationships in the majority of cases are. Their relationship felt real, especially in that it was not strong enough to sustain the strains of married life.

But I had two major issues with the book. The first being that it stretched believability beyond what I was prepared to accept. Look, I know, this is a story about an alien boy - but the key element of any fantasy or science fiction is to make the unbelievable easily believable. Unfortunately I was unable to buy into the story and so always felt on the outside, unable to immerse myself in the narrative. The second issue I had is that I found the alien boy, Cory, overly twee (excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental.). I'm fine with kids being cute and adorable but this needs to be balanced with times when they are difficult. I found Cory to be too 'perfect' and strangely I found it unable to warm to him.

Reading a book is highly subjective and Our Child of the Stars did not work for me due mainly to the two reasons outlined above. But this is a well-written book and I can easily imagine it being a reading joy for many other readers. It simply did not work for me. Maybe my heart has gone cold.

As always, read the blurb and if it appeals, read it and make up your own mind:

Molly and Gene Myers’ marriage is on the brink of collapse. Then a child arrives, with a remarkable appearance. Will he bring them together, or tear their whole world apart?

Molly and Gene Myers were happy, until tragedy blighted their hopes of children. During the years of darkness and despair, they each put their marriage in jeopardy, but now they are beginning to rebuild their fragile bond.

This is the year of Woodstock and the moon landings; war is raging in Vietnam and the superpowers are threatening each other with annihilation.

Then the meteor crashes into Amber Grove, devastating the small New England town - and changing their lives forever. Molly, a nurse, caught up in the thick of the disaster, is given care of a desperately ill patient rescued from the wreckage: a sick boy with a remarkable appearance, an orphan who needs a mother.

And soon the whole world will be looking for him.

Cory’s arrival has changed everything. And the Myers will do anything to keep him safe.

This is a story that stays with you: you care about the characters, care about their struggle, care what will happen. You care about the state of the world at that time....and oh! it’s no better now. Has humankind learnt anything? The strange child works his way into your emotions, and this review is from someone who doesn’t take to sci fi usually.

I'd like to thank Quercus Books, NetGalley and Stephen Cox for this book in exchange for an honest review!

Sadly, I put this book into the "DidNotFinish" (dnf) shelf, because of multiple reasons:
Firstly, this is a science fiction book, and I think I have only read a sci-fi book in my entire life and it's one of my favourite books of all time; so I thought I'd give this book a chance, because I liked the synopsis.

Secondly, as I got into the book, even though I liked the writing and the plot and I liked Molly Myers as a character very, very much, I encountered the meteor-scene, followed by the many details about her in the hospital when she found that special character.

Beside everything, I liked the characters and I was sorry for Molly, who gone through that accident.
I understood why she wanted to keep that child. And I also liked the relationship between her and Gene, her husband. But that's almost everything I liked about this book.

I forced myself to continue this book, but I just couldn't. This is an alien sci-fi, a subject that I'm not really into. Maybe somewhere in the future my tastes will change and I will give this book a second chance, but by now, I'm sorry. I couldn't do it.

I have to say this is a completely new genre for me - I have never read sci-fi before. But if you’re going to start something new then it’s always good to start with a cracker. I loved Cory, the alien boy, and enjoyed how his new life on Earth unfolded and how he learnt to speak English and wanted to learn about humans and our planet . The love from Molly and, later, Gene (his adoptive Earth parents) was adorable; the fact they could find it in their hearts to take on a ‘child’ from another planet who looked so odd without hardly giving it any thought, just accepting it, goes to show you can love anything or anyone if you just try! Cory’s planet was full of love, not hate and wars, a lesson mankind should learn. My thanks to Quercus Books for allowing me a copy and my congratulations to Stephen Cox on a fantastic debut novel and for opening my eyes to sci-fi.

Really enjoyed this - a perfect, gentle sci-fi adventure. Loved the alternate moon landing stuff! The characters were warm and involving. A great start for a new author.

Imagine an alien spaceship crashes on Earth in the 60's somewhere in the middle of the United States, and the only survivor is a small child.

A boy.

How many people would be after him? Of course, both the government and the FBI would love to get their hands on this child. Awaiting him: experiments galore. Poor thing.

Instead, a caring couple hide him away, adopt him as if he were their own and give him the possibility to grow up in a protected and nurturing environment. Cory looks nothing like a human child, and sadly, it's impossible to hide him forever.

This story is about family, love, trust, caring for each other, and the good in humanity prevailing.

Cox takes care to build a wonderful home for Cory, expanding on his family life for almost half the book. Despite that, there are no dull moments. The author's prose flows nicely, and the pacing is steady.

However, if you're looking for non-stop action, this isn't the book for you. Cox builds his characters with care, and by the time Cory is in danger you'll have fallen in love with him and his parents.

Our Child of the Stars is uplifting and heart-warming. It's neither groundbreaking nor does it explore any new ideas, but it's a welcome moment of warmth. I highly recommend it to readers who are looking for something comforting in these cold days where the news batter us constantly.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for providing me an ARC of this book, in exchange of an honest review.

Our Child of the Stars is original and heartwarming, but in the end it didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Our Child of the Stars tells the story of a couple that has been touched by tragedy and, besides their love for each other, is finding it hard to overxome their issues and keep their marriage together. Then, a meteor falls and everything changes: now there's an orphan little kid that needs a family, but no one can know about him.

From the beginning, I had some problems with the writing. It had some beatiful passages, but it was also clunky and it didn't help that the first 100 pages or so (the main couple's backstory) were a lot of telling, which, honestly, was boring. If i's important for the book and for the readers to know these characters, some of those scenes should be shown and we should feel what the characters are feeling, in my opinion.

Besides, I think I missed the point of the whole plot. It feels too long and disjointed and <i>something</i> only starts happening when you pass the halfway mark and it's not even something interesting. The end was also kind of meh, I think.

However, I think the story was pretty unique and I really liked the little kid, he's adorable. Our Child of the Stars also has some pretty heartwarming scenes, especially the ones that has to do with the family together.

In the end, the premise of this book was very interesting but the execution left something to be desired. There are lots of people that enjoyed it though, from what I've seen in reviews. So, if you like family stories or alien stories or like your contemporary with a dash of something "magical" or sci-fi, you could really enjoy Our Child of the Stars!

Loved the idea of this story and was looking forward to reading something a little bit different. Overall I did enjoy this book, real life relationship issues with Gene and Molly and their relationship with Cory was touching. A few things I felt at the end of the book,
1- I wanted more
2- I felt a little confused about the silver metal snakes
3- would they have really been allowed to keep Cory?
I’m glad I read book and would recommend to others.

When I reached the last page of the book I kept on pressing for the next page but I had to face a harsh reality: the book was ended and no more Cory, Molly and Gene.
I felt empty and sad because it was a great reading experience, a book I savored reading as fast as I could and trying making it last as long as I could.
The word that comes to my mind is tenderness: the author writes his characters with a lot of tenderness, designing great characters that are memorable and lovely.
I loved this book: the characters, the plot and the setting were all well written and made you feel emotionally involved.
The book is exciting, heartwarming and heart wrenching, an emotional and enthralling rollercoaster.
I like the mix of genre, it can be appreciated by people who like sci-fi, thriller or women’s fiction depending on the way you look at the plot.
I hope there will be a further instalment with these characters, I think there could be some elements that could be developed in a new book.
I will surely read other book by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for this ARC

First of all this book was not what I expected; the feeling I got from the first few pages was that this would be a very family orientated book, with more drama than actual action. I was wrong, and therefore pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t have been disappointed with the former – particularly given the author’s beautiful narrative – but I am a more action-loving girl at heart.

Initially this book was very much about the family, the history of Molly and Gene, how they met, their ups and downs etc. It particularly focuses on their disappointment of not having a child of their own, and this focus in particular made me really feel for the two of them. Though they weren’t my favourite characters to have encountered in a book they were certainly lifelike and their relationship felt very real. And each of them had their own flaws, though we primarily see these through the eyes of Molly who is the main voice for this book. We do however get the occasional snippet from either Gene’s or Cory’s point of view. I don’t think these were necessarily frequent though to have a huge impact on the story but they were nice to have.

This book explores some family issues much closer to home, and almost makes this story feel like it’s happening just down the road. It’s very easy to forget that it’s a Sci-Fi. This effect meant that I became well and truly engrossed in the adventure when the action started to really kick off. This admittedly was something that took a while to come around, whilst I appreciated the world and character building, I feel like some of that could’ve been shortened to make room for a bigger build up or more detailed action scene (or two, or three..) later on.

This is really the only criticism I had of the book too, the pacing for me was a little too slow after the first main event; those development scenes take up much of the book, and much of it centres around Molly and Gene, personally I want to know more about Cory’s day to day life as he is the phenomenon and focal point of the story.

So this book is going to get a good rating from me, I think a 4/5 is fair as it didn’t blow me away in terms of plot, and I would’ve liked more of a concentration on the climactic scenes towards the end of the book, but it was very well written and characters were very well developed. Cory in particular was a wonderful character to have and his story and adventure is a wonderful one to follow through the pages.

Overall this is a heart-warming read and a book that I believe will appeal to many people who are fans of Sci-Fi and family-oriented fiction in general. It makes a good book for those wanting to branch out to Sci-Fi too in my opinion.

I don’t remember a cover of a book that has stood out to me quite like the cover of Our Child of the Stars. Call me shallow but I was so drawn to the cover that I didn’t even read the synopsis I was eager to dive straight in but by the end of the first chapter it soon became clear that this was going to be a different type of read for me than what I was used to.

Molly and Gene devastatingly lost their unborn child but Molly is still desperate to become a mother. When a Meteor falls she is brought in to hospital to treat the young alien life form and it isn’t long before he captures her heart and she begins to form a protective bond with him and names him Cory. Molly will do all she can to keep him safe but can her hopes of a life with Cory be a stretch to far?

This was such an exciting storyline that gripped me right from the start and any hesitations I had about reading about an extra-terrestrial life form were soon swept away as Cory touched my heart. Cory was such a wonderful character and at times I forgot he was from another planet, like any young boy you could see him longing to forge friendships with those his age and wanting to soak up and learn about everything around him.

I was surprised how invested in the characters and the storyline I found myself, having Molly’s heartbreaking back story too gives a grounded feel to the storyline so everything somehow felt more real and believable. I loved how unpredictable the storyline was never quite knowing if they would be caught or if Cory would ever be reunited with his own kind which all helped to keep me eagerly turning those pages to see what lay ahead.

I can easily see this book being made into a film, the authors writing was so descriptive the whole story was so vivid in my mind not leaving me to have to use much of my imagination. The energy and pace of the book flowed perfectly throughout the whole novel and I ended up reading it in two days. Cory brings such a fun element to the storyline with his cheeky ways. I can not compare this book to anything else that I have read, I am sure anyone reading this book will try and draw a slight comparison to our much loved ET but Cory has so much more personality and likeability to him and the storyline has a lot more involved too. I read a lot of books that I love and enjoy but this book I found really exciting and I have struggled to find a book to settle in since as I am still hyped up from this book.

This was such an amazing debut and I am excited to see the response this book gets from readers.

I'm grateful to Jo Fletcher Books for an advance e-copy of this book via NetGalley - and indeed for a finished hardback copy too which is a real work of beauty. If you can, take yourself to a bookshop and hold it in your hands! And then buy it, obviously.

I'd been looking forward to the book, based on advance "noise", and there was a extra layer of intrigue because of it being Cox's first book. That always raises the possibility of something a little different. I mean, obviously some aspiring authors will want to write, say, another space opera (or whatever) in line with all the previous space operas, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I've found that, in contrast, some debut authors produce books that are a little different (and not just in the "X meets Y" sense).

Cox's IS one of those, and the result is amazing. While this is firmly a SF novel - Aliens! Spaceships! - for much of the book that aspect is almost incidental. Allow yourself to suspend disbelief in a crashed alien spacecraft and a Government cover-up (and patently, lots of people do) and you have a story of a frightened, injured child and the woman and man who will do anything to protect him. And, eventually, of the others they gather around them to help.

The sheer verve with which Cox portrays these three - especially Cory, the alien child who wants so much to learn and experience the world and to put behind him the dreadful things that have happened - is a joy be read. After introducing the story with Cory's joyful Hallowe'en, Cox turns to Molly and Gene's background. It's the 1960s, they're a bit counter-cultural, stranded in hyper-conformist middle America under, I think, the Nixon administration with the Vietnam War in the background and the Cold War behind that. Molly finds Gene and Gene finds Molly, but it's not all roses. She suffers depression after a miscarriage and struggles with drink. He... can't cope and looks elsewhere. The effects of this are a major theme, sensitively handled, not just a hook so that their acceptance of the alien boy they call Cory is plausible.

That happens after an event called Meteor Day, bringing death and destruction to Amber Grove but also astounding new evidence of extraterrestrial life. The cover-up follows, something Cox makes very believable. I said above "Allow yourself to suspend disbelief", but remember, this is the late 60s we're talking about. In that period and running into the 70s such things were in the air (something expressed much batter than I can in the Hookland Guide, see https://hookland.wordpress.com/about/). The spectacular conspiracy sketched here, involving the President's Chief Scientific Adviser, the FBI, the CIA and more is actually very convincingly done, pitting the Myers against the apparatus of the State in defence of a child they fear will be treated as a monster. It's not only the US Government that pays attention - they need to worry about criminals, the Russians and inquisitive neighbours, too.

As all this develops, Cox succeeds in portraying the alien - the child - at the centre of everything as an inquisitive and hopeful, if very lonely and scared, little boy. Yes, you could see ET vibes here if you wanted but I think that by providing a substitute family for Cory - even as he mourns the death of his mother and his playmates and wishes for the return of "Cory people" to him - the central theme of love and acceptance is built into the heart of this book. And heart is the right word, this story has a great deal of it, dwelling on themes of motherhood, fatherhood and love that had tears in my eyes several times.

There is, also, a more conventional SF post going on in the background, which perhaps had John Wyndham-esque overtones (the disaster of Meteor Day is never really accounted for, nor a couple of other events which suggests a sequel in the works) but that felt, at times, a little optional to me in what is really a very human story. I said I hoped for something new and different, and the book delivers that, but it also does a very old thing in showing us ourselves through the eyes of a helpless and vulnerable stranger come to challenge and affirm our humanity.

(And if that last sentence feels as though it could have been written over Christmas you shouldn't be surprised. It may be early but this would make a great present for 2019 if you're the ultra organised type).

A great SF story, a great story of humanity, full of action but also of heart. Strongly recommended.

Molly Myers is a nurse who is very good at her job. She and her husband Gene have to fight through their own tragedy after they lose their own child.

Their town is damaged by a meteor and Molly has to tend to patents but there's one who she feels drawn to. An alien mother and son are in the hospital and Molly is more concerned about them than most. She feels she wants to do more to help him, that anybody deserves medical treatment, no matter what species.

There are the usual hospital problems ,staffing issues and her colleague Doctor Jarman does not make her life easy at times. but she wants to help the alien child who she ends up naming Cory.

There's tension between her and Gene and the death of their unborn child causes a terrible rift between them.

I adore scifi books and up til now many of what I've read have been Star Trek books but this, this really blew me away. It's tender, tense original gripping and realistic. Stephen Cox has a gift for creating a story and family that will melt your heart. This is all about a journey to rediscover what love really is.

The pacing of the book is quick but detailed and the snippets of information about life of the time at which the book is set adds atmosphere.

I got through this in a matter of hours and was hooked. ET made me feel the same way, made me emotional and this did too.

Our Child of the Stars will make you think feel and dream. I was praying Gene and Molly would find happiness. That Cory would flourish. The threat of the federal government finding about him was gripping.

Thanks to Stephen Cox for an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. 5 stars.

This is a beautiful story of family and love. The story centres around Molly and Gene Myer's and their love of a child who is different. Molly and Gene's marriage is falling apart after tragedy strikes and they can't have children. Molly turns to alcohol and it is when a meteor strikes their small town that life gives them a second chance, with a child in need of protection, a family, and most of all love.

Cory is Molly's salvation. She and Gene decide to keep him secret and hopefully safe. Of course in a world of chaos, ugliness rears its head.

The writing is beautifully done and the descriptions of Cory are great. I loved all his little quirks and watching him progress from Alien to little boy. Through Molly and Gene's kindness, Cory learns the meaning of love, family, and friendship in a story that will touch your heart.

This heartwarming story reminds you of the lengths parents will go to protect their children.

Our Child of the Stars is so lovely, I found it really hard to put down. This is an excellent twist on the alien crash landing narrative - just a child in need of a new family and a lovely commentary on the family bonds that are made, not by birth but by choice.

One day in small town America, everything changes for Gene and Molly Myers when a meteor comes crashing down.

As a nurse in the local hospital, Molly is part of the emergency team treating survivors, including one extraordinary extraterrestrial. Cory becomes the son Molly and Gene have always wished for, and they strive to keep him safe and secure. Yet inevitably the world of politics rears its ugly head, with violent and terrifying confrontations as interest in Cory grows across the world.

A sweet yet powerful story, this is a recommended read for young adults and adults alike.

"A lost child, the family who try to protect him and the secret that refuses to stay hidden . . ."

"""

Set in 1969, Our Child of the Stars by Stephen Cox is an adorable story about family, specifically the love between parents and their child. After a meteor crashes in a town in New England, an orphan child is taken to a hospital and cared for by Molly Myers. The child is wanted by the government but Molly and her husband Gene decide to take the strange alien child home with them to love him as their own. The Myers family are so loveable and everything about this book was so unique and quirky - it was impossible to dislike! A heartwarming story about the lengths people go to keep their children safe combined with aliens is all anybody could ask for really!

I would like to thank NetGalley for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.