I had a hard time finishing this book. It didn't really capture my attention and I had a hard time getting into the characters. The writing was well done though.

this book definitely needs more time for revisions. it read like a teen/YA book when there was no age category listed, making me assume it was in the adult genre. i thought i would enjoy the x-men like concept, however, the writing made the overall plot difficult to follow, as in i'm not exactly sure what was happening through any point at which i was reading. this book has the potential to be really good, it just needs revisions so that there are no repetitive sentences or typos. i'm sad to say that my first netgalley review is a negative one and i did in fact DNF/not finish this book.

Thank you netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a review

Humans try to send a star to space, it doesn't work, chaos ensue.
We follow Charles, at ages 12, 17 and 27, as he navigates life, relationships, family, loss of loved ones, and the mystery surrounding Wonders, people who gained super powers after the failed attempt to send a star to space.
I liked the fact that a lot of characters aren't straight, there's also a (very) cute bunny. The plot is interesting, there's a bit of mystery that kept me interested, however, I didn't feel a lot of chemistry in the relationships that blossom in these pages.

If there's a second book, I'd be curious to read it!

Tw : death of a parent, abuse (on a child)

This review is totally my opinion and it doesn't mean other people couldn't love this book.

Hmmm...this book did not grab my attention as I wanted it to. I thought the cover was really beautiful and that's what made me initially want to read this book. With the stories I read, I want to be enveloped in the characters and feel like I am living the story with them. I did not feel that way with this book. It seemed like I just couldn't picture the characters in my head or the descriptions were vague. The main love interest was hard to root for and lacked something important.

The plot had some serious potential and that's why I am giving 3 stars but the way it was delivered just did not impress me.

Thank you NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the ARC of this book. These reviews are entirely my own.

I’ve never given a book 1 star before…

I’m honestly not even sure where to start…

The main character is pretty meh, we don’t really learn much about him or really end up caring about him much either. The love interest was a touch bizarre and definitely didn’t make me feel like rooting for them. The whole first third of the book… nothing even really happens.

I think the intentions of the author were good but the writing style and character development unfortunately needs revisiting.

As this is the authors first book, it would be interesting to see what comes next. I honestly liked the idea of the book and some of the thinking behind it, but the execution was unfortunately lacking.

The plot grabbed me, though the book din not, unfortunately.
DNF @10% and I still have no idea what the story was 😔
It pains me to be so harsh, I hate giving negative reviews. Maybe is not for me this writing style,  that's why I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 as I initially intended.

2 stars

~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own ~

I’ll keep this short because I am not the target audience for this book. The writing was ok but there were too many mistakes and it jerked me out of the narrative. I also prefer more detailed world building and this was too vague for my tastes. I think the concept was solid but the execution was off. It felt not quite finished. And since I fall outside the intended market, there wasn’t enough to draw me in.

This book wasn't for me. I feel like I would enjoy it more in 2010, because it gave more distopian vibes than fantasy. The world building was nice, but I didn't understand many things that happened there, the plot was really slow because of many descriptions and a lot of spelling mistakes. The characters felt kinda flat and romance was meh. 2/5⭐

Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

I’ll start off by saying that I rarely rate books one star, but this book was a doozy. I read an ARC of Where the Stars Sing by Aminah Fox, which is the first book in a series. It’s clear from the author’s note at the end of the novel that Fox put a lot of work into this book, which I certainly appreciate as a reader. Sadly, the book was disappointing for multiple reasons.

The book is narrated by the protagonist, Charles Sykes, as he reflects on events in his life at ages 12, 17, and 27. The two main focuses of the book are Charles’ relationship with the love of his life, Arthur Westmoor, and the adventures Charles goes on when he is mysteriously gifted a book that lists crimes of Wonders, who are supposed to be superheroes.

First off, I want to remind everyone that I read an ARC of this book, not the final copy. However, there were so many mistakes in the ARC, that it was difficult to discern the author’s meaning at certain points throughout the novel. The word “passed” is used instead of “past,” “phased” instead of “passed,” and sometimes even “the” instead of “then.” It was hard to try to figure out what the author meant at certain points.

Similarly, there were many sentences that were incomplete, missing words, or simply didn’t make sense. The author even introduced a character by a certain name and then referred to the same character by a different name later on in the book. I know ARCs are unfinished copies, but I have never read an ARC that is unintelligible before.

Additionally, I am not entirely sure what was going on throughout much of the book, and I honestly don’t think the protagonist did either. The plot jumps all over the place and more than half the events that take place are not really important for the story’s progression.

Furthermore, the world-building in this novel was so under-developed despite having potential. The book takes place in a dystopian society where scientists tried to send a “star” into space, which ultimately failed (granted the details of how that happened are obscure). This catastrophe apparently caused some people to become superhuman and gave others cancer, but again the hows and whys of this are not explained. With more attention to detail and descriptive world-building, this book could have become really unique.

Finally, the protagonist was one-dimensional and boring. Like I said before, he didn’t seem to have any clue as to what was happening half the time. He lacked any real personality traits, and was truly annoying most of the time. Readers want protagonists who draw them in and who are likeable, or whom we love to hate. Unfortunately, Charles Sykes does not fit the bill.

Overall, I think the author had an admirable goal in mind, of trying to send a message about the importance of love, no matter what it may look like. Dishearteningly, I did not feel moved by this book at all, as it was confusing and lacked depth. The good news is that this is Aminah Fox’s first book, so she definitely has room to grow. With many great authors, you can see improvements in their writing as they publish books. I would love to see how Fox’s writing progresses in her next novel!

Thank you so much netgalley providing an arc! The story is tale of impossible love and tragedy, of fantasy and longing, in a time where being different was celebrated change was still needed.

I really like the worldbuilding, and how the author can create a world that has the capability of making us vicariously live through it and with emotions so full of passion.
I feel like the introduction was a bit too slow-paced for me. The characters are fairly interesting.
Henceforth, it was quite a good read.

I am sad to say that this book didn't work for me. It's probably because it wasn't as fantasy-like as I expected, but felt more dystopia, and I'm not really into that genre as much.
Positive things first though. I really liked the first chapter, it was super atmospheric and suspenseful and I really liked how we were thrown into the world right away. I also liked the time jumps, it made things more dynamic and kept the plot going. I also think the worldbuilding and the concept of the book were really interesting.
Sadly, the writing style didn't work for me at all. It was too descriptive for my liking, which is of course personal preference, but it stopped me from enjoying the read. I also found the plot pretty slow and after the first chapter, not many action-packed things seemed to happen. Which is also fine, just not quite what I look for in a book.
Overall I think there will definitely be many people who enjoy this, I just sadly wasn't one of them.