I am a Scarlett St. Clair STAN. It was fun to read her YA work, which doesn't have the same spiciness as her other novels but still works super well. This book was filled with great characters and a lot of action. Loved it!

As someone who hadn't heard of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this book. So I went to read a little bit about the legend, and unfortunately, it didn't sound the least bit like something I'd enjoy. Thankfully, I read one review that said this book wasn't anything like the legend and they had no idea why it was being advertised as such, making me feel relieved to tackle the story without expecting a tragic ending.

I feel like this book was one that left me with a strange array of feelings. On the one hand, I liked the premise of the book and the mythology behind it. On the other hand, I felt like the worldbuilding was a little too flimsy for my taste? I think I needed a little more on the Valryn, their legend with the Eurydice, Charan, their existence. It all felt too clean-cut in a way but kind of not sufficient to give me enough of a feel into this world and how Anora got her powers. Anora getting her powers definitely needed more exploration because I felt her story was a bit tapped on. Not enough explanation into what happened in New York, despite how everyone felt bad for her when she explained how she'd been deceived and their hearts broke or whatever, I thought that was an exaggeration to the recounting of an event. There should have been more details, more insight into the deception and how that had destroyed her.

The characters development as well was an annoying part for me. They all felt so vague and most of the time very two-dimensional. <spoiler> Some moments, especially with Lennon and Thane were very contradictory. I know it was meant to subvert the plot into getting us away from their true intentions, but it didn't work that way. What I got in the end were very obvious intentions to have Thane be the villain and anything to try to put suspicions away from him all fell flat. He was the bad guy, he had a hand in the bad things happening, it was just a matter of how he was doing it and who was helping.</spoiler> As for Anora herself, she was such an oddball to gauge. Have you ever read a character who had the worst possible decision-making, but you somehow understood where they were coming from, only the consequences were ALL blatantly obvious and she saw them all as an afterthought. Perhaps it was about finding an alternative plan because it made sense why things would go bad and she was always surprised when it did.

Her mother too was a huge piece of work. Throughout the book it was alluded that she had 'episodes' and as such made life for Anora unpredictable and unbearable. It also somehow gave her leave to stop being a mother and to abuse Anora emotionally by threatening to have HER committed, when she would throw a bowl of pasta in her daughter's face because she was mad at her? What were the episodes? I concluded it had to be depressive episodes. But why was she not taking medication? Why was there no concern over the fact that her mother was emotionally abusive, had a high level of depression to need medication but instead would use her daughter as an emotional punching bag? I felt like her character was set up to be a villain and merely give Anora a reason for her own dark thoughts to grow, rather than a three-dimensional character who had depth. She was randomly evil to her daughter for no reason, and then randomly nice to her without precedence and would get mad when her niceness wasn't appreciated. Some days she wouldn't get out of her room, but she conveniently came out when it was time to ground her daughter.

There was just a lot of annoying things about all the characters. So much inconsistency and as a whole none were likeable. I think the book's biggest selling point was the premise, but it left me frustrated for the better part of it trying to make sense of why the characters were doing what they were doing when it was mostly out of character for them.

I didn't really know what I was getting into until I received this and I realized it wasn't real for me about halfway through. I am a new fan of this author and I have come to the realization that St. Clair's series are never the same. from the Hades and Persephone series to the Adrian and Isolde series and back to the this one I can honestly say I'm impressed with her way of not duplicating any of her characters or their arcs. I will definitely get into this book and again because I am a big fan.

When Stars Come Out is a young adult fantastical retelling or Eurydice and Orpheus. It doesn't rely too much on the Greek myth-- which was a good thing, I thought. However, it was a little boring. Anora and Shy were pretty one dimensional, and I needed more of the Valryn and their stories.

It took me awhile to get into... and then I kind of did but not so much that I was excited to read every day. For me, that's a big deal with YA fantasy. Give me some action and characters that I actually care about.

I would recommend this to younger, mature readers. There is still some horror (all the ghosts!), but the writing and love story seemed more middle school level.

While I enjoyed the book as a whole, I felt that it started out a bit slow and I was more often than not confused about what was going on. I appreciated the content warnings at the beginning though, due to some of the heavier content in the book.

I am eager to see where the rest of the story will go, now that it really set up the full story line.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I’ll say Scarlet St Clair knows how to keep you hooked. This YA fantasy was just what I needed. I wish there was more world building and I’m excited to read book 2 to see what else we learn and what happened to our MC’s since they’re forbidden! The reincarnation plot and everything that it means has me super intrigued!

This book was good, I found the content to be a little too young for me (it is a YA novel, so I understand that). Overall, the story was good and the character development is great, which is a huge strength of SSC!

While I genuinely enjoyed this book it did have an odd sense of déjà vu as if is read this or something like it before.
I enjoyed Anora as a character and thought her actions were reasonable if not completely sound (although I'm not sure why she didn't call Roth out for his theft in front of the Order)
I wasn't too fond of the instalove between her and Shy although the reincarnation aspect did explain it somewhat. I thought Shy was a little too generic and whiny but maybe he'll grow on me.
Lennon's reveal was excellent, didn't see that coming although I did know she was the authors of roundtable all along. That part was glaringly obvious.
Some of the action sequences were a little too short to deliver the punch needed and I could have done with hearing more about the hellhounds but altogether a nice read.

I absolutely adored this one, it’s the perfect YA read! This is something my 14-16 year old self would have loved endlessly, however my more adult tastes have changed I had to read this one, especially after my love of the Hades character in her other works. I am not the least bit disappointed. If you love YA, this Is a great option.

Amazing! I highly recommend. Engaging characters, great storytelling, and a compelling plot to tie it all together. Would recommend for YAs and most NA readers!

This type of book is exactly what I would have read and loved in high school. Reading this book gave me a lot of nostalgia for 16-year-old Monica!

Now that I'm 30, my tastes have changed quite a bit. But that's ok! This is a YA book and it fits the bill perfectly. This was a really fun read and really encapsulates what being a teenager is like (with fun super natural elements, of course!).

This book is supposed to have been inspired by the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus and there's flavors of that, but I wouldn't call this a retelling. (Which is also fine because that's not what this book is saying that it is!)

Overall, this is a really enjoyable read and I think it's perfect for a YA audience. So, if you're in high school, or wanting to feel nostalgic for high school, this book is for you!

I’ve been a huge fan of Scarlett St Clair since I first started the “Touch of Darkness” series so I was really excited to read her first ever novel.

When Stars Come Out was and enjoyable and fast paced read with drama at every point. It was action packed and kept the reader gripped.
A great teen/young adult read with the perfect amount of spooky thrown in.

Teenage me would have devoured this in one sitting.

Scarlett has done it once again!!! While it’s not my favorite, because no one will ever top my love for Hades, I really loved this book. Can’t wait for the next one!

*still wip*

I am really enjoying this book so far it is fun and entertaining and although it is YA you can definitely see some of the vibes and writing connections to Scarlett's more recent works!

Stay tuned for a more complete review!

This is yet another example of how Scarlett. St. Clair does not disappoint. I enjoyed everything about this book.

Thanks to SourceBooks Bloom Books for gifting me a free e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book follows Anora, whose life is uprooted after her poppa dies and she finds out she can see the dead. Anora and her mom move to a new town for a fresh start, except Anora soon learns that this town is far from normal. Everyone seems to be acting strangely, even the handsome Shy . . . and when Anora accidentally loses a coin that contains the soul of a dead girl, she gets pulled into a dark and mysterious world.

I found the plot of this book to be quite interesting, even though it didn’t feel particularly unique. I did, however, feel like a lot of the things happened a bit too quickly, and some plot points were just too convenient for me to find them believable. I still had quite a few unanswered questions by the end of the book.

I didn’t really gel with Anora’s character very much. I thought she was quite forgettable, and that there wasn’t much depth to her, or anything that made me care for her. The same goes for Shy. I did, however, find that Lennon, Thane, and Natalie (in other words, most of the side characters) were intriguing, and I wish we’d gotten to explore their personalities a bit more.

While I do think this book could have benefitted from another round of editing, the writing was good. It was engaging and easy to read, and I found myself flying through it whenever I sat down to read. I will say, however, that I wish there had been a bit more distinction between Shy and Anora’s points of view, as they sounded pretty similar to each other.

The world was also very interesting, and I think the book would have been a lot stronger if we could have explored the magic and creatures a bit more in-depth. While I do think it was all very entertaining, the world-building did take a bit of a backseat because of the teenage angst and romance.

I enjoyed seeing the parent-child dynamics between Anora and her mother and Thane and his parents, and I liked seeing how Anora’s feelings towards everyone in her life fluctuated and changed all the time – I think it was very realistic considering her age.

This was a really fun and accessible read. It may not have been mind-blowing, but it has all the elements of a good YA fantasy, and since this is only the first book in the series, I have reason to believe it will improve in the next books (not that I will be continuing with the series).

This book wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great. It felt pretty generic and average to me, and I had expected a bit more from it given the great things I’ve heard about this author.

All in all, I would recommend this to people who like really formatted, old-school YA books, and don’t mind a bit of cringe and predictability with their books.

Okay, I immediately preordered this book when I heard it was being released and actually SCREAMED when I was granted the ARC. I love Scarlett St. Clair's writing and the attitude of all of her characters. This book was no different. OBSESSED.

The premise was good and I liked the characters. I thought the concept of round table was good, but the author could have developed it more. It was kind of lurking in the background and was a little confusing as the author didn’t really develop it too much or give much background on it. The concept is timely, and could have been more of a central theme to the story.

Overall a good book and I’m looking forward to the sequel

If you want a dark creepy read, this is one to pick up. This is my first St. Clair book and won't be my last. Seriously, this was so much fun! It took me forever to read because I was reading three things at once, but once I put the focus on the entire thing I zoomed through it. I read like 8 chapters of it in one night. This is a YA fantasy, so not spicy like St. Clair is known for but an interesting read. It's also a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice if you're into her other greek myth retellings. I think there's a second book and I will be picking it up.

"They say the night through human eyes is beautiful, peaceful even. But I'm not human, and when stars come out, so do the dead and those who hunt them."

A brilliant YA fantasy book about death-speakers, Valryns and souls!
Anora Silby hopes for a new life in another city. She can to see the dead and turn spirits into gold coins, but turns out, she isn't the only one with abilities. And also there are many who want her power.
Anora is a main character who will capture your heart. She just wants a peaceful life but has to deal with the Order and other people without even knowing who to trust. The romance between her and Shy is sweet, I look forward to see how it will develop in the next book.

"You can only be different for so long before someone notices."