A good read
A very thought provoking read
Plenty of tears but plenty of hope too
A really good book was unsure that I would like it
But I loved it
Thanks NetGalley

A Romea and Juliet style tale with a modern twist. Rashid and Jodie come from very different families with very different backgrounds so when they fall in love they have to keep their relationship a secret as both families would be disapproving for different reasons. This was a very thought provoking story which deals with race issues and the backlash of brexit, it tries to teach us all a moral lesson which needs to be spoken about.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An incredible book! I loved it - an interesting, intriguing premise, so relevant today, and well-written. I was sobbing at the end. It made me feel all the emotions. I will be recommending this.
My only comments would be the dialogue of the Jodie and her family where the author tried to reflect the accent - didn't work for me - felt a bit clunky. Also the cover and the title don't do this book justice at all. The cover takes away the depth of the story line.

Starts off as a boy meets girl story, but couple come from different backgrounds.
Description of both families struggling with problems and told from Mother's point of view is very moving and thought provoking. Rashid's father is Muslim and his Mother French, the children are bought up as Muslims but Rashid rebels and goes to college against his father's wishes. Jodie is a stunning girl attending the same college, she comes from a traditional white background with a racist, trouble making brother and a frustrated mother trying to keep the family on track.
Donna and Sylvie catch the same train occasionally and know one another from sight, little knowing that their children are in love and meeting secretly.
Against a background of Brexit, and the struggle for Rashid''s family to. Pass the citizenship test a horrific tragedy starts to unfold.
I was moved to tears by the feelings and sadness in this profound story.
Thanks you Jane and NetGalley.

A thought provoking, relevant and sensitivly written modern retelling of a Romeo and Juliet type romance.

The characters are complex and well though out giving real depth to the story.

The story shows the harsh aftermath of the Brexit referendum and the impact it had on various families from "casual" (yet still impactful and absolutely detestable) racism, far right extremist recruitment to physical and verbal attacks resulting in murder.

It also shows the impact of being a bystander and not stepping in when someone is clearly being attacked. It certainly made me determined to be a better ally and come forward if I ever see the beginnings of this happening, even if it's just to pretend I know the person being abused and start talking to them/remove them from the situation.

A memorable and impactful read

Wow! What an absolutely stunning and emotional read. This book isn’t for the faint hearted, it deals with subjects that are bang up to date. Something that is easy to relate to given the world we occupy today.
It’s a story that stays with you, long after you finish that last page and close the book. Extremely engrossing and thought provoking. A perfect read,
Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for my arc.

Such an emotive wonderful book about two very different families who are brought together in a twist of fate. The book is written from two perspectives and is such a contemporary subject and it us written so well. Loved it

This was a very hard read, and must've been so hard to write. Sadly, this story is very much a fact of life nowadays and this story shows how it directly affects families. If this story saves one life, it will be worth it.

“Two households…., From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean”

I haven’t read anything by Green before. She reminded me quite a lot of Jodi Picoult – by which I mean, something of a blockbuster, popular author, very easy to read, - I don’t mean to sound rude here , but long-train-journey read, who can tell a powerful issue based story, designed to stir the emotions, but, beneath the high entertainment factor both writers pack a lot of uncomfortable thoughts and feelings for their readers to explore

I have read several more literary writers on the undoubted challenge and soul-searching, the unleashing of uncomfortable stereotypes, prejudices on both sides, of the Brexit referendum debacle.

Green covers this territory extremely well, sparing few punches, in her story of those archetypal star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, here given a post Brexit twist in the stories of two families, in Leeds. One family are middle class professionals, sophisticated, educated, working in senior medical roles, and the other a working class family. Rashid is the son of French woman Sylvie and her Moroccan husband who have lived in the UK and contributed within the health service and academia for 20 years. Now, post Brexit, they are just another of the many people left feeling like unsafe, unwanted ‘foreigners’. Jodie is the bright, vibrant, artistic daughter of Donna. The men in this family are casually and not so casually racist. And it is the mothers in both families who are trying to keep their families together as conflicts within each family becomes clear

Rashid and Jodie meet on public transport, on their way to their respective colleges, and first love, which must remain completely secret, given the racial, class and religious divides which exist between the families.

Co-incidentally, Sylvie and Donna have also, without knowing each other, been sharing a regular train journey

The reason I have dropped a star is because the depiction of dialogue, in Jodie’s family though understandably wanting a faithfulness to the difference in speech between classes, seems quite heavy handed and clunky. Somehow it doesn’t seem to flow integrally within itself. I was always aware ‘here is a writer depicting specific working class Yorkshire dialect’ rather than having a sense of the speech of individuals

Still an extremely powerful and affecting book, and Shakespeare’s depiction of his star-crossed lovers, and the construction of that story, is given a modern twist, and universal conflicts which are within our current society, as a whole. The individual story reaching a wider resonance in post-Brexit Britain

TW: racism

I’ve never quite read a book like In Little Stars. The plot is based around a Romeo and Juliet type romance in a post- Brexit England between Rachid and Jodie (the star-crossed lovers even have the same initials!). The book follows their POVs as well as their mother’s which adds another narrative of the thoughts and opinions of those on both sides of the Brexit vote.

Just based on the blurb- I knew it was a book I had to read…and now that I have read it, I truly recommend it to everyone.

I think it’s rare that an author can capture views of multiple characters in a realistic way. It can often be a challenge to dig deep and develop one character to portray their truth, let alone for multiple individuals in a book. However, I really felt that Linda Green was able to do this and flesh them out in such a way that it felt truly real. Consequently I found myself often pausing and reflecting throughout this novel- something which I love.

I found it particularly interesting how Green wrote the POVs of Rachid’s and Jodie’s mothers. Sylvie’s and Donna’s POV were largely written in the past tense, unlike the POVs of their children which were in the present tense. I felt that the use of the present tense for Rachid and Jodie really emphasised their emotions and gave it more importance so that it transcended the negative racial narratives explored in more detail in the mother’s POVs. These small details that Green put into the novel was was appreciated and really paid off.

One of the top stories of this year!

Read: for a forbidden love story like no other ❤️

This has all the stars and more from me.

If there was ever a book that had a moral to a story, this is it!
If there was ever a book that held a message for us all, this is it!

Two families.
Both sides of Brexit and how that affected certain people.

A Muslim family and a white family.
The differences couldn’t have been any clearer than this.

Each morning both Mothers are on the same train to work each day. Neither know each other.
Their lives unknowingly become intertwined.


This is a love story. A story within a story.
A love story like no other.

These are two Mothers with parental deep heartfelt love.
Yet, some people in this world love to hate. Some hate to love.

Some like to protest quietly, others just join in for the provocation they can stir up.

Some parents do not realise how their examples or words they use or reactions behind closed doors can be replicated through offspring, then reap the un rewards that brings and the trouble.

Which made me think, why do some think that because we look different, sound different or not of the same faith or skin have the right to harm others? We are all human.
Flowers grow in many colours, give off many scents, they are beautiful and so are we in any form, in any colour in any faith etc

Seeing this book was based on events and the authors thoughts and realism of facts I think this hit home to me more.

It’s hard to Stand Up.
It’s harder to carry guilt if you see someone being attacked. Our instinct is to not get involved for many reasons, our own safety, our fear, our “turning a blind eye”. Then, it’s on the news.
You did nothing.
What then?

An absolutely stunning gut wrenching tear breaker. I dare you not to cry somewhere in this book.
I dare you not to be completely compelled to Stand Up.

It doesn't feel right to say I love this book but I did in the sense that I could not put it down. It is a really hard-hitting read but it is one that is deeply moving, deeply powerful and deeply compelling. It is a truly captivating novel.

It's rare that I don't write my review straight after finishing a book, as I like to get my thoughts out quickly and then move on to the next book.
However, this book needed some serious consideration.
I have loved Linda Green's book before, I don't even need to read the blurb. Her characters are wonderfully written, but she writes a compelling plot to combine them with.
That said, she has reached a whole new level in In Little Stars. I finished it on Friday night (early hours of Saturday) and still has me grabbed by the shoulders and consumed my waking thoughts ever since.
This has been dubbed a 'modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet', and whilst there are several similarities, this book deserves to be praised on its own merit. I did love the R and J names of Rachid and Jodie though. Cute.
The plot is so cleverly constructed- the families whose lives, unbeknownst to them, cross several times, and become forever linked. The reader has an incredible sense of foreboding and dread as the book progresses as it reaches the main event, and this is through the multiple POVs. The narrative and the text message conversations keep it flowing and keep the reader gripped and reading well into the night. I also loved the Yorkshire accents of the characters- made them so much more real.
The ending is incredible. I cried. No, I BAWLED. Whenever I stopped crying, the next page would set me off again. My heart has been blasted into a million pieces. The role of all the characters and the parts they play in the story shook me to my core. I was reading it in bed and had to leave the bedroom in case my sobs woke my sleeping fiance!
Aside from the wonderful characters and clever plot though, are the real themes addressed by Green. It is set in the time of Brexit in Britain, and the racism that runs on the undercurrent of the book is brutally conveyed. It is painful to read, written to shock readers and highlight the attitudes of some people in Britain today. Green messaged me herself to say it 'pretty much destroyed her while writing it', and I can see why.
I have not been this affected by a book in years. It is one of my books of the year and will be difficult to beat. I genuinely feel like it has changed me as a person.

In Little Stars is a modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling against the backdrop of post-Brexit in Yorkshire.
Rashid and Jodie (R&J) are teenagers meet at college and they immediately fall for each other however the path of true love never runs smooth and in a R&J retelling well it’s clear it’s not going to end well.
Rashid, is Muslim with French parents who despite having lived in the UK for 20 years working for the NHS no longer feel welcome since the Brexit vote. Whereas, Jodie is from a working class background with a number of xenophobic family members. With their respective family situations, they need to keep their love affair secret as neither family would be supportive of their relationship.
It's an emotional story (you need your tissues) covering the awful realities of racism in it’s many forms and really makes you question as a reader what allyship really means and what would you do when faced with racial abuse. It definitely would be a great book club choice as it would drive a great conversation.
Thanks so much to @netgalley @lindagreenbooks and @ quercusbooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Beautiful, sad, thoughtful book.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

Oh my goodness. What. A. Book. Set in Leeds in 2019, this is a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but instead we have Rachid and Jodie. Rachid's family is from France, and his father, him, and his sister are Muslim, and the family are being made to feel increasingly unwelcome in the UK. Jodie is from a working class pro-Brexit family that strongly feel that Brexit is to claim back their country. Rachid and Jodie meet on their first day of college and instantly fall for each other. However this isn't just their story, it's the story of their mother's, Sylvie and Donna.

The plot echoes the Shakespearean tragedy in many ways, with Juliet's nurse's role in her aunt Lorraine, the role of Mercutio played by Rachid's friend Marcus, Juliet's cousin Tybalt is now Tyler. Instead of Friar Lawrence we have a Chapel Café where the lovers meet. There are lots of references to Paris the City, a nod to Juliet's fiancé in the original play, and lots of references to Prince the artist, a nod to Prince in the play who is the neutral party between the feuding families, and here represents a love of music where Rachid and Jodie find common ground.

The plot is beautiful, heartbreaking, eye-opening, and difficult to read in parts, but completely un-put-down-able throughout. Absolutely stunning. Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my! I have just finished this book and the love I have for Jodiie and Sylvie is unreal.
I cried big fat tears reading this, Linda wrote with such feeling that it really felt like I was living their life

This book is so well written, it delves into the lives of 2 families one a mixed race family, French mother, Muslim father and their 2 teens, who were both born in the UK and a typical working class white family. It talks about the stereotypes they both suffer and how both families feel about the Brexit vote and the aftermath.

We meet Donna and Sylvie, who don’t know each other but travel the same train daily. We meet their families, especially their teenagers, who do meet and explore their relationships with themselves, their family and others around them

Highly recommend
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this title

This story was so beautifully written, poignant and heartbreaking in equal measure. It felt so real which is actually quite scary as we are in 2022 - where is such deep seated racial hate still a thing.

The narrative of this wonderful novel is extremely emotional and thought provoking, refusing to shy away from the painful truth of racism. This may be a work of fiction, but I genuinely feel it needs to be part of all senior/college education to demonstrate the devastating effects of holding such views.

On a positive note about the fictional element of the book - I love Jodie and Rashid and their beautiful connection.
I also felt for the parents in this book as they all had their own issues they were dealing with. This is a fantastically written book on an extremely difficult subject. I will definitely be reading more Linda Green because she is a fabulous writer..

This book became a very powerful read for me as I got further into the story. It was heartbreaking and brought tears to my eyes. Initially I struggled a bit with where the story was set, but then considered that there are pockets of people with views that are racist and sickening in their attitudes in any town or city. Told from the view point of the main characters, it highlighted how religion and culture are so badly perceived and the devastation this can cause. Thought provoking, the story highlighted modern day safeguarding issues such as grooming. It did strike me as the modern day Romeo and Juliet. Rachid and Jodie were young people with their whole life ahead of them and should have been able to enjoy being young and 'in love'.
A fantastic book by Linda Green that i felt truly deserved a 5 for how she tackles what can often be a taboo subject that is brushed under the carpet.
Many thanks to Linda Green, her publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I enjoyed this book, it was easy to read and held my attention. I will be reading more from this author :)