I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

I’ll be honest, this book drew me in instantly. The mystery, missing time & sleepwalking instantly peaked my interest. I was determined to try & figure what was going on, where all the missing time was and most importantly, who this mysterious Thad was. With that in mind, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ‘star’ storyline and by the end of the story, I was struggling to follow what was happening and ended up pretty confused. That is on me though as I’m sure others will be a lot more interested in stars being wished on fallen down to earth.

This is a sweet story, but I found it confusing to follow at times. At the beginning of the novel, it felt like there could've been a little bit more introduction of characters and the world because I feel like the author just kind of dropped the all the action onto the characters at once without giving the reader a chance to be acclimated to the environment. Unfortunately, I was unable to get into this book and did not end up finishing it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers who allowed me early access to this book!

I really enjoyed this book, but I was confused for like half of it.

I really don't think I can say too much without spoiling it, but I have to say that there is romance, there is mystery and we also have the found family trope. I think the idea is very interesting but I also feel like we needed a bit more info, it feels a bit incomplete.

The characters are likeable, but again, they feel a bit incomplete.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion

This book sold me with the beautiful cover art and the theme of falling stars and wishes. However, once I dove into the story, I feel the pacing was a bit off and seemed rushed. Within the first few pages of the story, ,I do not feel a very good foundation was laid for me to know what was going on, so my initial thought was alien abduction with chaotic events happening every few pages.
I think there is a lot of potential with the story, I simply feel it needs to be ironed out a little better and the characters developed a bit more. Once I got into the story, it was a pretty fun experience. I was on the fence between 3 and 4 stars, but when I am on the fence like that, I give the author the benefit of the doubt, especially when I read it to completion.

Firstly thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. While appreciated it has not impacted the content of my review.

Second. I am a big fan of just *vibes* books. My favorite book of all time if The Night Circus. I enjoyed Addie Larue, and my favorite book of 2023 was City of Stardust. All of this to say, I am a very big fan of atmospheric confusing books. So, this should have absolutely been right up my alley. It could have been, but it was not.

Thirdly. I actually was not able to finish this book. I read 70-80% of it, and I could not muscle through the confusion and lack of clarity. As such, I will not be posting my review to any external websites.

This is a novella more than a novel. It is decently short. The plot is our FMC wishes on a star and everything sort of goes whack after that. This is all well and good. I actually liked the first 70 or so pages. I remember thinking “I can’t wait to reread this when I actually understand what is going on” and then I read almost 50 more pages, with things still not at all making sense. It’s not even that I was a little confused. I was A LOT confused. I couldn’t even begin to guess what was about to happen because nothing made sense.

Another thing. There are an over abundance of characters in this book. I couldn’t even begin to tell you their names. Especially with such a confusing plot, the number of characters was almost staggering.

Also. The characters in this book are supposed to have just graduated high school. They do not at all act like it. I would have said the characters better fit 7/8/9th graders at most. I think this may be partially due to the author writing Christian literature, which inherently has a naïveté/innocence to characters, which ages them down.

As I neared the final 25% of the book, nothing really cleared up. Things were happening to the FMC so quickly, that she and I both seemed to just be in the dark.

Overall. I think this would maybe do better as maybe a children’s book. Some of the confusion and unbelievable-ness would make more sense if the characters were younger. I think the author has a very defined writing style, and I did like the prose, I just wish the plot was more coherent.

2/5 stars

I have to say, I was immediately attracted to the cover of this book. It is absolutely gorgeous. I would hang that sucker on my wall in a heartbeat and call it art. 10/10 cover. Then I read the synopsis, and it sucked me in further. Totally sealed the deal. Time travel, romance, mystery, fantasy & memory loss? Sign. Me. Up. I was excited to dig in.

Overall, I enjoyed the characters, and the story, but as I read two things became glaringly obvious: 1) Most of the time I had no idea what was going on; and 2) this book is remarkably religious. I can’t say it was a bad book, it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. The writing is beautiful and descriptive, and it’s obvious that the author is a gifted wordsmith.

The premise that you shouldn’t wish upon a falling star intrigued me and the memory loss/time travel kept me reading until the end. I was a little put off by the religious themes, but I can look past that if it’s not in your face constantly. Near the end of the book, it was pretty in your face. I might have rolled my eyes a couple of times at the use of “The Father of Lights”, and “my invisible friend”. Again, nothing to fault the author, I am just not the target market for that type of plot.

I enjoyed all the characters, and boy there were A LOT of them. Dovie, Silas, Nigel, Uncle Ethan, Michael, Jordin, Caz, Connie, Rose, Oliver the Cat, Thad, Arthur, Todd, “the orchestra”, and several parents are mentioned but we never meet them. They were all endearing, well thought out, and likable, but man it was hard keeping everyone straight. Add in the time travel, story jumping due to memory loss, & religious references, and my brain was mush.

All-in-all it was a solid 2.5-star read (rounded up to 3 for Goodreads). Unique ideas & execution, likable characters, and enough mystery & suspense to keep it from the DNF pile. I do think someone who enjoys Christian fantasy, or religious themes in general would like this much more than I did.

Unfortunately, with this one, I was once again reminded why you shouldn’t always judge a book by its cover.

** I received this book free from Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. **

This book felt like a journey of self discovery and where our main character Dovie fits into the world and figuring out that shes more then just normal.

It also felt like a story of friendship, so many characters come together in this story. I was kind of confused initially because of the memory loss the characters suffer and it’s all quite sudden. This book takes you on a wild ride putting the pieces together.

First off, the cover to do book is exquisite! I enjoyed this book and the characters. The story was hard to follow at times but it did keep me intrigued to see what happened next. Overall this was an enjoyable experience.

This book was provided by Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know if I should give this book 3 or 4 stars, because even though it is objectively a good book, this is Christian Fantasy, and I am absolutely not the right audience for it.

Maybe I should have researched the author a bit more before requesting this book on NetGalley. However, I think it should have been labelled more clearly as Christian Fantasy. I am not American, so if there were obvious clues for an amerixan, I did not pick them up.

Despite the religious aspect of the book, it was pretty nice to read. There are religious themes that made me uncomfortable such as faith in the invisible, modesty, judgement of the behaviour of some women, etc. But I enjoyed the idea of the book, that some stars shouldn't be wished upon. I also loved the time-travel elements, the fashion.

Sherry Rossman has a very enjoyable writing style, she describes things in a very visual way, I could picture everything, it was wonderful. She also is talented at making the story like a mystery that we are trying to solve with the characters.

I loved Ethan and Michael, and obviously Oliver the cat !

So I would recommend this book if you want to read YA Christian Fantasy, obviously, but I think this works with other faith as well. However, I do not recommend this book to poeple who are uncomfortable with the themes that come with the religious aspect of the story.

Like the others, I was drawn to the book by its title and cover. The writing is good but I feel that it is a bit short for a story of this complexity. Some of the things seem a bit rushed.

The cover of this book is AMAZING! I loved the title and the description. I was hooked by both. However, I'm over a fourth of the way into this book, and I have zero clue what is happening. I feel like I'm reading a story about a child stuck in a brainwashing cult, which would be a trigger warning for me. I've basically reread every page because I can't figure out what is happening. The transition from scene to scene is hard to follow. I love the eccentric uncle. Dovie waking up in a dark secret tunnel smelling like men's cologne threw me off. Then a strange man comes in her room in the middle of the night, and they leave the compound together. I'm missing the YA side of this and just very confused. I love the idea of this book, but the process is lost on me. I'm giving this three stars, but I think there is a lot of promise with this, but it's just not there yet.

This cover and title just drew me in! It look so beautiful and the title was breathtaking. I feel I’m really in for a beautiful adventure with this one! I absolutely cannot wait to share a full review and thoughts with you all soon! I am absolutely honored.