All the Stars Align by Gretchen Schreiber is a young adult novel about a disabled girl, a senior in high school who has what is called "The Blessing" in her family. The females in the family are basically 'hit by lightning' when they meet their true love and that was it, fate took over and they would be together forever. She didn't see the point of dating anyone until she felt that bolt from fate. Unfortunately, her best friend Leo wants to be the one, but she didn't feel that for him, so that ended that! When she does finally feel that feeling, what totally pulled me out of the novel was her using his name... before she knew it. Bad editing or oversight, this should be fixed before publication. The novel was slow, repetitive and could have been much shorter if they hadn't gone over the blessing and fate repeatedly, as nauseum. I loved the concept, but felt it was beaten to death to the detriment of the novel.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Ummmmm, I really really wanted to love this book. I liked it well enough, but the premise was so ridiculously overwrought. I wanted mostly just to strangle this chick because she couldn’t pull her head out of her butt! I feel like it was just too hard to suspend disbelief about her story. Too hard to envision a world where this would have been happening. And don’t get me wrong - I can dig me some fantasy. But this didn’t cut it for me. Sorry.

Overall, the plot and idea for this book is really solid. The characters are interesting. But I spent most of the book wanting to smack Piper for just being so blind to everything. And yes, I get that her being blinded by fate was a really big part of the plot and her growth. It just ended up killing the story for me. Piper is likeable, despite her one flaw that drove me nuts; and Leo was great. And the characters around them throughout the story are all, well, characters. Keeping the aunts straight was a bit of a chore, but maybe that was the point because they did need to blend together.

Perhaps my challenge was that the love triangle never once felt like that. And that turned this into a book about Piper needing to wake up and smell the roses, something that needed less page time to accomplish. So the lessons in love felt extra. There were moments that brought me back to a good John Hughes era teen romance. And I appreciated those. Just not enough to bump this to a 4 star review.

Caveat .... I have been on a bit of a dry spell for romance. None are resonating or really getting me interested enough to keep reading. Sometimes that happens, especially after I hit a really awesome book to lead into it. High expectations met so this book may have been up against stiff competition.

All in all, not a bad story and kind of fun. Just not the right fit for me at the time and may not appeal to everyone.

I feel this book has good intention , however I feel it lacks with how slow the book is ! I thought I would fly through this book but did actually got bored

"All the Stars Align" is a YA romance with good intentions that ultimately has a scattered execution. Paige is part of a family that has a Blessing--everyone finds their fated soulmate and is with that person forever and ever and ever. As a senior in high school, she is obsessed with this idea and bothered by the fact that her mother has turned her back on this and has decided to divorce her dad. She is also concerned about her best friend Leo who suddenly wants some space. Then she meets a guy at a party and is convinced he is the soulmate that has been promised. And she's not sure what to do at college next year.

"All the Stars" suffers from trying to do too much. Much of it feels like its realistic fiction, but the magical realism of the Blessing keeps coming back. The main character is pretty lightly drawn in and I found it hard to connect with her trials and tribulations. Many of the side characters--her parents and her friend Diana--were intriguing.

Overall, this book had promise but what hard to focus on. Too much going on.

All The Stars Align
By: Gretchen Schreiber

4 Stars

This story was magical and filled with the teen angst of young love and growing up. The pressure of the world is always pulling you in different directions. Piper has a special family. They were blessed by Fate to know their true love just by sight. All her aunts have their stories, her mom and dad have theirs, and now Piper wants hers. But sometimes, the choice is not as obvious or as easy, as we would like.

Oh my, this story was cute and magical from the beginning. Piper is special in her own way with her disability. She is often down on herself, but her friends are there when she needs them. They bring both love and light. I loved the concept that it's up to YOU what YOU want in life. It is ultimately your choice. This story was fun and filled with amazing characters. It was fun read and was such a sweet romance.


*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

I am an absolute sucker for a fate or choice novel. When I saw this on Netgalley I absolutely JUMPED to request it. The whole premise sounds like it would be right up my alley, and it was!

First and foremost, I really enjoyed the gift. It is such a unique concept that I haven't really seen in fantasy or magical realism books before- I thought it was the cutest thing ever. The Blessing is such a good title for it (granted, I grew very tired of seeing it on every other page). I also adored the amount of Taylor Swift references, there were plenty but not enough to be overdoing it. I love disability rep on the page! This was such a nice thing to be include- and I think it was done in a way for the market audience to understand. The steady sprinkling of information was not overbearing and quite pleasant to read about on page.

For the things that I enjoyed less, I think the 'true love' aspect made Piper very immature. If you are ready to be with the person that you are Fated to be with- you should be able to talk to them. I'm also a believer that every person doesn't have just one true love in their life time so this aspect of the book felt very juvenile to me. I also found the ending quite predictable which was to be expected!

Overall this book got 3 stars! I think it would be a great read for a Tween/ YA reader and they would enjoy the heck out of it. It was fast paced, the characters show growth, and the love part was easy to understand.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. :)

This was a very cute tale but it was a bit slow. I would've loved to hear more about the history of the aunts and their true loves but it was good enough context that was given. Overall, very very cute!

This is a hard one for me to rate. I liked the overall concept of the story and I enjoyed how it came together at the end, but there were so many things I didn’t love about it. The words Fate and Blessing are said about 1,000 times and it became so monotonous. I counted one page and Fate was mentioned 8 times. I also am not a fan of books assuming that everyone is bisexual. I understand they are most likely trying to emphasize that it’s no big deal who you’re into but it just felt forced to make the main character that way when there was no point to the story at all. I did really love that this book had a disabled girl as the main character and her perspective was really interesting. Overall, it was a fun concept to explore of fate vs choice but I wish it had a few changes.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This is young adult, and it very much “feels” young adult with limited crossover adult potential. I’d call it magical realism, rather than fantasy. Good representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

What a love story. You could so deeply feel the characters emotions in many of these passages. I enjoyed this one. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one!

This book is for all the people who need to know that your fate is in your own hands.

Piper has been told her whole life that all the women in her family have been blessed with the ability to know when they have found their one true love. With the divorce of her parents Piper starts questioning how accurate this can be.

Piper realizes she doesn’t know how reliable fate is anymore and if she truly wants this love. Or, if she is just trying to please everyone else.

All the Stars Align by Gretchen Schreiber is one of those books that pulls you in slowly. The author's prose is smooth and lyrical, with just the right balance of depth and simplicity. It’s the kind of writing that makes you stop and think about how each sentence lands, but doesn’t feel heavy-handed. The emotions shared in the story feel so raw and real—it’s like you can feel the weight of the characters' struggles and triumphs without it ever feeling forced. The pacing felt a little slow at times. It felt like a character-driven plot, with a lot of personal growth and the importance of relationships. A great book for fans of more lyrical writing.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the publisher for this copy of the eARC to read for advanced review!

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

Again, I'm coming back after a long review hiatus, so it's been quite some time since I read this book. I remember this story fairly well, though, and think it's a pretty nuanced look at the idea of something like "love at first sight" and what makes relationships, be they romantic, familial, or platonic, work. The comparison the Cyrano is correct, though it's definitely not a 1:1 as Piper is in different ways Cyrano, Christian, and Roxanne. Really appreciated the complex family dynamics as well!

Unfortunately, no warnings as I can't rely on my memory to be accurate.

I really tried to get into this book as I thought the premise was interesting. But I couldn't get pass how meddling the aunts were and how much the "blessing" took over Piper's live. Everything she did revolved around it and what her family wanted her to do, from not getting close to people to even the club she was at school. Also how pushy they were to get her parents back together, even after he mom explained why she wanted to separate from her dad. And Piper also came across as standoffish and a bit judgmental sometimes, it made me not want to root for her. It was not necessarily a bad story, maybe just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

Piper, pressured by her family’s expectations and struggling with her disability, seeks help from her estranged best friend Leo to win over a crush. As they spend time together, Leo confesses his feelings, leaving Piper torn between him and her original crush. This charming YA romance blends family dynamics, disability representation, and a friends-to-lovers twist, offering a heartwarming read for romance fans.

loved the style and the emphasis on fate was really unique and quite effectivec. i do have to say it got a bit repetitive, but it was fine. i loved the fmc and the style. 4 stars. tysmf or the arc.

A brilliant follow up to her debut, Gretchen creates not only a beautiful world but a strong plot & brilliant character arcs that leaves readers feeling seen on so many levels. An auto-buy author for me!

I would’ve ate this book up ten years ago. Now I’m just really tired of predictable love triangles where one of them obviously stands no chance. So the romance wasn’t great for me but I did like aspects with her best friend and her parents divorce/family issues. Also, disability rep !