Week three of our little, proud project is upon us and this time we were reading a book with a bisexual protagonist. Cool fact about this book is that the MC actually uses the label, it shows up multiple times and there’s actual on page representation. Feels good, feels organic. (It’s also another book by Ashley Herring Blake where that happens!)
That being said, if you count me and Anna individually, we’re currently going 1 in 4 for how good our buddy reads are. So, to say we’re really hoping the last book improves on that is an understatement…
Read on to find out which one of us actually enjoyed this week’s book!
Girl Made of Stars
Ashley Herring Blake
Rep: bi mc (ownvoices), genderqueer li
TWs: discussions and descriptions (ch. 11) of rape, flashback to sexual assault (ch. 18)
“I need Owen to explain this. Because yes, I do know that Owen would never do that, but I also know Hannah would never lie about something like that.”
Mara and Owen are about as close as twins can get. So when Mara’s friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara doesn’t know what to think. Can the brother she loves really be guilty of such a violent crime? Torn between the family she loves and her own sense of right and wrong, Mara is feeling lost, and it doesn’t help that things have been strained with her ex-girlfriend and best friend since childhood, Charlie.
As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie navigate this new terrain, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits in her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.
Anna’s Review
Rating: 3.5/5 🌈
I wasn’t sure how to rate this book. We’ve had some ups and downs. I loved the beginning (I think in part because I love Ashley Herring Blake’s writing in general) but then there were some less moving parts, less emotions-evoking.
Looking back on it, though, I’m pretty grateful for those easier chapters. Because the book as a whole is pretty heavy. I mean, this is a story of how sexual assault changes a girl and how the world doesn’t blink an eye. So you expect a punch to the heart and/or stomach. But then there’s chapter 18, which we listed in our TW section, and the very detailed flashback to a sexual assault on a middle school girl and it just… Hit me hard, you know?
So it was actually good to have some more quiet moments. They help you find the strength to deal with the rest.
It’s not a happy book. It’s not even a book with a happy ending, per se (spoiler alert, I suppose, but what did you expect after you’ve read the word rape in the description?). But it’s a hopeful one. It’s one about the beauty of friendship & overcoming things that were done to you & fighting to find your own voice (even if the person you have to fight is yourself).
It’s a book which girls very much need, in a world that doesn’t care about them and what they have to say.
Charlotte’s Review
Rating: 2/5 🌈
Sometimes, you read a book everyone loves and has cried over, and it doesn’t get you like that. And that was just me with this book. Part of that was likely just because I wasn’t in the right mood. Actually wrong mood was probably most of it. (Ask Anna, I put off starting this book until Saturday, when the review was scheduled. I’ve just been wanting to binge space operas all week.) I really enjoyed How to Make a Wish when I read it a few years back, so I knew I wouldn’t have a problem with Ashley Herring Blake’s writing, or pacing, or literally anything. But still, you have to be in the right mood to read certain books, and I wasn’t.
But onto the good things! Girl Made of Stars is one of those books that will leave you emotionally empty if it’s right for you. It will rip out your heart and leave you fuming at the world. It’s hardhitting and painful but also necessary. And Ashley Herring Blake writes it so well, with characters you’ll feel that pain alongside (barring Owen, who, although everyone said he was lovely, would never do such a thing, etc, I felt more like I was being told that than it being evidenced. Everything I saw pointed towards him being a dick but let off the hook for it).
So, really, it’s just a shame I was in the wrong mood.
Did you read Girl Made of Stars with us? What did you think?
Let us know and let’s chat about it!
And remember, next week we’re back with our reviews of I Wish You All The Best!
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