A gorgeously written story about first love, loss and friendship.
See All the Stars by Kit Frick
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
Published: 14th August, 2018
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Series: N/A
Rating: 4
Part love story, part thriller, We Were Liars meets Goodbye Days in this suspenseful, lyrical debut.
It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you tell yourself.
THEN They were four—Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system.
NOW Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever.
THEN Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the be-ginning of a spectacular, bright love.
NOW Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away—no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere.
The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies—the lies Ellory has been telling herself.
Blurbs that compare a book to other books are always dancing on a thin line and can fall into spoiler territory pretty quickly. I somehow managed to ignore that first line of the description until I was about halfway through, but then it hit me. Does that mean…? It didn’t ruin the story, but took away from the mystery a bit.
The story is centered around Ellory May and her group of friends: Ret, Bex and Jenni. Their borderline toxic relationship is explored in depth as Ellory switches back and forth between then and now. The before and the after. This is not your typical frenemy story, however. There’s a fine line between someone feeling lost and insecure lashing out and one being outright manipulative for the sake of drama, and for quite a long time I was not sure just what to make of these girls.
The budding romance between Ellory and Matthias is pretty vanilla, and despite them being together for about nine months, it always seemed kind of innocent and cute. Until of course it wasn’t… Their relationship is not free of difficult moments, but they don’t center around some stupid love triangle or steamy drama, but happen because teenagers are not always equipped to deal with shit life throws at them. I loved how the author laid out their emotions so clearly, and yet Ellory refused to see the signs. Choosing to ignore what’s right in front of us is one thing many of us can relate to.
Ellory is a lovely girl with dreams of living in Portland and studying art, a clear plan for the future I found admirable, and a set of parents who are, in her words, annoyingly present. We never really meet them, but it’s clear they are involved in her life and are supporting, gently steering her down the path of self sufficiency.
One thing I particularly liked was the Ellory’s unapologetic mention of her therapist she started seeing after everything happened. She treats her visits as a necessary and helpful way to overcome her trauma, and never as a taboo, or something she should think of as a sign of weakness. Why should she? Therapy, and getting help for one’s mental health should never be something one should be ashamed of.
I wouldn’t say this was a thriller though. See All the Stars is more like a slow burning, character driven mystery, and while certainly suspenseful on occasion, the emphasis is on the emotions, not so much on the actions. There’s a lot of dreaming and wallowing going on, but it’s understandable under the circumstances and I found it conveying the story in a way that will hit you in the feels.
Who is Kit Frick?
Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All the Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 14, 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up in the Lungs (New American Press, fall 2018).
Where can you find her?
Website | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook
I’m afraid this time this is only open for the US only.
Prize: One finished copy of See All the Stars by Kit Frick (USA only)
Starts: 8/7/18
Ends: 8/22/18
To enter the giveaway, click >> HERE <<
Great review Norrie.. I’ve been seeing this one around.. I’ll add it on my TBR, 🙂
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Hope you'll enjoy it 🙂
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V good review!
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Thank you!
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This sounds like a really honest novel, which is something we very much need right now. I love how you mentioned the heroine being honest about seeing a therapist. 🙂 Awesome review, Norrie! I’m glad you enjoyed this one!
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It really was. I hope you'll read it and enjoy it as much as i did 🙂
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I like howyo highlight the good and so-so points of the book without giving too much away. Including what the event is. Though we can guess given this is a YA novel. From your review it sounds like a well thought out and enjoyable read and an author to look out for.
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I was kind of surprised about the blurb and how they mentioned those books. I only read one of them, but it was kind of an “a-hha” moment.
I’m always worried about giving away crucial parts tho as well 😀
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There’s good blurb, then there’s wtf is this blurb, and then there’s the blurb that gives it all away. as reviewers, we have the same problems, of course, how much to tell without blowing it.
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Oh, I love emotional novels, and this is definitely one I need to have on my radar. I appreciate knowing the genre of it, too. It’s tough going in expecting a thriller and getting something else. Wonderful review, Norrie! ♥️
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I think it worked well as it was. Like i'm sure the author could have put some thriller bits in there, but then it would have distracted from the emotional side of things which was so nicely done.
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Oh! I loved We Were Liars but never read Goodbye Days before. I find it a little annoying when books compare themselves to other books in the blurbs too!
Definitely adding this book to my TBR & entering in the giveaway! 💟 Great review!
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Good luck! ❤
I haven't read Goodbye Days either. Checked it out on goodreads, it sounded quite interesting too 🙂
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I looked it up, too, & I already had it marked as TBR hahaha.
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Great review Norrie, sounds like a good YA novel, I like how it focuses on the emotions here really..
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I’m not even disappointed that it didn’t turn out to be a thriller. 😀
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This reminds me of my recent read, How We Learned to Lie by Meredith Miller. A slow burn of a book, that focused deeply on its characters. For some reason, those are the kind of books I enjoy terribly. Blame The Secret History if you must! But this sounds so good and I hope to read it someday 🙂
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Sounds good! I’m really enjoying slow burning stuff as well ❤
I hope you'll have the time to pick this up and enjoy 🙂
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Great review Norrie though the comparison to We Were Liars really does ruin the mystery. I think I can already guess how the story goes. Glad you still ended up enjoying this though.
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It was a lil’ bit different, but yea…
I liked the writing and how the emotions were described a lot ❤
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I am glad that we both enjoyed this book equally. Ahh, I missed the point about the therapist in my review. It was really a good thing though, the way she mentioned her therapist and how she was apologetic too about her lies.
Lovely review 🙂
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Yea, i think all in all she was a pretty reasonable and relatable girl 🙂
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Fabulous review- you really make my want to read the book with your honest account and it does sound kind of great!
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Ooh, i hope you do give it a try ❤
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Awesome review! 😊
Would you like to be featured in my post where I gather reviews of this week’s book releases? If you agree to, I’ll add your link, too. 😉
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Aw thank you! I’d be honored ❤
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It’s supposed to be a regular thing, so if you ever have a review around the release week, just let me know, and I’ll include your link in my post! 😉
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Nice!
I’m usually super behind on dates 😀
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Well, yeah, that happens to all of us 😅
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Loved the post
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❤
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Thank you for sharing your review! It made me curious. I’m adding it to my goodreads 🙂
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Squee 🙂 🙂
Hope you’ll like it as much as i did!
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We Were Liars is the one book my daughter is pushing me to read every occasion she got LOL Now more mystery than suspense then?
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Oh, i’m with your daughter!
That was a really cool book. I liked it mainly for the unique and peculiar writing style. It was very poetic and kinda dreamy 🙂
See all the stars wasn’t like that. It was a nice writing, but more standard 🙂
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Added to my loooong TBR 🙂 Thanks Norrie, always learn new books from you 🙂
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Yay 🙂
I hope you get the chance to read & enjoy it!
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Lovely review, Norrie! I really, really want to read that one – I’ve been anticipating it for a little while now and it sounds like the kind of book I could really love, somehow. I’m intrigued and I LOVE character-driven mysteries 🙂 Thank you for sharing! 😀
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Yay! I hope you manage to read it soon and will enjoy it ❤
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Love how genuine them relationship in this story sound. And being oblivious to the obvious is such a sad thing. Too many go through those moments of denial! Awesome review, Norrie!
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You know I don’t find myself much in this genre [genre meant very generally, hah], but this sounds intriguing! I’m adding it to my TBR. Fingers crossed I’ll get my hands on a copy one day. 🙂
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Fingers crossed!! 🙂
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