Where the Stars Still Shine By: Trish Doller

Title: Where the Stars Still Shine

Author: Trish Doller
Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars
Shelves: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary
Recommended for Fans Of: Huntley Fitzpatrick, Gayle Forman, Sarah Dessen

Synopsis: After being taken out of her safe and loving life by her mother as a young child, Callie has spent the last ten or more years on the run from people who can take away the only thing she has left-her mother. But when Callie and her mother are discovered, Callie's real dad comes to take her back to the life she missed out on all those years ago. Abruptly forced out of the way she has been living for a long time, Callie must now learn how to become part of a family again, as she finds new love and tries to heal the holes in her heart. Spellbinding and bittersweet, Where the Stars Still Shine is a story for all the young women who will push past their mountains of sorrow and continue to climb.

Review: Since I always write honest reviews, I have to say that I did not like this book until I was maybe halfway through. Not because the writing was bad (it was actually quite amazing) but because I found myself so AGGRAVATED with the characters. I'll try to put this in the nicest way possible, but in the very beginning, Callie was a MAJOR slut. She lost her virginity at the age of 13, and the first thing she did when she met Alex was have sex with him. And although I tried not to, I judged her. I tried to keep in mind that Callie had gone through some really hard times and was probably mentally scarred, but it was so hard not to judge. So I sat there for some time, just generally annoyed with Callie and whenever she had sex with Alex I was just like this:

  

BUT, as the story goes on, I saw this new dimension to Callie that made me absolutely ADORE her. I guess the best way to describe this would be to say that Trish really just pulled me into this story and she was SO good at writing from Callie's point of view that the reader has no choice but to really BE in her shoes. You will feel her emotions, you'll understand her pain, you'll read her mind. The deeper you get into the novel, the more you will start to like Callie. If you are similar to me, then that also means that you will love this book. I don't recall at exactly what point I started to love Callie's character, but I do know that I was so immersed in Where The Stars Still Shine that I finished the last 170 pages of it in an hour.



If I had to summarize Where The Stars Still Shine in one word, it would be this: BEAUTIFUL. The scenes Trish wrote were just so raw and painfully real. The writing flowed so wonderfully, and at the end of the book, this was me:
 It's so easy to tell how much emotion and prowess Trish Doller put into writing this book. Where The Stars Still Shine will make you FEEL.

Conclusion: Where The Stars Still Shine is a heartwarming and impassioned novel about one girl's journey to save her life, while trying to control her wild heart. Trish Doller really wrote a lovely winner with this one.